Mindfulness Meditation · Lovingkindness
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Loving Kindness. The guided meditation begins at 16:34.
Butter Lamp; Tibet; 18th century; Metal, silver; 11 × 7 × 7 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Ralph Redford; C2008.27
Butter lamps are a common feature of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries throughout the Himalayas. Butter lamps are traditionally placed on the Buddhist altar as an offering. They are offered during meditation practice or ceremonies with the wish that all beings be free of suffering and reach enlightenment.
When making an offering, one can easily fall into such traps of negative attitude, and it is critical to ask yourself why you are involved in doing the things that you do, what is your motivation. One makes offerings not for any mundane reason, but one surrenders everything to be able to experience perfect liberation and so that one may liberate other beings as well.
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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