Zen Mountain Monastery is an American Zen Buddhist monastery and training center on a 230-acre site on Tremper Mountain in New York’s Catskills Mountains. John Daido Loori, one of the most respected Zen teachers in America, introduces us to the rigorous and wide-ranging program of study where "there is no one to follow, no one to emulate, no one who watches, no one who cares." He notes: "The practice of Zen is our response to the questions that come forth from the depths of our being." The Eight Gates of Zen was first published in 1992 as a manual describing this course of study. Here you will find a new introduction and an updated reading list.

The Eight Gates which are thoroughly explored in the book in successive chapters are:

• The practice of Zazen, a form of sitting meditation
• Face-to-face meetings between student and teacher
• Academic study of the sutras and their relationship to other schools of Buddhism, Buddhist history, psychology, and philosophy
• Zen rites and rituals and their meaning
• The moral and ethical requirements in the Buddhist Precepts
• Art practice as an extension of Zen practice
• Body practice with an emphasis on exercise and martial arts
• Work as an active function of zazen

This training matrix is rounded and hits many different aspects of life from a Zen perspective. In addition to musings on the Eight Gates, the author has provided an excellent bibliography and a superb glossary.