Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, goes into considerable detail early and late in the talk about meditation to help prepare students for a sesshin. Lola talks about how the subject and object become one. One sitting. Master Gutei and his One-finger Zen. Lola discusses various teachings involving the monastery’s Tenzo, or cook. And why this is a very advanced position within the system. She recounts the tale of Dogen Zenji and the cook, and why the cook couldn’t continue his conversation with the master and needed to return to his kitchen. “My duty. My pleasure.” The Tenzo is not just a cook. His practice is in the kitchen, his activities, as ours should be in all our own. To be of service to others—is service to God. Sitting, by itself, is not enough. One must do good. A secret service, not for acclaim, but just for the sake of goodness. “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?” We are our own lifetime project. Open your heart to yourself and your mind to yourself. That is Zen. Exploration of a portion of the Diamond Sutra—how all composite things are like a dream, a bubble and a shadow. Elements come together for just a moment. Jul 10, 1988
