Woodstock New York, NY 12498 | Religion and Spirituality | Zen Buddhism

Zen Arts Center Donshinji Monastery

(845) 688-2228

About Zen Mountain Monastery
Zen Mountain Monastery

Zen Mountain Monastery is a monastic training center providing traditional yet distinctly Western Zen training to people of all ages and religious backgrounds. With a resident community of female and male monastic and lay trainees, the Monastery offers a wide variety of programs and retreats for both beginning and advanced Buddhist practitioners. Set in a nature preserve in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, the Monastery offers an atmosphere conducive to self-study and introspection.
Authentic Zen Training

ZMM’s training schedule is a continuation of the centuries-old tradition established in the Zen Buddhist monasteries of China and Japan. Every year, two 90-day intensives called ango bring into focus MRO students’ commitment to religious training within the Order—regardless of whether they are in residence or living in the world. Each month, a week-long silent meditation retreat or sesshin offers participants the opportunity to immerse themselves in Zen’s quintessential practice of zazen, seated meditation, as well as to experience the tradition’s very particular approach to liturgy and face-to-face instructions with a teacher. The summer and winter interim periods nicely balance the intensity of ango by shifting emphasis to more outwardly-oriented retreats in the summer warmer months and solitary study and introspection in the wintertime.