Zen Mountain Monastery

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Mount Tremper, NY
Zen Mountain Monastery

The main house of the Mountains and Rivers Order. Tours and visits are available by appointment. Please call to inquire about hours and schedule.

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 monastics 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.

07/28/2026

Introduction to Zen Training Weekend — with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi, Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei and Gokan Bonebakker, Osho

September 4 - 6, 2026

Whether you’re completely new to Zen Buddhism or looking to deepen your connection, our popular introductory retreat offers an immersive experience in an ideal setting, nestled in the heart of the Catskill Mountains.
During the weekend, you’ll receive instruction in zazen (seated meditation) and have a chance to experience and ask questions about liturgy, work as sacred activity, art and body practice, the teachings of wisdom and compassion, and how to approach Buddhist study.

The retreat takes place within the Monastery cloister—a dynamic spiritual community whose everyday activities and concerns are simplified. By entering the cloister for a weekend, you’ll experience a place uniquely conducive to spiritual practice and to connecting to your own innate silence and stillness.

Date: Friday-Sunday, September 4th - 6th, 2026
Location: Zen Mountain Monastery

Learn more and register: https://zmm.org/retreats/4560/introduction-to-zen-training-weekend-48

07/14/2026

When the World Becomes Colorful Summer Art Practice

On the morning of July 31st and August 7th, Hojin Sensei will offer the last two sessions of Summer Art Practice online: When the World Becomes Colorful.

Start where you are—we all have the necessary experience. Participants work in any medium of your choice from a home studio via ZOOM, while Hojin Sensei's inspiring Dharma words and prompts spark the fire of our innate creativity.

Friday July 31st & August 7th: 10:30 am – Noon

Learn more and register:
https://zmm.org/retreats/4713/summer-art-practice-series-when-the-world-becomes-colorful-online

06/30/2026

Introduction to Zen Training Weekend
with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi, Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei, and Gokan Bonebakker, Osho

July 31 - August 2, 2026

Whether you’re completely new to Zen Buddhism or looking to deepen your connection, our popular introductory retreat offers an immersive experience in an ideal setting, nestled in the heart of the Catskill Mountains.

During the weekend, you’ll receive instruction in zazen (seated meditation) and have a chance to experience and ask questions about liturgy, work as sacred activity, art and body practice, the teachings of wisdom and compassion, and how to approach Buddhist study.

The retreat takes place within the Monastery cloister—a dynamic spiritual community whose everyday activities and concerns are simplified. By entering the cloister for a weekend, you’ll experience a place uniquely conducive to spiritual practice and to connecting to your own innate silence and stillness.

Register: https://zmm.org/retreats/4468/introduction-to-zen-training-weekend-46

06/19/2026

Exploring Wisdom and Compassion: Further Steps Along the Path of Zen - with Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei and Gokan Bonebakker, Osho

July 10-12, 2026

This weekend will offer opportunities to experience longer periods of silence and zazen, explore Zen training through teaching and discussion, and engage in face-to-face teaching. Open to anyone who has attended an Introduction to Zazen at ZMM or Fire Lotus Temple Sunday Program, or attended any ZMM retreat such as Introductory Weekend or Dharma Gates.

Register > https://zmm.org/retreats/4465/exploring-wisdom-and-compassion-further-steps-along-the-path-of-zen-3

06/16/2026

One Continuous Thread: Home Practice Intensive
— with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi, Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei and Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei

June 22 - 28, 2026

Welcome to One Continuous Thread, a way to bring elements of a formal zazen intensive into your daily life. You will be able to participate with ZMM’s Sesshin via live webcast.

We’ve designed this retreat keeping in mind the unique circumstances that each person finds themselves in. Some people can engage fully with a sesshin schedule in their homes; others may seek the rigors and rewards of a zazen intensive while navigating their ongoing responsibilities to work, family and friends. One Continuous Thread can hold it all as we sit together, even while our needs and experiences might be quite diverse.

Further guidance on how to engage with the retreat, and a full schedule of the Monastery’s zendo activities, will be sent to you no earlier than Monday afternoon. You can base your own sitting around that or set your own schedule.

More information >> https://zmm.org/retreats/4606/one-continuous-thread-home-practice-intensive-june-2025

06/15/2026

Beginning and Intermediate Kyudo with Don Symanski
August 5-9, 2026

This summer, Don Symanski and team will return to offer Beginning and Intermediate Kyudo.

Kyudo demands that we let go of our goals and expectations and live fully in the moment. Through meticulous attention to detail, all aspects of the Kyudo form and movements provide a subtle mirror of the self, as well as an opportunity for deep study.

Over the years, the Monastery’s Kyudo retreats have developed a reputation for being foremost among Kyudo training opportunities in the U.S. We encourage all Zen students as well as anyone interested in the contemplative arts to engage this special training.

Learn more and register:
Beginner Kyudo > https://zmm.org/retreats/4427/beginners-kyudo-zen-archery-intensive-5
Intermediate Kyudo > https://zmm.org/retreats/4429/intermediate-kyudo-zen-archery-intensive-7

06/09/2026

The Study of One Thing

Hojin Sensei's year-long retrospective art show, The Study of One Thing, is coming to a close on July 31st. If you haven't made it out there yet, summer is a terrific time for an upstate NY road trip!
Located at the Yager Museum at Hartwick College in Oneonta, there's just a few more weeks to experience this colorful, dynamic and inspiring retrospective in person. Major pieces are available for purchase through our Monastery Store website.

More info:
Yager Museum at Hartwick College
www.hartwick.edu/about-us/stories/yager-museum-marks-new-exhibitions-with-opening-reception

Monastery Store
https://monasterystore.org/collections/the-study-of-one-thing

06/02/2026

Exploring Wisdom and Compassion: Further Steps Along the Path of Zen
with Danica Shoan Ankele, Sensei and Gokan Bonebakker, Osho

July 10-12, 2026

Within the dharma, wisdom and compassion are sometimes spoken of as the two wings of a bird—we need both of them to fly. We can nurture these qualities in how we engage our life as a field of practice.

The Further Steps retreats are intermediate level retreats which can be taken more than once. They provide opportunities to experience more extended periods of silence and zazen, explore Zen training through teaching and discussion, and engage in face-to-face teaching.

During the morning, we will focus on zazen, looking at developing concentration, working with thoughts and emotions, and what it means to cultivate compassion as part of a meditative practice. In the afternoon, our focus will shift to how we can develop our practice off of the cushion.

This weekend retreat is for anyone taking their next step on the Path and is open to anyone who has visited the Monastery or Temple, including for Introductory Weekends, Dharma Gates and Sunday programs.

There are three Further Steps theme retreats offered throughout the year, each with a different focus, including The Study of the Self, Practice on the Path of Liberation, and Exploring Wisdom and Compassion.

Lean more and register here:
https://bit.ly/433taV3

05/29/2026

Online Summer Art Practice Series — When the World Becomes Colorful with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

June 12 - August 7th

This summer we’ll explore color as a living presence—working from our home spaces, indoors and out. Through collage and simple, improvisational practices, color becomes form, sound, movement, and feeling—drawn from the textures of our own lives.

What is the sound of red? How does purple move? Where does color live in the body? What color is this moment, this mood, this encounter?

If you’re a newcomer, welcome to this online art practice collaboration. You can start where you are, we all have the experience necessary. Participants can work in any medium (s) in your home studio and on ZOOM with inspiring Dharma words and prompts offered by Hojin Sensei to spark the fire of our innate creativity.

Date & Time: Fridays, 10:30am - 12pm, June 12 | July 3, 10, 31 | Aug 7
Location: ONLINE

Register here: https://zmm.org/retreats/4713/summer-art-practice-series-when-the-world-becomes-colorful-online

05/25/2026

Thursday, June 4th, we will host a Red Cross blood drive. You can make appointments to give blood via the American Red Cross website, using our location, zipcode 12457.

Register here:
https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html

Address

871 Plank Road
Mount Tremper, NY
12457

Telephone

+18456882228

Website

http://zmm.org/

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