Mindfulness Meditation · Unity
This week’s meditation session is led by Kaira Jewel Lingo and the theme is Unity. The guided meditation begins at 20:28.
Buddha Shakyamuni; Tsang Region, Central Tibet; 18th century; Pigment on cloth; 28 3/8 × 18 3/4 in. (estimated); Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin; C2006.66.128
This painting is based on a woodblock print carved at the Dege Parkang in the early half of the 20th century. The original painting and design is attributed to the Drugpa Kagyu teacher and artist Khamtrul Rinpoche of Tashi Jong in Kham Tibet. It is not clear which of the Khamtrul Rinpoche incarnations is being referred to and when the composition was later carved at the Dege Printing House and added to the Shakyamuni Buddha life story set of depictions. Seated on the side of the Vulture Peak Mountain, discoursing on the Lotus Sutra, he holds upraised in the right hand a single lotus blossom signifying the ineffable nature of the wisdom of emptiness. Various buddhas, arhats, and monks are gathered above and at the sides. At the top center is the personification of wisdom, the deity Prajnaparamita, yellow, with four hands. In the foreground, seated centrally, and unrelated to the narrative above is the goddess of long-life, White Tara.
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in blending spirituality with social justice. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhist movement developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, and she draws inspiration from her parents’ stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, as well as in secular mindfulness, at the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice with a focus on activists, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to groups and is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption from Parallax Press.
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