My experience was pretty horrible. I drove 3 hours form NYC specifically to visit and look around the monastery in consideration to do a month there. However, right before parking obviously disturbed man ran towards me and said "my name is Nathan and if you have not paid a membership you can't get out of you car, this place is only for members", I ask him if I can just look around so to decide if I want to become a member, he replayed abruptly not in a very "zen" manner "no!!!!". You would think that in a place practicing the only philosophy accepting anything human and natural would be be compassionate and understanding but....
MRO is an amazing combination of hard core Zen practice and a fantastic, supportive community of wonderful people. The meals are great too ;-)
I had the immense pleasure of attending the 'Introduction to Zen Buddhism' retreat over the Thanksgiving weekend. As a last-minute participant (I contacted them the morning of), they were very accommodating. I would have to rank my stay there as one of the best experiences of my life. I was expecting the quarters to be more Spartan than they were, though you do need to be comfortable sharing sleeping quarters with 7-8 others....but the property was very modern, and the vegetarian food was flavorful and plentiful. I highly recommend attending for those of any experience level.
Zen mountain monestary. I research this place before going on ground. So I figured I would stop to see it briefly and talk to someone about more information since I happen to be in the area from Florida. It has Small grounds and unfriendly person approach me after jumping out of a passenger side seat of a truck like he was going to attack. Very unfriendly. So I left. Not very pleasant or honored there obviously. . I will not be doing any retreats here. I suggest no one else does either.
I went for an Intro to Zen training weekend and really enjoyed it for the most part. It's a very scenic place and the staff is wonderful and the food is superb. (You definitely will not go hungry!) I have only two complaints---minor ones actually. One is that the monastery is not air conditioned and I went there in the summer so it can get quite warm. (They do have fans all over the place but it tends to just push the warm air around.) And second when they have their rituals they don't tell you what page in the book the chants are on nor do they tell you when it is time to bow. The regulars all know this stuff by heart but it can get frustrating for a newcomer when you really have no idea what you are supposed to be doing or reading. But I still would highly recommend the place to anyone. It really is a great place to learn about Zen Buddhism.
Zen Mountain Monastery is a US Place Of Worship based in Mt Tremper, New York. Zen Mountain Monastery is located at 871 Plank Rd, Mt Tremper, NY 12457, USA.
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