A collection of dharma talks, events, interviews and other media from Zen Mountain Monastery and the Zen Center of NYC. Please scroll down for all available talks. Subscribe via: iTunes | Google Play
A collection of dharma talks, events, interviews and other media from Zen Mountain Monastery and the Zen Center of NYC. Please scroll down for all available talks. Subscribe via: iTunes | Google Play
Sweeping the Ground
In this concluding talk to Hazy Moon Sesshin, Shugen Roshi explores how we can sabotage our own best efforts in the midst of our practice. We set aside the time to cultivate compassion and clarity in the midst of three treasures, and yet we still get caught in distractions and self-pity. This is why Buddhism has always taught the skillfulness of looking directly at dukkha, dissatisfaction and suffering. They remind us of the importance of practice. “Else we may stray off some dusty road.” Else we may fool ourselves into thinking we can’t be of benefit in the world. Else we may forget how cultivation is inseparable from the world.
Listen >
Dharma Talks on Livestream
Check out our continually expanding library of talks archived on Livestream. And join us live each Sunday morning for zazen, liturgy and a talk that concludes our training week.
View >
A Guided Tour of the New Jizo House
In August, we consecrated the new Jizo House, and completed the latest phase of the Jizo Project—our initiative that aspires to make Zen Mountain Monastery a more accessible and welcoming place for all.
A Look Back on 40 Years
Check out This Thing We Made: a special filmstrip that looks back on the Monastery’s origins and development over the course of 40 years on Tremper Mountain.
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder
Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 11/28/2021
From Bodhidharma’s “Breakthrough Sermon”
Drawing inspiration from Bodhidharma’s “Breakthrough Sermon”, Gokan encourages us to behold our mind; this is the essential practice of Zen. When we are not attentive, the thoughts we allow to develop in our mind separate us from this world. However, we can choose to not be swallowed by our thoughts; by giving our awareness to this moment.
Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, 11/28/2021
Yunen explores the universal experience of grief, examining how it can come into our lives through tremendous loss and also through smaller disappointments. Yet in this grief, large or small there is space to practice and realize ourselves.
Degna Chikei Levister, Senior Lay Student
Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 11/21/2021
True Dharma Eye, Case 2 – Baizhang Remains Seated
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Saturday 11/20/2021
From Transmission of the Light, Case 22 – The 21st Indian Ancestor, Vasubandhu
As we practice to free ourselves, we are constantly in the midst of change. And in this endlessly changing world, we unknowingly try to create a substantial, permanent self. This interaction between Vasubandhu and Jayata illustrates the essence of middle way. By not denying, not grasping or seeking something eternal, we will encounter a true way of patience, generosity, perseverance, faith, respect and devotion. Practice is not about a perfect life, it is about living this life completely.
Maureen Jisho Ford, Senior Lay Student
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday 11/19/2021
Senior lay student and retired mental health professional Maureen Jisho Ford investigates the roots of anger in this funny yet deeply honest talk. What does it take to interrupt our impulses and find the gaps between events we might find challenging and harmful reactions? Jisho asks, “Has anyone ever really won an argument?” Indulging in anger, as the Buddha pointed out, is like picking up a burning coal with your bare hand to hurl it at another. This has implication in every sphere of our life, right down to our most intimate relationships.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Thursday 11/18/2021
From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 86 – Everyone Has Their Own Light
Hogen Sensei asks us: “how can we talk about enlightenment when there is nothing to understand about enlightenment?”. We are inherently enlightened but our conditioning, karma and unskillful ways prevent us seeing it. We should remember that we all have own light and that zazen is the process for cultivating this light.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Wednesday 11/17/2021
From Transmission of the Light, Case 28 – The 27th Indian Ancestor, Prajnatara
Of all the possible directions we can take, why does one person take a direction which is very different from everybody else’s path? How do we know if the path is true for us? Shugen Roshi reminds us that when we encounter a teaching that we may or may not understand but have an affinity with, we should trust that affinity.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 11/14/2021
From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 27 – Yun Men’s “The Body Exposed, The Golden Wind”
There’s a banquet of teachings for every human experience we are having, have had, will have. So how do we fully avail ourselves to that? Shugen Roshi speaks about sincere continuous practice of mindfulness and knowing how to be alone.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 11/07/2021
From Wumen’s Gateless Gate, Case 2 – Baizhang and the Fox
With this teisho, Shugen Roshi sums up the Ango Intensive retreat “Within Darkness There Is Light—The Teachings of Karma and the Path of Compassion”.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of NYC, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 11/07/2021
Hojin Sensei talks about grief as a process, and what it means to practice good grief. She brings in teachings from the Dhammapada, the Therigatha, and the Hidden Lamp. She invites everyone into the possibility of fully and freely experiencing our grief, letting it move through us and crack us open.
