84 episodes
The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast Zen Mountain Monastery
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- Religion & Spirituality
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 tradition of Buddhist monasticism. Since 1980, the Monastery has offered spiritual practitioners traditional and innovative ways to engage the dharma through a wide range of retreats and residential programs that unfold within the context of authentic, full-time Zen monastic training. The Zen Center of New York City: Fire Lotus Temple is the city branch of Zen Mountain Monastery. Supporting home practitioners in the metropolitan area, ZCNYC offers varied practice opportunities within the Eight Gates training matrix.
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Living Dharma In Ease And Joy
Chimyo Simone Atkinson, Sensei - ZMM - 6/9/24 - Chimyo Sensei explores the essential practice of zazen, and our genuine capacity to realize Buddha Nature. This practice can challenge us to face our own barriers, tapping into our innate ability to yield, like a dragon taking to the water, and the courage to move freely, like a tiger entering the mountains. Chimyo Sensei offers guidance to live the dharma with whatever is arising, with grace, ease and joy.
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Knowing and Understanding
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/2/24 - From the Book of Serenity, Case 19 - Yunmen's "Sumaru" - Koan practice guides us to something different than conceptual knowledge, a liberation of mind which is, as the Buddha said, subtle and difficult to understand. And yet, conceptual knowledge is an integral part of how we can realize the non-conceptual mind. Using Yunmen’s teachings, Shugen Roshi explores how calming the mind, and gaining insight, are important steps toward understanding how to truly free ourselves from conceptual thought and grasping at self-centered views.
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Dharma Encounter: Identity Action
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 5/26/24 - At the conclusion of spring ango 2024, Shugen Roshi offered a teaching on the ango theme of Right Relationship, focusing on Identity Action, or non-difference, from Dogen’s The Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance. Ango participants were invited to present questions or their understanding with Roshi, and this lively exchange explores the themes of harmony, embracing differences along with sameness, and the inseparability of all phenomena.
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Making the Connection, Part 2
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 5/25/24 - From Master Hongzhi's verse: Guidepost of Silent Illumination - Both effortful and effortless... meditation flowing through all activity, on the cushion, off the cushion... Shugen Roshi continues his talk on the practice of Shikantaza and Master Hongzhi's poem.
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The View Beyond Your Views
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 5/24/24 - We tell ourselves stories about who we are, what we can and cannot do. We often don’t recognize how limiting these views are, the suffering they perpetuate, and that only we can change them. In this exploration of Right View, Shoan Osho takes up verses of the elder nuns in the Therigata collection to elucidate how views are created, questioned, explored, and seen through on the path of liberation.
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Your Relationship With Mt Tremper
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 5/23/24 - From The True Dharma Eye, Case 75 - Yantou's "Sit Still" - How do we respond to life’s complications? Sitting in stillness is the simple practice, but in itself can become a hiding place. The Three Worlds—form, formlessness and desire—all arrive together at once, so how do we practice stillness in the midst of it all? Using a koan from Master Yantou, Hogen Sensei reminds us that true freedom, to let go and be totally alive to the suchness of this moment, is within our capacity to let go of fixed views about anything.