Mindfulness Meditation · Hopes and Anxieties
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Hopes and Anxieties. The guided meditation begins at 23:30.
Protector Begtse Chen; Mongolia; late 18th - early 19th century; Gilt copper alloy with pigments; 19 1/4 × 17 3/4 × 4 3/4 in.; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.12.3
Begtse is one of the main protector figures of the Gelukpa order of Buddhism. He is distinguished by his “coat of mail,” which is wonderfully portrayed in this sculpture as it stretches over the vast expanse of his corpulent torso. He brandishes a flaming sword in his right hand and the fresh heart of the enemy in his left hand. Though these seem to be fearsome objects, they all symbolize the defeat of ego-centered conceptions.
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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