The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

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The Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO) is a Western Zen Buddhist lineage established by the late John Daido Loori Roshi and dedicated to sharing the dharma as it has been passed down, generation to generation, since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. Zen Mountain Monastery, the main house of the Mountains and Rivers Order, is one of the West’s most respected Zen Buddhist monasteries and training centers. Nestled in New York’s beautiful Catskill Mountains, the Monastery draws its strength from the ancient tradition of Buddhist monasticism. Since 1980, the Monastery has offered spiritual practitioners traditional and innovative ways to engage the dharma through a wide range of retreats and residential programs that unfold within the context of authentic, full-time Zen monastic training. The Zen Center of New York City: Fire Lotus Temple is the city branch of Zen Mountain Monastery. Supporting home practitioners in the metropolitan area, ZCNYC offers varied practice opportunities within the Eight Gates training matrix.

Zen Mountain Monastery


    • Apr 27, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 43m AVG DURATION
    • 584 EPISODES

    4.6 from 261 ratings Listeners of The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast that love the show mention: roshi, sitting, talks, thoughtful, thank.


    Ivy Insights

    The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast is a truly powerful and transformative resource for those seeking to deepen their practice of Buddhism. As a newcomer to the practice, I have found solace in this virtual sangha during these difficult times of the pandemic. The talks delivered by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi always seem to touch on something that I desperately need to hear, making me realize that Buddhism's power is alive and real. It is truly amazing how Roshi keeps the discourse relevant to our time, emphasizing the great responsibility we have in spreading the dharma with skillful means during pressing times.

    One of the best aspects of The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast is the warmth, thoughtfulness, and principled approach of the speakers. Each talk is filled with valuable lessons that can be revisited and applied repeatedly in our lives. The depth and insight offered through these podcasts have undoubtedly contributed to making my life better. It is clear that the speakers at Zen Mountain Monastery are dedicated practitioners who genuinely care about sharing their wisdom and supporting others on their spiritual journeys.

    While The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast has many positive qualities, there are also some potential drawbacks worth mentioning. One possible downside is that it may not appeal to everyone due to its specific focus on Buddhist teachings and practices. Some listeners may prefer a more generalized or diverse range of topics covered in podcasts. Additionally, as with any podcast that relies heavily on spoken teachings, there can be limitations in conveying certain nuanced concepts without visual aids or direct interaction.

    In conclusion, The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast has been an incredible discovery for me as a practitioner looking to deepen my understanding and engagement with Buddhism. This podcast offers a treasure trove of wisdom through its penetrating discussions, nuanced awareness, and inclusion of social justice issues. Whether you are new to Buddhism or an experienced practitioner, this podcast provides invaluable teachings that can inspire personal growth and transformation. I am immensely grateful for this resource and highly recommend it to anyone interested in exploring the teachings of Buddhism.



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    Latest episodes from The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

    Dharma Encounter: Teacher-Student Relationship

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2025 75:51


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/27/25 - How do we work skillfully with the teacher-student relationship in Zen training? What do we create with it in our minds? Working with a teacher, how can we learn to show up authentically, to meet ourselves? To work out the difficult moments we find ourselves in, and allow our vulnerable hearts to shine forth? Shugen Roshi concludes that even misstepping is an important part of the path, and what matters most is what we do next. - Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the April 2025 Apple Blossom Sesshin.

    Is It Mine, Or Yours?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2025 46:19


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/26/25 - All beings have buddha nature and the capacity to fully realize ourselves; this is a fundamental teaching of the Dharma. Shugen Roshi explores the realization of Vasumitra, an early successor to the Buddha, in an encounter with his own transmission teacher. How is it to be fully met in the dharma, and be fully met by a teacher? To fully meet ourselves? Are we ready to extend our patience, vulnerability and integrity? Your own aspiration forms the vessel of the Dharma. It doesn't happen anywhere else. - From the Transmission of Light, Case 8 - Vasumitra.

    Skillful Means In the Forms of Practice

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2025 35:08


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 4/25/25 - Skillful means, “Upaya,” are forms that the teachings take throughout our practice. How do we take up everything, including the edges that appear, rather than fight against them? How do we use our practice to explore and expand our capacity to be alive, fulfilled, and responsive to the world? - Dharma Talk during the Apple Blossom Sesshin 2025 Fusatsu Ceremony.

    Practicing With Intention

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2025 42:35


    Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 4/24/25 - Honesty is essential to serious spiritual practice. We need to become honest with ourselves about the nature of our suffering, our habitual reactivity and our fear, so that we can acknowledge them before being able to release them. This level of integrity is needed for the entrance to a loving and compassionate relationship with ourselves and others. As Hogen Sensei says, this intention affects every aspect of living and dying, and the choices we're free to make along the way. - From Master Dogen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Fascicle 31 - Continuous Practice (Gyoji)

    Understanding Selfless Wisdom

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2025 46:21


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/23/25 - The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra shows us there is no intrinsic right and wrong when we understand the nature of emptiness. Selflessness is a key aspect of this wisdom, and developing a clear understanding is essential. The self-less wisdom is what we can rely on to guide us within a world of dualities: good and bad, right and wrong, form and emptiness, seeing their true nature as non dual. In emptiness, nothing exists as separate on its own; all reality is interdependent. Not grasping, not holding on to, not forsaking anything, this is how Shugen Roshi explains the practice of the Perfection of Wisdom.

    The Sacred Activity of Work

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2025 43:02


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/20/25 - How can we transform our everyday actions into expressions of spiritual awakening and joy? Shugen Roshi explores the concept of "Work" as not just physical or mental effort, but as a profound, joyful manifestation of our inherent spiritual abilities.  (See Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Fascicle #24 - On the Marvelous Spiritual Abilities.)

    A Question of Practice

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 28:16


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 4/19/25 - Being a practitioner of the Buddha dharma, how do you know practice works? Without commenting or evaluating; without looking for progress, look at how it operates -- how you operate -- right here and now.

    Mountain Light: On Zen Study

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2025 48:45


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZCNYC - 4/13/25 - The second of the Eight Gates of Zen Training is "Mountain Light: Zen Study". Don't confuse it with "Academic Study" which is the third gate. Zen Study refers to the many facets of studying with a teacher. Shugen Roshi explains what that kind of study means and emphasizes the importance of holding it in prominence and at the same time keeping all eight interconnected gates in natural balance. - From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 11 - Huang Po's Gobblers of Dregs

    study dregs gobblers academic study zen training mountain light
    Practice Instructions

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2025 33:15


    Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 4/13/25 - Gokan Osho takes us through Master Hongzhi's Practice instructions, reminding us to appreciate whatever's arising without grasping.

    Planting the Fields

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2025 48:22


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/6/25 - Planting, cultivating—how do we affect our troubled world for the better—on a spiritual path? How does this function? Shugen Roshi explores how the reasoning mind can be of service, but the essential ingredient is one's own intention and commitment, beyond the surface of our thinking minds, to the reality which is always coming into being. - From the Book of Serenity, Case 12 - Dizang Planting the Fields.

    Fusatsu: The Three Pure Precepts

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2025 36:29


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 4/6/25 - Hojin Sensei explores the heart of the three pure precepts; the simple path of clarity, kindness and love; this perennial wisdom that flows through all of us. (We apologise for the audio/mic glitches in some parts of the recording.)

    Hogen Sensei: Dharma Encounter on the Precepts

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2025 76:33


    Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 3/30/25 - The moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism seem obvious on the surface, such as to not kill, to not steal, and so on, but to really experience the complex layers in these teachings reveals what we are really working with with our minds, our habits and conditioning, and karma. To not deceive oneself about this is the fundamental ground of all moral and ethical action. This Dharma Encounter with the sangha brings out the integrity and courage of Zen training and practice.

    Gently Working With Distraction

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2025 44:23


    Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZCNYC - 3/30/25 - Gokan talks about the ways of distraction. Whether blatant or very subtle, they are us, they are mind, and it's so important to be gentle as we work with them.

    500 Blessed Lives, Part II

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2025 39:10


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 3/29/25 - Every concerned person has to consider the realities of cause and effect, or karma.  In fact, it's causes and conditions that bring this moment to our awareness. We are affected by everything, and every thought and action of ours has an impact. This truth, that our actions matter, is of great benefit to healing ourselves and the world. Shugen Roshi explores further the teachings of Baizhang and the Fox.

    Fusatsu: Wholesome and Unwholesome Actions

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2025 39:16


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/28/25 - Perfecting our actions is how we cultivate the qualities of a bodhisattva, and this is what is practiced in the moral and ethical teachings of Zen Buddhism. In this realm of existence, we can have a positive effect even on difficult circumstances. This talk by Shugen Roshi explores what is of benefit in this present life and how a practitioner can live in accord with this. - Teisho during the March 2025 Fusatsu at ZMM.

    Sincerity in Practice

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2025 44:03


    Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 3/27/25 - Master Hongzhou says, "Contact phenomena with total sincerity - not a single atom of dust outside yourself." How we connect with the world of beings and things can be seen as caring, and within zazen the energy of steady presence and attention is what we offer those we love. It is a potent mix of awareness and sincerity, and it doesn't take much of that to bring everything to life.

    500 Blessed Lives

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2025 40:42


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 3/26/25 - The Zen koan "Baizhang's Fox" explores the nature of cause and effect (karma) and enlightenment and is taken up in this talk. Shugen Roshi explores how freedom is not about escaping cause and effect but understanding its nature, and seeing that we have an enormous effect through our thoughts, words and actions. Our intentions and perceptions are what truly binds us. Freeing ourselves and others involves shifting our understanding of how our intentions have much to do with karma—through our ways of working with causes and conditions—and not grasping on to fixed ideas or opinions.

    Realization of Body-and-Mind

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2025 40:57


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/23/25 - “Shedding body and mind” is now a classic Zen phrase, and so what can it teach us about practice? Shugen Roshi explores how a novel translation of the character for “dust” as “body-and-mind” gave birth to a new perspective on zazen practice through the teachings of Dogen, the 9th century Zen master who gave rise to the Soto Zen School. Stability, aliveness and openings to the true nature of reality are all realized through this body. Our own mortal body-and-mind is the site of practice, and living completely in our bodies is an essential pathway of realization. - From the Transmission of Light (Denkoroku) Case 52 - Master Dogen

    Opening to Liturgy

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2025 44:35


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/23/25 - What's Liturgy? What's not Liturgy? Hojin Sensei talks about it's place, not just as a function in the Zendo, but as a down to earth, profound opening, right now, in our life.

    The Transformation of Karma

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2025 39:49


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 3/16/25 - The Diamond Sutra's teachings convey an understanding of karma at the fundamental level of dharma practice. How we get at the roots of karmic formations happens through cultivating awareness—within zazen and within a vow—where those energies can be transformed into something different. Karma is not determinant, it's always subject to shift. - From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 97 - "The Diamond Cutter Scripture's Scornful Revilement"

    Cooking Our Supreme Meal

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2025 49:57


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - 3/16/25 - What do we create out of the karma that we have now? How do we "actualize good for others"? Hojin Sensei takes us through Dogen's Fascicle "Tenzo Kyokun" (Instructions for the Zen Cook), which is an instruction assigned to all successive cooks at ZMM, and is a deep teaching for all of us, to use all of our life, moment to moment, down to the intricate details.

    Linji's True Person

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2025 40:54


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/9/25 - Everything is in a constant state of becoming, including ourselves. The Buddha said of his realization that this "true self" is not dependent on one's effort. It cannot be created and therefore cannot be destroyed. When the self is freed of all encumbering delusions about the nature of self as being good or bad, pure or impure, then the real form of truth can be known, and one can live freely as "the true person of no rank." (From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 147 - Linji's "True Person of No Rank")

    buddha linji
    The Creative Life Force

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2025 34:20


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/9/25 - Hojin Sensei stresses the universality of creativity; we're creating every minute of our lives. i.e. "creativity is not just about art." Or "Our whole life is art." Furthermore, we can approach the three pure precepts (do not create evil, practice good, actualize good for others) as the practice of creativity in our everyday lives. So the questions become "What and how are we creating?" "What are we connecting with?" Hojin Sensei comments on Daido Roshi's teachings from his book "The Zen of Creativity" and talks about the meaning of her own prolific art practice.

    “Mountain Training: The Eight Gates of Zen” – Spring 2025 Ango Opening Talk at ZMM

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2025 48:12


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/2/25 - Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO 90-day Spring Ango 2025 training period, "Mountain Training: The Eight Gates of Zen."

    Auspicious! Auspicious! Spring 2025 Ango Opening Talk at Fire Lotus Temple

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2025 40:41


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/2/25 - Hojin Sensei opens the Spring Ango practice period at Fire Lotus Temple and introduces this Ango's theme: "Mountain Training: The Eight Gates of Zen."

    Cold and Heat

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2025 37:21


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/1/25 - From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 43 - Tung Shan's No Cold or Heat - What are we holding on to? By facing rather than avoiding extremes, we take up the way to freedom. Using an ancient koan, Shugen Roshi explores the extremes and asks: can we see things as they are, not clouded by our preferences? This does not mean that there is nothing to be done, for there is. Practice is changing the way we use our minds, "down to the bone," so that we can be free in the world of duality.

    Thunderous Silence

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2025 38:09


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/1/25 - Hojin Sensei talks about Master Hakuin; his "Song of Zazen", and how his art - brushwork and poetry - was integral with his zazen and teaching process. Hojin explains the importance of art in Zen practice and talks about finding herself drawn to a similar teaching path.

    Reverence for the Three Treasures

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2025 38:27


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/23/25 - At the root of our ancestral lineage is reverence: for the Dharma, for practice and realization, and for all beings. In this talk Shugen Roshi explores the elements of faith and practice which “bring to life” the Buddha Dharma, and are central to the it's transmission from generation to generation. Gokan Osho also shares some words on his practice of Denkai training—the priestly transmission—received from Shugen Roshi this week. 

    Within the Grass Roof Hermitage

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2025 34:27


    Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 2/16/25 - Taking up this teaching from Shitou, Gokan delves into how an ancient Zen song-poem can help us find our way in our present world of turmoil and stress. “Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely,” the teaching tells us. Don't separate from this person who you are, this body and mind here and now. In this way we come into accord with our thoughts, words and actions, for the benefit of all beings.

    Lesson from a Goddess

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2025 45:35


    Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZCNYC - 2/16/25 - When polarization seems to surround us, it's imperative to recognize our own dualistic thinking in its many forms, and cultivate a habit of perspective-shifting. Shoan Osho weaves the Zen teachings on stillness and fluidity as seen in the Vimalakirti Sutra chapter, "The Goddess" to help clarify that everything is groundless, impermanent, and subject to change, and therefore will always benefit from impartiality and the goodness of bodhisattva activity.

    The Power Of Stillness

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2025 29:09


    Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZCNYC - 2/15/25 - When the heart becomes heavy, can we see how our minds tend to run in circles? Seeing this clearly we can have space to stop, breathe, and return to stillness. In this way we can touch the wisdom of being fully embodied, and recognize our inherent spiritual power which is always present within us, right here and now.

    Right Here At Home In One Breath

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2025 32:33


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 2/9/25 - Bringing together Rumi's poem "Only Breath" and The Ānāpānasati Sutta (Sutra on Mindful Breathing), Hojin Sensei takes us through a thorough reckoning of this physical and profound practice, and how it is fundamental to being awake.

    The Bodhisattva’s World

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2025 39:54


    Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 2/9/25 - A timely reminder from Shoan Osho that a bodhisattva is one who interrupts the cycle of samsara, to stop creating and perpetuating greed, anger and ignorance, for the benefit of all beings. This “inner revolution” that practice offers is how we can calm the spinning mind and bring the light of wisdom and compassionate action to  meet the challenges of the “outer world.”

    Dreaming Yourself Awake

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2025 45:30


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/2/25 - What do you see in front of you? Our perceptions are windows to the world, and provide material for how we create “the self” as a separate and seemingly solid entity. But all beings are fundamentally not fixed or solid, and to study this we can put an end to clinging and suffering. How do we live freely and compassionately? These instructions from Shugen Roshi point to our own wakefulness and freedom. (From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 40 - Nan Ch'uan's It's Like a Dream)

    Path of Enlightenment: Stage 2 – Finding the Traces of the Ox

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2025 46:52


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 2/2/25 - The spiritual journey is a path of discovering our true nature. The Ten Ox Herding pictures are a pictorial depiction of the training we each have to put together in our own body mind from the methods and teaching offered in this wisdom tradition. Hojin begins this talk with a live painting of the second ox herding picture: Finding the Traces of the Ox. As the preface to this stage says: "With the aid of the sutras, we gain understanding; through the study of the teaching, we find the traces. The many vessels are clearly all of one gold; and we ourselves, are the embodiment of the ten thousand things. But unable to recognize correct from incorrect, how are we to distinguish true from false? Since we have yet to pass through the gate, only tentatively have we seen the traces." We follow the tracks until we catch it! -- Watch Hojin Sensei paint the second ox-herding picture: https://vimeo.com/1054251015

    Zhaozhou's “Mu” and Skillful Compassion

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2025 45:29


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/26/25 - The sole purpose of a koan is to help the student experience their true nature. As a skillful means, a koan helps us see where we are clinging, and the karma we carry in this life. Yet even an enlightened being has this karmic body to grapple with. The challenge is to be in complete intimacy with our true nature, as it is, as we are.  Part 3 of 3

    Meeting Every Moment With Lovingkindness

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2025 35:43


    Suzanne Taikyo Gilman, Senior Monastic - ZCNYC - 1/26/25 - We all feel vulnerable and frightened when external circumstances change too fast and nothing feels certain. The Buddha guided his early community through disruption with the Metta Sutta, and this teaching gives us some helpful pointers for making our responses and actions skillful when based in lovingkindness.

    Who Let the Dog Out?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2025 45:48


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/25/25 - Like a gourd in water—push it down and it turns over and pops back up—we all begin practice easily unsettled. Shugen Roshi looks at this koan of Zhaozhou's Dog from the Book of Serenity and asks: how do we work with our impulsive nature? With our underlying tendencies? *Part 2 of 3.

    Fish Enjoy Water, Humans Enjoy the Dao

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2025 37:14


    Linda Shinji Hoffman, Senior Lay Student - ZMM - 1/24/25 - What is enjoyment of being within our element, such as fish enjoying water? All suffering comes from the activity of the mind, whereas the mind itself is free. Drawing on words of Xuansha and Dogen, lay senior Shinji calls forth the enjoyment and freedom that our practice brings us to address.

    Gentle and Strong

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2025 34:45


    Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Dharma Holder - 1/23/25 - The dharma song of Shitou describes the simplicity possible in the mind of practice. With this settled awareness we can see how habits are formed and re-formed again and again. Gokan brings alive the ease and gentleness that can become the mind of zazen as we practice letting go of habitual thoughts and tendencies.

    It’s Not About The Dog

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2025 47:11


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/22/25 - From Master Wu-Men's Gateless Gate - Zhaozhou's "Mu" - Within the realm of words much can be known, but how do we study the realm which is inexpressible in words? The Buddha's profound realization of true reality is accessible to everyone, but how do we walk that path? How does working with a koan take us beyond the words themselves?

    Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Bodhisattva’s Living Legacy

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 19, 2025 45:13


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 1/19/25 - Invoking the life and words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Shugen Roshi celebrates his "living legacy": the power of love and its manifestation in the Beloved Community to heal a troubled world. He draws from King's speech on the "new phase of the civil rights struggle", given the year before his assassination, and his calls for an equality based on love to address disparity, poverty and injustice. Speaking from a Christian perspective, King's views resonate with the universal religious truths of interrelatedness, and the true freedom and equity that is an expression of wisdom and compassion. Such is the Bodhisattva's vow to put an end to the suffering of all beings. - This dharma talk was preceded by this year's MLK tribute presentation:  https://vimeo.com/1048203464 - Also, see the presentation from a few years ago by the People of African Descent (PAD) Affinity Group: "From Refuge to Sanctuary: an MRO Tribute to Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.": https://vimeo.com/666366222

    At the Heart Of Your Path

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 38:58


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/12/25 - Gateless Gate, Case 16: The Bell's Sound and the Priest's Robe - We have these forms in Zen for meditation, for liturgy, for taking a meal and for practicing the dharma together. But what use is a form? How can we use forms without getting caught up in the form itself? To benefit from Zen practice as a vehicle to liberate ourselves from grasping at forms—or at anything—is to learn to shift as conditions change within every aspect of our lives.

    Noble Path Talk – Ikyo Love

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 12, 2025 27:41


    Ikyo Love, MRO Student - 1/12/25 - "Making it my own."

    noble path talk
    The Practice of True Reality

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2025 21:27


    Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Dharma Holder - 1/11/25 - Freeing ourselves of the suffering born of strong emotions, how do we keep the heart open and able to feel without overwhelm or shutting down? And how do we establish concentration and find the vast capacity of our minds? Gokan brings forth the grounded, supported way of being awake to all that is unfolding in “the immense reality” that is our lives.

    Joshu’s Stone Bridge

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2025 38:51


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 1/5/25 - From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 52 - Entering the new year, we can reflect on how we are holding our practice, how it supports our connection with others, and whether we are clear on our aspiration to practice well. To take up the practice of selflessness means we let go of high and low, better than and less than, to learn from every scrap of the dharma on how to free ourselves and others. Shugen Roshi takes up this teaching of the old Buddha Joshu to illuminate our path.

    Path of Enlightenment: Stage 1 – Searching for the Ox

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2025 47:28


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 1/5/2025 - What are we seeking? The spiritual journey is a path of discovering our true nature. The Ten Ox Herding pictures are a pictorial depiction of the Zen training path of enlightenment. Hojin begins this talk with a live painting of the first oxherding picture: Searching for the Ox, followed by a talk on this beginning stage of training: feeling an "offness" in our life, the raising of the Bodhi Mind, and the sense that some kind of search is on! Watch Hojin Sensei draw the first ox-herding picture: https://vimeo.com/1044299063

    Fusatsu: New Years' Good News

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2025 35:10


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/31/24 - All conditioned things are dukkha, but we are not bound by them nor are we limited by them. The Noble Path, which has come to us through others, works in any and every situation. We have Buddha Mind; we have pure undefiled nature. This is the way to offer the world some goodness through our aspirations and practice, and live a life without regret.

    Fusatsu: Wholehearted Bodhisattva Vows

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2025 43:40


    Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - 12/30/24 - This Fusatsu talk was given on the evening before New Years Eve to the sangha at Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn on how practice is not linear and moves in a circle or spiral pattern. The Bodhisattva Vows behold the direction.

    Langye’s Mountains and Rivers

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2024 43:54


    Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - 12/30/24 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 100 - How does the purity of Buddha Nature still give rise to all the havoc, confusion, and suffering in our human lives? In this talk given during the Rohatsu sesshin, Shugen Roshi takes up this fundamental question: if all is emptiness and impermanence, what is it that needs to be done to experience the ‘peaceful dwelling' within samsara, and to liberate all beings within the phenomenal world?

    Space Beyond Knowing

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2024 38:23


    Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 12/29/24 - On a liberative path, we know we want to feel better but the enormity of the task, and the continuous “undoing” that it promises, can give pause. Shoan Osho explores the conditions of the Buddha's enlightenment experience, and brings to the center Sujata's role as the nourisher of life, as well as the cosmic female image of Prajna Paramita, the Mother of all Buddhas. Such images are in fact an emanation of each of us, our many forms of no-form, and are as limitless as space.

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