Theme: Transformation
About the Meditation
Meditation session led by Sharon Salzberg.
The guided meditation begins at 13:04.
For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Now Western scientists, business leaders, and the secular world have embraced meditation as a vital tool for brain health.
Whether you’re a beginner, a dabbler, or a skilled meditator seeking the company of others, join expert teachers in a forty-five-minute weekly program designed to fit into your lunch break. Each session will be inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection and will include an opening talk, a twenty-minute meditation session, and a closing discussion.
This program is supported with thanks to our presenting partners Sharon Salzberg, the Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine.
Related Artwork
This remarkable painting portrays the Buddha with more than a hundred stories of his previous lives (jataka) organized into a geometric grid. One such scene, found in the top-left corner, shows him sacrificing himself to feed a hungry tigress and her starving cubs. The narrative scenes closest to the central Buddha figure depict his deeds during his final life as Prince Siddhartha, during which he achieved enlightenment or awakening (bodhi). Directly below the Buddha appears to be the Third Karmapa (1284–1339), a religious leader who is famous for first compiling a set of one hundred jataka tales in the Tibetan language, presumably the very stories pictured here. His appearance helps date this painting. Scrolling floral patterns within the red halo, the dark-blue background, and some of the narrative cells, as well as the thin yellow lines that separate the scenes and demarcate the painting’s outer edges, are features drawn from Nepalese painting.
About the Speaker
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. Sharon is also the author of several publications including the New York Times bestseller Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation, Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, and Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection. While running her own podcast The Metta Hour and interviewing 100+ influential voices in meditation and mindfulness movements, Sharon has regularly contributed to many onstage conversations at the Rubin.
