About this episode

Lola McDowell Lee discusses the impact of human desire and external validation on one's innate abilities through the metaphor of an archer.

(Note on the recording: Thank you for your patience. Many of the remaining cassettes of Lola’s talks have substantial noise and echo issues. To overcome that, I’m trying out a different software to clean the audio. This software removes the noises, but it also sounds slightly clipped. Just so you know...if this sounds a little different from what you're used to. For those of you that follow her talks, I’m curious if you can accept these changes to improve the audio. Your comments are welcome. Thank you. – Bob) *** Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the dilemma of human life: the internal division caused by human desire, and the pursuit of external validation. Chuang Tzu tells of an archer who possesses perfect skill when shooting for the simple joy of the act. However, the moment an external prize is introduced the archer grows nervous, develops double vision, and goes out of his mind. Roshi Lee points out that while the archer's physical skill remains entirely unchanged, the introduction of a prize divides him against his own nature. He becomes obsessed with winning rather than the immediate, physical act of shooting. The need to achieve a specific outcome drains him of his…

People in this episode

Host: Lola McDowell Lee

Topics covered

• Zen
• human desire
• external validation
• consciousness
• nature
• internal division

Keywords

• Zen
• human desire
• external validation
• Chuang Tzu
• archer
• consciousness
• nature

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Talks by Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee podcast page.