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PODCAST

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

Zen Mountain Monastery

The Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO) is a Western Zen Buddhist lineage established by the late John Daido Loori Roshi and dedicated to sharing the dharma as it has been passed down, generation to generation, since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. Zen Mountain Monastery, the main house of the Mountains and Rivers Order, is one of the West’s most respected Zen Buddhist monasteries and training centers. Nestled in New York’s beautiful Catskill Mountains, the Monastery draws its strength from the ancient

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

43:24

Do You Know the Self—or Not?

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/04/05

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 4/5/26 – From the Book of Serenity, Case 37 – Guishan’s “Active Consciousness” – Who is this “self,” the one we’ve taken ourselves to be all our lives? On the path, this question must be clarified intimately, so we can truly take responsibility for how we live. This requires seeing every arising of mind—even those we would rather avoid, or have been told to ignore—because they may reveal what is asking to be met

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42:43

Acupuncture Needle of Zazen

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/28

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/28/26 – The subtle healing energy of zazen is likened to an acupuncture needle by Hongzhi, and Shugen Roshi explores how this teaching functions in our own practice life. Within zazen, are we truly engaging what is right in front of us? The simple and direct nature of zazen brings us back again and again, and so we return and settle into the ease of being within our own minds. Hongzhi invites us to “know without touching…and rest there.”

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26:15

Finding the Monastery in Samsara

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/27

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 3/27/26 – In this Renewal of Vows (Fusatsu) talk, Shoan Sensei offers the perspective that we are practicing within samsara, exactly where we are. Here we can come very close to the narrow habits and patterns that create suffering—something we cannot do in some imagined fantasy of a Buddha Land. Taking up the place where we find ourselves as the place of our own vows, we can discover ways to bring forward our infinite capacity to leave

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26:18

Entering the Wilderness

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/26

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 3/26/26 – A very human practice is to go into unfamiliar places, maybe on a pilgrimage or a journey of some sort into the unknown. What might be the benefit of this type of practice, why did it come to exist? Gokan Osho explores the Buddha’s teachings on facing one’s own mind, free of attachments. When we relax, and get very close to our direct experience, there is the possibility of transformations which can’t be prepared for.

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43:34

Just Resting, While Freely Going Forth

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/25

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – 3/25/26 – ZMM – Hogen Sensei asks the question: what is it to just rest? To let our busy preoccupation with our thoughts come to rest. Accepting all streams, everything becomes “one taste,” non-dual and not in opposition to anything. To truly settle down and allow the busyness to rest is to let the continuous flow be present just as it is, revealing the edges of what we call our “self” in the moment-to-moment flow of reality.

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41:30

Spring 2026 Ango Opening Talk – “The Turning Words of...

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/22

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/22/26 – Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO Spring Ango 2026 training period, “The Turning Words of Hongzhi”.

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39:29

Ango Opening Talk at Fire Lotus Temple

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/22

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/22/26 – Join Hojin Sensei for her Spring Ango opening remarks at the Temple. Auspicious Beginning of Spring! Homage to the buddha, dharma, sangha treasures! How auspicious! What does it mean to dwell peacefully—together—right here in the midst of things as they are? To take delight in development? Ango gives us a field to see this clearly.

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40:03

Aspects of Giving

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/15

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/15/26 – As the first of the Paramitas, or perfections, generosity is a virtue that leads to releasing the suffering we all experience, which was the primary focus of the Buddha’s teaching. Shugen Roshi reminds us that when we practice the dharma with the mind of generosity, we can hold everything that arises, and let diminish the disconnection between ourselves and all others.

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1:03:06

Come to Rest in Actuality

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/15

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei and Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/15/26 – Buddha and Mara are figurative ways of portraying a fundamental seeming opposition within our human nature: Buddha stands for a capacity for awareness, openness, and freedom; with Mara representing a capacity for confusion, closure, and restriction. In this collaborative Dharma Talk Shoan and Hojin explore the four traditional teachings of the ways Mara appears. – This talk followed the Meeting Mara

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47:40

So Many Hands and Eyes

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/08

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/8/26 – When we are complete within ourselves, nothing is left aside as unimportant. All of it is important. We can look to the great bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, as one who does not make any distinctions whatsoever. All things have their skillful use, can be turned toward benefit, even those most difficult things, those most challenging moments. What we do moment to moment is what makes the path of practice and realization

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40:13

It’s Right Here

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/08

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/8/26 – From The Hidden Lamp, Case #1: The Old Woman of Mt. Wutai – What is this desire to have a defined path in life and might the pointing in this koan give some friction to ask the larger question of what is moving us? Hojin takes up this teaching to address the mind that leans forward — imagining fulfillment later, somewhere else.

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44:14

Vimalakirti’s Gate of Non-Duality

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/01

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/1/26 – What did Vimalakirti say when Manjushri asked him to speak? In our own lives, how do we find freedom amid the dualities we encounter—sick or well, right or wrong, left or right? And what does the nonduality of form and emptiness reveal? When nothing stands opposed, where is the other side? In this talk, Shugen Roshi explores the nonduality of wisdom and compassion, and the selfless quality that makes each inseparable from the other

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31:49

Mirror, Mirror ! – Reflecting without Division

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/03/01

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/1/26 – Listen to this invitation from a small convent in medieval Japan—Tōkeiji—where generations of nuns practiced zazen before a mirror, contemplating this question: “Where is a single feeling, a single thought, in the mirror image at which I gaze?” Awareness does not stand apart from experience. What might this mean in a world that so often feels divided? – From The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women: #34

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43:46

Bodhisattva of Great Compassion

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/22

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/22/26 – Known by many different names throughout the Buddhist world—Avalokitesvara, Kwan Yin, Kannon—they are the hearer of the cries of the world. This being embodies that compelling ability to relieve all suffering and lead beings to complete, perfect enlightenment. Unburdened, we are thereby able to free others and ourselves from suffering. Learning to not create these states in the first place, is the hard work of practice. Perfection is

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35:14

Metta Sutra As Practice

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/21

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/21/26 – Our unified being—seeing body and mind as one reality—is profoundly affected by outside circumstances. Zazen practice turns us inward, to meet ourselves and what is arising in this mind-body. Shugen Roshi brings The Metta Sutta alive as the Buddha’s instructions on how to practice this dynamic flow of both inward and outward with loving-kindness. It speaks to the heart of spiritual work and the transformation possible, when a

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23:01

Shaping the World of Experience

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/19

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 2/19/26 – Coming into the experience of our emotions and thoughts, we can find the way our minds shape our experience from one moment to the next. If we’re not grounded in this embodied experience, and willing to feel our feelings, we may tend to push them away or numb ourselves. This informal talk given during February sesshin invites us to gently and directly feel what we are experiencing, body and mind, and begin to free ourselves from the

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30:26

Metta Sutra As Instructions

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/18

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/18/26 – This early sutra of the Buddha describes the practice of metta, offered as a beneficial aid to settle the mind and body and ease fear and vexation. Even within the wild restlessness of our minds, the troubles of our hearts and ways in which we struggle, taking these instructions to heart and understanding it’s intent can help us settle into the refuge of a zazen. – The text of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is here on the ZMM Liturgy

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38:31

Do Not Disappoint Yourself

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/15

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/15/26 – All along the bodhisattva path, we make vows to serve others. When the conditions of our lives grow difficult—when stress feels real and urgent—these vows become more vivid and deeply personal. Shugen Roshi shares stories and leads a renewal of our commitment to the well-being of all who seek refuge in the Sangha. On this long path, however often we fall short, we return to and rely upon our vows.

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34:51

Circle of the Way Is Never Cut Off

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/08

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 2/8/26 – Invoking Dogen’s fascicle on Continuous Practice, Shoan Sensei reminds us that we turn toward spiritual practice to take refuge. In doing so, we take our seat as Buddha, taking refuge in the Dharma and relying on the Sangha all around us. From this refuge arises a continuous, sustained, real practice, even when it is uncomfortable or difficult. Here, grace is found within our actual experience, and together we discover a true refuge in

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00:46:21

Coming Together – Falling Apart

The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast ·

2026/02/08

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei Zen Center of New York City, Fire Lotus Temple, Brooklyn, Sunday 02/08/2026 Coming together, falling apart, are these the same? Different? Practice can show us the freedom of mind responding according to circumstance. In this talk, Hojin Sensei reflects on the koan from the Hidden Lamp, Chiyono’s No Water, No Moon, […]

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169 results

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