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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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Dharma Encounter: The Yes and No of Buddha Nature

2026/10/25

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 10/25/26 – Referring to Zhaozhou’s koan, “Does a Dog Have Buddha Nature?”, and Dogen’s teachings in Busshō, this Dharma Encounter explores how both “yes” and “no” can be doorways to understanding our true nature. Rather than treating these responses as opposing answers, Shugen Roshi encourages us to move beyond conceptual thinking and the habits of grasping and aversion. If Buddha Nature is the fundamental nature of all beings, how do we understand our doubts, imperfections, and reactive patterns? Can we recognize Buddha Nature in our very body that ages, suffers, and dies, rather than seeing it as something separate from our everyday experience? Shugen Roshi invites the sangha to reflect on these questions and come forward to share their own experiences, insights, and questions in the spirit of Dharma Encounter.

Pushing Down, Lifting Up

2026/10/24

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 10/24/26 – Delving into the well-known koan of “Zhaozou’s Dog,” Shugen Roshi explores the importance of seeing one’s self-nature clearly, without the baggage and habits of our defensiveness. This early step in koan training helps us train our minds in letting go of the illusions of “self” and “others” directly and intimately. With this foundation in practice, we can go further in exploring how self-nature and buddha nature function in our lives. (From the Book of Serenity, Case 18 – Zhaozhou’s Dog.)

Fusatsu: Using Our Delusions To Awaken

2026/10/23

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – ZMM – 10/23/26 – How do our vows become visible through renewing them in the shared ceremony of Fusatsu? Hogen Sensei encourages us to use the words of the ceremony and the invocation of the Buddhas and ancestors to fully enter and engage them. We can practice seeing where we are still under the spell of our delusions—the root of our suffering—and turn this practice of atonement as an offering for awakening to all beings.

It Exists from the Very Beginning

2026/10/21

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 10/21/26 – Master Hongzhi offered practice instructions for zazen which place us directly in contact with our awakened nature. “The field of boundless emptiness which exists from the very beginning,” are words which can inspire as well as encourage. As Gokan Osho says, we can see that there is work to be done, there is something to see clearly, and with these instructions we can enter into and study our lives deeply.

The Nature of Experience

2026/10/18

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 10/18/26 – While concepts and ideas help us to learn about and understand our world, they also have a way of limiting our ability to experience things as they really are. Don’t keep yourself in a state of numbness or emotional distance from whatever is arising, but study and practice with a full and capable heart. (From the Gateless Gate, Case 27 – Neither Mind Nor Buddha.)

Not Bigger or Smaller

2026/10/18

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 10/18/26 – From the Hidden Lamp, Case 22 – Jiyu-Kennett’s “Not Bigger or Smaller” – In this story, someone asks Kennett Roshi, “What is a minor enlightenment?” Similarly, in the fascicle we’re studying, “Buddha Nature”, a questioner asks ancestor Nagarjuna, “Is Buddha Nature large or small?” The measuring mind isn’t necessarily a problem. After all, we naturally make judgments and distinctions. The problem arises when we begin to believe in and cling to those judgments, taking them as the truth about who we are. Are we there yet?

Jukai Ceremony with Shugen Roshi at ZMM – October 2026

2026/10/11

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 10/11/26 – Shugen Roshi officiates the Fall Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery. Today, two students formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends: George Ando (“peaceful earth”) Milne and Tre Shokai (“divine ocean”) Miller.

You Have “No Buddha” Nature

2026/10/04

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 10/04/26 – Taking up a segment from Dogen’s fascicle on Buddha Nature, Shugen Roshi illuminates how we lead ourselves into misunderstanding our fundamental nature because we grasp so readily at things—at language, at meaning, and what it says about “me”—before we actually experience our fundamental nature. “Not this” is a negation, but it can really mean: “Not this, but This” —our fundamental buddha nature—which cannot be grasped at, owned, or taken away. Not ever.

Fusatsu: Be Still and Heal

2026/10/04

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – 10/4/26 – In this Fusatsu talk, Hojin Sensei explores atonement as a way to acknowledge harmful karma, renew our vows, and begin again. The Buddha called healthy shame and fear of wrongdoing “bright guardians, a noble treasure of the world.” How can we take responsibility for our actions without becoming trapped in shame, guilt, or self-justification? Through this ancestral ceremony, we practice stillness, connect with our heart-mind, and find the clarity to release and heal what we no longer need to carry. Can we meet ourselves and one another with the courage and compassion to begin again?

Dharma Encounter: Bringing Our True Nature to Life

2026/09/27

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – ZMM – 9/27/26 – Drawing on Dogen’s teaching that all beings are Buddha nature, Hogen Sensei asks how we bring this truth to life through practice. What inner resources do we draw on in difficult times, and where do they come from? In facing illness, navigating relationships, and making moral choices, how do we bring forth wisdom and compassion amid uncertainty? How do we meet whatever life brings as an expression of our true nature?

Beyond Yes and No

2026/09/26

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 9/26/26 – Drawing on Dogen’s Bussho, Shugen Roshi explores the seemingly contradictory teachings that all beings are, have, or have no Buddha nature. If Buddha nature isn’t something we can possess or acquire, what are we realizing through practice? These teachings invite us to loosen our grip on fixed ideas and discover for ourselves what they point to. Through a story of simple hospitality becoming a lifelong friendship, we see how ordinary acts of kindness and generosity give this practice life. Can we trust the path and meet our difficulties as opportunities to practice?

Fusatsu: Renewing Our Humanity

2026/09/25

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZMM – 9/25/26 – In this Fusatsu talk, Hojin Sensei explores renewing our bodhisattva vows and practicing loving-kindness through the Three Pure Precepts. What does it mean to live by vow rather than be driven by our habitual karma? When we’re hurt or in conflict, can we see ourselves and others as more than our worst actions? Through humility, curiosity, and practice within the Sangha, we can acknowledge harm and learn to respond differently. Atonement offers a way to move through guilt and shame, renewing our commitment to compassion and service.

Living Beings Are Buddha Nature

2026/09/24

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 9/24/26 – The Buddha realized that all beings are capable of awakening to their true nature. Dogen echoed this truth by saying that all beings are Buddha nature, emphasizing that this is our very nature, not something we can gain or lose. If we could “have” Buddha nature, then we could also “not have” it. This subtle shift in emphasis opens up an extraordinary way of understanding this truth about ourselves and all beings. We simply need to realize it for ourselves.

Offering This Buddha Nature

2026/09/23

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 9/23/26 – The path of the bodhisattva is not always a convenient one, and probably not as we imagine it to be. We may struggle; it may feel prickly. So how do we stay on the path of unburdening ourselves and waking up? Transformation means getting very clear about what hinders us—about the inner conditions that keep us from being truly and completely available. It is through transforming ourselves in this way that we become free to offer ourselves freely to others.

Transform A Vow Into Action

2026/09/20

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 9/20/26 – What is the cause of suffering, at its root? The bodhisattva vow is to put an end to suffering and its causes—but how do we put that vow into action? First, we have to see clearly what is causing harm: to see into our delusions and the ways in which they give rise to suffering. And then we need to act. When we slow down and consider what causes harm—when we ask, for example, what the moral implications of something might be—we can trust the bodhisattva vow to orient us toward skillful action. In this way, the vow is not simply an aspiration; it becomes something we live. – From Master Dogen’s 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 227 – Priest Xixian’s “I am Watching”

Podcast reviews

Read The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast podcast reviews

4.6 out of 5

318 reviews

★★★★★

Lol srry 2026/09/27

Pure wisdom

★★★★★

ufifieirogigirrieif 2023/11/26

Profound wisdom accessible from anywhere

I found the podcast during Covid. I needed a podcast to cut my grass to and somehow landed here. Quickly I knew I stumbled onto something profound! T...

★★★★★

Ruth baider ginsburg 97 2023/11/17

The master’s tools

Jeffery Shugan Arnold Roche thank you! ❤️

★★★★★

Mieggs 2023/07/07

Upload release is weird

I like this show but the upload dates are off like why are previous dates from up to weeks back randomly being uploads to recent episodes. Why’re old ...

★★★★★

Jim-B-B 2023/02/14

Amazing

I have been a Baddest practitioner for over 15 years now. My Chan roots come with a language barrier. My Abbot and teaching monks have Mandarin as a f...

★★★★★

GervaisM 2022/07/10

Depth

Amazingly rich insights. Thank you

★★★★★

The Page Master 2022/05/13

I like this path

I love this podcast and I love each speech or talk that I have listened to. Thank you for your wisdom and enlightenment. Thank you for helping me on m...

★★★★★

thisisacid 2022/03/12

Sitting in the Buddha hall

Listening to these talks has deepened my wavering practice over the last two years. I moved away from my sangha recently and these talks have really b...

★★★★★

Arnyc1 2022/01/04

Moving Insight and Dharma Talks

Speakers, recording, quality of content and consistency of programming is incredible. Thank you. Gassho

★★★★★

Appstermaster 2000 2021/12/16

Stop sit and listen with body and mind

Authentic dharma practice and teachings related to contemporary life through live talks

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