Ango Opening Talk at ZMM with Shugen Roshi
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 8/30/26 – Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO 90-day Fall Ango 2026 training period: “Buddha…Taking Up Zen Training
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/29/26 – Breathing, sitting, walking, all of these ordinary activities offer the capacity to train the mind. But in what? Awareness, non-grasping, insight, stability, all these good qualities essential for liberating…Inspiration, Aspiration
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/23/26 – Breath is the quality that brings and sustains life–an inspiration of what enters us and provides nourishment. To have aspiration, in a sense, is the desire and motivation inspired by the Dharma which brings us…Good Qualities
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/22/26 – Many times our practice can be simple and straightforward. But when conditions become adverse, how do we stay on the path? The Dharma points us toward beneficial qualities within ourselves that we can cultivate…This Life
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 8/19/26 – What are the qualities that help, or hinder, our ability to enter and sustain practice on a path of liberation? What to cultivate, what to mindfully let go of? The Buddha and later practitioners studied and taught…Effort And Aliveness
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 8/9/26 – With effort in practice, we bring forth our natural aliveness. To do this we make an effort to let go of self-clinging and other ways we deplete our energies. Even with expectations of the way we imagine “letting…Taking Up Mind Training
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 8/2/26 – Koan study can turn our minds inward, showing us where we get stuck in our own habitual tangles and ways of thinking about reality. What is the true nature that ’mind training’ can reveal? Shugen Roshi brings…Painting the Whole Picture
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 7/5/26 – Celebrating July 4th by looking at the dharma teachings on interdependence, Shugen Roshi leads us through the fundamental question of how suffering is created, and our personal and collective ability to heal as…Every Day Is A Good Day
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 6/28/26 – This teaching from ancient master Yunmen calls us not to ignore the strife around us, but to see it all through the eye of wisdom and compassion which does not get entangled by it. Even when the outer…Impermanence And Ease
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 6/25/26 – Resistance to change often underlies our suffering and shows up in feelings such as anxiety, irritation, impatience and so on. As an essential teaching of the Buddha, impermanence calls on us to reflect and…Not Really Separate At All
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 6/21/26 – The sense of separation — from life, from happiness, from anything we feel apart from — lies at the root of what brings many of us to a spiritual path. The Buddha taught that suffering arises from the…The Inner Wilderness
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 6/7/26 – How Buddhism uses the term “attachments” is often misunderstood as being something bad, which should not happen, but our sense of self is made up of a series of attachments: to identity, position, and so on. When…
