Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the meaning of Verse 15 of the Isha Upanishad: "The face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the Truth, for sight." Lola discusses the prevalence of guilt in Puritanical America. How some of us feel guilt our entire lives, and how many, sometimes because of religious traditions, feel they shouldn’t enjoy life. We should look at this guilt, and try to understand it. Meditation should not be an escape mechanism. Buddha taught that it is not life that brings sorrow—but our demands on life that causes suffering. Becoming Being… that is the end of desire and suffering. The more one feeds desire, the more it burns. Lola discusses a poem byRabindranath when he was dying. What is it in you that knows? Lola discusses sex and celibacy and its relationship to religiosity. She recounts the tale of two monks who encountered a young woman unable to cross a river. In spite of their vows, the monks carry the woman across the river and set her down. The younger monk later confronts the elder, troubled by having touched a woman in violation of their vows. The elder responds with the question, "I set her down on the other side of the river. Why are you still carrying her?" Some people mistake the rejection of life as a sign of religiosity. When Siddhartha was fasting and emaciated, he had a few followers. When he finally asked to be fed, his followers abandoned him. When he wasn’t emaciated, they no longer found him an acceptable master. We should look at the things we desire in life, our attachments, and see what we identify with. The notions of Birth and Non-Birth. The ego is very interested in one’s karma. When the actions of the mind are exhausted, then transcendence is possible. But we need the dissolution of the ego, and instead to identify with the Divine Being in us. Then that is liberation. Lola May 3, 1987
