Instructions for Koan study. And true understanding & non-discrimination. May 31, 1987

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, recounts the story of master Joshu who offers cups of tea to the various monks, illustrating the idea of how distinction keeps us from seeing the world as it is. When he offers the same tea to newcomers and long-time members alike, the manager asks why. And Joshu has a shouting response. Why?

Our scientific world breaks the world into bits, opreating within a framework of complexity and duality because seeing the simplicity of the whole is so difficult for us to grasp.

Zen teaches us the value of non-discrimination—the art of seeing things as they are, without interpreting or naming. Lola illustrates this with a personal anecdote about a wedding party where she presided—and the which they hoped would symbolize the couple’s eternal love. But the candle kept blowing out.

A tool for achieving this mental shift is the koan, and how it is not an intellectual puzzle to be solved. Rather, it is a device intended to exhaust the rational mind. The student should approach a koan" employing great faith, great resolution, and a great spirit of inquiry.”

The weakness of this duality-approach becomes clear when we look at many try to understand the notion of God. In doing so, many religions create the Devil to complement the notion of God.

The importance of awareness and alertness, and the meaning of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

We must pass through the obstacle of our own discriminating minds to walk freely in the universe.

May 31, 1987