Mindfulness Meditation · Story
This week’s meditation session is led by Sharon Salzberg and the theme is Story.
Buddha Shakyamuni; Tibet; 13th century; Gilt copper alloy with pigment; 13 1/4 × 10 3/4 × 7 in. (estimated); Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.16.31
This sculpture depicts the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, whose life story is one of the foundations of Buddhism. Born a prince, Siddhartha realized that living a life of excess and sensual pleasure had given him no lasting happiness. Observing the constant grasping for objects, feelings, and relationships, he asked himself how to end this unsatisfactory nature of existence. With this question in mind, he left his father’s palace and began his spiritual quest. Over the next six years, it is said that the Buddha tried every spiritual system he could find, but none of them brought him closer to achieving his goal. Eventually, he found the answer to his question while sitting under the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, India. The story is told again and again in Buddhist cultures because all the essential teachings are contained within it.
Sharon Salzberg, Cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, has guided meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Her latest books are Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom and Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life. 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, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, 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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