Training
Students and residents of the monastery practice according to Abbot Loori's Eight Gates of Zen training matrix. These gates include zazen, face to face teaching, liturgy, moral and ethical teachings, work practice, body practice, art practice and academic study. This occurs either at home for lay students or at the monastery during weekend retreats and monthly week long sesshin (meditation intensives). The monastery's schedule includes a Sunday morning program open to the general public and a variety of weekend and week-long Zen training programs, focusing variously on painting, poetry, shakuhachi performance, Zen archery (kyūdō), qigong, and many other activities.
The monastery grounds are also home to the Zen Environmental Studies Institute and Dharma Communications, which runs The Monastery Store and WZEN.org online radio and publishes Mountain Record: The Zen Practitioner's Journal and other print, audio, video and online information resources.
In addition to supporting the lay community, ZMM is home to a number of monastic practitioners. These individuals have taken life vows of simplicity, selflessness, stability, service and accomplishing the Buddha's Way. As a result, they do not work outside the monastery, earn money, or have children. As the Mountain Record, states: "Monastics in the order are entirely dependent on the sangha while maintaining the Monastery for current practitioners and sustaining it for generations to come."
Read more about this topic: Zen Mountain Monastery
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