Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 02/13/2022 - With the teachings of Shantideva and the Paramita of Patience, Gokan offers us guidance to stay with our difficult experiences so we can better understand where our suffering arises. While uncomfortable, it is in these challenging times that we can cultivate and discover a peace and joy that is not dependent on anything, and find the path to all that we are.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 02/06/2022 - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 13 - Deshan Carries His Bowls - How do we create our own distractedness? And how do we get caught up in our flurry of concepts? It's not conceptual thinking itself that is the problem. Shugen Roshi offers that by taking the seat of no evasion, turning our attention inwards, we can witness how "what we think we know" impedes our experience of our lives as they are, full and complete.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/30/2022 - From Dongshan's "Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi" - The conclusion of a series on Master Dongshan's poem, this talk looks at the dynamic relationship you have—as the practitioner—with the ancient sages, and with all phenomenal world of reality and within its absolute unity. How do we listen, and truly hear this ancient song?

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday 01/28/2022 - One of the Paramitas (or Perfections) is patience, and if you've ever reached the limits of yours, you know there can be more to discover. Hojin Sensei revisits the story, "Nature Like Ashes" to stir up it's warm embers.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Wednesday 01/26/2022 - From Dongshan's "Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi" - Faith is required—just enough to keep returning to a simple practice of deeply seeing the presence of our delusion. With the help of that delusion, the way opens for discovering true freedom in the whole of reality. Shugen Roshi continues the study of Dongshan's Jewel Mirror Samadhi to help us practice letting go attachments and opening to experience of a unified life.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/23/2022 - From Dongshan's "Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi" and Thich Nhat Hanh's "Please Call Me By My True Names" (This is Part 3 of Shugen Roshi's teaching on Dongshan's poem.) - Given on the occasion of Thich Nhat Hanh's passing. This talk spans the centuries of buddhadharma, taking up the teachings of Master Dongshan and Thich Nhat Hanh. Pointing to the unity of emptiness, the truth of non-duality and the boundless heart of the bodhisattva, Shugen Roshi invites us afresh into the age-old question of Zen: what do we call the self?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/16/2022 - Celebrating the Love in Action of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Invoking the life and words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Shugen Roshi celebrates his teachings on the power of love and its manifestation in the Beloved Community. Sangha is an example of this united effort to live as an expression of love, and the life of practice requires our sincere engagement and action. Dr. King believed in the “practical realism” of love, a power which is always available and can be lived every day. Understanding the interrelated structure of reality from a Christian perspective, he said, “Your suffering is my suffering,” echoing the Bodhisattva's vow to put an end to the suffering of all beings. - Shugen Roshi's  dharma talk is preceded by a sangha presentation "From Refuge to Sanctuary: an MRO Tribute to Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr." hosted by senior lay student Chikei Levister. - (You can watch the video of the sangha presentation here: vimeo.com/666366222.)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Sunday 01/09/2022 - From The Gateless Gate, Case 20 - A Person of Great Strength

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Friday Evening 12/31/2021 - Shugen Roshi offers inspiration on the virtues of vow during the New Year's Eve Fusatsu, or renewal of vows, ceremony.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Thursday 12/30/2021 - From Transmission of the Light, Case 41 - The 40th Ancestor, Great Master Tongan Daopi