The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast
Zen Mountain Monastery
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 1, 2026 • 33min
Fusatsu for the New Year
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - New Year's Eve 12/31/25 - Moral and ethical conduct in Zen practice involves the ongoing work of recognizing when we have fallen short of kindness, compassion, or honesty. The Renewal of Vows ceremony is an ancient Buddhist ritual that addresses the harm we cause. Through atonement, we acknowledge our transgressions—an essential act of turning karma and bringing benefit to the world, and of renewing our commitment to the vows we live by. Offered on the threshold of the new year, this talk brings Shugen Roshi's Dharma teaching directly into the realities of everyday life.
25 snips
Dec 30, 2025 • 44min
Apparently Effortless
A koan talk that contrasts deliberate, effortful practice with natural effortlessness. The speaker explores habits of mind that block equanimity and how rigorous training can reveal an ease beneath effort. Stories and classical cases illustrate skillful means, courage to leave old patterns, and choosing methods that truly touch the root of confusion.
Dec 28, 2025 • 48min
The Wind Or The Flag
Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei - ZMM - 12/28/25 - During the year-end Rohatsu sesshin, Shoan Sensei offered this koan talk on the nature of mind as it’s experienced and expressed in Zen Buddhist practice. The koan offered from the Gateless Gate points to "turning the light around", beholding the nature of what we call reality, and learning through experience how we can rely on this to navigate our lives. - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 29 - Hui-neng's "Not the Wind; Not the Flag"
Dec 26, 2025 • 44min
Ascending The Mountain Seat
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/21/25 - In celebration of Hojin Sensei's formal installation as abbot of Zen Center of New York City and Fire Lotus Temple, Shugen Roshi takes up Master Wu-Men's Gateless Gate Case 22—Mahākāśyapa’s Flagpole—unfolding its historical resonance to illuminate the journey of women in Buddhism and their enduring place in the living tradition of Buddhist practice.
Dec 14, 2025 • 47min
Dana Paramita, Bodhisattva Practice
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 12/14/25 - In this season of giving, we naturally think of celebration, connection, and gratitude for the family, friends, and community that sustains us. Dana Paramita invites us to open our awareness and our hearts to those around us who may be struggling, alone, or lacking what we ourselves enjoy. So... these days we might ask ourselves: What does a Bodhisattva do at this time of year? Shugen Roshi recalls a fundamental teaching of the Buddha, reiterated by Master Dogen in the Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance: Giving, Kind Speech, Beneficial Action, and Identity Action.
Dec 7, 2025 • 1h
Novice Ordination for Shindo Kisch
ZMM - 12/07/25 - Shugen Roshi officiates the Novice Monastic Ordination ceremony for Rebecca Shindo Kisch; a joyful occasion - both a home-leaving and a homecoming - that Master Dogen described as "a day for turning cartwheels." Shindo is currently the Monastery's Gardener, and helps coordinate the National Buddhist Prison Sangha. She became a formal student (Tangaryo) in 2020, received the Bodhisattva Precepts (Jukai), and her dharma name Shindo, in 2022 and became a Postulant in 2023. Today she receives the robe of a monastic and provisionally takes on the five monastic vows. Those vows being simplicity, service, selflessness, stability, and "to live the Buddha's Way." In this new context she will continue her discernment and exploration and training for the role of a full monastic before choosing to ask for full ordination.
Nov 30, 2025 • 42min
Forget Government, Forget Anarchy
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/30/25 - This talk on a koan from an early Chan teacher is taken up by Shugen Roshi to look at the ubiquity of our dualistic habits of mind. Koans work with language to help us see our minds more clearly, to see where we cloud ourselves with judgements and bias and distract ourselves with endless arguments. Just forget the two sides and see into the true reality right before our eyes. - From the Book of Serenity - Case 27 - Fayan Points to a Blind
Nov 23, 2025 • 44min
Ordinary Mind is the Way
Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei - 11/23/25 - How do we know what is ultimately true? In this koan from the Mumonkan, Shoan Sensei delves into the ordinariness of profound truth that is everywhere, its depth and benefits within reach. And yet there is still practice and investigation that must be engaged to feel into the distinction. - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 19 - Nan-sh'uan: "Ordinary Mind Is the Tao"
Nov 22, 2025 • 42min
The Wind That Reaches Everywhere
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 11/22/25 - This final section of Shugen Roshi’s Genjokoan commentary looks at the dynamic tension between conceptual learning and the experience of insight. Insight brings clarity, but it is practice which allows the space to open, so that wisdom and compassion arise together. When we experience what reaches everywhere, the tyrannical repetition of samsara begins to slip away. - Fall 2025 Ango - Genjokoan Series of Talks - Part 12 (final)
Nov 21, 2025 • 39min
What’s Ordinary?
Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei - ZMM - 11/21/25 - How do we know what is ultimately true? In this koan from the Mumonkan, Shoan Sensei delves into the ordinariness of profound truth that is everywhere; its depth and benefits within reach. And yet there is still practice and investigation that must be engaged to feel into the distinction. - From Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate, Case 19 - Nan-sh'uan: "Ordinary Mind Is the Tao"
