Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - Zen Mountain Monastery, New York, Tuesday Evening 07/20/2021 - From the Teachings of Yogini Machig Labdrőn - Hojin Sensei offers us the teachings of Machig Labdrőn, a Tibetan Buddhist yogini who lived and taught during the 11th-century. We are reminded that we can experience life as sweet, bitter or both. Machig Labdrőn encourages us to examine our blind spots in order to realize that the obstacles in our path are just a product of our confusion and hardening views. We should remain in the examination of what is happening now.

Shohaku Okumura, Roshi - via Zoom, Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 07/18/21 - Teachings from  "Opening the Hand of Thought" (by Okumura Roshi's teacher Kosho Uchiyama) - In today's talk, presented to the MRO Sangha via Zoom, Okumura Roshi begins with the children's story of the "Squabbling Squashes", a parable about connectedness and interdependence. He goes on to teach that Zazen is a practice of opening up to life, of actualizing our True Self.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 07/11/2021 - True Dharma Eye, Case 227 - Priest Xixian’s “I’m Am Watching”

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Senior Monastic - Zen Mountain Monastery, 07/04/2021 - From a Diamond Sutra Commentary: "Consider the tree outside the door. Although it serves as a resting place for birds, it doesn't make an effort to call those that come, nor does it care whether those that leave return. When a person's mind is like the trees they no longer oppose the way."

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Sunday 06/27/2021 - Teachings From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo: "Continuous Practice" - In this third talk on Master Dogen's Shobogenzo fascicle "Continuous Practice", Shugen Roshi asks us to reflect on these questions: How do we embody our potential as enlightened beings? How do we bring forth a life well lived as we're living it? How can we be at ease within this human body and not be bound by fixed ideas of the self?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Saturday 06/26/2021 - Teachings From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo: "Continuous Practice" - Continuing from his discourse of June 23rd, Shugen Roshi draws from Master Dogen's fascicle to encourage us to shed confusion and use every opportunity to practice.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Senior Monastic and Dharma Holder - Zen Mountain Monastery, Friday 06/25/2021 - In this illuminating and imaginative talk from Summer Solstice Sesshin, dharma holder Shoan Ankele emphasizes the cultivation of natural clarity, or rather, a recognition of our natural state. The point of zazen, she suggests, is “to create a conducive container for this recognition to occur.” This natural state is our buddha nature, the factuality of non-separation with everything and everyone. To illustrate the absurdity of our confused self-orientation, Shoan spins a memorable fable with what she calls a Buddhist faux-creation myth.

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - Zoom Broadcast, 6/24/2021 - Teachings from Eihei Dogen, William Shakespeare and Nina Simone - How do we understand the ceaseless change which is our life? Hogen Sensei delves into this question with quotes from Dogen's "Continuous Practice" and "Being Time" with Shakespeare's "The Tempest", and Nina Simone's “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - Zen Mountain Monastery, Wednesday 06/23/2021 - Teachings From Master Dogen's Shobogenzo: "Continuous Practice" - Master Dogen says that our practice affects the entire Earth and the entire Sky in the Ten Directions. Shugen Roshi speaks about this as a responsibility that we as Bodhisattvas take up, of continuous and sustained practice.

Rev. Chimyo Simone Atkinson - Zen Mountain Monastery, 06/20/21 - Book of Serenity Case 2: "Emperor Wu Asked The Great Teacher Bodhidharma" - In this heart-warming Dharma talk, Chimyo Sensei recounts her time practicing in Japan. She speaks about the experience of truly not knowing and practicing just that. She also encourages us to stay in this state of not knowing.