Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Wednesday 01/25/2023
From The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (traditionally attributed to Asvaghosa)
What does Faith mean and what does it encompass in our Buddhist tradition? In this 3-part series, based on this text, Shugen Roshi talks about the Aspiration to Awakening Through Faith and it’s many aspects which are the essentials of Buddhist teachings and practices.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt Tremper, New York, Sunday 03/19/2023
From Master Wu-men’s Gateless Gate, Case 16 – Yün-men: The Sound of the Bell
Setting out on a spiritual path… is it about seeking and finding answers that will put our questions to rest? Or is about seeing deeply, with faith, doubt and determination, in equal measure; relaxing about finding answers and instead cultivating a path of continually living the questions?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York, Sunday 03/12/2023
How do we “cultivate a trust in our non-thinking mind”? What happens when you “give yourself over to everyday mind”? Shugen Roshi illustrates these activities beginning with the the story of Deshan’s awakening.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Saturday 03/11/2023
Hojin Sensei offers Dharma words and a reading of Dogen’s fascicle Zenki, “Undivided Activity” during a Zazenkai at Fire Lotus Temple.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt Tremper, New York, Sunday 03/05/2023
Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of our 90-day Spring Ango training period, “Birth and Death.” Preceding Shugen Roshi’s dharma talk, you’ll hear an 8 minute abridged version of the opening ceremony. If you’d like to learn more about our Ango program and possibly participate, please click here: https://zmm.org/teachings-and-training/ango/
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei
Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 03/05/2023
Hojin Sensei opens the Spring 2023 Ango at Fire Lotus Temple. She asks, of this Ango’s theme, “Birth and Death,” what is birth? what is death? These themes will be explored through readings, liturgy, art practice, and many other offerings at Fire Lotus Temple and Zen Mountain Monastery this Spring.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York, Saturday 03/04/2023
“Home Leaving” traditionally referred to a person leaving their life behind and becoming a monastic. Shugen Roshi talks about Home Leaving in a deeper, complete sense that applies to all of us on the spiritual path, using the story of Punyamitra and the teachings of Nagarjuna to the writings of Zen Master Hongzhi.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi
Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York, Sunday 02/26/2023
One of the stories of Bodhidharma (the founder of the Zen Lineage) goes this way: that he sat in his cave facing the wall for 9 years. We emulate this during our daily zazen practice. We also say that we’re on the Bodhisattva path, actively practicing the way of the Bodhisattva in our daily lives. So what does sitting facing the wall have to do with the activity of the Bodhisattva? What is the “activity of facing the wall?” Shugen Roshi talks about the ways in which we take up this fundamental practice, and asks: What is it to “study the self” as Dogen says? How are we facing our fears? How do we go “beyond the fear of differences?”
Degna Chikei Levister, MRO Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 02/26/2023
How do we live a life grounded in truth? And how does our conditioning lead us to step outside of ourselves and look for truth elsewhere? Drawing on her own experience on and off the cushion, Chikei discusses the Fourth Grave Precept, “Manifest Truth, Do Not Lie.”
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder
Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 02/19/2023
Gokan invokes the Buddha’s words on fear and dread, how we can’t work through such mental formations and barriers without confronting them. To confront them, we can’t run away when we encounter such habitual reactions. We may even need to welcome such disturbances as opportunities to really stop and see what’s happening below the thoughts. This is the arena of zazen, where we can experience the bareness of sensation as we relax the mind and learn to trust that, rest in that. Gokan asks, “How much of our thinking is reactivity?” To explore this further, he brings in Yogacara teachings. The late Zen Master Bernie Glassman epitomized these teachings with the refrain, “That’s just my opinion,” recognizing that any reaction and opinion is based on one’s own conditioned perceptions. Gokan concludes by saying, “This is the good news! This is the possibility of liberation.”
Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student
Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 02/19/2023
Drawing on a story from the Panchatantra, Yunen looks at the Buddha’s First Noble Truth. How do we work with the teaching that life is suffering? In what ways do we try to avoid this fact? And what is our intention in practice?
