The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 6/14/26 – What is already present is the authentic form of Buddha, not different than your own body and mind. We may think there is something broken that needs to be fixed about ourselves, or that we’re lacking in some way. Zazen is the authentic form of Buddha, and returning to yourself again and again is the contemplation of our own true self. Gokan Osho takes up this teaching and encourages us to see ourselves “without distractions and without duality, going beyond conceptualizing,” to contemplate Buddha.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 6/7/26 – How Buddhism uses the term “attachments” is often misunderstood as being something bad, which should not happen, but our sense of self is made up of a series of attachments: to identity, position, and so on. When we see through these many ideas of who we are, we can eventually settle our minds and experience our true nature. Using an ancient koan and the words of Henry David Thoreau, Shugen Roshi explores the world of attachment and how to bring clarity by exploring the inner wilderness to find the true nature of the self. (From the Gateless Gate, Case 44 – Basho’s Stick.)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 5/31/26 – Mundane truth, enlightened truth, from the beginning are all together one. But there are snags that grab us, some of them repeatedly. Hongzhi describes our original mind this way: “from the beginning it is fundamentally all together complete, undefiled, clear down to the bottom.” In this Dharma Encounter with the sangha, Shugen Roshi asks: how do each of us use our difficulty, troubles, heartache and anger to relieve our suffering? How do we heal? The sangha shares the many ways we turn, rather than heaping on destruction, and practice reality with a heart of wisdom and compassion.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 5/30/26 – Zen is filled with koan stories asking this question: do they see it or not? Do you see “it”? Shugen Roshi says that we see only as far as our penetrating vision can reach at any time. And yet that is plenty. Our present experience invites us to look further and not solidify our moment to moment experience. The Path is not linear in the usual sense, although there is practice and realization, much more valuable is learning to ask, to get curious, and to practice every aspect of our lives. (From the Book of Serenity, Case 51 – Fayan’s “Boat or Land”.)

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 5/29/26 – The true self, what is that? It was the question put to Monk Ming by the sixth ancestor and opened for him the Way. This pivotal moment is something that makes Zen what it is, what can’t be planned, can’t be sought after, but still it’s the heart of our practice. Shoan Sensei asks us: what do you have faith in, and what do you still hold at arm’s length? How can you, through practice, embrace the gift of your pure Buddha Nature being offered right now? (From the Gateless Gate, Case 23 – Think Neither Good Nor Evil.)

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – 5/28/26 – Going beyond our ancestors, going further than they could go, is the task of every student of the dharma. What is the ultimate truth? In other words, asks Hogen Sensei, who is this person asking the question? Going beyond conceptual thought, what is it? Here where you are, fully alive, what is it now? Close the gap, as Daido Roshi used to say, and you go beyond the ancestors. (From the Book of Equanimity, Case 78 – Ummon’s Rice-Cake.)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 5/24/26 – Shugen Roshi asks: “When you’re thinking of the thinking mind, what do you find there? And where will you go from there?” At the heart of bodhicitta — the wish to bring suffering to an end — are the questions: What are we contributing? What kind of environment are we creating through our thoughts, words, and actions? Cultivating bodhicitta is how we make our freedom real and, ultimately, what we are able to offer to others. (From the Book of Serenity, Case 32 – Yangshan’s “Mind and Environment”)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 5/21/26 – Are the words you are about to speak true? Verify them first through your own experience. Are they of benefit? Are they agreeable or disagreeable? Know your intentions and consider carefully before speaking. Drawing from the early teachings, Shugen Roshi offers the Buddha’s guidelines for practicing right speech in ways that bring an end to conflict and suffering and offer a path of liberation. (Dharma Discourse during the May 2026 Fusatsu Ceremony at ZMM)

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 5/3/26 – This talk explores what Hongzhi calls the “mysterious pivot,” a sudden shift that disrupts thinking and reveals direct, lived experience. Drawing on Dharma teaching and the Arts, Hojin highlights how loosening the mind of grasping, defining, and securing opens the heart to a deeper, more immediate ‘shock of recognition’ of our true nature.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 5/17/26 – What is your complete expression of Buddha Mind? Shoan Sensei takes up this question in exploring the koan of the National Teacher calling to their attendant. How do we each navigate the distractions and the self-centered mindset we all fall into? To end our suffering and the causes of suffering in the world, we practice. And practice guides us to respond from a generous heart, grounded in reality, to offer the Dharma medicine we all need. (From the Gateless Gate, Case 17 – The National Teacher Calls Three Times)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 5/10/26 – Who fears the spring row’s knee-deep mud? This line from Hongzhi’s poem underscores the challenge which all practitioners of the dharma face: to bring something good into the world, despite the challenges that we inevitably face. Our world is constantly in flux, complex and unpredictable, and those on the Path are called to both quiet reverence and to making real effort. With words and activity, mindfulness and the moral precepts, Shugen Roshi encourages us to inhabit this universe in all directions. (From the Book of Serenity, Case 79 – Changsha Advancing a Step)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 5/3/26 – The middle way between indulgence and denial is not obvious for any of us beginning on our practice path. How could we know where the “middle” might be? We need to stumble and make mistakes to learn how to embrace a wholesome and sustainable balance, through practice. Building a sanctuary, a monastery, or a livable life takes effort, reflection, atonement and renewal. Our own enlightened nature is ready at any time to support what can be of benefit to all beings. (From the Book of Serenity, Case 4: The World Honored One Points to the Ground)

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – ZMM – 4/26/26 – The energy of our lives is something that we tend to take for granted, but in spiritual practice it is understood that we can deliberately cultivate the energy of clarity through zazen. We can study the ways that energy can “leak out” and diminish our clarity and focus. How do we practice those things that seem to limit us, which might dull or diminish our aspiration? How do we cultivate the “empty field” of Hongzhi’s teachings? In this lively encounter with the sangha, Hogen Sensei and the sangha explore how to gather and nourish our life energy on the path of liberation. (Dharma Encounter at the conclusion of the April 2026 Apple Blossom Sesshin.)

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 4/25/26 – The words of a koan always point to our original mind—our unobstructed, liberated mind—but the path of seeking clarity is not always so direct. Aspirations help us along, and bodhicitta is essential, but we still must contend with the moment that is arising, in this body and mind, and not some past or future mind. This talk during Apple Blossom sesshin points the listener into the wild, vast acreage of mountain grass on the Path. – From the Book of Serenity, Case 89 – Dongshan’s “No Grass”.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZMM – 4/24/26 – Resonance is a living reality, and when we turn toward resonance we can experience the energy and aliveness to help us be grounded in our practice. When we let go of grasping and really turn on our attention inward, we stop making a separation between our “self” and everything else. When we don’t let all our attention seep outward, we can find the energy for awakening which help dispel the doubts and distortions that create suffering.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 4/22/26 – From the Book of Serenity, Case 97 – Emperor Tongguang’s Hat – Paying attention to how things unfold, we always benefit from skillfully navigating our reactions, our tendencies to mistrust and avoid. Skillfully, we can trust that our true nature is always present, clear and undivided. How do we teach ourselves to trust, to “know without knowing,”  and relinquish the tendency of our powerful tendency to divide, separate, disconnect? “In clarity, wonder exists,” says Hongzhi, and Shugen Roshi encourages us to continuously turn toward that clarity.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – 4/12/26 – Shugen Roshi officiates the Spring Ango Jukai ceremony at Zen Mountain Monastery. Today, three students formally receive the sixteen Buddhist precepts, taking up these living teachings, living vows in the company of the sangha with family and friends: Jerry Kyosei Calvillo (Peaceful Mirror), Paul Yugen Burns (The Eye of Devotion/Courage), and Jacob Kyonen McGlaun (Mind Mirror).

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 4/5/26 – The Buddha began with generosity—dāna pāramitā—as the ground of all practice and the basis of being truly teachable. The precepts live within this spirit, expressing how we give and share this life with others. What does it mean to give in the most complete, unsurpassable way?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 4/5/26 – From the Book of Serenity, Case 37 – Guishan’s “Active Consciousness” – Who is this “self,” the one we’ve taken ourselves to be all our lives? On the path, this question must be clarified intimately, so we can truly take responsibility for how we live. This requires seeing every arising of mind—even those we would rather avoid, or have been told to ignore—because they may reveal what is asking to be met. In taking responsibility, we learn to work skillfully with negativity and conflict, opening the way to genuine liberation for ourselves and all beings.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/28/26 – The subtle healing energy of zazen is likened to an acupuncture needle by Hongzhi, and Shugen Roshi explores how this teaching functions in our own practice life. Within zazen, are we truly engaging what is right in front of us? The simple and direct nature of zazen brings us back again and again, and so we return and settle into the ease of being within our own minds. Hongzhi invites us to “know without touching…and rest there.” Things become closer, softer, bright and clear.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 3/27/26 – In this Renewal of Vows (Fusatsu) talk, Shoan Sensei offers the perspective that we are practicing within samsara, exactly where we are. Here we can come very close to the narrow habits and patterns that create suffering—something we cannot do in some imagined fantasy of a Buddha Land. Taking up the place where we find ourselves as the place of our own vows, we can discover ways to bring forward our infinite capacity to leave possessiveness and self-delusion behind, and, with the support of the precepts, learn to be truly free. It is here that transformation can happen.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 3/26/26 – A very human practice is to go into unfamiliar places, maybe on a pilgrimage or a journey of some sort into the unknown. What might be the benefit of this type of practice, why did it come to exist? Gokan Osho explores the Buddha’s teachings on facing one’s own mind, free of attachments. When we relax, and get very close to our direct experience, there is the possibility of transformations which can’t be prepared for.

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei – 3/25/26 – ZMM – Hogen Sensei asks the question: what is it to just rest? To let our busy preoccupation with our thoughts come to rest. Accepting all streams, everything becomes “one taste,” non-dual and not in opposition to anything. To truly settle down and allow the busyness to rest is to let the continuous flow be present just as it is, revealing the edges of what we call our “self” in the moment-to-moment flow of reality.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/22/26 – Shugen Roshi introduces the theme of the MRO Spring Ango 2026 training period, “The Turning Words of Hongzhi”.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/22/26 – Join Hojin Sensei for her Spring Ango opening remarks at the Temple. Auspicious Beginning of Spring! Homage to the buddha, dharma, sangha treasures! How auspicious! What does it mean to dwell peacefully—together—right here in the midst of things as they are? To take delight in development? Ango gives us a field to see this clearly.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/15/26 – As the first of the Paramitas, or perfections, generosity is a virtue that leads to releasing the suffering we all experience, which was the primary focus of the Buddha’s teaching. Shugen Roshi reminds us that when we practice the dharma with the mind of generosity, we can hold everything that arises, and let diminish the disconnection between ourselves and all others.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei and Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/15/26 – Buddha and Mara are figurative ways of portraying a fundamental seeming opposition within our human nature: Buddha stands for a capacity for awareness, openness, and freedom; with Mara representing a capacity for confusion, closure, and restriction. In this collaborative Dharma Talk Shoan and Hojin explore the four traditional teachings of the ways Mara appears. – This talk followed the Meeting Mara : the Art of Fearless Presence Retreat.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/8/26 – When we are complete within ourselves, nothing is left aside as unimportant. All of it is important. We can look to the great bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, as one who does not make any distinctions whatsoever. All things have their skillful use, can be turned toward benefit, even those most difficult things, those most challenging moments. What we do moment to moment is what makes the path of practice and realization possible. How do we manifest compassion? By looking to what we do, moment to moment, as a very real living vow. – From Master Dogen’s 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 105 – “The Hands and Eyes of Great Compassion”

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/8/26 – From The Hidden Lamp, Case #1: The Old Woman of Mt. Wutai – What is this desire to have a defined path in life and might the pointing in this koan give some friction to ask the larger question of what is moving us? Hojin takes up this teaching to address the mind that leans forward — imagining fulfillment later, somewhere else.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 3/1/26 – What did Vimalakirti say when Manjushri asked him to speak? In our own lives, how do we find freedom amid the dualities we encounter—sick or well, right or wrong, left or right? And what does the nonduality of form and emptiness reveal? When nothing stands opposed, where is the other side? In this talk, Shugen Roshi explores the nonduality of wisdom and compassion, and the selfless quality that makes each inseparable from the other. – From The Blue Cliff Record, Case 84: Vimalakirti’s Gate of Nonduality.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/1/26 – Listen to this invitation from a small convent in medieval Japan—Tōkeiji—where generations of nuns practiced zazen before a mirror, contemplating this question: “Where is a single feeling, a single thought, in the mirror image at which I gaze?” Awareness does not stand apart from experience. What might this mean in a world that so often feels divided? – From The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women: #34 — The Zen Mirror of Tōkeiji.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/22/26 – Known by many different names throughout the Buddhist world—Avalokitesvara, Kwan Yin, Kannon—they are the hearer of the cries of the world. This being embodies that compelling ability to relieve all suffering and lead beings to complete, perfect enlightenment. Unburdened, we are thereby able to free others and ourselves from suffering. Learning to not create these states in the first place, is the hard work of practice. Perfection is a given, but we still need to realize it ourselves. The third talk on metta, lovingkindness, given by Shugen Roshi during the February sesshin.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/21/26 – Our unified being—seeing body and mind as one reality—is profoundly affected by outside circumstances. Zazen practice turns us inward, to meet ourselves and what is arising in this mind-body. Shugen Roshi brings The Metta Sutta alive as the Buddha’s instructions on how to practice this dynamic flow of both inward and outward with loving-kindness. It speaks to the heart of spiritual work and the transformation possible, when a practitioner can bring these qualities outward to meet the world. – The text of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is here on the ZMM Liturgy page: zmm.org/liturgy/

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 2/19/26 – Coming into the experience of our emotions and thoughts, we can find the way our minds shape our experience from one moment to the next. If we’re not grounded in this embodied experience, and willing to feel our feelings, we may tend to push them away or numb ourselves. This informal talk given during February sesshin invites us to gently and directly feel what we are experiencing, body and mind, and begin to free ourselves from the endless proliferation and ruminating, and rather lead us toward spaciousness and freedom.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/18/26 – This early sutra of the Buddha describes the practice of metta, offered as a beneficial aid to settle the mind and body and ease fear and vexation. Even within the wild restlessness of our minds, the troubles of our hearts and ways in which we struggle, taking these instructions to heart and understanding it’s intent can help us settle into the refuge of a zazen. – The text of the Karaniya Metta Sutta is here on the ZMM Liturgy page: zmm.org/liturgy/

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 2/15/26 – All along the bodhisattva path, we make vows to serve others. When the conditions of our lives grow difficult—when stress feels real and urgent—these vows become more vivid and deeply personal. Shugen Roshi shares stories and leads a renewal of our commitment to the well-being of all who seek refuge in the Sangha. On this long path, however often we fall short, we return to and rely upon our vows.

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 2/8/26 – Invoking Dogen’s fascicle on Continuous Practice, Shoan Sensei reminds us that we turn toward spiritual practice to take refuge. In doing so, we take our seat as Buddha, taking refuge in the Dharma and relying on the Sangha all around us. From this refuge arises a continuous, sustained, real practice, even when it is uncomfortable or difficult. Here, grace is found within our actual experience, and together we discover a true refuge in one another.

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 2/8/26 – Coming together, falling apart, are these the same? Different? Practice can show us the freedom of mind responding according to circumstance. In this talk, Hojin Sensei reflects on the koan from the Hidden Lamp, Chiyono’s No Water, No Moon, and what it means to keep practicing the dharma, to keep caring for something— even when it seems fragile, broken. How sometimes falling apart, or experiencing a heart breaking situation might be just the turning point needed to open up completely. Where do we find the self?

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 1/31/26 – The wellspring of wisdom in Zen is meditation. Yet wisdom alone is not enough; the path of liberation must also fully embody compassion. Compassion is not separate from awakening but an essential and indivisible expression of it, permeating every aspect of practice and life. In this Sesshin talk, Shugen Roshi encourages us to draw compassion close within our zazen, leaving nothing outside our practice.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 1/28/26 – Freeing ourselves through seated meditation, zazen, is the foundational practice at the heart of Zen Buddhism. In this exploratory talk, Shugen Roshi encourages us to be clear about what we’re doing, and how to do it, as well as why we are aiming to free ourselves and others from the suffering of this world.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 1/25/26 – The bodhisattva path is not known as such to everyone who walks it, and this was especially true for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who dedicated all his efforts to bringing about a renewed commitment to liberty and justice in our troubled country. His life was a bodhisattva life. Our own efforts to change the streams of harmful conditioning, bias and habitual formations require our own clarity and commitment, and so these lessons must be applied to all that we do. This talk was given on occasion of the Sangha Harmony Advisory Committee (SHAC) member retreat at ZMM.

Bear Gokan Bonebakker, Osho – ZMM – 1/18/26 – In a series of talks on the Eightfold Path, Gokan Osho looks at effort, one of the core concentration factors of the path. Early on in our lives we mostly overreach, becoming competitive or extremely self-critical, and sometimes give up all together. We get ourselves in tangles before we can learn through practice to undo the expectations and measurements, to find the right amount of effort needed to continue on the path and develop the clarity and stability we need.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 1/11/26 – Three core aspects of Zen practice are morality, calming the mind, and insight into the nature of reality. Without this third element, wisdom-insight, Zen isn’t truly a liberating practice. Shugen Roshi explains that insight differs from analytical or conceptual thinking; it’s a direct, lived experience. The path requires that these three aspects be cultivated together, so that a settled, unobstructed mind becomes capable of seeing more clearly and of realizing insight that is genuinely transformative. – From Master Wu-Men’s Gateless Gate, Case 39: Yun-men Says You Missed It

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 01/04/2026 – With a new year upon us we all have the chance to start fresh. This is always true because nothing is fixed, everything is subject to change, a truth of the dharma which we can verify for ourselves. We have accumulated experiences, memories, expectations, but those are not fixed either. In this perspective, the new year is auspicious because it is full of possibilities, revealing its potential as we take up life fully, with integrity, commitment and kindness. – From Master Dogen’s 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 39 – Jingqing’s “Buddhadharma at the New Year”

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – New Year’s Eve 12/31/25 – Moral and ethical conduct in Zen practice involves the ongoing work of recognizing when we have fallen short of kindness, compassion, or honesty. The Renewal of Vows ceremony is an ancient Buddhist ritual that addresses the harm we cause. Through atonement, we acknowledge our transgressions—an essential act of turning karma and bringing benefit to the world, and of renewing our commitment to the vows we live by. Offered on the threshold of the new year, this talk brings Shugen Roshi’s Dharma teaching directly into the realities of everyday life.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 12/30/25 – Harmonizing inner and outer life is the essence of our practice, says Shugen Roshi in this koan talk from Rohatsu sesshin. Those habits of mind which obstruct our harmonious equanimity, keeping us from feeling whole and at-ease, are the very grist of practice. When we settle the mind, even in the midst of discord, we become clearer and more able to trust in our true nature. – From the Book of Serenity – Case 68 – Jiashan “Swinging the Sword”

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – ZMM – 12/28/25 – During the year-end Rohatsu sesshin, Shoan Sensei offered this koan talk on the nature of mind as it’s experienced and expressed in Zen Buddhist practice. The koan offered from the Gateless Gate points to “turning the light around”, beholding the nature of what we call reality, and learning through experience how we can rely on this to navigate our lives. – From Master Wu-men’s Gateless Gate, Case 29 – Hui-neng’s “Not the Wind; Not the Flag”

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 12/21/25 – In celebration of Hojin Sensei’s formal installation as abbot of Zen Center of New York City and Fire Lotus Temple, Shugen Roshi takes up Master Wu-Men’s Gateless Gate Case 22—Mahākāśyapa’s Flagpole—unfolding its historical resonance to illuminate the journey of women in Buddhism and their enduring place in the living tradition of Buddhist practice.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 12/14/25 – In this season of giving, we naturally think of celebration, connection, and gratitude for the family, friends, and community that sustains us. Dana Paramita invites us to open our awareness and our hearts to those around us who may be struggling, alone, or lacking what we ourselves enjoy. So… these days we might ask ourselves: What does a Bodhisattva do at this time of year? Shugen Roshi recalls a fundamental teaching of the Buddha, reiterated by Master Dogen in the Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance: Giving, Kind Speech, Beneficial Action, and Identity Action.

ZMM – 12/07/25 – Shugen Roshi officiates the Novice Monastic Ordination ceremony for Rebecca Shindo Kisch; a joyful occasion – both a home-leaving and a homecoming – that Master Dogen described as “a day for turning cartwheels.” Shindo is currently the Monastery’s Gardener, and helps coordinate the National Buddhist Prison Sangha. She became a formal student (Tangaryo) in 2020, received the Bodhisattva Precepts (Jukai), and her dharma name Shindo, in 2022 and became a Postulant in 2023. Today she receives the robe of a monastic and provisionally takes on the five monastic vows. Those vows being simplicity, service, selflessness, stability, and “to live the Buddha’s Way.” In this new context she will continue her discernment and exploration and training for the role of a full monastic before choosing to ask for full ordination.