Mindfulness Meditation · Compassion
This week’s meditation session is led by Sharon Salzberg and the theme is Compassion. The guided meditation begins at 16:50.
One of the most recognizable mantras in the world is om mani padme hum, often called the mantra of compassion. It is associated with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who has countless forms, both peaceful and wrathful. The central figure in this painting is red Avalokiteshvara, known as Rakta Avalokiteshvara. He beckons viewers with his right hand extended downward in the gesture of supreme generosity. The left hand holds the stem of a pink lotus flower blossoming over his shoulder.
Practitioners who are developing the aspiration of mind awakening, also known as bodhichitta, recite mantras and visualize the deity, aspiring to make their body, speech, and mind indistinguishable from the bodhisattva’s. Red Avalokiteshvara’s appearance is laid out in ritual texts and painted in thangkas to help practitioners with visualization and training the mind.
Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest book is Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World. She is a weekly columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and the author of several other books, including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Ms. Salzberg has been a regular participant in the Rubin’s many on-stage conversations and regards the Rubin as a supplemental office.
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