Talks by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses how we’re all waiting for the most extraordinary teacher. We want only the best. The tale of the visitor who asked Zen master Bankei what miracles he could perform. His answer is lovely Zen. Lola lso, understanding the concept of “don’t know.” It’s very difficult. We all prefer to be clever, which obscures our original mind. If you recognize the original min...

Zen Roshi and ordained Christian minister, Lola McDowell Lee, gives this talk during Easter of 1985. She explores the Resurrection of Christ. You can experience the Resurrection yourself. Your deathless existence is within you. It is the Godseed. The tale of the king who leaves his three sons each a bag of seed and asks them to best preserve them in his absence. The seed must die in order to grow....

Zen Roshi, Lola McDoweel Lee, explains how we all call ourselves an I, but there is only one—which everyone appropriates for themselves. Eventually our thoughts, voices, identifications eclipse the I. We adopt styles from lots of people—actors, ministers, anyone who appeals to us. The second in a series about the Transactional Analysis approach of Child, Parent, Adult. Child enjoys the moment thro...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains three parts of our psychology working against each other --the parent, the child and the adult. The child’s impulses and emotions shouldn’t be in control. The parent alone can be dominating. The adult hold to reason only, which can make for a flat life. Some part will be dissatisfied. Ideally, we become a part of all three. The Buddha doesn’t choose one. He t...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how most of us are after power—control, authority in our situation. A wise man seeks not. Instead, he cooperates, harmonizes with the situation. The tale of Frederick The Great of Prussia’s solution to the many sparrows eating his kingdom's grain. Cleansing your mind is not a one-time effort. Because each day you gather more dust. So Lola suggests you meditat...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses Love, Life and Death. When you are filled with love, there is nothing missing. Can you love without a lover? Some people share their loneliness and call it love. The most important thing for you is your life. Yet most of us never thoroughly investigate it. In deep meditation you can. Death is an unpopular subject All you think you are now is going to die. Fa...

Understanding the noetic quality of mind, the hidden self, through meditation. That is just a matter of sitting, and being who you are. The difference between sailing on a paper boat and a real boat: How we think about what enlightenment will be. And being it firsthand. Many of us parrot what we know from things we’ve heard or read. We can repeat the most profound teachings and remain stupid. What...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, asks: When you are alone… are you really alone? We treat the ego as an absolute, when, in fact, it is a gap between you and totality. Ask yourself: Who am I? And you’ll find the Buddha. What does a Zen teacher do? Beyond aloneness and togetherness is the eternal — no one going nowhere. Non-dualistic wisdom. Remain in the Witness your whole life. It’ll change things....

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores how it is In the other that we see what we think is us. When we are alone, many of us feel in strange company. It’s possible to see what one’s life is really about. The thoughts out there, which have have become a mask to our true selves, will grow dimmer. Until our spiritual search is no longer just a curiosity or inquiry—but becomes a deep hunger that consu...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how existence is reported to us as separate objects. But there is a unity to life that runs through everything—called the Tao. The Taoist sage, Lieh Tzu, was once asked: Why do you value emptiness? His answer is explained. Also, most spiritual paths fall into two categories: via affirmative and via negativa. The affirmative path is where we take actions to ma...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, recounts the tale of a teacher’s interaction with his student, Hakuin, who became the founder of Rinzai. From Hakuin’s “Song Of Meditation” we hear: “All beings are from the very beginning Buddhas. It is like water and ice: apart from water, no ice. Outside living beings, no Buddhas. Not knowing it is near, they seek it afar. What a pity!” Jun 5, 1983

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, asks: What are you searching for? Do you know it is your ego that is doing the searching? You see plenty of Buddha statues sitting still. But have you ever seen a Zen master sitting still? They are always doing something. There is silence and there is action. The mind and the body. We have both. And we need both to understand. We need to learn how to bring ourselves t...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses judging others, the interdependence of the universe. Indra’s net — the mirror mind, and how every one of us reflects everything else. How we shouldn't fight the darkness—and just light a candle. The tale of the thief who robs Shichiri Kojun and became a disciple. May 22, 1983

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains that we are in an in-between state. We’re not unconscious and we’re not completely conscious. We are objectively self-conscious—conscious of things out there, and we think of ourselves as things, too. We are stuck in this world between the unconscious and conscious. As fas as thinking goes, we’re fine. The mind can do that. We can also talk. But whe...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, recounts the tale of Kakua, the first Japanese man to study Zen in China. After returning to Japan the emperor asked him what he learned. He took out a flute, played a single note and left. No one ever knew what became of him. When we meditate and watch our breath, we are playing an iron flute with no holes.  Reason is divisive. Acceptance is saying yes to t...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, recounts the monk who asks   Fuketsu “Without speaking and without silence, how can you express the Truth?” His answer: "I always remember springtime in southern China. The birds sing among innumerable kinds of fragrant flowers.” God is speaking to us all the time, and we just don’t hear Him. Baby birds don’t learn how to sing. Spring sings in them...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, describes how humankind repeats the same old pattern. We do not want our dream disturbed. We live in the known, afraid of the unknown. Being truly alive should be an adventure. If your life is not an adventure into the unknown…you’re not truly living. An Easter message of resurrection. A passage by the yogi, Aurobindo. Apr 3, 1983

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, recounts the tale of the student who visits a teacher, whose only answer to his questions is to sweep fallen leaves. Also, how we identify with everything but ourselves. Possessions, our emotions, our thoughts. But not our true selves. Gurdjieff would insult a student to spark his anger. Then say, “Be alert in your anger. Be aware in your anger.” In every ri...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how existence renders actual . Non-existence renders useful. It is not the walls, but the seemingly non-actual space within the house, that renders it useful. Chuang Tzu teaches us to appreciate the useless in the world. Kierkegaard used to go to church and tell God things he wanted. But then he realized that God knows everything, so why is he telling God wha...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains that when we are born we emerge from a mysterious life source, and when we die we return to that source. And now, in mediation, we have the opportunity to know that source.  When you are asleep and breathing, there is still consciousness. When you are self-conscious, you are in a sense unconscious, and when you are not self-conscious, you are conscious.&...

Zen Roshi (and ordained Christian minister), Lola McDowell Lee, discusses the Christian notion of sin. In Aramaic sin means to miss, and does not have guilt or shame associated with it like we do. St. Thomas: “If they ask you, ‘What is the sign of your father in you?’, say to them ‘It is movement and repose.'” What is movement and repose, or rest, in Zen and Christian practice? Rest is a silent, c...

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee discusses oneness and self-restraint. Eventually there is serenity and a child-like innocence. And the innocent Self sees everything… and the whole world is divine. Breathing into the Hara, your focus deepens and mysteries reveal themselves. You don’t need to solve them. The mysteries reveal themselves to you. Apr 14, 1981

What is happiness? The tale of the farmer who demanded from God to have control of the weather, and God said yes. Challenges in life are how you learn. Finding your true self takes work. Are you free or is your conditioning controlling you? Dig into yourself and ask “Who am I?” People get attached to their misery. The tale of the soldier whose boots are too small. Jun 21, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses finding ways to integrate ourselves. Strengthening the tanden ( Hara ). How to work on the division between our senses and our thinking. Body and soul. Matter and consciousness. How can we find oneness while we’re divided inside? Jun 14, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the meaning of knowledge and ignorance in Buddhism and the Bible. The Tree Of Knowledge and the Tree Of Life. Zen practice is not an intellectual endeavor. The tale of the blind man and the lantern. Be a light until yourself. Feb 17, 1985