The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast

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.

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”)

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.)

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?

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