The Rubin is transforming. Read important updates from our Executive Director.
close-button

Theme: Transforming afflictive emotions

About the Meditation

Meditation session led by Rebecca Li.

The guided meditation begins at 20:17.

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.

New York Insight Meditation Center

Related Artwork

Vajrayogini Tibet; 18th century; Brass and gilt copper alloy; Rubin Museum of Art C2005.16.47 (HAR 65470)
Vajrayogini; Tibet; 18th century; Brass and gilt copper alloy; Rubin Museum of Art; C2005.16.47 (HAR 65470)

Vajrayogini is omniscient buddhahood in female form. She is associated with wisdom, which is usually considered a feminine force in Buddhism. Her passionate appearance as a dakini (a dynamic “sky-goer” goddess) emphasizes her transcendence of ordinary reality, leading to liberation. She represents the intensity of yogic practice while also being serenely blissful. Vajrayogini displays emotional intensity rather than an absence of emotion. As a fully awakened being she is no longer a prisoner of emotional afflictions but transcends them.

About the Speaker

Rebecca Li, a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen, is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. She started practicing with Master Sheng Yen in the 1990s and served as his translator until his passing in 2009. She later trained with and received full Dharma transmission from one of his Dharma heirs, Dr. Simon Child, in 2016. Dr. Li teaches meditation and Dharma classes, gives public lectures, and leads retreats in North America and the UK. She is a sociology professor at The College of New Jersey, where she also serves as faculty director of the Alan Dawley Center for the Study of Social Justice. Her latest book is Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times. Find her talks and writings at www.rebeccali.org.

zoom