Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/29/25 - Shugen Roshi asks, “If all things are empty with no inherent existence, then how do things come into being?” In other words, how are we creating our world, moment by moment? How do we do this consciously, intentionally, bringing our vows to life? Every occurrence is handed to us fresh, and in practice we can learn to bring our best selves forward, without grasping or clinging to anything extra. - From the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye - Case 18 - "Nanquan and the Land Deity."
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Abiding Well In The Mountains
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - Saturday 6/28/25 - How do we make the dharma our own? In Zen training, we have to fully let go of the expectations and ideas of what it will look like once we realize ourselves. And importantly, we need to let go of our self-criticism and other kinds of self-centered preoccupation. As we continue to build confidence in our abilities and the practice itself, we learn to abide well anywhere we go, in all aspects of our lives. - From the Koans of the Way of Reality - Yunju's "Abiding in the Mountains"
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The Perfection of What Is
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - Wednesday 6/25/25 - Shugen Roshi explores a passage from the Prajnaparamita Sutra and its emphasis on the “unconditioned” nature of things. When this is realized within our zazen, the unconditioned state has the potential to liberate our minds. If we can meet our minds and what arises without adding extra, without grasping and rejecting, we can begin to sense the deep wisdom we seek in the dharma.
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Returning to the Great Earth
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/22/25 - Getting caught up in the many distractions that we encounter daily contributes to our confusion, our sense of overwhelm. How do we cultivate practice in such a way that we can turn it back, to inquire, and not be overwhelmed? With honesty and persistence, practice can help reveal the true nature of the self and of all things. Using Dharma words from Eihei Dogen, Shugen Roshi encourages us to turn the light around, calm our busy minds, and see things as they truly are. - From Master Dogen's 300 Koan Shobogenzo (The True Dharma Eye), Case 16 Changsha's "Returning to Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth"
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Dharma Language & Dharma Study
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi - ZMM - 6/15/25 - We acquire language as we become more conscious of what surrounds us—people and things and concepts—and the language we learn to use is inextricable from our conscious sense of ourselves. In this sense we are co-creating our reality moment by moment as we use language. In Dharma study, one of the Eight Gates of Zen, we learn to work with some skill in appreciating the necessity of language as well as the constructed and thereby provisional nature of language. Our capacity to use words toward realization is not limited by words themselves.
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.
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