Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - Zoom Broadcast, 5/23/2021 - Mumonkan (Gateless Gate) – Case 23: Think Neither Good Nor Evil - Hogen Sensei uses this well-known interaction between Hui Neng, the Sixth Ancestor, and Monk Ming to delve deeply into the meaning of faith. He asks us: When we speak of faith in our practice, the Dharma, what do we mean? Faith in what? Can faith be taken? Can it be given to another?

Virginia Black, Sangha Member - Zen Center of New York City, 05/20/2021 - The Noble Path series offers personal accounts of MRO sangha members coming to practice and dives into their experiences walking the spiritual path. A diverse set of students and circumstances shows us the many unique ways we encounter and resonate with the Dharma. Yet, despite these differences, we often find a shared thread in each others stories.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 05/16/2021 - Blue Cliff Record, Case 58 - Zhaozhou's Can't Explain. - As we share this earth with countless other creatures, we easily forget that we come from one primordial source. In the Dharma we can recognize that each being is a manifestation of one great body. So then, Shugen Roshi asks, why do we make it so complicated? From the perspective of our deluded views, everything is separate and apart, but even this view is the path of awakening to our true nature.

Shugen Roshi officiates the Spring Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery in which two students received the sixteen Buddhist precepts: Scrap Kyuko (“Enduring Peace”) Wren & Pat Shosen (“Sacred River”) Carnahan. Kyuko and Shosen have each been practicing as formal students and studying these moral and ethical teachings for a number of years. During the ceremony Shugen Roshi offers joyful encouragement to the recipients as they take up these vows.

Hojin Sensei introduces us to the Buddha's Brahma Net Sutra in which he confirms that the Precepts are the heart of our humanity. How do we cultivate practice as a Bodhisattva, one who dedicates their life to release suffering? How can we go through our lives with a stable mind so as to be able to see right from wrong and not be sidetracked by our emotions?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/25/2021 - Dharma Encounter at the Conclusion of the 2021 Apple Blossom Sesshin - Shugen Roshi begins with the koan in the last paragraph of Master Dogen's fascicle "Ten Directions". Priest Fungshan was asked by a monk: "The World Honored Ones in the ten directions are all on the one path to Nirvana. Let me ask you: where is the path?” Fungshan drew a line in the air with his staff and said: “It’s here". Shugen Roshi asks us: What are the ten directions? Where is the path to liberation? Is it the path that we are on? Why do teachers describe the path in so many different ways? Are there different paths to liberation?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/24/2021 - Blue Cliff Record, Case 62 - Yunmen’s “Within There is a Jewel” - Shugen Roshi reminds us that we are the creators of our lives. Our pervasive sense of being lost or broken is a creation of our mind. Out of habit we look outside of ourselves for relief. This koan tells us to “Turn the light around” and find the jewel within that shows us the path to the end of suffering.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic - Zen Mountain Monastery, 04/23/2021 - Drawing inspiration from Master Hongzhi’s teachings “Cultivating the Empty Field”, Monastic Shoan invites us to tap into our innate sense of wonder and investigate the fundamental questions: Who is this I? Who am I? What is impermanence?  And so, how do we actually soften our fixations on reified reality and let go? We can begin by resting in wonder. For starters, the world is burning AND the springtime is glorious.

Patrick Yunen Kelly, Senior Lay Student - Zen Mountain Monastery (Via Zoom), 04/22/2021 - Bringing forth the Fire Sermon Discourse, one of the Buddha’s earliest teachings, Yunen asks us to investigate the sources of our suffering: Why do we suffer? What is this fire we live in? Is it possible that we have something to do with this suffering?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, 4/21/2021 - Book of Serenity, Case 60 - Iron-Grinder Liu - Evoking this pithy exchange between Liu Tiemo and her teacher Guishan, Shugen Roshi asks us to reflect on how we meet these teachings. How do we turn towards what we do not understand but somehow know is true? And ultimately, how do we become serene in a world of perceived adversity?