Talks by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, on listening to teachings as if you are an empty tape recorder—not judging, evaluating, or comparing. The Dhammapada, or stepping into the dharma. Also, our world is real, but it is illusory. Like looking at reality through a keyhole. A limited view. Also, when your thoughts cease, who are you? And Rainer Maria Rilke. Sep 4, 1983

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains that when you breathe, it is not you doing the breathing. As you watch this breath, in time you’ll discover something remarkable about it. To begin work toward realization, focus on the breath. Not breathing. The breath. What is this life living you? It’s the same as that which sings in the birds. In your eyes He is seeing. In your hands He is doing. Jan 8, 1984

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, was also an ordained Christian minister. At the holiday she shared a message about Christ within each of us. How we live a dark, deep mystery, and within that darkness there is light. Dec 20, 1986

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains that what we see with our senses—the world in which we live—is a world of effects. The causes are hidden. To witness the apparent in the real and the real in the apparent. One mind sees both worlds. Also, why do we not recognize those among us who are enlightened?Jan 26, 1986

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, suggests we resist trying to recreate an earlier experience in meditation. The sword loses its edge with constant feeling. Your earliest memories at 3 or 4 or 5… that was the beginning of your ego. So what were you before that? Lao Tzu says when you reach success to step back into obscurity. Also, trying to change and remain the same at the same time—the hook that many are on. Jun 7, 1981

We are born with this body which brings with it our parents, our grandparents and other lives. Then our essence is added. Then circumstances.Then there is what we do with all this. Also, the thundering silence within. 1990 Sesshin Friday

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, asks: who will tell you when your mind is playing tricks on you? The importance of learning to differentiate what you see, what you think and what you feel. Also, distinguishing sentimentality from genuine sensitivity. The no-mind of the Buddha is not blankness. It is perceiving your world differently. Aug 16, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, asks: If you were absolutely alone on the planet, would you be rich or poor? Would you be beautiful or ugly? Your ego, which establishes all your opinions, isn’t even real. The ego has no power. It's impotent. Yet we spend our lives doing its bidding. Dec 6, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how many of us create an identity around our misfortune. But it is life’s challenges that helps us find our true selves. Lola recounts the story of the farmer who complains about the storms and freezes and asks God to let him choose the weather. Dec 03, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains passages from Lao Tzu’s book, The Tao Te Ching. Elaborating on the metaphor of the knave of a wheel, or the emptiness of a vessel. And how their existence renders them actual in our world, but it is their non-existence (or emptiness) that renders them useful. Aug 23, 1981

One of the later talks by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee. Mid-way through a sesshin, this talk discusses what consciousness is. And how much do we know the world around us. Summer 1990 Wed Night Sesshin

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the mind-body relationship. And breathing from the Hara. Apr 14, 1981

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, gives this talk at night during a week-long sesshin. We hear the crickets chirping and a dog barking. We can sense the atmosphere in which the sesshin takes place. Lola explores in a granular way what one might find during an exploration of one’s mind during meditation. 1990 Summer Sesshin Monday.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the Hindu concepts of Prakriti and Purusha. And the nature of karma. Lola also asks, When you're fast asleep, hear a noise and wake up... what wakes up? What hears the noise? Jan 27, 1985

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains what is meant by Shunyata, or emptiness. First you find quiet. Then go further and find silence, or Shunyata. Mar 28, 1982.

This is an early talk by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, where she describes an iron bar without a hole. And explains the metaphor about one’s spiritual discipline as a boat crossing a river to reach the other side. Apr 20, 1975.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains how, when the world seems tedious or boring—with repeating sameness—we need only remember that the flower we see today is not the same one we saw yesterday. Each moment is new. To live we dress, we eat. Live in the valley, but be the peak. Apr 4, 1982

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores how to understand the intuitive knowing with which you look into yourself. Non-discrimination and seeing through the dust on the mirror. Lessons from 8th Century Chinese Zen master, Yoka Daishi. Feb 2, 1985

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, asks: Where is your consciousness? Our True Self is both Being and Becoming. Like a candle flame — unmoving, yet moving. Mar 22, 1987.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses spiritual hedonism, or spiritual pride, the seeking of pleasure in spiritual things, which is our egos patting ourselves on our backs for our seeking. She shows how the process of becoming awakened depends on two factors—the information you feed your mind and your meditation. Sep 24, 1989

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains that’s it’s easy to forsake the world—much harder to become a true man of no rank. She describes of an Eastern Orthodox sect, the Hesychasts. Known for their "way of stillness,” their contemplation technique earned them the name, “the belly-gazers.” Sep 10, 1989.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses the middle way. Also, have you ever read something that inspired you, but then you reread the same passage and it seemed dead? Lola explains why this happens. Feb 15, 1987

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, ask the question: When you wake up in the morning, before you see or hear or feel things or have thoughts, what is it that exists? Apr 26, 1987

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, shares the story of the old man, the young man and the donkey. And explains how we become creatures of habit, then habit becomes our master. The value of practicing non-attachment. Nov 30, 1986

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, finds passages in the Upanishads to begin an exploration of how we spend our lives in becoming—becoming a child, becoming an adult, becoming a wife or a husband, and so on. And how we become mistakenly identified with these multiple ideas of ourselves while our one true self remains unchanged. Mar 29, 1987.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, continues exploring the meaning of the Isha Upanishad and asks "What is consciousness?" What is that by which our eyes see and our ears hear? Mar 15, 1987

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explains the metaphor of the carriage, driver, horses and passenger. And how, for most of us, our greatest happiness occurs during our deepest sleep. Also, ancient Hindu tests that help us understand the nature of our world. Satchitananda explained. The relationship of subject and object. Mar 08, 1987.

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses the Great Doubt, or dark night of the soul, which sometimes precedes Satori. May 17, 1989

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell discusses the idea of whether Zen meditation is active or passive? Aug 27, 1989

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the notions of the known, the unknown and the unknowable. Also, what is emptiness? June 3, 1984

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, begins this Easter message with the tale of the king who gives each of his three sons a bag of seeds and asks them to preserve them till his return. April 22, 1984

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses the details of how one can live according to the Buddha's Eightfold Path - Apr 15, 1984

Lola discusses the roles of the scientist, the philosopher and the religious man. She also explains how finding refuge in the buddha, the dharma and the sangha means different things for different stages in one's spiritual life.

Lola shares her interpretation of Lao-Tzu: "It is better to have a vessel unfilled than it is to carry it when it is full.”

Lola McDowell Lee, a Zen Roshi, discusses the paradox of living in the present while planning for the future.

Lola explains how the base of the breath can be brought deeper, helping to unite the body's instinctual nature and the rational mind.