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
Jul 13, 2025 • 43min
Practicing the Path: Right Understanding
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 7/13/25 - Many people describe a deep sense of “being home” when they arrive at a practice center. But how can we make the Noble Path our true home—wherever we are, whatever our circumstances? In this talk in his series on the Noble Eightfold Path, Gokan Osho reflects on the practice of Right Intention.
Jul 6, 2025 • 46min
Compassionate Interdependence
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 7/6/25 - The teachings of dependent origination tell us that all that arises does so with all of reality: "because of this, that, and because of that, this." In studying what we call “the self,” Shoan Osho reminds us that we are not a fixed, unchanging element among all the other aspects of life. Rather, we are the manifestation of causes and conditions, interdependent with all of reality, full of innate wisdom and compassion. This is the benefit of our practice; it is our true interdependence.
Jun 29, 2025 • 40min
Offerings to the Land Deity
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/29/25 - Shugen Roshi asks, “If all things are empty with no inherent existence, then how do things come into being?” In other words, how are we creating our world, moment by moment? How do we do this consciously, intentionally, bringing our vows to life? Every occurrence is handed to us fresh, and in practice we can learn to bring our best selves forward, without grasping or clinging to anything extra. - From the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Case 18 - "Nanquan and the Land Deity."
Jun 28, 2025 • 43min
Abiding Well In The Mountains
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - Saturday 6/28/25 - How do we make the dharma our own? In Zen training, we have to fully let go of the expectations and ideas of what it will look like once we realize ourselves. And importantly, we need to let go of our self-criticism and other kinds of self-centered preoccupation. As we continue to build confidence in our abilities and the practice itself, we learn to abide well anywhere we go, in all aspects of our lives. - From the Koans of the Way of Reality - Yunju's "Abiding in the Mountains"
Jun 25, 2025 • 50min
The Perfection of What Is
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - Wednesday 6/25/25 - Shugen Roshi explores a passage from the Prajnaparamita Sutra and its emphasis on the “unconditioned” nature of things. When this is realized within our zazen, the unconditioned state has the potential to liberate our minds. If we can meet our minds and what arises without adding extra, without grasping and rejecting, we can begin to sense the deep wisdom we seek in the dharma.
Jun 22, 2025 • 45min
Returning to the Great Earth
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"
Jun 15, 2025 • 47min
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.
Jun 1, 2025 • 45min
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.
May 24, 2025 • 48min
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"
May 23, 2025 • 38min
Entering the Gate of Wonder
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 5/23/25 - Gates of entry are enticing and sometimes overwhelming to enter, but we can gather our courage and bring ourselves forward to experience the world which is revealed there. Drawing on teachings from the Lankavatara Sutra and the Heart Sutra, Shoan Osho tells the story of “Enid in Zendoland,” whereby Enid becomes adept at distinguishing the perceptions of their own mind, and enters a marvelous gate of ease and joy.
