The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast | Zen Mountain Monastery – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi – ZMM – 11/30/25 – This talk on a koan from an early Chan teacher is taken up by Shugen Roshi to look at the ubiquity of our dualistic habits of mind. Koans work with language to help us see our minds more clearly, to see where we cloud ourselves with judgements and bias and distract ourselves with endless arguments. Just forget the two sides and see into the true reality right before our eyes. – From the Book of Serenity – Case 27 – Fayan Points to a Blind

Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei – 11/23/25 – How do we know what is ultimately true? In this koan from the Mumonkan, Shoan Sensei delves into the ordinariness of profound truth that is everywhere, its depth and benefits within reach. And yet there is still practice and investigation that must be engaged to feel into the distinction. – From Master Wu-men’s Gateless Gate, Case 19 – Nan-sh’uan: “Ordinary Mind Is the Tao”