Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei ZCNYC - 12/31/23 - Fusatsu offers us the opportunity to make fresh again our vows in the world. To recognize and renew the deepest way that we are; our virtuous life, the life of a Buddha that we each are.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 1/25/24 - From The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person - Gokan talks about how we uncover wisdom continuously in our everyday lives.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/24/24 - Shugen Roshi shares a teaching on the Four Immeasurables, emphasizing the significance of participation, engaging with equanimity.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/21/24 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 20 - Dizang's "Nearness" - What inspires us to delve deeper into the heart of our questions; How do we keep open in the darkness and light of not knowing? How do we go about meeting the true self?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/14/24 - Shugen Roshi reflects on the life's work, teaching and words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the context of our times, our lives and our practice here and now. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." —𝑀𝐿𝐾 𝐽𝑟.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 1/13/24 - From Robert Aitken Roshi, Intimacy, in Zen, is the essential nature of practice. Gokan reflects on how this intimacy manifests via our zazen.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/7/24 - From the Vimalakirti Sutra - Manjusri Inquires About the Illness - Shugen Roshi speaks about the connection between sickness, in its broadest sense, and compassion in the context of the Four Noble Truths. In light of the barrage of injustices and the multitudes we know are suffering how do we balance our empathy and compassion?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/31/23 - Fusatsu Ceremony gives us an opportunity to renew our bodhisattva vows and to atone for any pain and suffering we may have intentionally, inadvertently, or indirectly caused. This is the teisho, on aspects of the Buddhist precepts, that Shugen Roshi offered in the midst of the ceremony on the final evening of Rohatsu Sesshin.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/30/2023 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 73 - Caoshan's Fulfillment of Filial Piety - Are we aware of what moves us? And what does it mean to be wholehearted?

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 12/29/2023 - From a verse appearing in Daido Roshi's "The Heart of Being" - Mn. Shoan talks about how we hear the verses of our teachers and ancestors. Some can seem abstract and heady, others can be heart rending and become practical instructions. Or all of that. What do we make of them?

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Dharma Holder - ZMM - 12/28/2023 - From The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person - Gokan talks about Samadhi and how it manifests continuously in our lives.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 12/17/2023 - Mn Shoan recounts some of her encounters and experiences during her recent pilgrimage to Japan.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 12/16/2023 - From The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person: Not Forgetting Right Thought - Mn Gokan encourages us to get to know our own deep patterns of remembering and forgetting.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/10/23 - The verses of Rohini, from the Therīgāthā - Poems of the Early Nuns - Likening our intentional practice to the natural process of respiration; the continuous flow of inspiration in our lives and the aspirations we make out of that, how does that work for each of us? This question is brought to mind when reading Rohini's verses about her own aspirations.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/08/23 - Teisho offered during the Fusatsu ceremony commencing Buddha's Enlightenment Vigil.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/3/23 - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 35 - Touzi's "Harmonizing the Ten Bodies" - What is that common sense of distance, separation, between ourselves and others, and between the many aspects of ourselves? Shugen Roshi encourages us to relinquish our hold; to use the multitudinous opportunities to practice, through our meditation, through the precepts, in each moment, to understand our karma and transform it for the good.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 12/3/23 - From "The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women" - Hojin Sensei presents a koan of Lingzhao and her father, falling together. How do we fall with someone? How do we accept somebody’s support? And do we ever know that we are helping?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 11/26/23 - Hojin presents a koan based on a Chinese folk tale that takes on the question of identity, and speaks about its relevance for us today.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/26/23 - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo, Case 149 - Xuefeng's Rice Field - In the context of our liberation, our freedom from delusion, can we actually experience a fundamental truth that is not the creation of conditions, i.e. fundamental and unconditional? Shugen Roshi talks about the Buddha's realization of Dependent Arising, and the realization that to be free of the "conditioned" we have to make contact with that which is unconditioned... And what, where and when is that?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 11/12/23 - From "The Hidden Lamp, Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women" - Hojin Sensei examines the nature of Mara, the "lord of delusion," who comes to Soma and to all of us in many forms. What are the particular ways in which Mara hooks us? How can we bring awareness to Mara's revelations about our delusion, while not giving those voices more power?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/18/23 - Shugen Roshi covers the final four of Atisha's slogans, which appropriately cap off the teachings of all 59. They reiterate some basic questions: Why are we practicing? For whom? How do we process our expectations? How and where are they centered? Why do we chant the 4 immeasurables if not for their universal practicality? In the context of our sincere desire for awakening, what thwarts us and what helps us practice forward?

Maureen Jisho Ford, Senior Lay Student - ZMM, Friday 11/17/23 - "We mistake the story for who we are." Senior lay student Jisho gives a very personal talk about her experience with shame.

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 11/16/23 - From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 14 - "Yunmen's Appropriate Statement" - Hogen Sensei examines this pithy koan in light of Atisha's slogan #55, "Liberate yourself by examining and analyzing."

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/15/23 - How to sustain our efforts and practice wholeheartedly? How to awaken to our trust, faith and courage? With a calm and bright attitude we have the opportunity, in our direct experience to truly see into the root of our suffering.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/12/23 - Any circumstance you find yourself in is the opportunity to practice right now, so don't wait. And it helps to keep the basics in mind: Refrain. Cease from harm, try to create some good, and delight in others.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/10/23 - In the context of our practice of the precepts, in our whole everyday lives, how do we develop harmony of thought, speech and action? Is this the practice of atonement?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi ZMM - 11/5/23 - Facing our difficulties, recognizing our circumstances and knowing how to be a student. These can be joyful endeavors especially when we see our (and others') inherent goodness coming to light.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 11/5/23 - In this story, from The Hidden Lamp, an old woman hears and breaks though Hakuin’s teaching: "Your mind is the Pure Land, and your body is Amida Buddha. If you want to understand, look into your own heart.” Hojin weaves a tapestry of intimate expressions encouraging practitioners to heed the Buddha’s words: “Dwell! You are the light itself.” — the light reaches everywhere. Trust this!

Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC - 10/29/23 - Yunen discusses the virtue of humility and its relationship to taking refuge in the earth. What is true humility? How is it different from self-denial or self-disparagement? And how does the capacity to step out of the way and hold the self lightly bring forth compassion?

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 10/29/23 - How do you understand "Intimate Speech"? How and when does it occur? What happens, inside and outside, when it does? Hogen Sensei takes up these questions and others with Ango participants in a heartfelt discussion.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 10/28/23 - What is the purpose of "Training the Mind" if not to cultivate Loving-Kindness toward others and toward ourselves?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 10/27/23 - Given in the context of a Fusatsu: Renewal of Vows Ceremony, Sensei explores the mythical lore around one of the primary bodhisattvas of the Buddhist world, Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva of “enlightened activity,” an emanation of our own practice activity in the world.

Katie Yosha Scott-Childress, Senior Lay Student - ZMM - 10/26/23 - The 59 Slogans of the Lojong mind training provide guidelines for practice and aspiration on the Buddhist path. Yosha explores how this specific slogan helps loosen up the tangled strands of our habitual, unskillful reactivity and patterns in our behavior, bringing in loving-kindness and compassionate activity.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 10/25/2023 - Shugen Roshi asks us to examine the negations we hear in the teachings, for instance in the precepts, amongst the 59 Atisha Slogans, in the Heart Sutra, etc. How we can we see them as helpful aspirations?

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 10/22/23 - From The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person. - Gokan reminds us, in the Buddha's words that: "If you practice meticulous effort, nothing will be difficult to accomplish."

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 10/22/2023 - Hojin Sensei explores "Chiyono's No Water, No Moon" from the Hidden Lamp, along with Merle Kodo Boyd's reflections. Where do we go when we break open and let go completely? Where does the moon go when its reflection disappears? When the awareness grows that we and all things are without self, we can exercise our freedom to keep it together or let things come apart in accord with circumstances.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 10/21/23 - During this Zazenkai talk it’s brought out that as we practice we see how much strength and training the mind needs so it doesn’t go off the rails. Zazen may be the most useful skill to develop in bringing the mind to the end of suffering, something no other skill can do. How fortunate we have Zazen and the path in our lives.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 10/15/23 - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 34 - The World-Honored One's "Intimate Speech" - Is intimate speech just speech? Or is it more; our whole manifestation in this continuous moment?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 10/15/2023 - How do we walk the path of peace in this life, especially in times of great conflict and violence? How do we practice intimacy with our tendency to create conflict in our actions, words, and thoughts? And how do we manifest (as Shantideva puts it) "May even acts of harm help the violent to awaken"?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 10/08/23 - Where do we find stability and balance if not in the midst of the noise, thoughts, myriad events of the day? Where and when are the opportunities to pause and remember to practice? Shugen Roshi continues with his Lojong commentary, on slogan #16: "Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation", while illustrating with Dogen's True Dharma Eye koan "Baizhang's Wild Geese."

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 10/01/23 - Looking at the Lojong Slogans 11, 12 and 13, Shugen Roshi challenges us with questions about how we experience and practice these in our daily lives. How do we transform evil? What does transformation mean in the context of "the path of realizing the self as empty"? How can we drive all blame into one? What does it mean to do that? And how can we be, all the while, grateful to everyone?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 9/30/23 - From the Lojong Slogans of Atisha # 14 & 15 - We normally view confusion as undesirable and it's easy to react to it in a negative way. What if we refrain from reacting and stay open, calm, connect with our faith in our practice and allow ourselves to look closely at the process?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 9/29/23 - In the midst of this Fusatsu ceremony, Shugen Roshi offers a teisho using three [ways of transforming bad circumstances into the path of enlightenment] of the 59 mind training slogans, which naturally illustrate ways of atonement.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 9/28/23 - Mumon's Gateless Gate, Case 6 - "Buddha Holds Up a Flower" - Being at the heart of Master Dogen's Intimate Language fascicle, this koan is explored by by Shugen Roshi, opening up the question of What is Intimate Language?

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 9/27/23 - From the Book of Equanimity, Case 17 - Fayan's "Hairsbreadth" - What's the difference between conveying knowledge and conveying the non-dual dharma? How do we directly experience the distinctiveness and the oneness of things, and convey this to each other, in the activity of our everyday lives? Is that "Intimate Language"?

ZMM - 9/24/23 - Shugen Roshi continues his commentary on the 59 Mind Training Slogans of Atisha in this talk covering points 8, 9 and 10. Looking at how and when we react to our experiences and encouraging us to take full responsibility for our own mind; how we can practice these slogans within our continuous practice of openness and mindfulness; and a reminder to start with ourselves i.e. be kind, be gentle with ourselves, don't ignore your own suffering as you try to hold the suffering of others.

Prabu Gikon Vasan, Senior Lay Practitioner - ZMM - 6/10/23 - Gikon speaks on the liberating effects of settling oneself within the reality of impermanence, bringing this core buddhist teaching to life through referencing excerpts from the Lotus Sutra, the Fire Sermon, and his own life experiences.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 9/17/2023 - Shugen Roshi officiates the September 2023 Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery. Today, four students formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends. - Roni Schnadow: Kasho ("Joyful Auspicious Spirit”) - Alex Rothstein: Rogetsu ("Open Exposed Moon”) - Sharon Kelly: Chigo (" Ground Essence of Strength”) - Theresa Braine: Ryoka ("Clear Lucid Wonder”)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 9/10/2023 - Shugen Roshi talks about the Buddha's teaching on causation, and how to study this in our own lives.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 09/03/2023 - Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO 90-day Fall Ango training period, "Intimate Language." 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 - ZCNYC - 9/03/2023 - Hojin Sensei opens the Fall Ango practice period at Fire Lotus Temple and introduces this Ango's theme of "Intimate Language." She speaks about the historical roots of the Ango tradition, what "intensification of practice" can look like, and some of the ways in which the sangha is invited to delve into training these next 90 days.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 09/02/2023 - Shugen Roshi talks about "training." What is it, starting within the context of each moment of our lives?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 9/2/2023 - From The Gateless Gate, Case 41: "Bodhidharma and Peace of Mind." - In this talk given during the Peaceful Dwelling Zazenkai at Fire Lotus Temple, Hojin Sensei asks what it means to truly walk the path of peace. She invites us to consider how we work with the aspects of ourselves and the world that are not at peace.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/27/2023 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 69 - Nanquan's "Cows" - When the teachings talk about being unconcerned, when we practice letting go of the self and the self-consciousness, what is that? How to be simple, that is not simplistic? How to by authentic, that by it’s very nature is uncontrived? How to be alive and unadorned?

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZCNYC - 8/27/2023 - Having few desires is the first of the "Eight Awarenesses". In this talk Gokan invites us to explore the nature of desire; all of its aspects and our relationship with it.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/26/2023 - During August sesshin, Shugen Roshi speaks of the power of inquiry. “What are you doing with your lack of fulfillment and satisfaction, and peacefulness, and calm, and understanding? We’re all doing something with all of those elements. Evidence, the human world. That is what we’re doing with what is existentially the question of how to live this life. What is life? The buddha realized it all comes down to “Who?”. Examine the one who covets wealth and rank. Where does that person come from? Where do they go? Right when you are confused and unhappy, in the midst of your very discontent, here is where to take up the question, “What is it?” Within that doubt. Within that unhappiness.”

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - 8/25/2023 - What is desire? What is pleasure? Where's the problem? How do we work with desire that is liberative, which doesn't lead to greed or violence?

Chris Yudo Abraham - ZMM - 8/23/2023 - Yudo speaks about the practice of taking refuge, or "throwing ourselves unreservedly" into something, using examples from his own life. What do we take refuge in? And are the things we take refuge in worthy of our precious human life?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/20/2023 - Shugen Roshi officiates the Novice Monastic Ordination ceremony for Julia Jiryu Krupa; a joyful occasion - both a home-leaving and a homecoming - that Master Dogen described as "a day for turning cartwheels." Jiryu is currently the Monastery's Work Supervisor. She became a formal student in 2010, received the Bodhisattva Precepts, and her dharma name Jiryu, in 2019 and became a Postulant in 2021. Today she receives the robe of a monastic and provisionally takes on the five monastic vows. Those vows being simplicity, service, selflessness, stability, and "to live the Buddha Way." In this new context she will continue her discernment and exploration and training for the role of a full monastic before choosing to ask for full ordination.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 8/20/2023 - The first of the Four Immeasurables is "May All Beings Know Happiness." In encountering this as a practice, we might wonder: is it really possible for all beings to know happiness? Examining this question, Hojin Sensei weaves together poetry, a story of profound forgiveness, and reflections on her own practice of the Four Immeasurables.

Dr Eduardo Duran, PhD - 01/31/2023 - An interview with Dr. Ed Duran conducted in January 2023 by MRO students Daniel Onren Latorre and monastic Taikyo Gilman. The topics considered were drawn from previous conversations Ed offered in recent years: with the MRO BIAPoC Sangha on Decolonizing Buddha; and, with the MRO sangha at large, on Decolonizing Awakening On Turtle Mountain. - Ed Duran (Apache/Tewa/Lakota) is a psychologist who has been working in indigenous communities most of his professional career. He is a Vietnam Veteran who started his academic training after being discharged from the US Navy. He has been involved in Buddhist and traditional Native practices for many years, and his work is informed by traditional Indigenous understanding of heart knowing. - Eduardo is the author of Buddha in Redface (Writers Club Press, 2003), a story that deals with these traditions as well as our karmic relationship to the Earth. He is also the author of Healing the Soul Wound: Trauma-informed Counseling for Indigenous Communities and Native American Postcolonial Psychology. He presently lives outside of Bozeman, Montana.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 8/19/2023 - What makes effort joyful? In Buddhism, there are many metaphors pointing to the ineffectiveness of extremes: if a lute's strings are too taught or too loose it will not play well. Hojin Sensei invites us to bring a sense of play to exploring this dynamic and aspiring towards joyful effort in our practice.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/13/2023 - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 50 - Yun Men's Every Atom Samadhi - Deeply embedded in the Buddhist path is the activity of meditation. Shugen Roshi talks about this "Gate of Joyful Ease"; all of its intricacy and simplicity. The very act of taking up the posture is in itself an invitation to discover the dharma, discover zazen, discover your mind.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 59 - Zhaozhou's “Why not Quote it Fully?” - Shugen Roshi talks about the nature of speech and thought. Our internal dialog is not harmless, nor neutral. It doesn't just create distractedness, but more significantly it actually is continuing to solidify a certain way of understanding ourselves and the world. But are those words conveying, as we speak internally to ourselves, what is true? Are they helping us?

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZCNYC 8/6/2023 - Hogen Sensei officiates a Jukai Ceremony for three MRO students. Amidst a full zendo at Fire Lotus Temple, these students received the 16 Bodhisattva precepts and the following dharma names: Gale Onjan ("Peaceful Faith") Delaney, Beverly Kyokei ("Offering Kindness") Corbett, and Ravi Baike ("Cultivating Prajna") Mishra.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 07/30/2023 - What does Faith mean and what does it encompass in our Buddhist tradition? In this 3-part series, Shugen Roshi talks about the Aspiration to Awakening Through Faith and its many aspects which are the essentials of Buddhist teachings and practices. How does the aspiration come forth and develop? Shugen Roshi delves into this third type of aspiration for enlightenment; through the consummation, or perfection, of faith.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 07/29/2023 - Shugen Roshi talks about the Aspiration to Awakening Through Faith and its many aspects which are the essentials of Buddhist teachings and practices. In this 2nd of 3 talks, Shugen Roshi looks at realization, suchness; the aspiration to awaken through realizing the Way.

Linda Shinji Hoffman, Senior Lay Student - ZMM - 07/28/2023 - How do we understand suffering in the relationships with those we love? Shinji reflects on three relationships, with the sangha of ZMM, with her life partner, and with her apple orchard: all in the context of the 1st Noble Truth of suffering and her dharma practice.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 7/27/2023 - What is this quiet place in our heart-mind where we can enjoy serenity and tranquility? Do we have to reach for it? Or is it right here? Gokan examines the third of "The Eight Awarenesses of the Bodhisattva".

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 07/26/2023 - What does Faith mean and what does it encompass in our Buddhist tradition? In this 3-part series, Shugen Roshi talks about the Aspiration to Awakening Through Faith and its many aspects which are the essentials of Buddhist teachings and practices. In this first talk, Shugen Roshi looks at the aspect of understanding; understanding through practicing the Paramitas.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 07/23/2023 - Hojin Sensei brings us back to the breath. And to the Buddha's teaching in the Ānāpānasati (Mindfulness of Breathing) Sutra, looking at the practice of paying attention to our breath - and the fruits of doing so. She reminds each of us to be careful not to take breath practice for granted, citing John Daido Roshi's heartfelt admonition: "If you really give yourself to breath practice, it will take you to the depths you need to go."

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZCNYC - 7/23/2023 - Zen Master Wumen Huikai wrote, "Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life." In this talk, Shoan explores this teaching, which profoundly points to the heart of Zen practice.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 7/16/2023 - Hojin cites the case "Advice of the Caterpillar," written by Daido Roshi on the conversation between Alice and the Caterpillar, from Alice in Wonderland. The Caterpillar asks Alice "Who Are You?" In Zen practice, this is one of the central inquiries: Who are we, really?

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 7/16/2023 - What is it to be satisfied? How much is enough? Can we be satisfied with the way we are right here, right now? Gokan delves into these questions of desire and satisfaction, and brings it back to our zazen, asking: how does our zazen practice help us to understand knowing how to be satisfied? Gokan shares from "The Eight Awarenesses of the Bodhisattva", a succinct teaching the Buddha gave during the last days of his life. Master Dogen also taught the same in his last days in the Shobogenzo Fascicle "Eight Awakenings of Great Beings." And our more recent ancestor Maezumi Roshi made the same admonitions.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 7/15/2023 - Shoan shares a poem by 14th Century Kashmiri mystic Lalleshwari about "coming home" and asks where do you find yourself in relation to "seeking", "home leaving", "longing"? These activities may seem to imply the need to find, to get somewhere, to be finally satisfied. Yet the non-dual wisdom of Lalleshwari tells us that she's at home when "the truthful one finds me". Lalleshwari seems to say the same thing as Master Dogen: "To carry the self forward and realize the ten thousand dharmas is delusion. That the ten thousand dharmas advance and realize the self is enlightenment."

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei- ZCNYC - 07/09/2023 - Hojin Sensei offers a "care package" for uncertainty, interweaving poetry and Dharma teachings. In the midst of the small and large uncertainties of life, fear often arises. Zazen, Hojin says, is a practice of choosing to enter into uncertainty and not-knowing. The poems and teachings she offers invite us into that wondrous, wild space.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM - 7/09/2023 - Shoan looks in wonderment at the image of "two arrows meeting in mid-air"... Our seemingly ordinary experience and activity in everyday life is none other than the great universal self, Buddha Mind. Reflecting on a poem from the medieval Buddhist nun Fayuan, Red Pine's commentary on the Diamond Sutra, Master Dogen's Jinzu (Miracles) and Genjokoan (Actualizing the Fundamental Point), the teachings of Kosho Uchiyama, and an essay from Audre Lorde, Shoan expresses it: "May We Realize the Buddha Way Together".

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 07/02/2023 - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 17 - The National Teacher Calls Three Times - Shugen Roshi talks about the koan, trust, faith, the student-teacher relationship; the teachings, and questions that bootstrap us onto the Bodhisattva Path. Our journey here calls for the kind of understanding that supports/inspires/guides our activity. And this activity in turn enriches our understanding and the cycle continues. In that sense the aspects of the Noble 8-Fold Path and the 6 Paramitas are interdependent, actualizing together.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 07/02/2023 - Hojin Sensei shares teachings and stories about Patience Paramita. She explores the description of patience given by Larry Ward, a senior teacher in Thich Nhat Hanh's lineage: "patience is the capacity to receive what life gives us." The practice of patience, Hojin says, is humbling, and it has the power to open our hearts and transform intolerance into wisdom and compassion.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 07/01/2023 - In this Jodo-style talk during a Zazenkai, Hojin Sensei delves into Dogen's teachings on zazen. Dogen taught that zazen is not a means to an end - not a meditation technique to achieve something, but "the Dharma gate of joyful ease." Practice and realization are inseparably one and the same. What are the implications of this deep teaching on the way in which we practice?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZCNYC 06/25/2023 - Shugen Roshi offers teachings on Patience, the 3rd of the Paramitas. In the Mahayana tradition, there are three forms of patience that are understood to be essential to the Bodhisattva path: practicing how to hold injuries that come to us, to forebear what is difficult, and to face the true nature of the realities in which we live. In the midst of injustice and frustrations of all kinds, the practice of patience is the revolution that opens up our capacity to respond.

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 6/25/2023 - The Bodhisattva Path calls for the kind of understanding/view at the outset which will support/inspire/guide our activity on that path. Hogen Sensei comments on Emily Dickinson's poem "This World is not Conclusion" to help us to see the deep aspects of this understanding.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 6/24/2023 - In this 2nd of 2 talks, Shugen Roshi continues to delve into these 7 characteristics, talking about the challenges we face in really living them, making them truly deeply ours. How do we practice, in a genuine way, to bring these qualities forth, all the while acknowledging the samsaric mind that accompanies our enlightened mind?

Michelle Seigei Spark, Lay Senior MRO Student - ZMM - 6/23/2023 - Senior lay student Seigei talks about the challenges and opportunities of working with the conditions in which we find ourselves.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 6/22/2023 - Over two talks, Shugen Roshi delves into these 7 characteristics and talks about the challenges we face in really living them, making them truly deeply ours. How do we practice, in a genuine way, to bring these qualities forth, all the while acknowledging the samsaric mind that accompanies our enlightened mind?

Robert Rakusan Ricci, Senior Monastic - ZMM 6/21/2023 - What is it in me that wants to persist? Is that what being "me" is? Throughout our lives so much in our culture is teaching us to desire; reinforcing our desires... to continue being "me", to have a "full life"; stayin' alive as the song goes. Where is freedom and liberation in this? Rakusan examines this quandary. What if instead, we STOP and rest from all this activity of Stayin' Alive?

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM 6/18/2023 - Where and when do I get the opportunity to see into my true nature, the true nature of things? What hinders my being at peace in the Way? Gokan shares his insight in light of the Sixth century Faith Mind Poem and the teachings of the modern master Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche.

Katie Yosha Scott-Childress, Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC 06/18/2023 - Yosha examines the teachings of Zen Ancestor Huineng on "straightforward mind." She speaks about the story of Huineng's Dharma transmission and what it reveals about the cultural beliefs of the time, as well as profound teachings on Buddha nature.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 06/11/2023 - As taught by the Buddha, Right View (or Right Understanding) is the first and foremost of the Noble 8-Fold Path (the N8FP), while at the same time it originates from the dynamic relationship of all eight aspects of the N8FP. i.e. there's an order to the N8FP and there's an interdependence in no particular order as well. This is commonly illustrated by the wheel with eight spokes. Shugen Roshi explains the intricacies of Right View and its importance in grounding us and guiding us clearly along our path.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC 6/11/2023 - What is our relationship to joy, in ourselves and in others? In this talk, Hojin Sensei explores the third of the Four Immeasurables: "May all beings live in sympathetic joy, rejoicing in the happiness of others." She speaks about the challenges and importance of this teaching, especially in the context of our suffering.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 6/04/2023 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 91 - Nanquan's "Peony" - Do we understand what our perceptions actually are? What is happening in the process when we're perceiving and attaching to things? Can we stop and see the continuous dynamic relationships going on?

Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC 06/04/2023 - "Zazen" literally means "sitting meditation." And yet Daido Roshi used to say, "Zazen is not meditation, contemplation, visualization, or mindfulness. It's a way of using your mind and living your life and doing it with other people." In this talk, Yunen draws on his own experience to examine the practice of zazen. What is it? Why do we sit zazen? And how does it function in daily life?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 5/28/2023 - How do we live in the context of the teachings of identity of relative and absolute, that the nature of things is fundamentally empty, and non-dual? How does realizing these teachings liberate us? How do we live in the truth of "Birth-and-Death"? How do we live and understand "Every Day is a Good Day"? How do we understand "Ordinary Mind"? Shugen Roshi invites students to take up these questions and engage with him in Dharma Encounter.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 5/27/2023 - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 6 - Yunmen's "Every Day is a Good Day" - How is that possible? From what perspective is that so? Can we free the idea of good from our idea of good? And from Master Dogen's teaching "The Great Way of all Buddhas, thoroughly practiced is emancipation and realization." What does it mean to thoroughly practice?

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM 05/25/2023 - From Dogen's Extensive Record, # 391: "Life and Death Without Abode" - Hogen Sensei asks... Can we directly look at our life? Which is what we mean when we say "Strive to Awaken"....

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - ZMM 05/24/2023 - Shoan talks about 'entering', 'doorways', 'passing through'. To where? Can we see and take up the abundant opportunities offered to us? And how do we actually do that?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 05/21/2023 - From Master Dogen's Treasury Of The True Dharma Eye, Case 289, Daowu's "Alive or Dead" - Shugen Roshi reflects on our understanding of birth-and-death in the context of the Buddha's profound teaching of dependent co-origination.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei ZCNYC 05/21/2023 - How should we regard and love one another? In the Vimalakirti Sutra, Vimalakirti begins by describing to Manjushri about the insubstantiality of beings. What kind of teaching is this? If people are like balls of foam, bubbles of water, and if, as the Buddha and Vimalikirti say, the nature of the self, of all beings are “empty of own-being,” why and how should we love one another?  We can jump to a very nihilistic conclusion if we don’t inquire about this. Most of us, like Manjushri, know intuitively that compassion is the essence of life,  that not caring cannot be the right understanding. In this talk, Hojin Sensei explores the non dual life of the Bodhisattva and the many forms this can take.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi, ZMM 05/14/2023 - Shugen Roshi speaks about Liturgy and in particular how Oryoki and the Meal Gatha illustrate its beauty, its purpose, and the reality and challenges of our practice in these times.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC 5/14/2023 - For Mother's Day Hojin Sensei introduces us to Ambapali, one of the important female figures in the Buddhist tradition alive during the time of the Buddha. Her enlightenment poem is found in the Therigatha (awakening poems of the elder wise women at the time of the Buddha) where she directly faces and expresses the questions we are inquiring into this Ango about our lives: the questions of birth, aging, sickness, and death. How do we live these realities—these simple recognitions that are with us every moment? How might she show us how to gain access to our heart from her heart? How might the insight she sang in this poem 2,600 years ago in India, reach across time and place and infuse our hearing it sung today? 

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM 05/07/2023 - From the Transmission of the Light, Case 7 - The 6th Indian Ancestor, Mishaka - There are strong karmic currents that keep showing up in our lives: loneliness, insecurity, anger, confusion, amongst many. We can think of them as intractable burdens or we can think of them as the ways each of us are going to work certain things out in this lifetime. Can we keep these close and not separate, and really use them to clarify, to free ourselves and to benefit others?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC 05/07/2023 - Hojin Sensei introduces us to the Five Remembrances first found in the Upajjhatthana Suttra. We are encouraged to reflect on these because we will do things that make ourselves and others suffer. We are reminded that we will inherit the results of our actions. Our actions are our continuation. What we do and what happens to us is the same thing.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM, 04/30/2023 - Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the 2023 Apple Blossom Sesshin - A teaching in the Maha-Parinirvana Sutra uses the metaphor of an island. The Buddha says: "... You should all live with yourselves as your island, yourselves as your refuge, with no other as your refuge, ... with the Dharma as your island..." This may seem to us to be affirming a "me-oriented" culture, reinforcing individualism, etc. On the contrary, Shugen Roshi asks the sangha:  How is that not cutting ourselves off from others? How is that not retreating into our habitual self-clinging, our ego, our impulsive consciousness, our opinions? How is this not putting ourselves first, above others? How is the metaphor of an island not isolating? How do we live this teaching as the Bodhisattva vows? What does this teaching have to do with trust?

Katie Yosha Scott-Childress, Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC 04/30/2023 - Yosha draws upon her life experience to describe the undivided work life. We are encouraged to give life to what's in front of us, just doing that one thing that needs to be done, knowing that that is everything. Doing that one thing is all that we can offer in any moment.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM, 04/29/2023 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 83 - Daowu Tends The Sick - Shugen reflects on this beautifully poetic koan, about seeing clearly into our suffering, into birth-and-death; the wonderful medicine that can be.

Maureen Jisho Ford, Senior Lay Student - Zen Mountain Monastery - 04/28/2023 - Senior lay student Jisho gives a lively talk about her experience with sickness, death, and letting go of that which is ultimately empty of 'self'.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery - 04/27/2023 - Teisho during the Fusatsu of ZMM's Apple Blossom Sesshin - Shugen Roshi reflects on the ever-present intimacy in our lives and the continuous practice of atonement.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery - 4/26/2023 - From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Fascicle "Shoji" (Birth and Death) - How can the everyday ordinary activity of intimate contact manifest our completeness, our wholeness? Gokan talks about learning how to trust reality in the context of Dogen's fascicle on birth-and-death. Also, Gokan acknowledges with appreciation Charlotte Joko Beck and Merle Kodo Boyd who were both recently added to the ZMM Women Ancestors list.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery - 4/23/2023 - Shugen Roshi officiates the Spring 2023 Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery. Today, five students - Gashin, Chosei, Juyu, Kyoshin, & Jokai - formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends. Michael Kaup - Gashin - "Authentic Self"; Malcolm Barrett - Chosei - "Morning Spirit"; Mary Bosakowsky - Juyu - "Gentle Fearlesness"; Deborah Hovland - Kyoshin - "Mirror of Natural Peace"; Scott Forster - Jokai - "Steady Undoing"

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC, Fire Lotus Temple, 04/23/2023 - Hojin Sensei quotes from Hongzhi, Charlotte Joko Beck and teaches how to practice in accord with our true self and our relative self. She invites us to open to the parts of ourselves that proliferate suffering with gentleness and care.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZCNYC, Fire Lotus Temple, 04/16/2023 - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 41 - Zhaozhou's Person Who's Died the Great Death - Shugen Roshi invites us to confront the simple truths of our lives and to honestly and compassionately study them. How do you care very deeply but without entanglement? He says, "One of the greatest expressions of love is to see something as it is."

Judy Lief - Zen Mountain Monastery - 04/16/2023 - Judy Lief, in speaking about our Buddha Nature, gives her humble, direct commentary on the Four Immeasurables**... How do we practice them within our ordinary activity? towards our own sacred selves? - **May all beings be free from suffering and the root of suffering; May all beings know happiness and the root of happiness; May all beings live in sympathetic joy, rejoicing in the happiness of others; May all beings live in equanimity, free from passion, aggression and delusion. These are also called "The Four Limitless Ones". - Judy Lief is a Buddhist teacher who trained under the Tibetan meditation master, Ven. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. You can learn more about her at judylief.com. She led a retreat at ZMM this weekend entitled "Just So—An Introduction to Mahamudra Teachings".

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/09/2023 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 62 - Mi Hu's "Enlightenment Or Not?" - From this koan, and quoting Daido Roshi "The way to heaven is heaven itself," and from Thomas Merton's writing on the monastic life which can just as well be applied to lay life, Shugen Roshi encourages us to be mindful, pay attention and see enlightenment here and now in our everyday activities. And be careful, what stuff are we using to put our life together each day?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/02/2023 - Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the 2023 Founding Sesshin; On passages from Dogen's Fascicle "Undivided Activity" and from the Buddha's teaching in the "Maha-Parinirvana Sutra." - Dogen teaches: "Birth is just like riding a boat, although you control the boat you could not ride without the boat..." And the Buddha teaches: "you are your refuge, unto yourself... there is no other refuge..."; "take yourself as your island..." i.e. you have everything you need within yourself... How do we take refuge within ourselves? How is that taking refuge in the three treasures? Dogen refers to the boat as something of our own making. What is that? How are we to be our own refuge when that 'self' that we turn to can be deluded and unclear or untrustworthy? Shugen Roshi and Ango participants take up these questions.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/01/2023 - From Master Dogen's Treasury Of The True Dharma Eye, "Undivided Activity" - "The great way of all buddhas, thoroughly practiced, is emancipation and realization." What is it about this activity that makes it emancipation and realization? What does it look like? Where and when is it happening?

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, 03/31/2023 - How can we learn to practice our life through the activity of taking refuge in the three treasures? Shoan reflects on how death and taking refuge are part of our path and she encourages us to soften our hearts to the process.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 03/30/2023 - Fusatsu Ceremony and Teisho from ZMM's Annual Founding Sesshin - Shugen Roshi reflects on the vows of his teacher when founding the monastery; how they've been alive and thriving, reaching out to us, and inviting us in, as is their nature, to the present day. (Shugen Roshi's talk begins 15 minutes into the ceremony.)

Linda Shinji Hoffman, Senior Lay Student - Zen Mountain Monastery, 03/29/2023 - Shinji reads from 8th century Zen Master Shitou's poem "Inside the Grass Hut" and shares the inspiration she receives from it; pointing out its many teachings as particularly helpful encouragement for practice in sesshin.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 03/26/2023 - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 288 - Zhaozhou's "Indestructible Nature" - Shugen Roshi talks about the MRO's newly formed Sangha Harmony Advisory Council; how and why it came about.

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?

Taisho Sands, Lay Student - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Brooklyn 03/19/2023

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt Tremper, New York, Saturday 03/18/2023 - Shugen Roshi offers the rich heritage of teachings on Zazen; this fundamental activity in the practice of Zen Buddhism.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper, New York, Saturday 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.

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, 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?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 02/12/2023 - Hojin Sensei reflects on Tilopa's Six Nails, a set of instructions for practitioners composed by the 10th century Buddhist master Tilopa. This talk reminds us to come back to the basics; abandoning thoughts of past, present or future, and not trying to analyze or control. Instead, we can learn to just rest, in our meditation and in our own awakened nature.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 02/12/2023 - From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Fascicle "Komyo" (Radiant Light) - There are many teachings, elements of study, that help us with our engagement and understanding of practicing the Way. For instance, we need to know about the 5 kleshas, the 6 paramitas, concentration, mindfulness, Vipassana, Shamatha, etc., etc.... We learn about all of that and we're sorted? Liberated? Shoan kindly says no not quite, "it's not like that." So then, how and where do we encounter liberation? She brings in Master Dogen's Fascicle “Radiant Light” to delve into this question.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 02/05/2023 - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 33 - Ma-tsu: "No Mind, No Buddha"  - These things we seek and questions we have... What is Buddha? What is enlightenment? What is peace, compassion, ... When we seek something we must know something about it, no? Otherwise how would we know to seek it? Shugen Roshi encourages us to let go of what we think we know; see what happens when we let go of our understanding. Including our understanding of "letting go".

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 02/05/2023 - Hojin Sensei officiates the Novice Monastic Ordination ceremony for Simon Sekku Harrison, surrounded by a full and joyful zendo at Fire Lotus Temple. Novice monastics receive the Bodhisattva Precepts and the Monastic Vows, which Sekku has committed to develop as he continues his discernment of the monastic life.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/29/2023 - From Zen Master Hakuin: "Song of Zazen" - At the conclusion to our New Year’s sesshin, Mn. Gokan explores “Song of Zazen,” an 18th century poem by Master Hakuin Ekaku. This text has served as an inspirational touchstone for generations of practitioners and is even chanted at some Zen temples as part of their daily liturgy. “The gateway to freedom,” Hakuin promises, “is zazen samadhi.” Gokan encourages us to develop "enthusiasm for meeting the rigors of practice" with a “joyful effort.” He summarizes that effort—and Hakuin’s intent—with the following prescription: "Don't grasp, don't crave, don't push away, relax the mind, stop fighting with yourself; be gentle."

Robert Rakusan Ricci, Senior Monastic - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Thursday 01/26/2023 - Rakusan delivered this talk in the midst of a sesshin retreat, asking, what is the relationship between prayer and zazen? Both involve reverence, devotion, faith and a willingness to be open to whatever arises in our experience. Rakusan draws on an essay by Ken McLeod called, “Where the Thinking Stops,” and goes on from there to tap several mystic voices, including St. John of the Cross. Another mystic, Leonard Cohen, provides the soundtrack, as it were, to this talk with his 1969 incantation, “Lady Midnight.” Through it all, Rakusan encourages us to keep going above and beyond ourselves and see how and where prayer fills our lives.

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? 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, New York, Sunday 01/22/2023 - On this auspicious day, Shugen Roshi officiated the shukke tokudo ceremony for Jeffrey Kien Martin. Tokudo marks the formal taking of monastic vows and, in our tradition, expresses a lifetime commitment to the Monastery. Kien was given the monastic name Jogo, the meaning of which Shugen Roshi beautifully explains near the end of the ceremony. In short, it can be interpreted as "Steady Strength."

Degna Chikei Levister, MRO Senior Lay Student - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 01/15/2023 - This talk is part of a special Sunday morning program commemorating the life and teachings of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Fire Lotus Temple and Zen Mountain Monastery. - Senior student Degna Chikei Levister draws from Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and gives voice to his compassionate, courageous words and actions. Chikei connects Dr. King's teachings to Buddhist teachings, expanding on his lived message to "attack forces of evil, not persons doing evil" when addressing racism and other forms of oppression.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/08/2023 - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 105 - "The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion" - In this New Year's season of reflections and resolutions, Shugen Roshi encourages us to turn our attention toward the great Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, and to look incisively into how they operates within our own lives.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 01/08/2023 - Hojin Sensei speaks about the simple and profound practice of breathing. The breath, she shares, brings us into the body and into the present, gradually unifying body and mind.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Saturday, New Year's Eve 12/31/2022 - Teisho during the Rohatsu Sesshin Fusatsu Ceremony - Shugen Roshi reflects on the vitality of actualized vows in the context of the Paramitas, and urges us to recognize and nurture the basic quality of kindness in our intentions and actions.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Saturday, New Year's Eve 12/31/2022 - Dharma Talk during the New Year's Eve Fusatsu Ceremony - Hojin Sensei welcomes in the new year with a Fusatsu at Fire Lotus Temple. She invokes the power of vows and the importance of choosing them well.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday 12/30/2022 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 67 - The Flower Ornament Scripture's "Wisdom" - Shugen Roshi talks about the Scriptures as the Body of Wisdom. That's not simply a metaphor; that's the wisdom of direct experience over the ages. Each and every one of us are intimately included in that living body. We make it whole.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Thursday 12/29/2022 - From the Buddha's own life story to contemporary somatic mindfulness, Shoan reflects on how we can recognize and trust the embodied source of our liberation.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Wednesday 12/28/2022 - From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Fascicle "Inmo" (Thusness) - From where do the mental states such as greed, anger and ignorance, fear, insecurity, doubt, etc, originate? Do they come to us or from within us? Gokan brings up the stories of Mara, the personification of these negative emotions, or you could say, a bearer of these, or simply, one aspect of yourself. Mara visited the Buddha before, and many times after, his enlightenment, and he/she visits monastics and lay practitioners in many stories in the early sutras. Who is Mara for us? How do we respond to Mara? Gokan reminds us of the profound example of Buddha remaining peaceful and calm while inviting Mara to tea.

Prabu Gikon Vasan, Senior Lay Practitioner - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 12/18/2022 - On the Candima Sutta: The Moon Deity's Prayer for Protection - Inspired by the Pali Canon Sutta about the "Moon God Candima's Prayer for Protection," Gikon reflects on the process of Refuge. How do we recognize and work with our demons? (Whatever they are for us.) Can we connect our momentary discriminating thoughts to larger cycles of discontent and suffering?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Sunday 12/11/2022 - From the Avatamsaka Sutra - A Reading Meditation - Hojin Sensei offers Dharma words from the Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra, drawing out the importance of being in the world with things, while seeing what they are. She recites an excerpt from the Sutra, accompanied by Stu Pender on guitar. (We think you'll enjoy this valuable reading even though Hojin Sensei's voice is hard to hear above the guitar in some places. We'll improve the balance for future recordings.)

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 12/11/2022 - In our daily liturgy we refer to Prajna Paramita - Perfection of Wisdom - as "The Mother of all Buddhas...dispelling all fears..." Just as a mother naturally soothes her child's pain and fear, can we allow for the possibility of holding and dispelling our own fear when we're open to this wisdom beyond wisdom? Shoan explores this question and more and shares a moving poem by Joy Harjo addressing fear.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Saturday 12/10/2022 - From the encouraging words of Robert Aitken Roshi. - From Robert Aitken Roshi, Intimacy, in Zen, is the nature of Practice and its experience. Gokan reflects on how this intimacy manifests via paying attention and keeping our questions open.