Mindfulness Meditation · Perception
This week’s meditation session is led by Jon Aaron and the theme is Perception.
Manjushri; Tibet; 19th century; Metal alloy; 38 1/4 × 30 1/2 × 19 3/8 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2013.9a-c
One of the most important bodhisattvas in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, Manjushri (Sanskrit for “gentle glory”) is the bodhisattva of wisdom. Tantric literature depicts Manjushri as a beautiful 16-year-old prince holding a flaming sword in his right hand high above his head. His other hand rests in front of his heart gently grasping a pecha, an unbounded Himalayan book. The flaming sword he holds cuts through ignorance, severing attachments that keep us bound to cyclical existence.
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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