Teachers & Staff

TEACHERS

Shugen Roshi

Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi is the Head of the Mountains and Rivers Order, abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery, and abbot of the Zen Center of New York City. Shugen Roshi has been in full-time residential training since 1986; he received dharma transmission from Daido Roshi in 1997. While he lives primarily at the Monastery, he shares his time between there and the Zen Center of New York City. His teachings have appeared in various Buddhist journals, The Best Buddhist Writing 2009, and his first book, O, Beautiful End, a collection of Zen memorial poems, was published in 2012.

Hojin Sensei

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei received the priestly transmission (the transmission of the Precepts) from Daido Roshi, who began the process in 2009, and from Shugen Roshi, who completed the transmission in 2012. In 2017, she received full dharma transmission from Shugen Roshi. She is currently the senior MRO Training Coordinator and co-Director of Zen Center of NYC. Hojin Sensei began her artistic career early and has taught drawing, ceramics, and painting, opening people up to the wonders and mysteries of the creative process. She has been in full-time residential training at the Monastery since 1990.

Hogen Sensei

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei is the co-Director of the Zen Center of NYC, Fire Lotus Temple. He has been engaged in formal Zen practice since 1978, and was in residential training at the Monastery for twelve years. In 2007, Hogen Sensei returned to lay life. He currently lives with his family on a farm in Pennsylvania. He is a retired podiatrist.

Zuisei Sensei

Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei was in full-time residential training at the Monastery from 1995 to 2014, fourteen of those years as a monastic. She’s now a lay teacher in the MRO. Additionally, for many years she ran our popular youth programs, impressing the value of mindfulness, kindness, and silence on young children and teens.

John Daido Loori, Roshi | Founding Teacher (1931-2009)

Daido Roshi was the founder of Zen Mountain Monastery and the Mountains and Rivers Order, and served as the guiding teacher for almost 30 years. A holder of the Soto and Rinzai Zen lineages, Daido Roshi drew on his background as a scientist, artist, naturalist, parent and Zen priest to establish a uniquely American Zen Buddhist training center. He is the author of numerous books, including The Eight Gates of Zen and The Zen of Creativity.