This week’s meditation session is led by Sharon Salzberg and the theme is Generosity. The guided meditation begins at 18:22.

As a female buddha, Tara works for the benefit of all beings and has many manifestations. In the form known as White Tara she bestows longevity. Her right hand rests on her knee, displaying the gesture of infinite generosity, while the left holds the stem of a pure white lotus blossoming above her shoulder. The reverse of the painting features handprints of a Buddhist master and a depiction of a stupa with a mandala in its dome. The stupa’s body includes prayers and dedications written in gold that state this painting was commissioned by Yeshe Lopsang Tenpa, likely the Eighth Tatsak Rinpoche (1760–1810). Taking refuge in Tara, he dedicates the merit of the painting’s creation to preventing untimely death and other dangers for all sentient beings, and he asks to bestow the blessings of a long, auspicious life. The handprints and the small seal prints underneath them may be his own.