The importance of mastering attention. Delivered Nov 2, 1986

Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, discusses the importance of mastering attention—to uncover the silent inner ground of being.

Lola recounts a tale about Master Shoju, who calmly sat in a graveyard amidst howling wolves without fear. He had an unshakeable state of mind, invulnerable to the external turmoil of life and death.

Most people operate through the thinking mind, engaged in chores, conversations, with their attention scattered across "ten thousand things." People also talk to themselves endlessly about weather, politics, and trivialities—out of touch with their inner core.

When individuals first approach meditation in search of self-knowledge, they frequently bring the same habits of "doing" to their practice. They treat meditation as another technique to master, constantly evaluating their performance, worrying whether they are doing it right, or trying out various mental methods and mantras.

True meditation has nothing to do with mental gymnastics. Meditation is a state of penetration into the deepest ground of one's being. The mind cannot find stillness through surface thinking and methods. True meditation requires letting go of mental effort, ignoring passing thoughts, allowing attention to rest in the subtle gaps and intervals between thoughts.

Lola addresses common misconceptions about meditation. Many mistakenly believe that sitting quietly in a physical posture is sufficient, or that meditation requires a gloomy, pious demeanor.

The divine is reflected in the vibrant beauty of nature—sparkling oceans, green grass, and blooming flowers—and that true spiritual practice should awaken greater intelligence, aliveness, and joyful zest for living.

The thinking mind is cunning. It rationalizes physical paralysis as spiritual depth, mental dullness as transcendence, and emotional deadness as renunciation.

Citing Thomas Merton and D.T. Suzuki, Lola explains that Zen does not seek to explain reality through complex verbal formulas or emotional excitement. It requires pure, unshakeable attention.

Lola examines the pitfalls of self-deception and the scattered energy that plagues human life. We easily fool ourselves through egotism, greed, and what Saint Paul termed the "law of my parts"—conflicting internal drives that push us hither and thither without our conscious consent.

Without self-observation and disciplined attention, people remain utterly blind to the inner energies driving them. “Not even God himself can help a man who pays no attention." Without inner attention, a person is like someone fighting blindfolded in a dark room against unseen enemies.

Lola traces the practice of mindfulness and self-observation to ancient traditions. She discusses practical exercise used with her students—asking them to visualize the color blue and notice how quickly the mind wanders, revealing how undisciplined human attention truly is. When individuals learn to direct their attention inward, moving past surface desires and mental chatter, they tap into the infinite silence and emptiness that they possessed at birth before collecting the noises of the world.

Ultimately, Lola frames the journey of meditation as the ultimate monastery of the mind, accessible anywhere and at any time. One can transform ordinary movements such as the Tai Chi or the watchful waiting of the psalmist into acts of deep prayer and self-inquiry, bridging the gap between ego and no-mind.

Delivered Nov 2, 1986