Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 1/4/26 - In this talk Hojin draws on the teachings of Zen Master Bankei and the importance of allowing the still point to find us. All so very relevant. His teachings point to something very simple and very radical: before thought, before preference, before judgment—seeing happens, hearing happens, smelling, tasting, touching happens. And none of that needs a self to make it happen. How curious!

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 12/31/2025 - Here, in a Fusatsu ceremony—a renewal of vows and an atoning for our transgressions—the foundation is stillness. Zazen is the activity through which we continually return to that stillness. Hojin Sensei encourages us to listen deeply, so that morality is not imposed but received, and our true nature can be discovered. From this place, grace naturally infuses our everyday actions.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 12/14/25 - “In spring the sun in the green willow strands— See its timeless form.” - In this talk Hojin Sensei takes us on the journey of the third stage on the Path of Enlightenment—Seeing the OX. This is where we actually catch a first direct glimpse of our vast, boundless, ungraspable true nature. Why is the OX not ever showing its head? - There's a short video of Hojin painting this ox herding image prior to her talk which we'll post on our website soon. For now, enjoy the talk.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 12/07/25 - Celebrating Buddha’s Enlightenment, enjoy this talk of Hojin Sensei’s in looking at Buddha’s most important teaching —the story of his own journey to enlightenment. It is worth repeating as an essential guide for our own spiritual journey. In order to do this well we have to learn how to lean in. Rumi writes: You are the source of milk. Don’t milk others! We have a channel into the ocean, Beg for that love expansion. Meditate on this” If we are willing, ability is given.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 11/30/25 - Into this season of gatherings with family, friends, communities, Hojin Sensei illuminates ways we might practice relationships on this noble path in taking up this koan and Dogen’s guiding practices on embracing the ways as a Bodhisattva. This practice of choosing the larger heart. - From The Hidden Lamp: Stories of Awakened Women - Case 99 - Let’s Become Enlightened Together.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 10/19/25 - Hojin Sensei reminds us of the power of our heart-minds to heal, and shares helpful words from Maezumi Roshi, who noted our important “response-ability” to meet the harm created by ourselves and others. In the atonement practice of Fusatsu, we create a new path forward to open our hearts, be at ease and heal. - Hojin Sensei's Dharma Talk During the Fusatsu Ceremony.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 10/18/25 - How do you become ‘rested and ready’ to meet those things you’d rather hurry by, or bring under control and fix? Hojin Sensei reminds us that a simple pause can skillfully hold this tension of opposites, which calls on a deeper intimacy with the self through practice. In this way our actions align with the aspiration to Patience Paramita as practice itself. - Hojin Sensei's Saturday Zazenkai Talk 18th October at Fire Lotus Temple.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 9/26/25 - Taking responsibility allows us to make fresh and new karma, to heal what needs to be healed. The vows of atonement or repentance are at the center of this ceremony of Fusatsu. Hojin Sensei explores what the words of our vows in this context mean, and how our intentions can turn the tides of harmful karma -- born of greed, anger and ignorance -- and allow us to heal. (Dharma Talk during the Mountains and Rivers Sesshin Fusatsu Ceremony)

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 9/14/25 - In this talk, Hojin Sensei offers a full recitation of the Genjo Koan by Zen Master Eihei Dogen—keeping his living relics warm within our hearts. Before beginning, she pauses to recall how Buddhism first flowed through oral tradition, carried mind to mind, committed to memory. She invites us to take up this same practice: to steep ourselves in the Dharma by reading quietly or aloud, by copying, by chanting, and by listening.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 9/7/25 - “Buddhas and ancestors of old were as we, we in the future shall be Buddhas and ancestors.”

This quote is from the 13th century Zen master Eihei Dogen in his Bodhisattva Vow to express gratitude for the ancestors continuous guidance in our practice for the benefit of all beings. Hojin Sensei shares this recognition that we are the recipients of innumerable currents of life streaming into and influencing our own lives. She follows this with an introduction to the life of Great Ancestor Eihei Dogen and his fascicle Genjo Koan that we are studying this Ango.