Mountain Rain Zen Dharma Podcast

Daikan John Green shares a few thoughts about what could be considered a true teaching, and what might be conveyed or created by something else in the past.  _____________________________________________________________ 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/don...

Guest monk, Rev. Gyokei Yokohama , ponders what stays the same, what gets lost in translation, and what influences are shared back and forth between the way people practice in North America and the way people practice in Japan.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these te...

Jakushin Todd Slobogean tames the relentless meandering of his neuro-diverse mind to bring us thoughts on the Kalama Sutra and the Island Sutra (the Attadiipaa Sutta - The Buddha’s Last Teaching).  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider suppor...

Hotei Denis Fafard explores how being a boddhisatva is fundamentally an audacious act of imagination. _____________________________________________________________ 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 ov...

Continuing the dharma seminar on Kosho Uchiyama 's writing, Kakuko Kaye Simard describes intensive practice, shikantaza, and  how sesshin is an opportunity to sink firmly and nobly into our bones. _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider su...

Jikai Vicki Turay shares insights and anecdotes from her path and practice to lay entrustment.  _____________________________________________________________ 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...

Dai-i Flo Rublee continues our dharma seminar on Uchiyama Roshi 's wonderful book. Chapter three is an exploration of how to wake-up to zazen and see our thoughts, desires, and delusions as the scenery of life.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, ple...

On the second day of our weekend retreat, Zoketsu Norman Fischer tells stories from the Denkoroku, which presents  transmission stories of the lineage of Soto Zen ancestors. _____________________________________________________________ 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 mountai...

In the first of two dharma talks from our weekend retreat, Zoketsu Norman Fischer muses on how sitting zazen can help cultivate the great perfect mirror of awareness. _____________________________________________________________ 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 mountainrainze...

In part three of this dharma seminar on Kosho Uchiyama's writing, Daikan offers thoughts on zazen and what it means to open a space between the conscious mind and the universal self. _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our w...

Myoshin Kate McCandless explores what it is about a pilgrimage that makes it particularly layered and vivid, and offers practices for pilgrimage. _____________________________________________________________ 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...

Mayne Island resident and longtime MRZC practice leader Jikai Vicki Turay continues our exploration of Opening the Hand of Thought by Japanese Zen teacher Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. She dives into Uchiyama's discourse on the cultivation of sweet persimmons, how Buddhist practice can manifest and flourish in the West, and how the practice of zazen helps us awaken to our universal nature. This is pa...

Back from a recent trip to Europe, senior MRZC Priest and Sunshine Coast Resident Dai-i Flo Rublee reflects on homecoming, home-leaving, and how we are all just walking each other home. _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our wor...

"Zazen is the self which is only the self of the universe." (Uchiyama)   Shinmon Michael Newton introduces the book Opening the Hand of Thought by Japanese Zen teacher Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. This begins a ten week dharma seminar with MRZC guiding teachers and practice leaders.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations...

In what way does our innate ability to nurture reflect the perfection of wisdom? Dharma Talk with Shinmon Michael Newton.  _____________________________________________________________ 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 te...

Last of a six-week Wednesday dharma seminar series with MRZC Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless. What is zen poetry today in North America? How can we make zen poetry of everything? _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporting our wo...

Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless explores the practice of restraint using the Kabbalistic concept of tzimtzum (Hebrew: contraction), and asks: can we understand restraint not as something externally imposed and enforced by fear, but internally chosen and based on care and concern? _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations...

Tosho Megan Adam is a writer, weaver, and fiddle-player on Gabriola Island, BC (Snuneymuxw territory).  In this ZED (Zen Engaged Dharma) talk, Megan speaks on the importance of artistic practice in our lives and how Zen practice can encourage and support us in liberating our creative selves. Find Megan's writing at  www.comfortfortheapocalypse.com , and her creative work at  instagram.com/meg...

Guiding Teacher Shinmon Michael Newton introduces The Taste of Silence: How I Came to Be at Home with Myself , by Belgian author Bieke Vandekerckhove who, at the age of 19, was diagnosed with ALS (a degenerative neurological disease). Michael speaks of how we can find freedom in stillness and what Dogen refers to as 'the backward step' — the deep and healing flow of silence. ____________...

The Beat Poets: Part 5 of a six-week Wednesday dharma seminar series with MRZC Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless.  _____________________________________________________________ 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 teac...

In this special Earth Day talk, Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless explores the continuous flux between our bodies and the planet with a meditation on the four elements—and questions whether humus and humankind are really so different. _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value...

Chinese and Japanese Women Poets: Part 4 of a six-week Wednesday dharma seminar series with MRZC Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless.  _____________________________________________________________ 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 archiv...

Haiku: Part 3 of a six-week Wednesday dharma seminar series with MRZC Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless.  _____________________________________________________________ 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 goi...

MRZC Priest Kakuko Kaye Simard speaks on how our relationships with dogs, cats, dishes, and houseplants can cultivate our boddhisattva practices of lovingkindness, the paramitas (and their imposters/near enemies), and empathetic joy.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in th...

Classical Japanese Zen Poetry: Part 2 of a six-week Wednesday dharma seminar series with MRZC Guiding Teacher Myoshin Kate McCandless.  _____________________________________________________________ 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 o...