Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

What Brings Us to Practice?

From within a dream how do we begin to get the sense that we are dreaming? How do we begin to aspire to wake up? How do we come to a genuine spiritual path? In this discourse Shugen describes what it is like to live a life when we are just chasing after things and what it means to turn to the Way.

The koan in this talk is “Ching Ch’ing’s Sound of Raindrops,” Case 46 from the Blue Cliff Record. It was given at ZCNYC on March 17, 2013.

Opening the Gate

Moving Beyond Fear & Anger, part 1

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

Buddhism teaches that anger is one of the three primary sources of human suffering and that it leads to some of our most long-lasting and painful karma. In this powerful retreat, Shugen Sensei looks closely at the mind of fear and anger through the Buddhist teachings, showing us how Zen practice can expose the falseness behind anger. When we see through this feeling clearly, we can gain the courage to face our own and others’ anger with compassion and earthy intelligence.

CDs and downloadable mp3s of this retreat are available for sale at The Monastery Store.

Opening the Gate…Continued

Moving Beyond Fear & Anger, part 1, continued

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

CDs and downloadable mp3s of this retreat are available for sale at The Monastery Store.

Philip’s Hat

Tiptoe through the tulips.

Crossing Paths

Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi, on Mindful Eating

Eating is one of the most intimate things we do, and if we’re fortunate, we do it several times every day. How much attention to we give to this sacred activity? Do we appreciate the pleasures of taste? Do we notice the nourishment we receive from eating? Are we trying to nourish something else when we turn to food? Chozen Roshi takes up these questions in her workshop on Mindful Eating that she offered at ZMM last year and guides us in addressing them ourselves.

Recorded in May 2012 at ZMM.

John Daido Loori, Roshi

Just Close the Gap

In this helpful talk, Daido Roshi takes up the Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind, looking at how Zen trains us to study and realize this mind directly, and at zazen as a practice of closing the gap between ourselves and the universe.

The koan in this talk is “The Sixth Ancestor’s ‘Your Mind is Moving,’” Case 146 from the True Dharma Eye. It was given at ZMM in September 1999.

Alternative Radio

Corporations, Communities and the Environment

Communities across the country, trying to stop a wide range of threats and unwanted projects such as gas drilling and fracking, mining, pipelines, factory farming, sewage sludging, landfills, coal shipments and GMOs, all run into the same problem: they don’t have the legal authority to say “no” to them. That may be changing. A recent court ruling in Pennsylvania says that corporations are not “persons.” They cannot elevate their “private rights” above the rights of people.

Presented by Thomas Linzey, an attorney and co-founder and executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. This program was produced by Alternative Radio.

Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Sensei

The Best Deal You’ve Ever Been Offered

Imagine you meet a man on the street who offers you a deal: “Give me everything, and I’ll give you nothing in return.” This is Bodhidharma, offering us the path to complete freedom. In giving away everything we’re attached to, the whole universe naturally offers us everything back.

The koan in this talk is “Bodhidharma’s ‘Emptiness’,” Case 2 from the Book of Equanimity It was given at ZCNYC on October 27, 2012.

Sounds from Zen Mountain

Dharma Encounter: The Fundamental Truth of Illness

In dharma encounter students work one-on-one with the teacher very much like in dokusan, except that it’s done with the whole sangha present. Here, Shugen Sensei invites the sangha to explore sickness from the perspective of the Zen teachings–not just physical illness, but the deeply important truth of psychological, emotional, and spiritual dis-ease as well.

This dharma encounter was held at ZCNYC on April 8, 2012.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei

What Brings Us to Practice?

From within a dream how do we begin to get the sense that we are dreaming? How do we begin to aspire to wake up? How do we come to a genuine spiritual path? In this discourse Shugen describes what it is like to live a life when we are just chasing after things and what it means to turn to the Way.

The koan in this talk is “Ching Ch’ing’s Sound of Raindrops,” Case 46 from the Blue Cliff Record. It was given at ZCNYC on March 17, 2013.

Story Hour

Stories for a Winter’s Night

As the last of the snow melts from the mountain side, let’s curl up and listen to some Native American tales, performed by Joan Henry.

John Daido Loori, Roshi

Just Close the Gap

In this helpful talk, Daido Roshi takes up the Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind, looking at how Zen trains us to study and realize this mind directly, and at zazen as a practice of closing the gap between ourselves and the universe.

The koan in this talk is “The Sixth Ancestor’s ‘Your Mind is Moving,’” Case 146 from the True Dharma Eye. It was given at ZMM in September 1999.