The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

By Zen Mountain MonasteryReligion & Spirituality Buddhism

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Typical duration
42 min
per episode

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The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast episodes

March 08 So Many Hands and Eyes
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/8/26 - When we are complete within ourselves, nothing is left aside as unimportant. All of it is important. We can look to the great bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, as one who does not make any distinctions whatsoever. All things have their skillful use, can be turned toward benefit, even those most difficult things, those most challenging moments. What we do moment to moment is what makes the path of practice and realization possible. How do we manifest compassion? By looking to what we do, moment to moment, as a very real living vow. - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 105 - "The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion"
48 min
March 08 It’s Right Here
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/8/26 - From The Hidden Lamp, Case #1: The Old Woman of Mt. Wutai - What is this desire to have a defined path in life and might the pointing in this koan give some friction to ask the larger question of what is moving us? Hojin takes up this teaching to address the mind that leans forward — imagining fulfillment later, somewhere else.
41 min
March 01 Vimalakirti’s Gate of Non-Duality
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 3/1/26 - What did Vimalakirti say when Manjushri asked him to speak? In our own lives, how do we find freedom amid the dualities we encounter—sick or well, right or wrong, left or right? And what does the nonduality of form and emptiness reveal? When nothing stands opposed, where is the other side? In this talk, Shugen Roshi explores the nonduality of wisdom and compassion, and the selfless quality that makes each inseparable from the other. - From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 84: Vimalakirti's Gate of Nonduality.
45 min
March 01 Mirror, Mirror ! – Reflecting without Division
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 3/1/26 - Listen to this invitation from a small convent in medieval Japan—Tōkeiji—where generations of nuns practiced zazen before a mirror, contemplating this question: “Where is a single feeling, a single thought, in the mirror image at which I gaze?” Awareness does not stand apart from experience. What might this mean in a world that so often feels divided? - From The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women: #34 — The Zen Mirror of Tōkeiji.
32 min
February 22 Bodhisattva of Great Compassion
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/22/26 - Known by many different names throughout the Buddhist world—Avalokitesvara, Kwan Yin, Kannon—they are the hearer of the cries of the world. This being embodies that compelling ability to relieve all suffering and lead beings to complete, perfect enlightenment. Unburdened, we are thereby able to free others and ourselves from suffering. Learning to not create these states in the first place, is the hard work of practice. Perfection is a given, but we still need to realize it ourselves. The third talk on metta, lovingkindness, given by Shugen Roshi during the February sesshin.
44 min
February 21 Metta Sutra As Practice
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/21/26 - Our unified being—seeing body and mind as one reality—is profoundly affected by outside circumstances. Zazen practice turns us inward, to meet ourselves and what is arising in this mind-body. Shugen Roshi brings The Metta Sutta alive as the Buddha’s instructions on how to practice this dynamic flow of both inward and outward with loving-kindness. It speaks to the heart of spiritual work and the transformation possible, when a practitioner can bring these qualities outward to meet the world. - The text of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is here on the ZMM Liturgy page: zmm.org/liturgy/
36 min
February 19 Shaping the World of Experience
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 2/19/26 - Coming into the experience of our emotions and thoughts, we can find the way our minds shape our experience from one moment to the next. If we’re not grounded in this embodied experience, and willing to feel our feelings, we may tend to push them away or numb ourselves. This informal talk given during February sesshin invites us to gently and directly feel what we are experiencing, body and mind, and begin to free ourselves from the endless proliferation and ruminating, and rather lead us toward spaciousness and freedom.
24 min
February 18 Metta Sutra As Instructions
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/18/26 - This early sutra of the Buddha describes the practice of metta, offered as a beneficial aid to settle the mind and body and ease fear and vexation. Even within the wild restlessness of our minds, the troubles of our hearts and ways in which we struggle, taking these instructions to heart and understanding it’s intent can help us settle into the refuge of a zazen. - The text of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is here on the ZMM Liturgy page: zmm.org/liturgy/
31 min
February 15 Do Not Disappoint Yourself
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/15/26 - All along the bodhisattva path, we make vows to serve others. When the conditions of our lives grow difficult—when stress feels real and urgent—these vows become more vivid and deeply personal. Shugen Roshi shares stories and leads a renewal of our commitment to the well-being of all who seek refuge in the Sangha. On this long path, however often we fall short, we return to and rely upon our vows.
39 min
February 08 Circle of the Way Is Never Cut Off
Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei - ZMM - 2/8/26 - Invoking Dogen’s fascicle on Continuous Practice, Shoan Sensei reminds us that we turn toward spiritual practice to take refuge. In doing so, we take our seat as Buddha, taking refuge in the Dharma and relying on the Sangha all around us. From this refuge arises a continuous, sustained, real practice, even when it is uncomfortable or difficult. Here, grace is found within our actual experience, and together we discover a true refuge in one another.
35 min

About The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

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The Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO) is a Western Zen Buddhist lineage established by the late John Daido Loori Roshi and dedicated to sharing the dharma as it has been passed down, generation to…