Rising Stars: Meet Lisa Ernst of West, Charlotte Avenue

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Ernst.

Hi Lisa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I moved to Nashville when I was 13 to live with my grandmother after my mother died of cancer. A few years after Mom died, my father also died. At 16, I was completely lost. I discovered Buddhism in high school through an elective Zen class. My life was a jumbled puzzle with pieces that didn’t fit.

The Zen class included a core teaching from the Buddha on impermanence. These words penetrated my heart and spoke to the deep suffering of loss: “Everything that has the nature to arise also has the nature to pass away.” Having seen both of my parents die while only in their 40s, this teaching was a bolt of truth that penetrated my confused mind and aching heart. While it didn’t stop the pain, the Buddha’s teaching gave me some desperately needed moments of clarity and peace.

As I read the Buddha’s wise and compassionate teachings, my mind was pacified for a time, and a glimmer of wisdom emerged, “since everything is impermanent, this suffering is not personal: it isn’t about me.” When I began my meditation practice earnestly, I chose the Zen path, which enamored me as a teenager. My reentry to Buddhism came about unexpectedly. Now an adult with a job, I was finishing lunch with coworkers at a local vegetarian restaurant when I saw a small piece of paper on the bulletin board with only “Zen Meditation” and a phone number. I grabbed the paper and called that afternoon. I was ready to start.

This would be one of my adult life’s first elective group activities, and I had to work up my courage to join the group. On my first visit to the private residence where the meetings were held, I sat in my car on the busy street for several minutes, feeling shaky. The mystery that lay in front of me felt overwhelming at that moment:

• An unfamiliar house.
• People I’d never met.
• A practice that I knew little about beyond books.

I started the car and drove away. But my desire to restart my meditation practice was stronger than the fear, and the next Saturday, I returned. This time I made it to the door and knocked. A friendly man a few years older than me welcomed me and showed me into an unfurnished room where six or seven meditators, mostly men, were sitting on the floor on round black cushions. Still enamored of the stories of ancient masters wandering from town to town in Japan and China, I felt right at home with these dedicated practitioners. As I began a committed meditation practice, my mind and body stilled on the cushion, and a space opened for me to meet grief, not as I or mine, but simply “the grief,” a universal experience for all who love and lose. The open, receptive space of awareness allowed this grief to be felt deeply and fully and then pass away as it was ready. This allowed me to begin the healing process and release the grief.

Along with daily sitting practice and weekly meditation meetings, I began sitting silent mediation retreats regularly, and soon my depression lifted. I switched to the Buddhist Insight tradition ten years later, started a sangha, One Dharma Nashville, and began teaching. Now I teach internationally and lead meditation retreats nationally.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has only sometimes been a smooth road. After ten years of studying and practicing Zen, I found my teacher wasn’t who he appeared to be. He drank too much and was inappropriate with many of his female students. I began to see he was also overstepping boundaries with me or trying to. At that time, many teachers in the Zen tradition were inappropriate with their students, and scandals erupted throughout the country. Efforts have been made since then to address this misconduct and to strip these teachers of their teaching authority. This revelation was devastating, and I left the Zen community to heal. Slowly I found my way along the Insight path and found my sangha. But it took time to regain my footing and trust in the practice. Meditation teachers are human, and some are not fit to guide students. This is true in any religion or spiritual path, and I had to hone my radar and find teachers who I could trust and who “walked the talk.” This is my deep commitment as a teacher as well.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am both a meditation teacher and a visual artist. Before moving into meditation teaching full-time, I was a professional visual artist. I still create and sell art, just not as a full-time profession. I started painting in acrylics and now primarily focus on photo encaustic. My work is focused on nature, many pieces are botanical, and I’m particularly inspired by lotus flowers, which represent the ability to flourish and bloom in muddy conditions. It’s a great life metaphor that I relate to personally. I also create many pieces from my Radnor Lake photography, a favorite place to spend contemplative time with my camera. My technique for creating photo encaustic pieces is unique because I layer Japanese rice paper over the photos before applying wax. My acrylic botanical paintings are in many institutional collections throughout the country, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, M.D. Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Northwestern University, and many more.

What do you think about luck?
Luckily, combined with intention and hard work, I have all coalesced on my path. Meeting the right teachers and mentors, such as Trudy Goodman, founder of InsightLA, at the moment I needed her wisdom and support, has truly served me along my path of meditation and teaching. She came to Nashville in 2010 for a special ceremony to formally recognize me as a full teacher in the Insight Buddhist tradition. The support of local meditators in our community has allowed One Dharma to remain a resource for new and experienced meditators in Nashville and beyond. Finding an amazing art teacher, the late Bunn Gray of Franklin, paved the way to becoming a professional artist. I didn’t even seek him out. I was given his card by a framer who thought I had the talent to pursue art as a profession. I eventually listened, and it certainly paid off.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.onedharmanashville.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisaernstmeditation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ernst.lisa
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/one-dharma-nashville-nashville
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/lisaernst
• Other: www.lisaernst.com