Advertise on podcast: The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

Rating

★★★★★

4.6

from

318 reviews

Description

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.

Unlock The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast podcast Email contact info,
Listeners & Audience details

Email contact information

Direct podcast contact details

Listeners

Audience numbers & engagement insights

Audience details

Podcast Insights

Social media

Check The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast social media presence

Podcast episodes

Check latest episodes from The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast podcast

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”

The Form of Buddha Nature

2026/09/13

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 9/13/26 – This formless Buddha Nature, how does it manifest? Is it large or small? Shugen Roshi quotes the great teacher Nagarjuna, “If you want to see buddha nature, first, let go of your pride,” first let go of the certainty with which we bestow value on things and on people. Let go of our sense of self that separates self and all others. When we let appearances determine how we respond and act, we risk living in a deluded state of our biases that is in conflict with our true buddha nature, our liberated nature, the absolute basis of reality.

Jukai at Fire Lotus Temple with Hojin Sensei

2026/09/13

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 9/13/26 With Hojin Sensei officiating, four students formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends. Alexis Waller: Myokan (“Wondrous Intuitive Wisdom”) Joan Guiterrez: Yūsei (“Profound Quiet Mystical Vow”) María José Gimenez: Shomei (“To Proclaim True Light, Genuine Clarity”) Edmund Langdell: Yumon (“Gate of Healing”)

Ch’ien and Her Soul are Separated

2026/09/06

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 9/6/26 – Stories are one of the primary ways that we create and re-create suffering in our own minds, and this folk tale of Ch’ien and her soul in a Zen koan lends itself well to the study of mind and reality. With practice comes a fresh awareness of the narrative, and we can see it changing even as we tell it again. When the habit energies in the story begin to shift, we take steps toward our liberation. (From Master Wu-Men’s Gateless Gate, Case 35: Ch’ien’s Soul is Separated.)

When the Word ‘Should’ Begins to Shine

2026/09/06

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 9/6/26 – Taking up Emily Dickinson’s practice—“I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine”—Hojin Sensei stares into the words should and shouldn’t. “We should observe carefully,” implores Dōgen in Busshō, his fascicle on Buddha Nature. Dōgen explains that the act of observing is itself part of the moment: “You do not stand outside of reality to look at it.” What are the “shoulds and shouldn’ts” in a life of Dharma practice?

Ango Opening Talk at ZMM with Shugen Roshi

2026/08/30

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 8/30/26 – Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO 90-day Fall Ango 2026 training period: “Buddha Nature.”

Ango Opening Remarks at Fire Lotus Temple

2026/08/30

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 8/30/26 – Join Hojin Sensei offering opening remarks to the practitioners at Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn to begin the Fall Ango Practice Period: “Now the hundreds of grasses are actually gathering for the Fall. Plucked from the entire earth, there would be ten million stalks. One flower with five petals opens in the sky and the mud. Without doubt it will naturally bear fruit.” —Dogen’s words opening an Ango practice period.

Taking Up Zen Training

2026/08/29

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/29/26 – Breathing, sitting, walking, all of these ordinary activities offer the capacity to train the mind. But in what? Awareness, non-grasping, insight, stability, all these good qualities essential for liberating ourselves and others. Training is a vessel, it holds whatever we bring and it carries us along as well, a vehicle for practice. Shugen Roshi reminds us that trust in the process of Zen training is essential, but we will need to take that first step to enter training, and to continue coming back to receive the benefits of what it has to offer.

Standing in the World

2026/08/29

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 8/29/26 – The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta is where Buddha gives the four postures: walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. The instruction is essentially to know the body as it is disposed: “when standing, one knows, ‘I am standing.’” walking they know: ‘I am walking.’ When sitting they know: ‘I am sitting.’ And when lying down they know: ‘I am lying down. When our body is aligned and upright the bodies energies begin to settle and circulate in a way that is balanced and the mind too settles into a calmer place. In this talk Hojin explores “when standing, one knows, ‘I am standing.’ It seems simple to just stand, but is it? (Zazenkai Talk)

Inspiration, Aspiration

2026/08/23

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/23/26 – Breath is the quality that brings and sustains life–an inspiration of what enters us and provides nourishment. To have aspiration, in a sense, is the desire and motivation inspired by the Dharma which brings us into practice, inspired by our own internal call. When we cultivate even a small aspiration toward awakening, we encounter the possibility of freeing ourselves and liberating others. Shugen Roshi reminds us that we each have influence within our own sphere of living. So, what is our aspiration? What will we do with this very precious life?

Can you Relate?

2026/08/23

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 8/23/26 – Someone asked the teacher: “Are you lonely”? Hojin takes up these senses of loneliness, solitariness and aloneness. The Buddha taught, “All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.” Can you relate? (From The Hidden Lamp #48: The Old Woman’s Relatives)

Good Qualities

2026/08/22

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 8/22/26 – Many times our practice can be simple and straightforward. But when conditions become adverse, how do we stay on the path? The Dharma points us toward beneficial qualities within ourselves that we can cultivate and draw upon for strength—to support our focus, deepen our faith, and develop clarity. Sometimes called the Beautiful Qualities, or Beautiful Mental Factors, these qualities can sustain and strengthen our practice, especially as we encounter negative conditioning and our habitual patterns.

Look! Look!

2026/08/21

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 8/21/26 – What do we aspire to in our practice? What are we looking for? This deeply personal question can help us find our way among the many Dharma offerings we encounter, which can sometimes feel difficult to take up. In this vast, wide world, why practice? Why? This fundamental question opens many fruitful avenues of practice. Looking within—deepening our zazen—we discover this vastness, this world, and, within it, our freedom. (From the Gateless Gate, Case 16 – The Sound of the Bell and the Seven-Panel Robe.)

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

check all reviews on apple podcasts