The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast
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.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 41 minutes
- Episodes
- 129
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
Fall 2025 Ango Opening Talk – “The Way of Everyday Life: Genjokoan” – Shugen Roshi
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/31/25 - Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO 90-day Fall Ango 2025 training period, "The Way of Everyday Life: Genjokoan."
00:50:19 |
Sun 31 Aug 2025
What Limits Your Freedom?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/30/25 - While many people search outside for the causes of feeling constrained and limited, the radical step toward transformation is to turn the light around.…
00:37:12 |
Sat 30 Aug 2025
Turning Words: A Wood Buddha
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/24/25 - What is it to pass through something? Or to not pass through? In koan practice this image is utilized over and over again, and here a buddha made of wo…
00:48:36 |
Sun 24 Aug 2025
Turning Words: A Gold Buddha
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/23/25 - The discriminating function of our minds has many benefits, and at the same time we need to reveal how it can become weaponized against ourselves. The …
00:50:49 |
Sat 23 Aug 2025
Deepening of Faith, Doubt & Determination
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 8/22/25 - As we practice over time, we mature in our practice and if we’re lucky we can also experience and appreciate that ripening in each other. Sharing the words…
00:48:33 |
Fri 22 Aug 2025
Turning Words: A Mud Buddha
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/20/25 - In the language of koans, we are invited to step right into the embodied experience of the koan, which in this case is a Buddha made of mud which canno…
00:44:19 |
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Rejoicing in Virtue
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/17/25 - Shugen Roshi reminds us that mind is the basis of all conflicted action, and so it is to mind that we direct our aspirations and intentions to bring go…
00:49:37 |
Sun 17 Aug 2025
This World, Your Buddha Field
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/10/25 - Living within the present world, surrounded by many acts of cruelty and hatred, each of us is called to recognize, liberate, and transform samsara as w…
00:47:51 |
Sun 10 Aug 2025
Compassion Starts in the Mind
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 8/3/25 - How do we meet our conscious mind, skillfully? Mind training offers us ways to see our self-centered thinking habits, meeting our minds directly, and us…
00:46:06 |
Sun 03 Aug 2025
Sutra Walking
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 8/3/25 - Often overlooked, kinhin (walking meditation) is a most important, exquisite practice of the transition of rising up off our mountain seat and walking int…
00:42:49 |
Sun 03 Aug 2025
Reclaiming Royal Ease
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 7/27/25 - The wisdom of our bodies can be invoked precisely because it is always present, within, as our inherent Buddha nature. How then does the bearing of the bod…
00:37:48 |
Sun 27 Jul 2025
Letting Go of Being Right
Suzanne Taikyo Gilman, Senior Monastic - ZCNYC - 7/27/25 - Letting go of being right can be one of the hardest things to do. What happens if, instead of defending our views, we notice the suffering u…
00:24:59 |
Sun 27 Jul 2025
Invoking A Vast Love
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 7/26/25 - Invoking is more than simply using words. It is bringing forth all of our life energy and intention in a way that is transformative. Liturgy can be an entr…
00:39:30 |
Sat 26 Jul 2025
Being Still
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 7/25/25 - What we do, how we use our minds and our time, can transform our lives. When we can quiet the constant referencing of a “self,” our internal preoccupations…
00:40:41 |
Fri 25 Jul 2025
Practicing the Path: Right Intention
Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho - ZMM - 7/24/25 - The wisdom aspects of the Eightfold Path include Right Intention, or Right Thought. What is it to take full responsibility for our lives by practicing ou…
00:40:03 |
Thu 24 Jul 2025
Singing the Body Electric: The Body in the Body
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 7/20/25 - What is this we think of as ‘my body’? Hojin Sensei brings in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutra focusing on Buddha’s teaching to meditate on ‘the body in the body.’…
00:45:07 |
Sun 20 Jul 2025
Pure Perception
Michelle Seigei Spark, Lay Senior MRO Student - ZMM - 7/20/25 - Our six senses can be an entry to the whole entire mind of practice and provide us direct dharma teachings of the world in which we exi…
00:37:59 |
Sun 20 Jul 2025
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…
00:43:07 |
Sun 13 Jul 2025
Letting Go and Allowing In
Sarah Taisho Sands, Senior Lay Student - ZCNYC - 7/13/25 - See the thought, acknowledge it, let it go. Almost everyone knows this central teaching on how to work with thoughts and ideas we get attach…
00:39:16 |
Sun 13 Jul 2025
What’s Opening?
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 7/12/25 - The Bright, Boundless Field is a practice instruction of Chan Master Hongzhi, found in the text Cultivating the Empty Field. Join Hojin in an exploration…
00:37:28 |
Sat 12 Jul 2025
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