Serving the Spirit

February 20 · Teachings · calling, commitment, conversion, Daido Roshi, Guardian Council, lay practitioners, monasticism, monastics, mondo, mystery, religion, religious calling, responsibility, spiritual calling, vocation, Winter / Spring 2019

Mondo by John Daido Loori, Roshi
originally printed in Mountain Record in the issue Spiritual Calling (2008)

In the Zen Buddhist tradition there are several ways of engaging with a teacher and one of them is mondo, an informal question and answer session on some aspect of the Dharma. This mondo was held with John Daido Loori, Roshi, the founder of the Mountains and Rivers Order, at Zen Mountain Monastery in 2008.

This is the Way I Express My Gratitude

September 08 · Dharma Discourses, Zen Training · clarity, commitment, Discernment, monasticism, Summer 2017

by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

In the Mountains and Rivers Order we have two paths by which a student can practice and realize Buddhadharma—a lay training path and a monastic path. These make up the fourfold sangha as established by the Buddha: female and male monastics, and female and male lay students. The lay and monastic students together create an interdependent and co-dependent body that is sangha. Each path has its own integrity and is mutually dependent upon the other, and the differences between the two paths helps to give each its vitality.