The Mountains and Rivers Order

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. Although the MRO is distinctly American, much of the training, liturgy, and practice forms used in the Order come from the tradition of Zen as it evolved in ancient China and Japan. Daido Roshi trained with Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles and received dharma transmission from him. Because Maezumi Roshi was a lineage holder within the Soto school of Zen, and had received Inka (seal of approval) from two Rinzai teachers, training and practice in the MRO draws from both these traditions.The MRO takes its name from Zen Master Eihei Dogen’s “Mountains and Rivers Sutra,” a favorite teaching of Daido Roshi’s–one that he returned to again and again. With Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM), the seat of the Order, based at the foot of a mountain and the junction of two rivers, the name Mountains and Rivers Order takes on added significance.

Daido Roshi’s passion for the arts (he was an avid photographer for most of his life) led him to initially establish ZMM as the Zen Arts Center in 1980. However, within a few years it became apparent that the community gathering at the Arts Center had a deep interest in traditional Zen training, so the Zen Arts Center became Zen Mountain Monastery, offering practitioners a comprehensive practice and training structure. The focus on the Zen arts remained, however, and the training in the MRO places special emphasis on creative expression as a vital element of spiritual practice.

Daido Roshi established the Eight Gates of Zen, a unique approach that aims to offer a comprehensive Zen program of training to Western students, detailed in his book, The Eight Gates of Zen. The MRO training program is grounded within a dedication to the realization of enlightenment and its functioning in the world. The Monastery offers spiritual practitioners innovative ways to engage Buddhist teachings through retreats that take place within the context of full-time Zen monastic training. But more than just a retreat center, the Monastery offers seekers a rare blend of authentic, yet distinctly Western, Zen training within a vibrant community of monastic and lay practitioners.

About Zen Mountain Monastery

Since ancient times, monasteries have been places where seekers could delve deeply into the deepest questions of life and death. Built in the 1920s and 30’s, Zen Mountain Monastery was originally a Catholic retreat center and boys’ camp. Now, for over three decades, it has offered practitioners from all walks of life a refuge from a culture of distraction and a way to become immersed in Buddhist teachings and practice. As our founder John Daido Loori described it, the Monastery is “an archive of sanity.”

Our main building houses the Monastery’s meditation hall and dining halls, kitchen, lounge, private rooms for residents, and dormitories for visiting practitioners. Our Sangha House acts as a community center with a performance hall, library, art studio and fitness room, as well as the Monastery Store. The Jizo House provides accessible accommodations for retreatants and serves as the home base for our Tenkozan line of Monasatery-made crafts and products. These and other buildings rest on 220 acres of protected woodlands that are home to an extraordinary variety of plant and animal life. In 1995, the Monastery’s main building was named a national and state historic landmark.

Zen Mountain Monastery is a member of the White Plum Asanga, an affiliation of centers in the lineage of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi. Maezumi Roshi served as our first abbot until empowering Daido Roshi as a lineage holder and abbot himself in 1989. We are indebted to Maezumi Roshi for bringing the teachings of Zen to these shores and to all our ancestors for maintaining the Way across many generations.

Looking Back on 40 Years

On the occasion of Zen Mountain Monastery’s 40th anniversary, Abbot Shugen Arnold reflects on the journey and how far we’ve come from our humble beginnings in 1980. As this is only a brief snapshot of the whole story, rather than a retrospective, some of the very important people who were instrumental in the development of the Mountains and Rivers Order, Zen Mountain Monastery and the Zen Center of NYC do not appear in the film, or appear only briefly. In particular, we want to recognize and express our gratitude for the significant contributions of Bonnie Myotai Treace, Konrad Ryushin Marchaj and Vanessa Zuisei Goddard.