Mindfulness Meditation · Facing Chaos
This week’s meditation session is led by Sharon Salzberg and the theme is Facing Chaos. The guided meditation begins at 16:01.
Avalokiteshvara, with his one thousand arms and one thousand eyes, is the embodiment of compassion. His 11 faces include a wrathful black face with bared fangs, three eyes, and tawny upward-streaming locks. Resting above is his red peaceful face, which takes the appearance of a monk endowed with a neck. Avalokiteshvara holds one pair of hands at the heart. Several other hands hold symbolic objects, including a rosary, wheel, lotus, water pot, and bow and arrow. The other 992 hands are boon-granting. In the palm of each hand there is a peaceful eye that symbolizes his unhindered capacity to see.
Sharon Salzberg, Cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest books are Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom and Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life. 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, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, 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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