Mindfulness Meditation · Life After
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Life After. The guided meditation begins at 11:39.
Yama Dharmaraja (also known as Kalarupa) is a wisdom deity protector of the father class of Anuttarayoga tantra, especially for those engaged in the practice of the Yamantaka tantras. The Gelugpa school holds Yama Dharmajara in a special regard as one of the three main dharma protectors of the school. In the Bardo Thodrol teachings, Yama presides over the judgment of the dead.
He appears as a fearsome and wrathful Dharma Protector with the head of a buffalo, three round eyes, hair flowing upward, and a body blue in color with two upraised hands. The right hand holds a bone stick composed of a fused spine and skull wrapped with an elephant and human skin. The left holds a long black lasso tipped with a gold ring and half vajra. Wearing a necklace of 50 freshly severed heads tied together with human intestines, he appears extremely animated standing with the right leg bent and the left extended on the back of a buffalo above a human body, sun disc, and multi-colored lotus blossom seat.
To the right is the consort Chamundi, with one face and two hands, clambering toward Dharmaraja. She holds a trident in the right hand and a skullcup in the left. Both are adorned with wrathful attire, skull tiaras, bone ornaments. and various skins; completely surrounded by the orange and red flames of pristine awareness. At the bottom center is a skullcup with the offerings of the five senses, an arrow placed in the middle and silks adorning the top.
Tracy Cochran has taught meditation and spiritual practice for many years. She is a speaker and author whose most recent book, Presence: The Art of Being At Home in Yourself, was published by Shambhala Publications in 2024. Tracy is the founder and leading teacher of the Hudson River Sangha and has taught mindfulness and mindful writing at New York Insight, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and many other venues. In addition to serving as the editorial director of the acclaimed spiritual quarterly Parabola, her writings have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, The Best Spiritual Writing series, Parabola, and many other publications and anthologies. For more about Tracy, please visit tracycochran.org and parabola.org.
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