Mindfulness Meditation Podcast · Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art

Mindfulness Meditation with Kimberly Brown 07/10/2025

·31 min·2 clips

Kimberly Brown reveals how joy transforms spiritual effort from obligation into enthusiastic commitment.

This episode features a guided meditation session from the Ruben Museum of Himalayan Art, hosted by Tashi Chodron and led by teacher Kimberly Brown. The practice is inspired by a 17th-century wooden sculpture depicting the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. The monthly theme is joy, specifically explored in connection to the 14th Dalai Lama's 90th birthday celebrations. Host Tashi Chodron explains the sculpture shows the Fifth Dalai Lama, known as a unifier of Tibet, in a teaching mudra with a lotus on his shoulder. She notes the recording coincides with the Tibetan lunar calendar's Universal Incense Offering Day. Teacher Kimberly Brown shares she recently learned about the Fifth Dalai Lama from a Tibetan teacher named Khandro La Rinpoche. Brown defines two types of joy: mudita (sympathetic joy for others) and pīti (a joyful energy factor in awakening). She contrasts happiness as freedom from suffering with joy as an enthusiastic energy toward beneficial actions. Brown discusses the Buddhist quality of *virya*, translating as both disciplined diligence and enthusiastic effort. She observes that masterful teachers, including the current Dalai Lama, exhibit a spontaneous sense of delight in their practice. The guided meditation begins with an invitation to simply experience one's own presence without actively "doing" anything. Participants are guided to place hands on heart and belly to sense their breath and bodily presence. The practice involves connecting with an encouraging figure, like a teacher or the Dalai Lama, and mentally receiving their blessings. Specific phrases are repeated: "May you have good luck and prosperity" and "May your joy never cease." Meditators then direct these same phrases of well-wishing toward themselves. Finally, the practice expands to include all living beings, from the wealthy to the poorest, with the same wishes for luck and ceaseless joy. A bell signals the end of the silent meditation period. The tone is instructional, gentle, and spiritually reflective, directly guiding the listener through a contemplative experience. This episode is ideal for listeners seeking a structured, art-inspired meditation focused on compassion and joyful resilience. Those preferring purely secular mindfulness or fast-paced analytical discussions might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A steady meditation on sympathetic joy that makes Buddhist teaching feel close at hand.

Kimberly Brown keeps the focus on sympathetic joy, using the fifth Dalai Lama as a loose organizing thread and folding in a birthday note without losing the point. She moves from Buddhist history to something lived and usable, treating mudita as practice rather than ornament.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a meditation on sympathetic joy that feels calm, specific, and human.

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