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
Confusion and Recognition
In this illuminating and imaginative talk from Summer Solstice Sesshin, dharma holder Shoan Ankele emphasizes the cultivation of natural clarity, or rather, a recognition of our natural state. The point of zazen, she suggests, is “to create a conducive container for this recognition to occur.” This natural state is our buddha nature, the factuality of non-separation with everything and everyone. To illustrate the absurdity of our confused self-orientation, Shoan spins a memorable fable with what she calls a Buddhist faux-creation myth.
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 >
The Jizo Project Rolls Out
A multimedia presentation 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.
Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder
Zen Mountain Monastery, Friday 06/25/2021
In this illuminating and imaginative talk from Summer Solstice Sesshin, dharma holder Shoan Ankele emphasizes the cultivation of natural clarity, or rather, a recognition of our natural state. The point of zazen, she suggests, is “to create a conducive container for this recognition to occur.” This natural state is our buddha nature, the factuality of non-separation with everything and everyone. To illustrate the absurdity of our confused self-orientation, Shoan spins a memorable fable with what she calls a Buddhist faux-creation myth.
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Zoom Broadcast, Thursday 06/24/2021
Teachings from Eihei Dogen, William Shakespeare and Nina Simone
How do we understand the ceaseless change which is our life? Hogen Sensei delves into this question with quotes from Dogen’s “Continuous Practice” and “Being Time” with Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, and Nina Simone’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Wednesday 06/23/2021
Teachings From Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo: “Continuous Practice”
Rev. Chimyo Simone Atkinson
Zen Mountain Monastery, 06/20/21
Book of Serenity Case 2: “Emperor Wu Asked The Great Teacher Bodhidharma”
In this heart-warming Dharma talk, Chimyo Sensei recounts her time practicing in Japan. She speaks about the experience of truly not knowing and practicing just that. She also encourages us to stay in this state of not knowing.
Chimyo Simone Atkinson was ordained a priest in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition in 2007. She received her monastic training at Great Tree Zen Women’s Temple in North Carolina where she also served for a number of years as Head of Training and received Dharma Transmission in 2015 from Rev. Teijo Munnich.
Rev. Chimyo completed Sotoshu International training periods (Ango) in Japan in 2010 and 2011. She also completed training periods at the Aichi Senmon Nisodo in Nagoya in 2012 and Ryumonji Monastery in Iowa in 2014. She has been serving on the board of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association since 2017 and helped to draft that organization’s standards for formal monastic practice. She is a member of the Association of Soto Zen Buddhists Jukai-e committee and an SZBA liaison to that organization’s Roadmap Committee.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 06/13/2021
Gateless Gate, Case 16 – “The Bell Sound and the Priest’s Robe”
At the conclusion of this month’s introductory “Zen Training Weekend”, Shugen Roshi evokes our Zen path; a path which is not something separate; it’s our life, it’s the whole of what we are.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 6/6/2021
On June 6th, the Monastery held the first double monastic ordination in our 40+ year history. Shugen Roshi officiated this shukke tokudo ceremony for Suzanne Taikyo Gilman and Hokyu JL Aronson. Tokudo marks the formal taking of monastic vows and, in our tradition, expresses a lifetime commitment to the Monastery. Taikyo was given the monastic name Yusen, meaning Courageous & Devoted River, and Hokyu was given the monastic name Josen, which Shugen Roshi translated as Humble Mystic.
Linda Shinji Hoffman, Senior Lay Student
Zen Mountain Monastery, 05/30/2021
True Dharma Eye, case #199 – Dongshan’s Essential Path
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 05/29/2021
Gateless Gate, Case 48 – Ch’ien-feng’s “One Way”
How do we harmonize inner and outer and learn to understand the expression of dualities? As there will always be more for us to learn, how can we go forth knowing that at each stage of our life we are functioning within a degree of ignorance and blindness? Master Ch’ien-feng’s answer is: “With humility”. The mind of the person on the way gets transformed from samsaric hunger to the appetite of a seeker. Shugen Roshi suggests that we can delight in our hunger to know more rather than be distressed by our ignorance. This is not an egotistic process however; we should remember that our seeking must be for everyone.
Katie Yosha Scott-Childress, Senior Lay Student
Zen Mountain Monastery, 05/28/2021
Exploring verses from the Mahayana Sutralamkara, Senior lay student Yosha shares the inspiration she receives from these explicit teachings on compassion and faith.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 05/27/2021
Blue Cliff Record, Case 57 – Zhaozhou’s “Stupid Oaf”
In the language of the Dharma, how is “the self” a barrier, and how is it different from our true nature? The challenge when hearing an insult is to see into our own suffering——reactivity and delusion——as the stuff which are the barriers themselves. Shugen Roshi asks the question: While our basic nature is good, happy and peaceful, how do we practice when suffering seems all pervasive? How do we investigate our delusions, remembering that all beings have buddha nature?
