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 ...
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 2/9/25 - Bringing together Rumi's poem "Only Breath" and The Ānāpānasati Sutta (Sutra on Mindful Breathing), Hojin Sensei takes us through a thorough reckoning of this physical and profound practice, and how it is fundamental to being awake.
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The Bodhisattva’s World
Danica Shoan Ankele, Osho - ZMM - 2/9/25 - A timely reminder from Shoan Osho that a bodhisattva is one who interrupts the cycle of samsara, to stop creating and perpetuating greed, anger and ignorance, for the benefit of all beings. This “inner revolution” that practice offers is how we can calm the spinning mind and bring the light of wisdom and compassionate action to meet the challenges of the “outer world.”
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39:54
Dreaming Yourself Awake
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 2/2/25 - What do you see in front of you? Our perceptions are windows to the world, and provide material for how we create “the self” as a separate and seemingly solid entity. But all beings are fundamentally not fixed or solid, and to study this we can put an end to clinging and suffering. How do we live freely and compassionately? These instructions from Shugen Roshi point to our own wakefulness and freedom. (From the Blue Cliff Record, Case 40 - Nan Ch'uan's It's Like a Dream)
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Path of Enlightenment: Stage 2 – Finding the Traces of the Ox
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 2/2/25 - The spiritual journey is a path of discovering our true nature. The Ten Ox Herding pictures are a pictorial depiction of the training we each have to put together in our own body mind from the methods and teaching offered in this wisdom tradition. Hojin begins this talk with a live painting of the second ox herding picture: Finding the Traces of the Ox. As the preface to this stage says: "With the aid of the sutras, we gain understanding; through the study of the teaching, we find the traces. The many vessels are clearly all of one gold; and we ourselves, are the embodiment of the ten thousand things. But unable to recognize correct from incorrect, how are we to distinguish true from false? Since we have yet to pass through the gate, only tentatively have we seen the traces." We follow the tracks until we catch it! -- Watch Hojin Sensei paint the second ox-herding picture: https://vimeo.com/1054251015
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Zhaozhou’s “Mu” and Skillful Compassion
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 1/26/25 - The sole purpose of a koan is to help the student experience their true nature. As a skillful means, a koan helps us see where we are clinging, and the karma we carry in this life. Yet even an enlightened being has this karmic body to grapple with. The challenge is to be in complete intimacy with our true nature, as it is, as we are. Part 3 of 3
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.