Lama Aria Drolma

A meditation session led by Lama Aria Drolma. If you missed this program, check out the podcast, now live in the Rubin Media Center.

For centuries Himalayan practitioners have used meditation to quiet the mind, open the heart, calm the nervous system, and increase focus. Mindfulness meditation offers both a refuge from the world around us, and an opportunity to engage with it more consciously.

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. Each session is inspired by a different work of art from the Rubin Museum’s collection. Designed to fit into your lunch break, the program includes an opening talk, a twenty-minute sitting session, and a closing discussion. Chairs will be provided.

Presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and the Interdependence Project. This program is supported in part by the Hemera Foundation.

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Theme: Liberation through Listening

Books are often objects of veneration in Himalayan Buddhism. This elaborate book cover is for the Prajanaparamita, or Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, one of the most important texts for all Mahayana Buddhist traditions. In the center sits the four-armed goddess Prajnaparamita, the personification of the book. Her bottom right hand rests in front of her heart with palm facing outward in the gesture of no fear. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras exists in many different forms, its most condensed being the Heart Sutra. By listening to the Heart Sutra’s Mantra, one can hear all the teachings the Perfection of Wisdom has to offer.

About the Speaker

Lama Aria Drolma has been studying and practicing Tibetan Buddhism since 2008 and is trained in the Dharma Path program of progressive stages of meditation and contemplation for serious practitioners offered by Kagyu Thubten Choling monastery. She teaches at the monastery’s affiliated centers, at the Hindu Samaj Temple, and the Cultural Center and Jain Temple in Poughkeepsie. Lama Aria Drolma is a graduate of a traditional Tibetan Buddhist retreat spanning three years and three months, which is an advanced, completely cloistered, intensive meditation training program. She attended Mumbai University in India and graduated with a B.A. in sociology. She also does volunteer work for several nonprofit organizations, including fundraising for breast cancer and HIV/AIDS-related issues.