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 Whole Body of Truth
This talk by Shugen Roshi was offered on October 9th, the 13th year anniversary of Daido Roshi’s passing. Shugen shares some stories from back in the day and invokes Daidoshi’s love for the wilderness, Dogen, and the “Mountains and Rivers Sutra.”
How do we see and experience challenging relationships and obstructive situations in a skillful way? When faced with so much suffering, greed, and anger, how can we bring forth generosity, patience, loving kindness and compassion? Turning the things of the world in order to solve the many problems doesn’t get to the root. But when we instead turn this body/mind to meet the world just as it is, we discover a peace that reaches everywhere.
Click here for a video of this talk. You can also listen to an audio version of this talk.
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.
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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.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 11/27/2022
Beginning with the poem “In Between Your Eyebrows” by Nelly Sachs, Shugen Roshi talks about healing and awakening, the self and mind, giving and receiving; experiencing their equivalence and realizing that we’re dwelling in Buddha Nature.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 11/13/2022
From The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women – “The Old Woman’s Miraculous Powers.”
How do we view the ordinary acts of our lives? Hojin Sensei examines the ways in which we split our lives into “important” and “unimportant,” and the implications of that view. She reminds us of our capacity for wonder, which does not depend on conditions.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Saturday 11/19/2022
From the Koans of the Way of Reality – Dongshan’s “How Dirty is the Water”
In the midst of what we think we know, we can be fooled into believing we’re seeing clearly. How can we see into our implicit biases, our dualistic, judgmental tendencies and discover a place of equanimity?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday Evening 11/18/2022
Teisho during the Shuso Hossen Sesshin Fusatsu Ceremony
Shugen Roshi talks about the spirit of atonement, and how the grave precepts and the the paramitas, taken to heart, intricately guide us on the Bodhisattva path.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Thursday 11/17/22
Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) Case 45 – Wu-tsu: “Who Is That Other?”
“Who am I?” and “Who is the Other?” These questions continuously show up in our lives. How do we live them, live with them? Hogen Sensei encourages us to keep them present and open, and alive.
Linda Shinji Hoffman, Senior Lay Student
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Wednesday 11/16/2022
Lay senior student Shinji Hoffman shares the poetry of T.S.Elliot and 13th Century Chinese Zen Master Wu-Men, and the practices of 14th century European farmers and other stories looking at the ways in which we think of and perceive, hold and use time and its many facets.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 11/13/2022
Shugen Roshi officiates the Fall 2022 Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery. Today, five students – Hogetsu, Shinrin, Sonju, Jiko, & Chian – formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends.
Stephanos Hogetsu Koullias (“Liberated Moon”)
Walter Shinrin Burton (“Facing Truth / Facing Reality”)
Tasha Sonju Ortlof (“Reverent Pearl”)
Jesse Jiko Caudill (“Compassionate Peace”)
Weston Chian Minissali (“Peaceful Ground”)
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 11/06/2022
From the Book of Serenity, Case 53 – Huangbo’s “Dreg-slurpers”
The Buddha said we all have Buddha Nature; we all have an already completely present and perfect enlightened mind, an enlightened nature. Shugen Roshi talks about spiritual practice, the “path of non-attachment” and its meaning in the context of the world in which we live wherein there is such a strong inclination to go against that.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 10/30/2022
Dharma Encounter at the Conclusion of the 2022 Harvest Sesshin
In the midst of our delusions, attachments, false views, deep habit patterns, we endeavor to live a life of alleviating suffering, not adding more pain and confusion, wanting to be clear in our actions, wanting to feel that we’re doing the right thing… So how can we be confident about that? And what is that confidence; is it trustworthy? How do we practice an enlightening path from within the place where we are? Shugen Roshi takes up these questions with Ango participants in a heartfelt discussion.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Saturday 10/29/2022
From The True Dharma Eye, Case 247 – Ruiyan Calls “Master!”
How do we experience this “all inclusive world”? It’s our basic situation; this intimacy that all sentient beings share. But it’s hard to have faith in that and we can knot ourselves up and stay in the confines of what we think we know. Shugen Roshi reminds us to ask “What is this”, not “Why is this”, and to ask “What do we not know.”
