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
Everyday Words
Picking up where he left off from a previous Fusatsu talk on Right Speech (Learning How to Speak – 4/8/21), Shugen Roshi investigates storied examples of practitioners using language to express the ordinary and the extraordinary. Master Dogen says, “Words are neither different nor not different from our fundamental nature. But if a person becomes attached to words and their everyday meaning, they can become attached to views.” We tend to use words very casually, but language has power and views can imprison.
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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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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.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 3/21/2021
Shugen Roshi begins by leading us through a Loving Kindness Metta invocation for the victims of last week’s tragedy in Atlanta and those affected beyond. He asks, how can we hold the suffering of the world, acknowledging that it is integral to life? Even in our heartbreak, we are not irrevocably broken, and even in our impossible Bodhisattva vows, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed and not up to the task of putting an end to suffering. In this, nothing is forsaken, and we are not alone.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 3/14/2021
Book of Serenity, Case 84: “Judi’s ‘One Finger'”
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 3/11/2021
For this first Ango Fusatsu, this special invocation was included during the service which preceded this talk, drawn from Dogen’s writings about the Ango Practice Period:
As we reflect quietly, fragrant winds drift across the fields, and the Spring deity opens her arms in all directions. At this time, the Buddha Shakyamuni calls students of the Way to gather together within the Sangha Treasure, and invoke the Earth-protecting divine beings. We express deep reverence for all guardians of the Earth – human and beyond human, sentient and insentient – and are inspired by their myriad virtues, as we dedicate offerings to beings everywhere. We pray for their protection and for the fruition of their beneficial actions.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 2/28/2021
Transmission of the Light, Case 35: Quingyuan
(Note: due to technical problems this audio lost 18 seconds of Roshi’s talk and has about eight minutes of lower quality audio)
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 2/21/2021
Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) – Case 29: Neither the Wind, Nor the Flag
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei
Broadcasted from Hogen Sensei’s home in Pennsylvania, 2/14/2021
The True Dharma Eye, case 248
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 2/7/2021
Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) – Case 23: Think Neither Good Nor Evil
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 01/31/2021
Transmission of the Light, Case 34: Huineng
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, 01/30/2021
Master Hongzhi Zhengjue said, “Study the Buddha and research his lineage’s subtlety. You must clarify your heart, dive into the spirit, and silently wander in contemplation, apprehending the dharma’s source.”
With this teisho, Shugen Roshi begins a series of talks on the concept and actualization of transmission in the Zen tradition. While it is said to be a “mind-to-mind” transmission, it is at least equally important to point out that the student-teacher relationship requires some degree of face-to-face interaction.
