Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchExploring the meaning of the Dhammapada. Listening to teachings as if you are an empty tape recorder. Sep 4, 1983
Season 1 Episode 35
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 re…
Published on 1 year, 4 months ago
What is this life living you? It’s the same as that which sings in the birds. Jan 8, 1984
Season 1 Episode 34
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 …
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
A Christmas message for Zen practitioners about the birth of the light within. Dec 20, 1986
Season 1 Episode 33
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 t…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
To witness the apparent in the real and the real in the apparent. One mind sees both worlds. Jan 26, 1986
Season 1 Episode 32
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 th…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
We try to both change and remain the same—the hook that many are on. Jun 7, 1981
Season 1 Episode 31
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 wa…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Meditation is about life and death. Nirvana is not. The thundering silence. 1990 Sesshin Friday
Season 1 Episode 30
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 thunderi…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Learning to differentiate what you see, what you think and what you feel. Aug 16, 1981
Season 1 Episode 29
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, distin…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Your ego has no power to do anything. It’s impotent. Dec 6, 1981
Season 1 Episode 28
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 re…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Misfortune and our identity. And the tale of the farmer who asks God to let him choose the weather. Dec 03, 1981
Season 1 Episode 27
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 w…
Published on 1 year, 5 months ago
Lao Tzu uses the metaphor of a vessel to show that while existence renders it (and us) actual, it is the vessel's non-existence (or emptiness) that renders it useful. Aug 23, 1981
Season 1 Episode 26
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 rende…
Published on 1 year, 6 months ago