Podcasts about hogen

In this talk, Hogen Roshi shares insights from a recent workshop at the monastery integrating Zen practice with Byron Katie's method of inquiry. He explores how questioning our fixed beliefs—about ourselves, others, and the world—opens freedom and flexibility, and how this investigation aligns with the heart of Zen's great inquiry: What is true? Drawing on examples from daily life, the teachings of Dao Wei, and Thich Nhat Hanh's reflections on impermanence, Hogen shows how seeing from many perspectives helps loosen identification and cultivate vow. Ultimately, he reminds us that because all things are impermanent, we have the creative potential to nurture love, equanimity, and our deepest aspiration in each moment.This talk was given during the Heart of Wisdom Sunday Evening program on September 7 2025. ★ Support this podcast ★

WhoAlan Henceroth, President and Chief Operating Officer of Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – Al runs the best ski area-specific executive blog in America – check it out:Recorded onMay 19, 2025About Arapahoe BasinClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain Company, which also owns:Pass access* Ikon Pass: unlimited* Ikon Base Pass: unlimited access from opening day to Friday, Dec. 19, then five total days with no blackouts from Dec. 20 until closing day 2026Base elevation* 10,520 feet at bottom of Steep Gullies* 10,780 feet at main baseSummit elevation* 13,204 feet at top of Lenawee Mountain on East Wall* 12,478 feet at top of Lazy J Tow (connector between Lenawee Express six-pack and Zuma quad)Vertical drop* 1,695 feet lift-served – top of Lazy J Tow to main base* 1,955 feet lift-served, with hike back up to lifts – top of Lazy J Tow to bottom of Steep Gullies* 2,424 feet hike-to – top of Lenawee Mountain to Main BaseSkiable Acres: 1,428Average annual snowfall:* Claimed: 350 inches* Bestsnow.net: 308 inchesTrail count: 147 – approximate terrain breakdown: 24% double-black, 49% black, 20% intermediate, 7% beginnerLift count: 9 (1 six-pack, 1 high-speed quad, 3 fixed-grip quads, 1 double, 2 carpets, 1 ropetow)Why I interviewed himWe can generally splice U.S. ski centers into two categories: ski resort and ski area. I'll often use these terms interchangeably to avoid repetition, but they describe two very different things. The main distinction: ski areas rise directly from parking lots edged by a handful of bunched utilitarian structures, while ski resorts push parking lots into the next zipcode to accommodate slopeside lodging and commerce.There are a lot more ski areas than ski resorts, and a handful of the latter present like the former, with accommodations slightly off-hill (Sun Valley) or anchored in a near-enough town (Bachelor). But mostly the distinction is clear, with the defining question being this: is this a mountain that people will travel around the world to ski, or one they won't travel more than an hour to ski?Arapahoe Basin occupies a strange middle. Nothing in the mountain's statistical profile suggests that it should be anything other than a Summit County locals hang. It is the 16th-largest ski area in Colorado by skiable acres, the 18th-tallest by lift-served vertical drop, and the eighth-snowiest by average annual snowfall. The mountain runs just six chairlifts and only two detachables. Beginner terrain is limited. A-Basin has no base area lodging, and in fact not much of a base area at all. Altitude, already an issue for the Colorado ski tourist, is amplified here, where the lifts spin from nearly 11,000 feet. A-Basin should, like Bridger Bowl in Montana (upstream from Big Sky) or Red River in New Mexico (across the mountain from Taos) or Sunlight in Colorado (parked between Aspen and I-70), be mostly unknown beside its heralded big-name neighbors (Keystone, Breck, Copper).And it sort of is, but also sort of isn't. Like tiny (826-acre) Aspen Mountain, A-Basin transcends its statistical profile. Skiers know it, seek it, travel for it, cross it off their lists like a snowy Eiffel Tower. Unlike Aspen, A-Basin has no posse of support mountains, no grided downtown spilling off the lifts, no Kleenex-level brand that stands in for skiing among non-skiers. And yet Vail tried buying the bump in 1997, and Alterra finally did in 2024. Meanwhile, nearby Loveland, bigger, taller, snowier, higher, easier to access with its trip-off-the-interstate parking lots, is still ignored by tourists and conglomerates alike.Weird. What explains A-Basin's pull? Onetime and future Storm guest Jackson Hogen offers, in his Snowbird Secrets book, an anthropomorphic explanation for that Utah powder dump's aura: As it turns out, everyone has a story for how they came to discover Snowbird, but no one knows the reason. Some have the vanity to think they picked the place, but the wisest know the place picked them.That is the secret that Snowbird has slipped into our subconscious; deep down, we know we were summoned here. We just have to be reminded of it to remember, an echo of the Platonic notion that all knowledge is remembrance. In the modern world we are so divorced from our natural selves that you would think we'd have lost the power to hear a mountain call us. And indeed we have, but such is the enormous reach of this place that it can still stir the last seed within us that connects us to the energy that surrounds us every day yet we do not see. The resonance of that tiny, vibrating seed is what brings us here, to this extraordinary place, to stand in the heart of the energy flow.Yeah I don't know, Man. We're drifting into horoscope territory here. But I also can't explain why we all like to do This Dumb Thing so much that we'll wrap our whole lives around it. So if there is some universe force, what Hogen calls “vibrations” from Hidden Peak's quartz, drawing skiers to Snowbird, could there also be some proton-kryptonite-laserbeam s**t sucking us all toward A-Basin? If there's a better explanation, I haven't found it.What we talked aboutThe Beach; keeping A-Basin's whole ski footprint open into May; Alterra buys the bump – “we really liked the way Alterra was doing things… and letting the resorts retain their identity”; the legacy of former owner Dream; how hardcore, no-frills ski area A-Basin fits into an Alterra portfolio that includes high-end resorts such as Deer Valley and Steamboat; “you'd be surprised how many people from out of state ski here too”; Ikon as Colorado sampler pack (or not); local reaction to Alterra's purchase – “I think it's fair that there was anxiety”; balancing the wild ski cycle of over-the-top peak days and soft periods; parking reservations; going unlimited on the full Ikon Pass and how parking reservations play in – “we spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about it”; the huge price difference between Epic and Ikon and how that factors into the access calculus; why A-Basin still sells a single-mountain season pass; whether reciprocal partnerships with Monarch and Silverton will remain in place; “I've been amazed at how few things I've been told to do” by Alterra; A-Basin's dirt-cheap early-season pass; why early season is “a more competitive time” than it used to be; why A-Basin left Mountain Collective; Justice Department anti-trust concerns around Alterra's A-Basin purchase – “it never was clear to me what the concerns were”; breaking down A-Basin's latest U.S. Forest Service masterplan – “everything in there, we hope to do”; a parking lot pulse gondola and why that makes sense over shuttles; why A-Basin plans a two-lift system of beginner machines; why should A-Basin care about beginner terrain?; is beginner development is related to Ikon Pass membership?; what it means that the MDP designs for 700 more skiers per day; assessing the Lenawee Express sixer three seasons in; why A-Basin sold the old Lenawee lift to independent Sunlight, Colorado; A-Basin's patrol unionizing; and 100 percent renewable energy.What I got wrong* I said that A-Basin was the only mountain that had been caught up in antitrust issues, but that's inaccurate: when S-K-I and LBO Enterprises merged into American Skiing Company in 1996, the U.S. Justice Department compelled the combined company to sell Cranmore and Waterville Valley, both in New Hampshire. Waterville Valley remains independent. Cranmore stayed independent for a while, and has since 2010 been owned by Fairbank Group, which also owns Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts and operates Bromley, Vermont.* I said that A-Basin's $259 early-season pass, good for unlimited access from opening day through Dec. 25, “was like one day at Vail,” which is sort of true and sort of not. Vail Mountain's day-of lift ticket will hit $230 from Nov. 14 to Dec. 11, then increase to $307 or $335 every day through Christmas. All Resorts Epic Day passes, which would get skiers on the hill for any of those dates, currently sell for between $106 and $128 per day. Unlimited access to Vail Mountain for that full early-season period would require a full Epic Pass, currently priced at $1,121.* This doesn't contradict anything we discussed, but it's worth noting some parking reservations changes that A-Basin implemented following our conversation. Reservations will now be required on weekends only, and from Jan. 3 to May 3, a reduction from 48 dates last winter to 36 for this season. The mountain will also allow skiers to hold four reservations at once, doubling last year's limit of two.Why now was a good time for this interviewOne of the most striking attributes of modern lift-served skiing is how radically different each ski area is. Panic over corporate hegemony power-stamping each child mountain into snowy McDonald's clones rarely survives past the parking lot. Underscoring the point is neighboring ski areas, all over America, that despite the mutually intelligible languages of trail ratings and patrol uniforms and lift and snowgun furniture, and despite sharing weather patterns and geologic origins and local skier pools, feel whole-cut from different eras, cultures, and imaginations. The gates between Alta and Snowbird present like connector doors between adjoining hotel rooms but actualize as cross-dimensional Mario warpzones. The 2.4-mile gondola strung between the Alpine Meadows and Olympic sides of Palisades Tahoe may as well connect a baseball stadium with an opera house. Crossing the half mile or so between the summits of Sterling at Smugglers' Notch and Spruce Peak at Stowe is a journey of 15 minutes and five decades. And Arapahoe Basin, elder brother of next-door Keystone, resembles its larger neighbor like a bat resembles a giraffe: both mammals, but of entirely different sorts. Same with Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, Vermont; Sugar Bowl, Donner Ski Ranch, and Boreal, California; Park City and Deer Valley, Utah; Killington and Pico, Vermont; Highlands and Nub's Nob, Michigan; Canaan Valley and Timberline and Nordic-hybrid White Grass, West Virginia; Aspen's four Colorado ski areas; the three ski areas sprawling across Mt. Hood's south flank; and Alpental and its clump of Snoqualmie sisters across the Washington interstate. Proximity does not equal sameness.One of The Storm's preoccupations is with why this is so. For all their call-to-nature appeal, ski areas are profoundly human creations, more city park than wildlife preserve. They are sculpted, managed, manicured. Even the wildest-feeling among them – Mount Bohemia, Silverton, Mad River Glen – are obsessively tended to, ragged by design.A-Basin pulls an even neater trick: a brand curated for rugged appeal, scaffolded by brand-new high-speed lifts and a self-described “luxurious European-style bistro.” That the Alterra Mountain Company-owned, megapass pioneer floating in the busiest ski county in the busiest ski state in America managed to retain its rowdy rap even as the onetime fleet of bar-free double chairs toppled into the recycling bin is a triumph of branding.But also a triumph of heart. A-Basin as Colorado's Alta or Taos or Palisades is a title easily ceded to Telluride or Aspen Highlands, similarly tilted high-alpiners. But here it is, right beside buffed-out Keystone, a misunderstood mountain with its own wild side but a fair-enough rap as an approachable landing zone for first-time Rocky Mountain explorers westbound out of New York or Ohio. Why are A-Basin and Keystone so different? The blunt drama of A-Basin's hike-in terrain helps, but it's more enforcer than explainer. The real difference, I believe, is grounded in the conductor orchestrating this mad dance.Since Henceroth sat down in the COO chair 20 years ago, Keystone has had nine president-general manager equivalents. A-Basin was already 61 years old in 2005, giving it a nice branding headstart on younger Keystone, born in 1970. But both had spent nearly two decades, from 1978 to 1997, co-owned by a dogfood conglomerate that often marketed them as one resort, and the pair stayed glued together on a multimountain pass for a couple of decades afterward.Henceroth, with support and guidance from the real-estate giant that owned A-Basin in the Ralston-Purina-to-Alterra interim, had a series of choices to make. A-Basin had only recently installed snowmaking. There was no lift access to Zuma Bowl, no Beavers. The lift system consisted of three double chairs and two triples. Did this aesthetic minimalism and pseudo-independence define A-Basin? Or did the mountain, shaped by the generations of leaders before Henceroth, hold some intangible energy and pull, that thing we recognize as atmosphere, culture, vibe? Would The Legend lose its duct-taped edge if it:* Expanded 400 mostly low-angle acres into Zuma Bowl (2007)* Joined Vail Resorts' Epic Pass (2009)* Installed the mountain's first high-speed lift (Black Mountain Express in 2010)* Expand 339 additional acres into the Beavers (2018), and service that terrain with an atypical-for-Colorado 1,501-vertical-foot fixed-grip lift* Exit the Epic Pass following the 2018-19 ski season* Immediately join Mountain Collective and Ikon as a multimountain replacement (2019)* Ditch a 21-year-old triple chair for the mountain's first high-speed six-pack (2022)* Sell to Alterra Mountain Company (2024)* Require paid parking reservations on high-volume days (2024)* Go unlimited on the Ikon Pass and exit Mountain Collective (2025)* Release an updated USFS masterplan that focuses largely on the novice ski experience (2025)That's a lot of change. A skier booted through time from Y2K to October 2025 would examine that list and conclude that Rad Basin had been tamed. But ski a dozen laps and they'd say well not really. Those multimillion upgrades were leashed by something priceless, something human, something that kept them from defining what the mountain is. There's some indecipherable alchemy here, a thing maybe not quite as durable as the mountain itself, but rooted deeper than the lift towers strung along it. It takes a skilled chemist to cook this recipe, and while they'll never reveal every secret, you can visit the restaurant as many times as you'd like.Why you should ski Arapahoe BasinWe could do a million but here are nine:1) $: Two months of early-season skiing costs roughly the same as A-Basin's neighbors charge for a single day. A-Basin's $259 fall pass is unlimited from opening day through Dec. 25, cheaper than a Dec. 20 day-of lift ticket at Breck ($281), Vail ($335), Beaver Creek ($335), or Copper ($274), and not much more than Keystone ($243). 2) Pali: When A-Basin tore down the 1,329-vertical-foot, 3,520-foot-long Pallavicini double chair, a 1978 Yan, in 2020, they replaced it with a 1,325-vertical-foot, 3,512-foot-long Leitner-Poma double chair. It's one of just a handful of new doubles installed in America over the past decade, underscoring a rare-in-modern-skiing commitment to atmosphere, experience, and snow preservation over uphill capacity. 3) The newest lift fleet in the West: The oldest of A-Basin's six chairlifts, Zuma, arrived brand-new in 2007.4) Wall-to-wall: when I flew into Colorado for a May 2025 wind-down, five ski areas remained open. Despite solid snowpack, Copper, Breck, and Winter Park all spun a handful of lifts on a constrained footprint. But A-Basin and Loveland still ran every lift, even over the Monday-to-Thursday timeframe of my visit.5) The East Wall: It's like this whole extra ski area. Not my deal as even skiing downhill at 12,500 feet hurts, but some of you like this s**t:6) May pow: I mean yeah I did kinda just get lucky but damn these were some of the best turns I found all year (skiing with A-Basin Communications Manager Shayna Silverman):7) The Beach: the best ski area tailgate in North America (sorry, no pet dragons allowed - don't shoot the messenger):8) The Beavers: Just glades and glades and glades (a little crunchy on this run, but better higher up and the following day):9) It's a ski area first: In a county of ski resorts, A-Basin is a parking-lots-at-the-bottom-and-not-much-else ski area. It's spare, sparse, high, steep, and largely exposed. Skiers are better at self-selecting than we suppose, meaning the ability level of the average A-Basin skier is more Cottonwoods than Connecticut. That impacts your day in everything from how the liftlines flow to how the bumps form to how many zigzaggers you have to dodge on the down.Podcast NotesOn the dates of my visit We reference my last A-Basin visit quite a bit – for context, I skied there May 6 and 7, 2025. Both nice late-season pow days.On A-Basin's long seasonsIt's surprisingly difficult to find accurate open and close date information for most ski areas, especially before 2010 or so, but here's what I could cobble together for A-Basin - please let me know if you have a more extensive list, or if any of this is wrong:On A-Basin's ownership timelineArapahoe Basin probably gets too much credit for being some rugged indie. Ralston-Purina, then-owners of Keystone, purchased A-Basin in 1978, then added Breckenridge to the group in 1993 before selling the whole picnic basket to Vail in 1997. The U.S. Justice Department wouldn't let the Eagle County operator have all three, so Vail flipped Arapahoe to a Canadian real estate empire, then called Dundee, some months later. That company, which at some point re-named itself Dream, pumped a zillion dollars into the mountain before handing it off to Alterra last year.On A-Basin leaving Epic PassA-Basin self-ejected from Epic Pass in 2019, just after Vail maxed out Colorado by purchasing Crested Butte and before they fully invaded the East with the Peak Resorts purchase. Arapahoe Basin promptly joined Mountain Collective and Ikon, swapping unlimited-access on four varieties of Epic Pass for limited-days products. Henceroth and I talked this one out during our 2022 pod, and it's a fascinating case study in building a better business by decreasing volume.On the price difference between Ikon and Epic with A-Basin accessConcerns about A-Basin hurdling back toward the overcrowded Epic days by switching to Ikon's unlimited tier tend to overlook this crucial distinction: Vail sold a 2018-19 version of the Epic Pass that included unlimited access to Keystone and A-Basin for an early-bird rate of $349. The full 2025-26 Ikon Pass debuted at nearly four times that, retailing for $1,329, and just ramped up to $1,519.On Alterra mountains with their own season passesWhile all Alterra-owned ski areas (with the exception of Deer Valley), are unlimited on the full Ikon Pass and nine are unlimited with no blackouts on Ikon Base, seven of those sell their own unlimited season pass that costs less than Base. The sole unlimited season pass for Crystal, Mammoth, Palisades Tahoe, Steamboat, Stratton, and Sugarbush is a full Ikon Pass, and the least-expensive unlimited season pass for Solitude is the Ikon Base. Deer Valley leads the nation with its $4,100 unlimited season pass. See the Alterra chart at the top of this article for current season pass prices to all of the company's mountains.On A-Basin and Schweitzer pass partnershipsAlterra has been pretty good about permitting its owned ski areas to retain historic reciprocal partners on their single-mountain season passes. For A-Basin, this means three no-blackout days at Monarch and two unguided days at Silverton. Up at Schweitzer, passholders get three midweek days each at Whitewater, Mt. Hood Meadows, Castle Mountain, Loveland, and Whitefish. None of these ski areas are on Ikon Pass, and the benefit is only stapled to A-Basin- or Schweitzer-specific season passes.On the Mountain Collective eventI talk about Mountain Collective as skiing's most exclusive country club. Nothing better demonstrates that characterization than this podcast I recorded at the event last fall, when in around 90 minutes I had conversations with the top leaders of Boyne Resorts, Snowbird, Aspen, Jackson Hole, Sun Valley, Snowbasin, Grand Targhee, and many more.On Mountain Collective and Ikon overlapThe Mountain Collective-Ikon overlap is kinda nutso:On Pennsylvania skiingIn regards to the U.S. Justice Department grilling Alterra on its A-Basin acquisition, it's still pretty stupid that the agency allowed Vail Resorts to purchase eight of the 19 public chairlift-served ski areas in Pennsylvania without a whisper of protest. These eight ski areas almost certainly account for more than half of all skier visits in a state that typically ranks sixth nationally for attendance. Last winter, the state's 2.6 million skier visits accounted for more days than vaunted ski states New Hampshire (2.4 million), Washington (2.3), Montana (2.2), Idaho (2.1). or Oregon (2.0). Only New York (3.4), Vermont (4.2), Utah (6.5), California (6.6), and Colorado (13.9) racked up more.On A-Basin's USFS masterplanNothing on the scale of Zuma or Beavers inbound, but the proposed changes would tap novice terrain that has always existed but never offered a good access point for beginners:On pulse gondolasA-Basin's proposed pulse gondola, should it be built, would be just the sixth such lift in America, joining machines at Taos, Northstar, Steamboat, Park City, and Snowmass. Loon plans to build a pulse gondola in 2026.On mid-mountain beginner centersBig bad ski resorts have attempted to amp up family appeal in recent years with gondola-serviced mid-mountain beginner centers, which open gentle, previously hard-to-access terrain to beginners. This was the purpose of mid-stations off Jackson Hole's Sweetwater Gondola and Big Sky's new-for-this-year Explorer Gondola. A-Basin's gondy (not the parking lot pulse gondola, but the one terminating at Sawmill Flats in the masterplan image above), would provide up and down lift access allowing greenies to lap the new detach quad above it.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

In this talk, Hogen weaves community life, way-seeking mind reflections, and Thich Nhat Hanh's The Art of Living into a deep exploration of impermanence. He reminds us that nothing is stuck—everything is always transforming, whether in our lives, our relationships, or the world itself. By learning to meet each moment freshly, we discover freedom, appreciation, and the possibility of transformation rooted in our vows and intentions. Drawing on the Five Remembrances and the mystery of the present, Hogen points to impermanence not as loss, but as the very ground of practice and awakening. ★ Support this podcast ★

Drawing on Thich Nhat Hanh's The Art of Living, this talk explores the teaching of aimlessness—the practice of arriving fully in the present rather than chasing completion in the future. Hogen reflects on how our restless striving to become more or fix what feels lacking separates us from the miracle of being alive right now. Through stories of loss, illness, mosquito-filled meditation, and everyday challenges, he shows how mindfulness and attention open the way to freedom, even in difficulty. The practice of aimlessness reveals that we are already enough, and that meeting each moment with confidence, kindness, and awareness is the true purpose of our lives.This talk was given during the Sunday night program at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on August 24th, 2025. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this talk, Hogen draws on Thich Nhat Hanh's The Art of Living to explore the practice of aimlessness—the invitation to rest in the present moment rather than chase after a future that never arrives. Through reflections on loss, illness, mosquito bites, and the everyday struggles of sangha members, he shows how freedom is found not by solving problems with thought but by anchoring attention in direct experience. To live without a subtle sense of inadequacy is to recognize that this very life, with all its imperfections, is already a miracle. The practice of aimlessness reminds us that we are enough, and that mindful awareness is our most potent tool.This talk was given on August 24 2025 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk invites us to rest in the still point where the breath begins, letting the mind settle into spacious awareness. Through stories of mountain walks, quiet gardens, and the tender bonds between beings, we explore how the world lives within us as much as we live within it. The reflections point toward a deep intimacy with life — one that does not separate self from earth, or heart from sky. In returning to this quiet knowing, we discover a home that has always been here.This talk was given on July 6th at the Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple Sunday Night Program. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk explores the Buddhist teaching of signlessness, including the fact that who we are cannot be reduced to fixed categories or identities. Drawing on Thich Nhat Hanh's insights, we look at how everything—including ourselves—is in constant transformation. Through mindfulness and embodied awareness, we can step outside rigid definitions and experience life as fluid and creative. This shift opens the door to compassion, integrity, and a deeper sense of freedom. This talk was given at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, OR on June 22, 2025. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this talk Hogen continues his talks from Thich Naht Hanh's Art of Living book. In this talk, Hogen explores the Kalama Sutta and Thich Nhat Hanh's reflections on how to cultivate true faith through direct experience rather than blind belief. We look deeply at how the Buddha encouraged the use of our own critical mind to investigate teachings for ourselves. Through practices like loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity, we learn to discern what reduces suffering and brings peace. This living, ongoing inquiry keeps our spiritual path alive, fresh, and deeply authentic. ★ Support this podcast ★

This is the fifth talk in a series on the Art of Living By Thich Naht Hanh. Hogen dicusses what he calls the physics of reality. He discusses impermanence and how it changes how we relate to our live and our sense of aliveness. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk is the fourth talk in a series on Thich Naht Hanh's book The Art of Living. In this talk Hogen continues to discuss chapter 1 of the book. He talks about our assumptions of who we think we are and how we can open to a more spacious view in our everyday lives.  ★ Support this podcast ★

I have been reflecting on the nature of practice-awakening. In the Buddhist tradition this refers to the process (both sudden and gradual) of realizing our fundamental wellbeing. This is a transformational practice. This is a healing practice. And it is mysterious. It doesn't happen in the way that we expect.Insights happen, and then are forgotten. Love is awakened and then seemingly covered over. Only to be rediscovered again. We can read the same teaching years later and feel like it opens a new level of depth, or is actually just what we needed to hear in that moment.The ancients spoke of stabilizing our insights, of familiarizing ourselves with the love, peace and understanding that we are.I am reading a book by Carol Gilligan called The Birth of Pleasure. In it Gilligan is using the myth of Psyche and Eros, to talk about the development of the psyche in women. She is also writing about relationship and the maturing of love. As I was reading I encountered a short paragraph where she introduced research between mothers and infants that revealed the relational attunement present at this early stage of our development. She spoke of how the research challenged assumptions of separation.Their research was challenging an orthodoxy of separation (we are born alone, we die alone) by revealing a reality of relationship. Finding and losing and finding again. This is the rhythm of relationship, played over and over again in the games that delight babies and young children. It is the rhythm of love.—Carol Gilligan, Birth of PleasureWhen I read this, I heard dharma practice instructions. That is the thing about immersing in the dharma, we hear it, we see it—everywhere.How many of us have this orthodoxy of separation ingrained in us? Who think thoughts or hold beliefs that—we are alone? We are separate from the rest of the world? That no one understands us? That we are unloveable or exiled in some way?The dharma challenges this orthodoxy, by revealing a reality of relationship. We can wake-up to the reality of interconnection, of non-separation. Practice is that finding and losing and finding again. Its the rhythm of love that delighted us as children. Its something we know deeply.We are never apart from it, but we get lost, as humans do. And then get found.A coin that is lost in the river, is found in the river.—Zen KoanWe are that coin. Our true nature is that coin. And actually we are the river too, where nothing is ever lost. Its always right here.In the Tibetan tradition you do practices a one-hundred-thousand times as part of the preliminary practices, called ngondro, this includes prayers, refuge practices, bows, atonement and offerings practices. I have a little taste of this from the studies I did at Tara Mandala. You keep a practice log, and you actually count.Part of the theory being that once you do it thousands of times, its in you. Faith, determination and trust are born through the practice of return. We actualize the rhythm of love that we delighted in as children.Isn't it delightful to rediscover the refuge of our breath, to reconnect with the stability and openness of our original heart?In the Zen tradition we have our own expression of this. Throughout the course of a retreat or a residential period, you will do 100s or 1000s of bows and hours of meditation. You will chant the same chants, participate in the same ceremonies, over and over again. Hogen used to say if you train at Great Vow Zen Monastery for at least 7 years—the dharma is in your bones. Ten or more years of dedicated lay practice that includes sesshin has a similar kind of embodied resonance.Part of the point here is the repetition. If we lose and find ourselves one-hundred-thousand times, we will start to trust the practice—we start to trust those periods of feeling lost, afraid or anxious as part of the rhythm of love—part of the rhythm of being. We will start to have a kind of experiential faith that love is us. That we are never apart from openness. That the peace we seek is really right here.one-hundred-thousand returns to loving kindness and kindness becomes more the ground from which we liveThe recognition, the experience of love, of ease, of understanding, takes an instant. But the true developing of the refuge takes time— perhaps one-hundred-thousand times or more.And we still get angry, we still get anxious—but our response is closer to the actual experience. We can feel the anxiety with kindness and openness, with curiosity and humility—and that changes everything.Sometimes we think, it must not be working if i still have to practice, if there is still this much anger. But this is the human realm, we live in a world with anger, with hatred, with loss and pain. Practice is an orientation of the heart, it's learning more and more to dwell with life as it actually is.Over the past year we have been reciting Ken McLeod's version of the Four Immeasureables prayer at Mud Lotus Sangha. I share it here, may you chant it 100k times until every cell in your body knows the truth behind these words.Four ImmeasurablesEquanimityMay I be free from preference and prejudice.May I know things just as they are.May I experience the world knowing me just as I am.May I see into whatever arises.Loving kindnessMay I be happy, well, and at peace.May I open to things just as they are.May I experience the world opening to me just as I am.May I welcome whatever arises.CompassionMay I be free of suffering, harm, and disturbance.May I accept things just as they are.May I experience the world accepting me just as I am.May I serve whatever arises.JoyMay I enjoy the activities of life itself.May I enjoy things just as they are.May I experience the world taking joy in all that I do.May I know what to do, whatever arises.…I'm Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Astrologer and Artist. I offer 1:1 Spiritual Counseling sessions using IFS and somatic mindfulness. I also offer astrology readings. Check out my website to learn more. I currently live in Columbus, OH and am a supporting teacher for the Mud Lotus Sangha.Summer Read— The Hidden Lamp: Stories from 25 Centuries of Awakened WomenJoin me starting on the Summer Solstice, Friday June 20th for a summer read of the Hidden Lamp. I hand selected 15 stories from the book that we will explore over the course of the summer.Weekly Online Meditation EventMonday Night Dharma — 6P PT / 9P ET Join weekly for drop-in meditation and dharma talk. We are currently exploring supportive practice forms for engaging the dharma in life outside of retreat.Feel free to join anytime. Event lasts about 1.5 hours. ZOOM LINKZen Practice opportunities through ZCOGrasses, Trees and the Great Earth Sesshin—August 11 - 17, in-person at Great Vow Zen Monastery (this retreat is held outdoors, camping is encouraged but indoor dorm spaces are available)In-Person in Columbus, Ohio through Mud Lotus SanghaInterdependence Sesshin: A Five Day Residential Retreat Wednesday July 2 - Sunday July 6 in Montrose, WV at Saranam Retreat Center (Mud Lotus is hosting its first Sesshin!) Currently full, contact me to be added to the waitlist.Weekly Meditations on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amykisei.substack.com/subscribe

This talk was given by Hogen on May 11 2025 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple. This is part three of a talk series on Thich Nhat Hahn's Art of Living Book. This talk is a discussion on the chapter titled Emptiness is the Door of Liberation.  ★ Support this podcast ★

In this talk Hogen gives a recap/his version of the introduction of the book The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. This talk was given by Hogen Roshi on May 4 2025 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses the four divine abidings, or the four Brahma Viharas. These include loving-kindness, equanimity, sympathetic joy and compassion. This talk was given by Hogen Roshi on March 30 2025 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this talk Hogen gives a recap/his version of the first chapter of the Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh. This talk was given by Hogen Roshi on April 27 2025 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on Sunday April 20 2025. In this talk Hogen discusses what koans are, their value, and how to practice with them.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, OR on April 6, 2025. In this talk Hogen talks about the inclusive nature of the mind, and becoming aware of awareness itself. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery during Sound Sesshin on March 21st, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses when people experience crisis in their life and how it propels them into spiritual practice. He also discusses working with koans like the Mu Koan. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery during Sound Sesshin on March 18th, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi continues the discussion on The Platfrom Sutra and how meditation or Samadhi is in fact the same as wisdom or Prajna. ★ Support this podcast ★

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.

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery during Sound Sesshin on March 15th, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses the foundation of Sesshin, The Platform Sutra and Bodhidharma. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on January 26th, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses the importance of having a direct experience of the fundamental nature of reality, our fixed beliefs and its importance in our spiritual practice. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on January 12th, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi asks the sangha how they take refuge and what it means to take refuge in our practice. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on January 11th, 2025 during Vow Sesshin. In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses the four bodhisattva vows, our fundamental vow and how we engage that with a clear mind.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on January 5th, 2025. In this talk Hogen Roshi discusses the nature of suffering and fixed beliefs in relation to the ephemerality of thoughts. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on December 29th, 2024. In this talk Hogen Roshi reflects on the last year and the vast amount changes experienced. He also talks about the suffering causing mind and how we penetrate and undermine it.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Myoyu Voekel, Dharma Holder and Hogen Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on January 5th, 2025 during Sunday Program. In this talk Dharma Holder Myoyu talks about keeping practice as a habit in our lives and how we can cultivate it. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on December 7th, 2024 during Rohatsu Sesshin. In this talk Hogen talks about the ever pervading stillness that is always present and touching into it directly.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on December 22nd, 2024. In this talk Hogen expands on the topic of what Buddhists believe with a short talks and a Q&A from the audience. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on December, 2024. In this talk Hogen gives a summary of The 8 Realizations of Great Beings and how to implement and enact them in our life. There is also a Q&A at the end of the talk. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on November 24th, 2024. In this talk Hogen gives a summary of The 8 Realizations of Great Beings and how to implement and enact them in our life. There is also a Q&A at the end of the talk. ★ Support this podcast ★

This Dharma talk was given by Hogen, Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on December 4th, 2024 during Rohatsu Sesshin. In this talk Hogen talks about why we practice, the different phases of practice and how it changes us. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given at Sunday program at Great Vow Zen Monastery on November, 17th 2024. In this talk Hogen Roshi talks about the 5th Realization of Great Beings ignorance, birth and death. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Heart of Wisdom on November, 3rd 2024. In this talk Hogen talks about heartbreak, impermanence and the 8 realizations of great beings. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given at Sunday program at Great Vow Zen Monastery on November, 10th 2024. In this talk Hogen Roshi lays out 4 different perspectives we can take to help us respond skillfully to our lives and help others.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This dharma talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on October 18th, 2024 during Ancient Way Sesshin. In this talk Hogen Roshi talks about the entrancement and wholehearted engagement. ★ Support this podcast ★

This dharma talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on October 16th, 2024 during Ancient Way Sesshin. In this talk Hogen Roshi talks about the Hearts Aspiration and the 6th ancestor Huineng. ★ Support this podcast ★

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 10/27/24 - Bodhicitta is simply the aspiration to save all others from suffering. Along the way, how do we go forward on an ever shifting and bumpy path? This lively dharma encounter with Hogen Sensei and the sangha is tender and encouraging of all our aspirations to be of benefit in an ever changing world.

This dharma talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on October 11th, 2024 during Ancient Way Sesshin. In this talk Hogen Roshi talks about the direct experience before fixed views obstructs our reality. ★ Support this podcast ★

This dharma talk was given by Hogen Roshi at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple on September 29th, 2024 during Sunday Night Program. In this talk Hogen discusses and interprets the chant Hongzhi's "Guidepost of Silent Illumination". ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given by Chozen and Hogen Roshi at Great Vow Zen Monastery on September 29, 2024 during the Sunday Public Program. This talk includes a short description of the four noble truths and then a longer question and answer session with the audience.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk took place at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland during the Sunday Evening Program. In this talk Hogen discusses zen practice and it's simple instruction to be with reality as it is.  ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given by Hogen, Roshi on Sunday August 25th, 2024 during the Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple Sunday Evening Program. This talk is about our Dharma Ancestor Maezumi, Roshi and his relationship to ZCLA and other details of his life. ★ Support this podcast ★

This is a talk by Hogen, Roshi from Rohastsu Sesshin at Great Vow Zen Monastery in 2017. The main theme in this talk is the restless heart and its role in our spiritual path. ★ Support this podcast ★

This talk was given at the end of our summer 2024 inner critic workshop at Great Vow Zen Monastery. Hogen Roshi, Chozen Roshi and Jogen Sensei sit together and discuss working with the inner critic in this unique style of talk. ★ Support this podcast ★

As the Vice President of Health and Safety at Mortenson, a leading construction company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Marni Hogen has worked to create a safety culture that emphasizes personal connections, open communication, and employee empowerment. Marni believes that everyone in an organization, regardless of role or job title, has a responsibility for safety, and to truly create an effective safety culture, you must “make safety personal.”In this episode of My Big Safety Challenge, Marni shares her journey into the safety field, highlighting the critical role of mental health within the construction industry. She discusses how building personal relationships with the workforce, engaging in meaningful conversations, putting people over metrics, and sharing stories that may be tough to tell contribute to a culture of inclusion that makes the workplace more fun. Plus, you'll hear how she delivers tough news using the “sandwich technique,” and who doesn't love a sandwich?

This talk is from the Great Vow Sunday Public Program on Sunday July 14th 2024. In this talk Hogen, Roshi discusses the different views one can take in looking at our lives. From a cursory look at our immediate experience things may seem concrete and unchanging, but when looked at closer, it is ever changing and when it arrives, it's already gone. Where do we go from here? ★ Support this podcast ★

Hogen Bays, Roshi Rohatsu Sesshin 2020Great Vow Zen MonasteryDecember 2020 ★ Support this podcast ★

Kisei Costenbader, Sensei Sunday Program Great Vow Zen Monastery 01/17/21 ★ Support this podcast ★

Request A Customized Workshop For Your Company: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/services/workshops/ In this insightful episode of "Negotiate Anything," host Kwame Christian, Esq., M.A., and construction negotiation expert Ron Hogen unpack essential strategies for mastering negotiations within the construction industry. They delve into the art of asking pivotal questions, managing expectations, and the significance of transparent communication. The hosts share their expertise on building rapport in high-stress scenarios and the importance of being creative and curious to understand the underlying needs of clients. This episode is a goldmine for anyone looking to elevate their negotiation skills, with practical advice from industry veterans on navigating complex business relationships. **What we'll cover:** - Effective sales negotiation strategies specific to construction, including the art of asking critical questions. - The psychological aspects of negotiation, such as responsibility, blame, and the importance of empathy in building rapport. - Creative communication techniques and the necessity of transparency in fostering long-lasting business relationships. Contact ANI Request A Customized Workshop For Your Company: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/services/workshops/ Follow Kwame Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwamechristian/ The Ultimate Negotiation Guide: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/guides/ultimate-negotiation-guide/ Click here to buy your copy of How To Have Difficult Conversations About Race!: https://www.amazon.com/Have-Difficult-Conversations-About-Race/dp/1637741308/ref=pd_%5B%E2%80%A6%5Df0bc9774-7975-448b-bde1-094cab455adb&pd_rd_i=1637741308&psc=1 Click here to buy your copy of Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life!: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Confidence-Conflict-Negotiate-Anything/dp/0578413736/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PSW69L6ABTK&keywords=finding+confidence+in+conflict&qid=1667317257&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjQyIiwicXNhIjoiMC4xNCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMjMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=finding+confidence+in+conflic%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1