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