Mountain Rain Zen Dharma Podcast

With an invitation to enter the moment and be open to things of beauty, Shinmon Michael Newton explores the nature of vow as something that is practiced, never completed.   _____________________________________________________________ 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 mountain...

Myoshin Kate McCandless  describes doors of liberation, talks about the weather, and invites trust in the buddha-body of sangha during sesshin. _____________________________________________________________ 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 a...

Shinmon Michael Newton opens Rohatsu sesshin with an introduction of Samantabhadra's Ten Vows and an exploration of bowing 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...

We all, at some point in life, become aware of a longing that is not satisfied by any material thing or distraction or accomplishment. Shinmon Michael Newton explores the Avatamsaka Sutra’s list of 10 demons or personal obstacles met when walking this path of zazen.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide c...

Myoshin Kate McCandless shares more of Sudhana’s pilgrimage, the companions he meets along the way, including people, animals, and plants. Each has teaching to offer, not always easy to receive.  All these stories help humanize Sudhana and make him relatable, more than just allegorical. _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations...

Shinmon Michael Newton explores chapter 11 of the Avatamsaka Sutra, in which there are 140 verses encouraging mindfulness in daily 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...

Shinmon Michael Newton explores how the skillful use of imagination can help us open to our Buddha 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 ba...

Daikan John Green offers images and metaphors for the infinite interconnections and feedback loops of Indra’s Net such as quantum entanglement or the root structure of a redwood tree. How can we practice with these infinities when we are only finite humans? _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community....

How do we take in and then process the traumas of war, have our hearts broken over and over again, while abiding in the two truths, of relative and absolute? Myoshin Kate McCandless explores practices of patience and equanimity in the face of conflict offered in the Avatamsaka Sutra.  _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations fr...

Daikan John Green helps peel back layers from Book 16 and 20 of the Avatamsaka Sutra, revealing that Mind is like an artist able to paint the world… "If people want to really know/ All Buddhas of all time,/ They should contemplate the nature of the cosmos:/ All is but mental construction". (Thomas Cleary, translation of chapter 20) ________________________________________________________...

Myoshin Kate McCandless continues the exploration of Sudhana's story as he encounters a series of nine night goddesses. How can we open to, and be with, the fruitful and generative darkness? _____________________________________________________________ These talks are made possible thanks to donations from our worldwide community. If you find value in these teachings, please consider supporti...

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...

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 ar...

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 a...

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. ______________...

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 thes...

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...

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. _____________________________________...

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 o...

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 t...

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...

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 N...

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 re...

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 mountainr...

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 ....