How to meditate. And why. Nov 29, 1987

(Note: original recording audio is not ideal, but Lola's message is great)

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, gives an ind-depth explanation of the practice of sitting, as this talk is during a sesshin at the temple.

Who is the Buddha? What is birth and death?

Zazen is learning about life by dying to one’s self. Be quietly alert, dropping the ego and identifications.

Our mistake is taking the phenomenal to be the noumenal. But they are really two aspects of the same thing.

Emotions confuse us and cause us pain. Learning how to sit with pain. Everyone has pain. Complaining about pain is your ego at work. One transcends pain by focusing and going beyond the phenomenal.

What do you want from your sitting practice? Instruction in meditation. Breath through the Hara to find the calm. Radiate your peace.

The evolution of Zen from India and Hinduism to Taoism and China to America, where we are now (in 1987) the new caretakers of the tradition.

The ringing of the bell as part of the transmission process. One must learn how to ring it properly.

Then Lola leads a Rinzai chant before the students enter Sesshin.

Nov 29, 1987