How do you go in? Simply stop going out. Aug 2, 1987
About this episode
Lola McDowell Lee discusses the importance of inwardness and personal effort in uncovering truth, using the teachings of the Dhammapada and the story of Siddhartha Gautama as examples.
Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, continues her discussion of the Dhammapada . She warns us against mistaking the false for the true, urging us to look into our hearts and follow our true natures. Spiritual texts are meaningless without direct action. Lola discusses the seeming conflict of seeking external rewards while professing detachment from the fruit of action. Truth simply is . It is the truth of being, which human effort must uncover. Our chief obstacle is the web of conditioning. To find truth, one must deliberately extract oneself from this accidental conditioning of our societal pressures, and even our religious background. The price of truth is rigorous personal effort. That is our payment. Lola presents the story of the Siddhartha Gautama as the ultimate example of dedicated effort. His great renunciation, his adoption of the ascetic path, and his eventual realization that extreme mortification weakened his concentration. This led him to the “Middle Way." The climax of his journey was under the fig tree where he vowed to remain until he found the way beyond death and decay. The key to liberation is inwardness. The ancient Greeks believed the heart was the seat of wisdom…
More episodes of Talks by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee
- Accumulating knowledge versus attaining true wisdom. June 22, 1986
- The Lesson of True Listening. June 15, 1986
- An exploration of the subject of death. Delivered Jun 8, 1986
- Does an enlightened Zen master live a saintly, extraordinary life? Delivered Jun 1, 1986
- Give gifts with no notion of reward or praise. Like moving something from one hand to the other. Mar 9, 1986
- Learning to live less from the mind and more from the hara. Oct 14, 1981
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