The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

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.