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 th ...