Mindfulness Meditation · Returning to Joy
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Returning to Joy.
Flying Celestial Figure; Nepal; 16th century; Wood; 11 × 19 5/8 × 5 5/8 in.; Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.655
This delicate wood carving from Nepal was most likely used as a decorative wall ornament. It depicts an apsara, a female sky spirit often found residing in depictions of heaven. Apsaras are said to be able to travel between earth and heaven, displaying their ability to exist liminally between different states. Though found in all Indian religions, apsaras inhabit an ambiguous position in Buddhism, sometimes symbolically representing the reward for a spiritual path, while other times posing as temptresses to Buddhist ascetics. Existing within different planes and modes, apsaras serve as a reminder that no matter where you go, you can always return to joy.
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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