Mindfulness Meditation · Transforming Obstacles
This week’s meditation session is led by Tracy Cochran and the theme is Transforming Obstacles.
Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Bardo; Tibet; 18th century; Pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.17
This painting depicts the 108 gods as described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. According to these texts, after a person dies their consciousness experiences all these gods. Some of the gods are attractive while others are frightening. If a person’s consciousness reacts too strongly to either the positive or the negatives gods, they will be reborn. The key is for the person to realize that all the deities are simply projections of their own consciousness, leading them to achieve enlightenment between the stages of death and rebirth. No matter how attractive or repulsive these gods are, they are ultimately obstacles, preventing the mind from seeing its own nature.
Tracy Cochran has taught meditation and spiritual practice for many years. She is a speaker and author whose most recent book, Presence: The Art of Being At Home in Yourself, was published by Shambhala Publications in 2024. Tracy is the founder and leading teacher of the Hudson River Sangha and has taught mindfulness and mindful writing at New York Insight, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and many other venues. In addition to serving as the editorial director of the acclaimed spiritual quarterly Parabola, her writings have appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Psychology Today, The Best Spiritual Writing series, Parabola, and many other publications and anthologies. For more about Tracy, please visit tracycochran.org and parabola.org.
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