Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/27/25 - How do we work skillfully with the teacher-student relationship in Zen training? What do we create with it in our minds? Working with a teacher, how can we learn to show up authentically, to meet ourselves? To work out the difficult moments we find ourselves in, and allow our vulnerable hearts to shine forth? Shugen Roshi concludes that even misstepping is an important part of the path, and what matters most is what we do next. - Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the April 2025 Apple Blossom Sesshin.
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1:15:51
Is It Mine, Or Yours?
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/26/25 - All beings have buddha nature and the capacity to fully realize ourselves; this is a fundamental teaching of the Dharma. Shugen Roshi explores the realization of Vasumitra, an early successor to the Buddha, in an encounter with his own transmission teacher. How is it to be fully met in the dharma, and be fully met by a teacher? To fully meet ourselves? Are we ready to extend our patience, vulnerability and integrity? Your own aspiration forms the vessel of the Dharma. It doesn’t happen anywhere else. - From the Transmission of Light, Case 8 - Vasumitra.
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46:19
Skillful Means In the Forms of Practice
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZMM - 4/25/25 - Skillful means, “Upaya,” are forms that the teachings take throughout our practice. How do we take up everything, including the edges that appear, rather than fight against them? How do we use our practice to explore and expand our capacity to be alive, fulfilled, and responsive to the world? - Dharma Talk during the Apple Blossom Sesshin 2025 Fusatsu Ceremony.
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35:08
Practicing With Intention
Ron Hogen Green, Sensei - ZMM - 4/24/25 - Honesty is essential to serious spiritual practice. We need to become honest with ourselves about the nature of our suffering, our habitual reactivity and our fear, so that we can acknowledge them before being able to release them. This level of integrity is needed for the entrance to a loving and compassionate relationship with ourselves and others. As Hogen Sensei says, this intention affects every aspect of living and dying, and the choices we’re free to make along the way. - From Master Dogen's Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Fascicle 31 - Continuous Practice (Gyoji)
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Understanding Selfless Wisdom
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 4/23/25 - The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra shows us there is no intrinsic right and wrong when we understand the nature of emptiness. Selflessness is a key aspect of this wisdom, and developing a clear understanding is essential. The self-less wisdom is what we can rely on to guide us within a world of dualities: good and bad, right and wrong, form and emptiness, seeing their true nature as non dual. In emptiness, nothing exists as separate on its own; all reality is interdependent. Not grasping, not holding on to, not forsaking anything, this is how Shugen Roshi explains the practice of the Perfection of Wisdom.
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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