Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/22/25 - Getting caught up in the many distractions that we encounter daily contributes to our confusion, our sense of overwhelm. How do we cultivate practice in such a way that we can turn it back, to inquire, and not be overwhelmed? With honesty and persistence, practice can help reveal the true nature of the self and of all things. Using Dharma words from Eihei Dogen, Shugen Roshi encourages us to turn the light around, calm our busy minds, and see things as they truly are. - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 16 Changsha's "Returning to Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth"
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44:47
Dharma Language & Dharma Study
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/15/25 - We acquire language as we become more conscious of what surrounds us—people and things and concepts—and the language we learn to use is inextricable from our conscious sense of ourselves. In this sense we are co-creating our reality moment by moment as we use language. In Dharma study, one of the Eight Gates of Zen, we learn to work with some skill in appreciating the necessity of language as well as the constructed and thereby provisional nature of language. Our capacity to use words toward realization is not limited by words themselves.
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46:42
Luckily No One is Looking?
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 6/8/25 - Hojin takes up one of her favorite koans from The Hidden Lamp: Lingzhao Pang’s Helping. How free and generous it is when we are not keeping score, watching as a third person judging, monitoring, distancing ourselves from interactions. We seem to not want to let go of the idea we are not separate. Here, father and daughter demonstrate what it is to be fully alive to interconnection outside of language. We’re never far off!
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42:54
Not Clinging To Anything
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/1/25 - Why does Buddhism so emphasize life and death? When we begin to see the depths of our attachments to this “self," we have to face the jarring fact that there really isn’t anything permanent to attach to. But then, what is this? Shugen Roshi reminds us that our vital life energy can be immediate, compassionate, not clinging to anything. And so within life and death we are liberated from life and death. - From the Entangling Vines Koan Collection, Case 38 - The Wise Women in the Charnel Grove.
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44:41
What Do You Use For Food?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 5/24/25 - What is real strength? Putting to good use all of our obstructions and old habits, we can cultivate our ability to meet whatever arises with pliancy, flexibility, to find our real strength. Zen practice and training is indeed the daily, moment to moment experience of our lives, and learning to find nourishment there. Shugen Roshi encourages us to “meet it simply, honestly” and learn to free ourselves and others. - From the Book of Serenity, Case 33 - Sansheng's "Golden Fish"
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 generation, since the time of Shakyamuni Buddha. Zen Mountain Monastery, the main house of the Mountains and Rivers Order, is one of the West’s most respected Zen Buddhist monasteries and training centers. Nestled in New York’s beautiful Catskill Mountains, the Monastery draws its strength from the ancient tradition of Buddhist monasticism. Since 1980, the Monastery has offered spiritual practitioners traditional and innovative ways to engage the dharma through a wide range of retreats and residential programs that unfold within the context of authentic, full-time Zen monastic training. The Zen Center of New York City: Fire Lotus Temple is the city branch of Zen Mountain Monastery. Supporting home practitioners in the metropolitan area, ZCNYC offers varied practice opportunities within the Eight Gates training matrix.
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