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.
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In this talk from November’s Shuso Hossen Sesshin, Shugen Roshi illustrates how ethical action, meditation and insight rely on and support each other, forming a unified path which can address the many aspects of our humanity. Drawing on several teachings from the Pali Canon, he notes, “Concentration nurtured with virtue is of great fruit, great reward. Discernment nurtured with concentration is of great fruit, great reward. The mind nurtured with discernment is rightly released.”
Featured Event
What does it mean to bow towards an altar? Or a tree? Or a meal? In this dharma encounter led by Zuisei Sensei, students bring their understanding to the matter.
Featured Video
This talk was given at the opening of the current ango training period. Shugen Roshi addresses the theme of the ango, and questions how we can best honor our lineages, knowing that […]
Featured Interview
Listen in on our insightful conversation with Rev. Tenku Ruff, board president of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, following the 2018 SZBA conference which took place at ZMM[…]
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Book Of Equanimity, Case #94
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/16/2018
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/9/2018
The Buddha once said: “Those who see dharma, see me. Those who see me, see dharma. Truly seeing dharma, one sees me. seeing me, one truly sees dharma.” In this talk, Hojin Sensei tells the story of the life of the Buddha as a model of dharma practice, and discusses how we can see the Buddha’s life in our own.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Transmission of the Light, Case #1
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/9/2018
In this talk, given following our annual vigil to celebrate the Buddha’s enlightenment, Shugen Roshi evokes the Shakyamuni’s profound humanity and exceptional faith, emphasizing that we show our reverence for the Buddha and his teachings by actualizing them in our own place and time, our own bodies and minds.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/8/2018
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 12/2/2018
Starting with the story of Master Zhaozhou Congshen’s encounter with an old woman, Hojin examines fear and dread, its omnipresence in the life of the Buddha and our own lives, and the importance of allowing oneself to truly experience fear.
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/2/2018
Gokan uses an early teaching of the Buddha to speak about the role of the past in our practice and the need to see the way in which our past shapes our present while still being able to let that go and rest in this moment. We apologize that the first few minutes of this talk were not recorded.
Jeanne Seisen Lewis, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, 11/25/2018
Seisen, a senior lay practitioner in the Mountains and Rivers Order, uses her own experience of practicing gratitude over the years to speak about how offering thanks inexhaustibly highlights the complete interdependence of all things.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye, Case #56
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/25/2018
Particularly during the holiday season, the virtue of generosity is frequently and casually invoked. But how do we actually practice true giving and true receiving? Shugen Roshi describes giving in harmony with receiving, not looking for something in return – a generosity which is deeply authentic even when only great effort can bring it forth.
Kerstin Seishin Maile, Senior Lay Student
The True Dharma Eye, Case #212
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/18/2018
Seishin, a seasoned practitioner in the Mountains and Rivers Order, offers her first talk and engages the sangha in dharma encounter as part of her transition into the role of a senior student. We apologize for the low quality of this recording.
Prabu Gikon Vasan, Senior Lay Practitioner
Zen Center of New York City, 11/18/2018
Gikon uses the teachings of early Theravada nuns, in particular the experience of Kisa Gautami, to examine the meaning of true freedom, and relates their struggles our modern day experiences of meeting barriers and attachments.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye, Case #101
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/17/2018
In this talk, Shugen Roshi takes up the lines central to our Ango study of Buddha ancestors: “I am like this. You are like this. All the ancestors in India were like this.” Through the lens of Master Dongshan’s Five Ranks, he speaks of the importance of practicing, actualizing and transmitting that which is always present and cannot be taught.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/16/2018
“We bow in deep respect to Prajna Paramita, mother of all Buddhas. She illuminates our delusion and dispels all fear.” Hojin Sensei uses this line from the daily liturgy to urge us to “entertain our delusions as guests,” learning to regard what may seem like a hindrance as the very means of our awakening.
Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/15/18
In this talk, Shoan evokes the pervasive presence of the ancestors in our practice of zazen, oryoki, and liturgy. She cites the writings of women ancestors across space and time, speaking to the mystical truth-seeking heart of every religious tradition.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/14/2018
“Concentration nurtured with virtue is of great fruit, great reward. Discernment nurtured with concentration is of great fruit, great reward. The mind nurtured with discernment is rightly released.” In this talk from November’s Shuso Hossen Sesshin, Shugen Roshi delves into this simple yet profound teaching from the Pali Canon. Ethical action, meditation and insight rely on and support each other, he notes, forming a unified path which can address the many aspects of our humanity.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/11/2018
Shugen Roshi officiates a ceremony in which Nancy Meyer-Emerick (Eisho, “eternal bloom”), Constanza Ontaneda (Sokyo, “everyday sutra”), Steve Miron (Seigan, “sacred eye”), Achong Chen (Jusan, “pearl mountain”), Jonathan Rosenthal (Seiko, “boundless peace”), and Polly Horn (Kiho, “radiant dharma”) receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts and are given their new dharma names.
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic
Zen Center of New York City, 11/11/2018
Drawing on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Chan Master Sheng-Yen, and IMS Teacher Joseph Goldstein, Gokan offers insight into how we stop creating evil, practice good, and actualize good for others. How does zazen help us to do that, to stay in our own experience? And how do zazen and the precepts give each other life?
Bernard Tetsugen Glassman, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/26/1991
This is an excerpt of a retreat given by Bernie Tetsugen Glassman at Zen Mountain Monastery on October 26. 1991. Bernie Roshi, who passed away this past Sunday, was Taizan Maezumi Roshi’s first dharma heir at Zen Center of Los Angeles and played a key role in John Daido Loori’s founding of Zen Mountain Monastery. Here he discusses how to help people while still empowering them and the role of social action in Buddhist practice. Bernie, as he humbly preferred to be known, pioneered the concept of street retreats, bringing hundreds of people to live as and among the homeless in order to get a glimpse of their reality and thereby cultivate compassion for those that our society often overlooks. He also led many Bearing Witness retreats, a mainstay of the Zen Peacemakers Order, bringing groups to sites of historic genocide and practicing the three tenets of Zen Peacemakers: not knowing (including not setting an agenda for one’s experience), bearing witness (not turning away), and taking action (within the framework of the Buddhist precepts). To learn more about Bernie Roshi’s life and accomplishments, visit ZenPeacemakers.org and please consider offering your support to that wonderful organization.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/8/2018
Hojin Sensei, in a talk given during a renewal of vows ceremony, speaks about six forms of reverence: training, heedfulness, hospitality, and reverence for the buddha, dharma, and sangha.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye, Case #253
Zen Mountain Monastery, 11/4/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 11/4/2018
Hogen Sensei teaches on impermanence , how nothing ever goes exactly according to plan, and how we must all eventually face ourselves.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
The Gateless Gate, Case #22
Zen Center of New York City, 11/3/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 10/31/2018
Hogen Sensei leads the last of three group study sessions on the Jataka Tales, legends about the previous lives of the Buddha found in the Pali Canon. Here he takes up the story of Kassapa, an ascetic whose almost abandons his commitment to non-harming in order to marry the king’s beautiful daughter, Candavati. The discussion focuses on gender, desire, objectification, and what it means to study texts from cultural contexts different than our own.
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/28/2018
Bowing before a teacher, an image, a sacred space, or a fellow practitioner, are inseparable acts of Buddhist practice. But what does it mean to bow? And is it the same as bowing to an adversary? A mountain? A meal? In this dharma encounter, Zuisei Sensei asks Ango participants to step forward and present their understanding or their questions about bowing. As you’ll hear, many of the exchanges are illuminating and might even challenge your own notions about faith, identification, and gratitude.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Book of Equanimity, Case #36
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/27/2018
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/26/2018
As part of our sangha finishes a three-week pilgrimage in India, Zuisei Sensei draws on the life of the Buddha to evoke the six stages of pilgrimage as they manifest in our own practice.
Michael Chizen Brown, Senior Lay Practitioner
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/25/2018
Chizen. a senior lay practitioner in the Mountains and Rivers Order, reminds us that we are neither separate from our own bodies nor from the great earth itself.
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/25/2018
“Take care of your mind”, Gokan urges in this talk, encouraging us to treat the voice of our insecurities with kindness.
Judy Lief
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/21/2018
Judy Lief, a teacher in the Shambhala lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, concludes a retreat on the lojong slogans by speaking about the importance of a tender heart in practice and in action.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 10/21/2018
In this talk, given on the occassion of a fusatsu ceremony, Hogen Sensei addresses the vows we renew, and what it means to take them up. The bodhisattva precepts, he points out, are at the heart of Zen practice and our common understanding of how to live an awakened life.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 10/18/2018
In the second of three sessions looking at the Jataka Tales, Hogen Sensei leads a group study of one of the Buddha’s past lives in which, oddly enough, he was the leader of a gang. What can learn from this tale about our own choices in life? What can we learn about the long road of karma?
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/17/2018
Zuisei Sensei leads an in-depth examination of selected Jataka Tales, stories of the Buddha’s previous lives. The discussion touches on the role of female characters, the workings of karma, and the power of religious narrative.
In September, Zen Mountain Monastery hosted the biannual conference of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association for three full days of practice, discussion and exploration. Close to 70 ordained priests and transmitted teachers joined the conference, representing dozens of training centers and sitting groups throughout North America. Following the conference, we spoke with Tenku Ruff who serves as the president of the SZBA Board of Directors and was very involved in the organization of the event. CLICK HERE to see photos from the conference. Continue reading “The Soto Zen Buddhist Association at ZMM” »
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
The Gateless Gate, Case #31
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/14/2018
“Better to fall than to stand still with weeds growing around our feet.” Zuisei Sensei urges us to ask true, deeply felt questions with courage, honesty, and faith.
Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/12/2018
In this talk, given during a renewal of vows ceremony, Zuisei Sensei speaks of the fierce tenderness required to create a sacred space that will hold our practice, our atonement, and our vows.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Blue Cliff Record, Case 58
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/07/2018
Shugen Roshi unfolds the appearance of division and its root, within us and our nation at this time.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 10/4/2018
Shugen Roshi leads a discussion of the recorded lives and past lives of the Buddha’s first disciples, touching on the nature of religious narrative, Buddhist philosophies of karma and rebirth, and the importance of studying the ancestors.
Unfortunately, a few minutes of this talk could not be recorded due to technical difficulties.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/30/2018
In a moment which so urgently demands that we step forward to alleviate the suffering of the world, where do we take refuge? Where do we find the ground from which to act justly and with compassion in difficult moments? Shugen Roshi invites the sangha to present their understanding.
Danica Shoan Ankele, Monastic
Zen Center of New York City, 9/30/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koan Shobogenzo, Case #25
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/29/2018
What does it mean to bow to the Buddha, to the mountain, to our teachers? Shugen Roshi speaks of a kind of veneration that allows us to be earnest in asking for the teachings while maintaining deep faith in our own enlightened nature.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
The Gateless Gate, Case #12
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/28/2018
Vividly evoking the ‘village’ of personas we each contain, Hogen Sensei urges us to acknowledge and learn from our multiple identities without mistaking them for a fixed self.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 09/26/2018
Hojin Sensei uses the life and enlightenment poems of Mugai Nyodai Daiosho, the first female Zen master in Japan, to explore keeping it together and falling apart in practice.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koan Shobogenzo, Case #129
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/26/2018
Shugen Roshi speaks about the karmic patterns of the mind as they arise in zazen and the need to find a middle way between suppressing thought and being swept away by it.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
From Master Dogen’s Fascicle “Buddha Ancestors”
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/23/2018
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery 9/16/2018
At the conclusion to this year’s Wild Grasses Sesshin, a meditation intensive for those who identify as women, Hojin Sensei and Zuisei Sensei investigate the roles we assign our ancestors, both personal and spiritual. Are we making the best use of them? Are they making the best use of us?
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Blue Cliff Record, Case #24
Zen Mountain Monastery, 09/15/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Transmission of the Light, Case 27
Zen Center of New York City, 9/15/2018
Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 09/14/2018
What does it mean to cultivate selflessness and, when needed, to embody self fully, in this female form? Zuisei Sensei invokes a few of our women ancestors and contemporaries, including Otagaki Rengetsu, Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams, Hojin Sensei, and her own experiences in light of this question.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 09/12/2018
Hojin Sensei leads a large study group through an introduction and overview to the Therigatha, a collection of poems by early female monastics and practitioners, many of whom were students of the Buddha himself. Hojin Sensei ends the discussion by chanting one of the poems.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Gateless Gate, Case 8
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/09/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, 9/09/2018
This talk was given at the opening of the current ango training period.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 9/2/2018
This talk was given at the opening of the current ango training period. Shugen Roshi addresses the theme of the ango, and questions how we can best honor our lineages, knowing that the manners of the past can sometimes clash with our own values of equality and inclusivity.
Check out the audio above or watch a video of this talk below.
With apologies, the video image cuts out during the last couple minutes of the talk. The audio, however, remains consistent through the conclusion.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
The Gateless Gate: Nansen’s Not Mind, Not Buddha, Not Things, Case 27
Zen Center of New York City, 9/02/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 149
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/26/2018
Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 08/25/2018
Drawing on her time at a mountain lake, Zuisei Sensei talks about that which is beyond ordinary knowing and must be known intimately. As she puts it, devoting our full attention to an object — the breath, a koan — can be an act of love. Zazen itself is that act of love, an act rewarded in ways we cannot predict.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 163
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/24/2018
Shugen Roshi explores the path of practice through “home.” There are the many homes that serve as the seat of our ever changing identity and the home that we return to. Roshi addresses the delusion of alienation from this “eternal home” and offers a look at a life of honest practice as the wide path of returning to it.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
From Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo
The Fascicle “Refrain from Unwholesome Action”
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/22/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
From the Record of Master Dongshan
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/19/2018
Jeanne Seisen Lewis, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, 08/19/2018
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/12/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 147
Zen Mountain Monastery, 8/05/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 127
Zen Mountain Monastery, 7/29/2018
Susan Seien Wilder, Lay Senior
Zen Mountain Monastery, 7/26/2018
Margaret Gibson in conversation with Zuisei Goddard, Sensei
Zen Mountain Monastery, 7/6/2018
Over the course of four decades, Margaret Gibson has amassed a body of work as rich and varied as it is consistent in aspiration. One reads a poem by Margaret Gibson and comes away having shared in the yearning to see deeply, often exploring how seeing through another’s eyes can expand our sense of self. Continue reading “Margaret Gibson at the Buddhist Poetry Festival” »
On Sunday, July 8, The Buddhist Poetry Festival at Zen Mountain Monastery concluded with a talk by Shugen Roshi. The koan case referenced in the talk is Dongshan’s “No Grass” from the Book of Serenity.
Find out more about the festival by visiting BuddhistPoetryFestival.org
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Book of Serenity, Case 89
This talk was given at the conclusion of the Buddhist Poetry Festival.
Zen Mountain Monastery, 7/08/2018
Jeanne Seisen Lewis, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, 07/08/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The True Dharma Eye: Master Dogen’s Three Hundred Koans (Shinji Shobogenzo), Case 243
Zen Mountain Monastery, 7/01/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Blue Cliff Record, Case 3
Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/24/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Blue Cliff Record, Case 3
Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/17/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/10/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Transmission of the Light, Case 51
Zen Centre of New York City, 6/10/2018
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Gateless Gate, Case 19
Zen Centre of New York City, 6/9/2018
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Gateless Gate, Case 7
Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/3/2018
Michael Yukon Grody, Monastic
Patrick Yunen Kelly
Konjin Gaelyn Godwin, Roshi