Mindfulness Meditation · Gratitude
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Gratitude.
Illustrated Manuscript Depicting the Story of Water; Nepal; 17th century; Pigments on paper; 25 1/4 x 11 1/8 x 3/8 in. (64.1 x 28.3 x 1 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, gift of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation; F1996.31.33
This illustrated manuscript containing five folios was created by Nepalese artisans in the 17th century. Folding like a map, it depicts a drought and its subsequent end, mirroring the weather patterns of the monsoons. The top folio depicts two brothers fighting, an unnatural and inauspicious event that angered the god of rain causing the drought to occur. The drought finally ended when a yogi practiced austerities and gained the power to make rain. As the rain returns, it restores the natural order of things and leaves those suffering from the drought full of gratitude.
Tracy Cochran has been a student and teacher of meditation and spiritual practice for decades. She is the founder of the Hudson River Sangha. In addition to offering meditation online, Tracy has taught mindfulness meditation and mindful writing at the Rubin Museum and the New York Insight Meditation Center, as well as in schools, corporations, and other venues worldwide. She is also a writer and the editorial director of Parabola, an acclaimed quarterly magazine that seeks to bring timeless spiritual wisdom to the burning questions of the day.
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