Mindfulness Meditation · Perspectives
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Perspectives. The guided meditation begins at 16:53.
Wrathful Offerings; Tibet; 19th century; Ink and pigment on silk damask; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2006.2.5
Wrathful offerings are an extremely rare subject for portable paintings but a common theme in the protector chapels of Tibetan monasteries. Such paintings communicate the horrors of life in an astonishingly humorous manner. At the top of this work are three offering bowls, the central one containing an offering of the five senses, each represented by its corresponding organ. The animals underneath—horses, yaks, sheep, and dogs—are the main domestic animals of the Tibetan Plateau, here shown in a hierarchy with the most valuable on top. The corpses at the bottom, and the human body parts between them, remind us that the scenery represented is a charnel ground.
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.
Get the latest news and stories from the Rubin, plus occasional information on how to support our work.