Mindfulness Meditation · Liberation
This week’s meditation session is led by Jon Aaron and the theme is Liberation. The guided meditation begins at 10:13.
Vajrabhairava; Mongolia; ca. 19th century; Clay with pigments; 12 1/4 × 10 × 6 3/8 in.; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2006.52.8
Vajrabhairava is a prominent deity in the Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug Tibetan Buddhist traditions. He is considered to be the wrathful emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. He took on a wrathful form by reflecting back the terrifying nature of Yama, the Lord of Death. He overwhelmed and subdued Yama, who became a protector.
Vajrabhairava is considered to be a meditational deity. He is often referred to as Yamantaka, the slayer or defeater of death, since he accomplished the formidable task of overcoming Yama. He is depicted with the head of a buffalo, which is topped by the head of Manjushri, signifying Vajrabhairava’s true nature.
Jon Aaron teaches meditation, Buddhist dharma, and is a Somatic Experience Practitioner® in New York City. He is well known as a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as well as a trainer of new teachers of this seminal eight-week curriculum. Among his primary interests are the use of meditation and somatic work in healing trauma and working with individuals with chronic pain and grief. He has been teaching for the New York Police Department in an eight-hour intervention called Cultivating Mindfulness: expanding the capacity of mind and body to work with stress, anxiety, and trauma. He is a cofounder of the MBSR Teacher Collaborative of Greater New York and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative, and is a long-time teacher at New York Insight Meditation Center. When the pandemic hit, along with his partner he cofounded Space2Meditate, an online community of meditators that is still going strong six days a week.
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