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
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
Zen Center of New York City, 12/22/2018
Buddhism teaches that living a human life is both fragile and extremely powerful. What are the practices we, as aspiring bodhisattvas, can use to guide ourselves through this precious life? In the first of two talks by Shugen Roshi on Shantideva’s Four Methods of Guidance, he takes up generous giving and loving speech: practices of gentle attention to ourselves and others which have the power to transform our lives.
Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, 12/16/2018
Happiness is pervasive: it doesn’t increase or decrease. Our mind, meanwhile, experiences happiness and unhappiness, sometimes with great intensity. If happiness is our real condition, what is it that we look for from practice?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
The Book Of Equanimity, Case #94
Zen Mountain Monastery, 12/16/2018
Until the end of his life, the Buddha continued to encounter Mara, the insidious voice which tries to undermine the faith of the practitioner. Here, Shugen Roshi speaks of the need to continually meet Mara’s voice with tenderness and courage, emphasizing that no length of practice or depth of realization silences Mara – nor should it.
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.