Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

Shugen Roshi is the Head of the Mountains and Rivers Order, and abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery. Shugen Roshi has been in full-time residential training since 1986; he received dharma transmission from Daido Roshi in 1997. He has visited New Zealand to conduct Zen events for many years, and currently offers a programme in Nelson each July. His teachings have appeared in various Buddhist journals, The Best Buddhist Writing 2009, and his first book, O Beautiful End, a collection of Zen memorial poems, was published in 2012.
Listen to dharma discourses by Shugen Roshi 

​Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei received the priestly transmission (the transmission of the Precepts) from Daido Roshi, who began the process in 2009, and from Shugen Roshi, who completed the transmission in 2012. In 2017, she received full dharma transmission from Shugen Roshi. She serves as the Training Director for the Mountains and Rivers Order and Abbot of the Zen Center of NYC-Fire Lotus Temple . Hojin Sensei began her artistic career early and has taught drawing, ceramics, and painting, opening people up to the wonders and mysteries of the creative process and continues to offer Art Practices as part of her teaching. She has been in full-time residential training at the Monastery since 1990 and now shares her time at the Brooklyn temple. Hojin visits New Zealand in January to lead our summer sesshin.
Listen to dharma talks by Hojin Sensei

Ron Hogen Green, Sensei

Ron Hogen Green is a husband, father, grandfather, sports-enthusiast, retired podiatrist, and a lay teacher in the Mountains and Rivers Order. Hogen Sensei formally began practicing Zen in 1978 with Philip Kapleau Roshi, shortly after graduating medical school and entering private practice. In time, Hogen and his wife, Cindy Eiho Green, helped run the Denver Zen Center, an affiliate of Kapleau Roshi’s Rochester Zen Center. He attended his first retreat at Zen Mountain Monastery in 1988, and not long after began studying with Daido Roshi. In 1993, Hogen completed his training in the Kapleau Lineage and was designated a senior student in the Mountains and Rivers Order. He and Eiho left Denver in 1995 and entered full time residency at ZMM. At the Monastery, Hogen served as Director of Operations for Dharma Communications for 10 years and, in 2000, ordained as a monastic. 
In 2007, Hogen Sensei returned to lay life, spending time with family while continuing to play an active role in the MRO, its practice centers and affiliates. In 2016, he received dharma transmission from Shugen Roshi, becoming the first lay teacher in the Order. He served as co-director of the Zen Center of NYC for a number of years and currently divides his time between rural Pennsylvania and South Florida.

​Listen to dharma talks by Hogen Sensei

John Daido Loori, Roshi

Founding Teacher (1931-2009)
Daido Roshi was the founder of Zen Mountain Monastery and the Mountains and Rivers Order, and served as the guiding teacher for almost 30 years. A holder of the Soto and Rinzai Zen lineages, Daido Roshi drew on his background as a scientist, artist, naturalist, parent and Zen priest to establish a uniquely American Zen Buddhist training center. He is the author of numerous books, including The Eight Gates of Zen and The Zen of Creativity. Daido Roshi visited New Zealand annually from 1988 to 1996.
Listen to dharma discourses by Daido Roshi