Mindfulness Meditation · Realization
This week’s meditation session is led by Kaira Jewel Lingo and the theme is Realization. The guided meditation begins at 12:36.
Three-Bladed Ritual Peg (kila, purba); Tibet; ca. 17th century; Iron and gilt brass; 13 × 2 × 2 in. (estimated); Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.16.66
This exquisitely crafted three-sided ritual dagger was never used in battle, but was still an effective weapon in esoteric meditation and ritual practices. It has the power to pin down and annihilate negative forces, and, ultimately, all forms of attachment to one’s ego.
Although ritual daggers can vary in form, the handle and the blade are said to combine transcendent wisdom and skillful means. The triple blades arranged around the central axis of the dagger symbolize mastery over the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness. Frightening imagery, such as the fang-bearing heads of the wrathful Hayagriva on the dagger’s top and Garuda sinking its teeth into the dagger’s blade, are said to empower the practitioner and the blade with the essence of the wrathful deities. Hindering spirits can then be nailed down and subdued, allowing a sacred space to be established.
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in blending spirituality with social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhist movement developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption from Parallax Press.
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