Mindfulness Meditation · Seeking Refuge
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Seeking Refuge. The guided meditation begins at 14:20.
Green Tara as Protectress from the Eight Fears; Central Tibet; 19th century; Pigments on cloth; 47 3/8 x 26 3/4 x 5/8 in. (120.3 x 67.9 x 1.6 cm); Rubin Museum of Art; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.389
Resting in her celestial abode, Green Tara sits on a lotus throne surrounded by blooming flowers. As a goddess, Green Tara represents enlightened activity and is believed to intercede frequently in daily affairs. For travelers, she offers a sense of refuge as she protects from the Eight Great Fears that they might encounter on their journeys. These fears are drowning, thieves, lions, snakes, fire, spirits and flesh-eating demons, captivity or imprisonment, and elephants. Each one of these fears can be literal but can also symbolize negative mental states (craving, wrong or false views, pride, envy, hatred, doubt, avarice, and ignorance). Green Tara thus provides refuge from both external and internal struggles.
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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