The meaning of the Kena and Isha Upanishads. Delivered May 15, 1984

Zen Roshi Lola McDowell Lee explores metaphysical truths through teachings rooted in the Kena and Isha Upanishads.

The fundamental inquiry of the Upanishads: "At whose behest does the mind operate, the body live, and the senses perceive?"

Moving beyond the limitations of sensory perception and conceptual thought, Lola establishes that the ultimate reality, Brahman or the true Atman, cannot be grasped by the eye, expressed by the tongue, or comprehended by the ordinary mind. It is distinct from both the known and the unknown, existing as the silent, self-revealing source behind all human experience.

Lola examines the distinction between the phenomenal world (our everyday reality of static objects perceived through the senses) and the noumenal world (the invisible, real dimension).

Citing Kant, she challenges the habit of placing these realms in opposition, noting that in higher spiritual realization, samsara and nirvana are ultimately one.

She uses the metaphor of a wheel to describe human psychological life, with the ego self spinning at the center. Through meditative focus, one discovers that this ego center is empty, pointing toward the unconditioned, all-pervading soul (Atman).

Lola uses the analogy of a lamp in a dark room: just as a lamp illuminates furniture, etc, the inner subject (consciousness) knows all objects without itself becoming an object of sensory capture.

Saguna Brahman is the divine reality with qualities and attributes, such as anthropomorphic projections of God.

Nirguna Brahman is the unmanifest, quality-less, color-less reality.

These culminate in Parabrahman - the absolute non-being and mystery.

Lola contrasts ordinary phenomenal knowledge which relies on a three-part structure of knower, known, and knowledge, with mystical experience, where one sees all three merge into an undivided unity.

She explains that while the ultimate reality cannot be directly taught or grasped as an object, spiritual methods like Zen, Yoga, and prayer can create the necessary inner conditions for an individual to awaken to self-realization.