Zen Roshi, Lola McDowell Lee, explores the notion of preferences. As the Third Chinese Patriarch of Zen put it: when love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for, or against, anything.

That is the choice-less reality, true stability. When you make a distinction, you are divided within yourself. The real does not change—only what you project on it.

Discrimination does not bring happiness. You cannot say, “I will only love. I will not hate.” It’s like saying, “I will only inhale.” Don’t project onto others how you want them to be. No one is here to fulfill your dreams. Only you are.

The deepest truth lies in the principle of identity. May 12, 1985