Finding the Monastery in Samsara
About this episode
Shoan Sensei discusses practicing within samsara and the potential for transformation through vows.
Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei - ZMM - 3/27/26 - In this Renewal of Vows (Fusatsu) talk, Shoan Sensei offers the perspective that we are practicing within samsara, exactly where we are. Here we can come very close to the narrow habits and patterns that create suffering—something we cannot do in some imagined fantasy of a Buddha Land. Taking up the place where we find ourselves as the place of our own vows, we can discover ways to bring forward our infinite capacity to leave possessiveness and self-delusion behind, and, with the support of the precepts, learn to be truly free. It is here that transformation can happen.
People in this episode
Guest: Danica Shoan Ankele
Topics covered
- samsara
- vows
- transformation
- Buddhism
- freedom
- suffering
Keywords
- samsara
- vows
- Buddhism
- suffering
- freedom
- transformation
- precepts
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Zen Mountain Monastery
More episodes of The Zen Mountain Monastery Podcast
- Jukai Ceremony at ZMM with Shugen Roshi – April 2026
- Do You Know the Self—or Not?
- Acupuncture Needle of Zazen
- Entering the Wilderness
- Just Resting, While Freely Going Forth
- Spring 2026 Ango Opening Talk – “The Turning Words of Hongzhi”
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