Welcome to Mountain Gate Zen CenterZen Practice
Mountain Gate Zen Center (Sanmun Soenwon) is a Zen practice group in Berkeley, California. We are a Zen Center in the Five Mountain Zen Order. Five Mountain Zen Order Bridging the gap between the timeless wisdom of the East and the fresh pragmatism of the West, we are a diverse group of people who come together to share the practice of meditation and study the principles of Buddhism. The purpose of the group is to offer instruction in these practices and teachings, and to provide a place where people can form a community that supports their practice in everyday life. All of our programs are open to everyone, regardless of previous experience or background. 
FMZO 2015 Kansas City gathering
The Mountain Gate Zen Center is formed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining public practice and teachings in accordance with the principles and doctrines of the Zen Buddhist path through a lineage of Masters, culminating in the teaching of Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma, and thereafter through the teachings of Masters and Dharma Holders appointed by him. These teachings are carried on through the formal education and the intuitive realization of the Sangha's members to save all beings from suffering, through developing charity, love, compassion and awareness.
The community consists of Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma, his Dharma Successors, and teachers as they are recognized, as individuals, who have been formally authorized. There are no affiliations with other Zen groups or religious denominations; however, membership in this community does not preclude individual affiliation with other groups. Within the Sangha there is no hierarchy of Dharma Successors. Ancestral Zen is universal the medium and methods to realize it vary according to each individual’s circumstances. Each Dharma Successor in the community may apply varied practice approaches and resolve on the structure of any organization that s/he may develop to facilitate practice. The Dharma Successors recognize that they are ongoing students and the value of their teaching derives from the quality of their practice. As continuing students, these teachers are dedicated to the openness and flexibility of practice, wherein the wisdom of the unconditional may be manifest in life. A vital constituent of this community is the continuing examination and expansion of efficacious instruction approaches to ensure all-inclusive observation in all aspects of living. |
Parent OrganizationAffiliated Sanghas• Map of Zen Centers
Locations on a Map • United Buddhist Church (Kansas City, MO) Five Mountain Centers • Bayou Zen Center (Shreveport, LA) • Burning River Zen Center (Cleveland Heights, OH) • Center for Clinical Mindfulness (Cincinnati, OH) • Lotus Heart Zen (Oneida, NY) • Meditación Budista Zen (Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX) • Mountain Gate Zen Center (Berkeley, CA) • Ocean Eyes Zen Center (Huntington Beach, CA) • One Mind Zen Sangha (Northampton, MA) • Original Mind Zen (Princeton, NJ) • Single Flower Zen Center (Claremont, CA) • True Nature Zen Center (Bar Harbor, ME) • Zen New York City (New York, NY) A monk once asked Yunmen,
"What is the Dharmakaya?" Yunmen answered: "The Six Ungraspables." |