Mindfulness Meditation · Life After
This week’s meditation session is led by Elaine Retholtz and the theme is Life After. The guided meditation begins at 13:09.
Wheel of Life; Tibet or Mongolia; 19th century; Pigments on cloth; Object size: 61 1/2 x 39 1/4 in. (est.)Image size: 45 1/2 x 30 5/8 in. Framed size: 73 1/8 x 46 1/8 x 2 1/2 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.131
The Wheel of Life is a Tibetan Buddhist visualization of the human condition within the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara) and a vivid reminder of the law of karma. Painted on a striking lapis background, the red, wrathful figure of Yama, the Lord of Death, or possibly Yami, female demon of death, holds the circle of samsara containing all six realms of existence, and is about to swallow it, reflecting the precarious impermanence of all that exists in these realms.
Along the outer edge, the 12 links of dependent origination symbolize how consciousness becomes trapped in samsara under the power of ignorance, which leads to actions with karmic repercussions, the sensual desires of the body and mind, mental grasping at pleasures and existence, and ultimately birth, old age, and death.
Elaine Retholtz has been studying and practicing the Dharma since 1988. In addition to teaching dharma at New York Insight, she is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher and a certified MBSR teacher trainer. She is deeply interested in helping students integrate mindfulness into daily life. Elaine is committed to deepening her own understanding of issues of diversity and the way racial conditioning in the United States affects all of us—both as individuals and in relation to the institutions we are a part of, including New York Insight. She’s been involved in New York Insight’s diversity efforts for many years.
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