Shinmon Michael Newton explores Chapter 17 of the Avatamsaka Sutra, which focuses on boddhicitta - the way-seeking mind that is awakening for the benefit of all. How do we relax the tight self-centered grip of our usual way of being, to step into the teachings of ease? _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainr...

Daikan John Green gives a talk about the ten dedications of merit or ten transfers of merit and offers the practice of rapid sutra recitation. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our website.For que...

Daikan John Green, our Practice Period shuso, presents two questions posed by the bodhisattva Manjushri, regarding how to bring the teachings of Indra's Net into everyday life. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and...

Myoshin Kate McCandless discusses meetings with teachers on the Path of awakening. Sometimes those meetings are pivotal, sometimes disappointing, and sometimes we don't even recognize or appreciate them at the time. She shares excepts from the Gandharva Sutra (last chapter of the Avatamsaka) and the Korean poet Ko Un's retelling of the young boy Sudhana's pilgrimage. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our wo...

Myoshin Kate McCandless explores "worlds within worlds", the ways our mutual well-being depends on the complex interconnection of relationships within Indra's net, drawing on the Avatamsaka Sutra and the microcosmos. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded t...

Shinmon Michael Newton introduces Samantabhadra, one of the archetypical boddhisatvas and a teacher of many practices for realizing inter-being, including the ten qualities of mind. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten ...

Myoshin Kate McCandless weaves us deeper into the theme of Living in Indra’s Net: the Avatamsaka Sutra and Beyond. This is a profound evocation of the boundless interbeing of all existence, and has deep relevance to the challenges we face in our world today: social injustice, climate and ecological crises, and the many conflicts that cause so much suffering. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide ...

Shinmon Michael Newton begins the 2024 Practice Period with a talk exploring the vast vision of reality offered by the Avatamsaka Sutra, and an invitation to be inspired by its lush imagery. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over t...

Dai-i Flo Rublee gives the final talk in our dharma seminar on Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Sue Moon’s book : What is Zen?How do the teachings of Buddhism help us understand that connection, compassion, and love are all there is? _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of...

How does zen practice lead to the whole body smiling with all it is? Hofu Louise Day shares some of her life experiences - from sitting with Suzuki Roshi when still in highschool, to finding inner peace again after intense loss and grief. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full...

Jikai Vicki Turay explores how, though much of practice appears to be solitary, zen is primarily based in relationships."Formal Zen practice: that of meditation, teachings, rituals serve as a training ground. Those activities support and encourage the actual practice - which happens all the time, in your own life, in your every encounter with others, in your heart and mind." (Zoketsu Norman Fischer) _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possib...

Shinmon Michael Newton suggests that continuous practice is not a burden - it is simply the ever deepening expression of ones life. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our website.For questions and ...

Jakushin Todd Slobogean continues our dharma seminar on What is Zen? by sharing personal reflections on the question of how a person changes after many years of practice. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and...

Myoshin Kate McCandless offers a meditation on fire and explores how the elements give and destroy life even though they have no separate self nature. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our w...

Unmon Jacob Butula's talk offers a clear perspective on chapter 9 of Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Sue Moon's book What is Zen?If our tradition is primarily about integrating the dharma into everyday life, with no steps and stages, why is zen so full of complicated rituals and hierarchies? _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our...

In this talk, Mysohin Kate McCandless suggests that the more we attend to our relationships with the elements, the better we can care for the beings and ecosystems with which our lives interdepend. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ...

Nin-En Susan Elbe continues our dharma seminar on Sue Moon and Zoketsu Norman Fischer's book, What is Zen?, offering the insight that zen art can open us to an ineffable truth that goes beyond words. Can art be an expression of spirit? _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive ...

Shinmon Michael Newton explores how we might wholeheartedly engage the Way when cooking, cleaning, tending the sick and elderly, caring for a pet - asking if we can bring a joyful sense of service to our labour. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings go...

Kakuko Kaye Simard explores Sue Moon and Zoketsu Norman Fischer's understanding of the promises and fruits of awakening. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our website.For questions and comme...

Myoshin Kate McCandless offers various practices which can help us maintain and care for our sangha relationships. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our website.For questions and comments, contact...

What do ritual and tradition evoke? How do the precepts help us commit to compassionate action? Can we understand religion as daily life?Myosen River offers the third talk in our dharma seminar on the book What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner's Mind by Norman Fischer and Susan Moon. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supp...

In this ZED Talk (Zen Engaged Dharma), Roshin Carmen Mills illuminates how volunteer work – "selfless service" – serves the self, while also serving the greater whole and cultivating a deeply held sense of inherent value and connection. All the while, taking a sly poke at consumer capitalism. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporti...

Myoshin Kate McCandless offers insight into how forms and rituals such as bowing and chanting bring us into our bodies and nurture community.Week two of our dharma seminar on the book What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner's Mind by Norman Fischer and Susan Moon. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainr...

Shinmon Michael Newton offers insights into why Dogen venerated Avalokiteshvara, and how an act of true compassion, karuna, is an act of wisdom. _____________________________________________________________These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our work at mountainrainzen.org/donate. A full archive of recorded teachings going back over ten years is free and accessible on our website.For q...