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
The Forty Year Old Virtue
Speaking at the conclusion to our 40th Anniversary Weekend, Shugen Roshi reflects on the past, present and future of this “archive of sanity.” At the heart of all that we do, he says, is our commitment to waking up using the wisdom teachings we have been entrusted with. “When our practice is merged with insight-realization, when it’s based in the dedication, the devotion to this never changing supreme state of realization, then all that we call Buddhism is present.” Listen >
Tour the ZMM Garden
Back in June we recorded this video tour of the garden as it was approaching full bloom. Senior Monastic Yukon has since offered two sessions of “Garden Dharma” over Zoom for those with questions about their own organic gardening endeavors and how to bring more mindfulness into the mud…
The Jizo Project Rolls Out
With the new Jizo House construction well underway and a wheelchair accessible lift added to the main building, we used our recent 40th anniversary celebration to reflect on how far we’ve come and where we’re headed.
Featured Interview
Check out the latest ZMM Podcast featuring MRO senior student Bethany Senkyu Saltman, interviewed by Shea Zuiko Settimi. Senkyu’s new book, Strange Situation: A Mother’s Journey into the Science of Attachment, blends spiritual memoir and science reporting, and has been earning rave reviews since its release earlier this year.
Listen >
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/29/2020
Book of Serenity, Case 4: “The World-Honored One Points to the Ground”
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/22/2020
A question and answer session with Shugen Roshi, the residents of Zen Mountain Monastery, and the larger sangha, who participated via zoom.
Shugen Roshi concludes his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 37:
“To clear away the suffering of all infinite beings,
With superior knowledge free of concepts of the three spheres,
To dedicate the merit accumulated through these efforts to enlightenment
Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.”
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/21/2020
Shugen Roshi continues his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 36:
“In brief, wherever you are and whatever you do,
Always examine the state of your mind.
Cultivating mindfulness and awareness continuously,
To benefit others is the practice of a Bodhisattva.”
Danica Shoan Ankele, Senor Monastic
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/20/2020
Senior monastic Shoan delivers an impassioned and intimately relatable teaching on our Ango theme of the Bodhisattva path. Speaking from a place of inspiring humility she dives into the predictable stumbling blocks on our path to liberation. At the core, we are often tripped up by the anxiety of the perceived challenge, and the fear of vulnerability. But with piercing wisdom and unbounded compassion Shoan shows us that these mental afflictions can be released. Simply by allowing our experience to be, as it is, we become tender and receptive to reality. Seeing reality, our frantic attempts to protect our “self” begins to dissolve.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/19/2020
Shugen Roshi continues his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 35:
“When emotions become habitual, they are hard to get rid of with antidotes.
Therefore, with mindfulness and vigilance, to seize the weapon of the antidote
And crush attachment and other negative emotions
The moment they arise is the practice of a bodhisattva”
Speaking to our hearts and minds, Shugen Roshi expounds on the afflictive emotions that can toss us into turmoil. Pointing to their inherent empty nature Roshi asks us to question where the power of emotions lies. Better still, we should ask who or what is giving our emotions so much strength. Using the teachings, Shugen shows that it is our distracted mind that gives rise to our conflict with emotion. This conflict is only strengthened in subconscious habitual patterns. Thus, seize the weapon of the antidote, skillfully practice with mindfulness and vigilance.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Broadcasted from Hogen Sensei’s home in Pennsylvania, 11/18/2020
Case 47 from Dogen’s 300 koan Shobogenzo, Guishan’s “Do Not Betray Others”:
One day after sitting Guishan pointed at the straw sandals and said to Yangshan, “All hours of the day, we receive people’s support. Don’t betray them.” Yangshan said, “Long ago in Sudatta’s garden, the Buddha expounded just this.” Guishan said, “That’s not enough. Say more.” Yangshan said, “When it is cold, to wear socks for others is not prohibited.”
In today’s talk, Hogen sensei invites us to reflect on the nature of self and other. When giving, who is it that is receiving, and who is it that is giving? Hogen reminds us to be wary of dualistic thinking. We might also ask what is being given when nothing is physically exchanged? In other words, what is exchanged when we are in a state of ignorance? Or what is exchanged when we practice wholeheartedly? Hogen draws upon modern studies published in the Scientific Journal to point to the teachings of the old Zen Masters, that we are deeply interconnected. Showing us that the self does not end at the tip of our nose.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/15/2020
Shugen Roshi continues his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 33 and 34:
“Offerings and respect may bring discord
And cause listening, reflection, and meditation to decline.
Therefore, to avoid attachment
To the homes of friends and benefactors is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
“Harsh words disturb the minds of others
And spoil our own bodhisattva practice.
Therefore, to give up rough speech,
Which others find unpleasant, is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/8/2020
Shugen Roshi continues his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 31 and 32:
“If I do not examine my own defects,
Though outwardly a Dharma practitioner, I may act contrary to the Dharma.
Therefore, continuously to examine my own faults
And give them up is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
“If, impelled by negative emotions, I relate the faults
Of other bodhisattvas, I will myself degenerate.
Therefore, to not talk about the faults of anyone
Who has entered the Mahayana is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/5/2020
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/1/2020
Shugen Roshi continues his teachings from The Thirty Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva, with verse 14:
“Even if someone says all sorts of derogatory things about me
And proclaims them throughout the universe,
In return, out of loving-kindness,
To extol that person’s qualities is the practice of a bodhisattva.”