Mindfulness Meditation · Ritual
This week’s meditation session is led by Sharon Salzberg and the theme is Ritual. The guided meditation begins at 20:00.
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
Rituals can serve as powerful vehicles for us to connect to others and play a role in mindfulness practice. Butter lamps are essential ritual objects in Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries. Although these lamps traditionally burned clarified yak butter, Buddhists now use ghee or vegetable oil. By providing lamp oil or offering lamps themselves, pilgrims gain merit, which serves them in their quest for enlightenment. Burning the oil creates light and illumination, which also translates to the search for enlightenment. Light symbolizes the awakened mind, as light combats the darkness of mental obscurations. Butter lamps remove the darkness of ignorance in the quest to attain wisdom.
Sharon Salzberg, cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest book is Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World. She is a weekly columnist for On Being, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, and the author of several other books, including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, and Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Ms. Salzberg has been a regular participant in the Rubin’s many on-stage conversations and regards the Rubin as a supplemental office.
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