Introduction
Cold Mountain Zen is a meditation sangha located in Plainfield, New Jersey. It is primarily focused on meditation and building community. The sangha has meditation groups throughout New Jersey where they practice zazen, a seated meditation practice. I chose to research this sangha because it is close to where I live in New Jersey. Before completing this assignment, I was not aware of any Buddhist communities in my area and wanted to learn more about them. After researching this sangha I discovered that Cold Mountain Zen holds meditation groups in the town next to mine! I found researching this sangha extremely interesting and I hope others can learn just as much as I did. Continue reading for more information about the history, practices, and people that make up Cold Mountain Zen!
Founder
Cold Mountain Zen was founded by Kurt Spellmeyer, whose dharma name is Kankan Roshi. He has been guiding the community since 1995 and continues to serve as the director, spiritual leader, and principal teacher. Kankan has been deeply immersed in Zen practice for over three decades. He trained under Takabayashi Genki and Kangan Glenn Webb, the founders of the Seattle Zen Center, and completed his formal Zen training in 1985. In 1991, he was granted his dharma name “Kankan,” meaning “Sees the Cold.” Webb Roshi officially recognized Kankan’s teaching authority by granting him Inka, a formal seal of approval marking the completion of his training, in March of 2010.
In addition to his Zen practice, Kankan Roshi is an English professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is also a published author. His most recent book Buddha at the Apocalypse: Awakening from a Culture of Destruction, critically examines the influence of Western religions on modern thought. The book challenges prevailing assumptions about time, progress, and religion, offering a Buddhist perspective that embraces life’s inherent complexity and cyclical nature.
Kankan Roshi (taken from https://www.coldmountainzen.org/)
Rinzai Zen
Cold Mountain Zen is dedicated to the Japanese tradition of Rinzai Zen. The lineage began in the 17th century during the Ming Dynasty. At this time, a group of monks, led by Yinyuan Longqi, from Mount Huangbo in China brought a new form of Zen to Japan. This style, known as Obaku Zen, was intended by the Chinese monks to be a continuation of Rinzai Zen but was considered a distinct school in Japan, becoming the third Zen tradition alongside Rinzai and Soto. The Chinese Zen they practiced was more inclusive and flexible than the Japanese approach at the time, embracing teachings from various Chinese Zen schools as well as practices from Pure Land Buddhism. Among the Huangbo group, one monk from the Shan Si, also known as the Cold Mountain Temple, in Suzhou established the Kankoji Temple in Japan, marking the beginning of the Cold Mountain lineage.
Rinzai Zen emphasizes seeing clearly into the Buddha nature of oneself and the universe, known as kensho. This acts as the key to authentic Buddha practice. Rinzai Zen uses koans, which are paradoxical statements or questions that help one achieve enlightenment.
Relationships with other Western and Asian Buddhist Communities
Cold Mountain Zen’s website has very limited information about its relationships with other Buddhist communities. However, the Cold Mountain lineage has roots throughout the United States. Sensei Kanko Kritee leads the community Boundless in Motion in Boulder, Colorado. Kanko had the honor of receiving the dharma name of Webb Roshi’s own teacher, Miyauchi Kanko. Kanko means “Cold Light.” Kanko began teaching on her own in the Spring of 2013. As mentioned before, Kankan completed his training at the Seattle Zen Center with Takabayashi Genki and Kangan Webb.
Although there is not much information about the sangha’s relationship with other communities, Cold Mountain Zen holds meditation groups throughout New Jersey. The website lists seven locations in New Jersey where Cold Mountain Zen practices zazen, making their meditation practices very accessible to anyone in New Jersey.
The Community’s Demographics
The demographic makeup of Cold Mountain Zen is not entirely clear based on the website. The sangha has a board of directors that has seven to twenty members at a time. Currently, the board consists of four officers and four board members, including the spiritual director Kurt Spellmeyer Kankan Roshi. Directors of the board are elected and serve a three-year term, without compensation.
Although the website did not have much information about the demographics of the sangha, Cold Mountain Zen’s Facebook page provided some more information. The Cold Mountain Zen Facebook group has 347 members, offering a rough estimate of the number of members of the sangha. Based on the photos on both the Facebook account and the website, there appears to be a heavily White presence among the members of the community. Not all people pictured are white, but a vast amount are. Based on the testimonies included in the sangha’s newsletters, many members seem to have converted to Buddhism later in life.
Members of Cold Mountain Zen (taken from https://www.coldmountainzen.org/)
Practices
Cold Mountain Zen is very meditation-based and practices both zazen and sesshin. Zazen is a seated meditation practice. It focuses on the body-mind framework and is thought to give insight into one’s true nature of being. The sangha also holds three week-long meditation retreats, known as sesshins, three times a year. I go into more details about this below, but these retreats consist of long days of rigorous meditation.
On Cold Mountain Zen’s website, they also have a section for resources. The resources provided include sutras (Buddhist teachings), teisho (talks), and suggested readings. Kankan Roshi delivers teishos, or formal dharma talks, on specific koans or zen texts. The sangha also uses specific sutras for chanting before meditations in the morning and afternoon, and before a teisho. Members of the community are encouraged to download and print the sutras provided for personal use. The sutras used by the sangha are:
ASA (Morning Sutras)
1. Sanscrit Chants
2. Kannon Gyo – In Praise of the Bodhisattva of Mercy
3. Hannya Shin Gyo—Heart Sutra
4. Sho Sai Shu Dharani—Dharani of the Great Light that Dispels Ignorance and Suffering
5. Honzon Eko—Thanksgiving
6. Dai Hi Shu Dharani—Dharani of the Great Compassionate One
7. Dai Hi Shu Eko—Thanksgiving
8. Shin Jin Mei—Verses on the Faith Mind
9. Shi Gu Sei Gan Mon—The Four Great Vows
Teisho Sutras
1. Kai Kyo Ge—On Opening the Dharma
2. Dai Hi Shu Dharani—Dharani of the Great Compassionate one
3. Dai Hi Shu Eko—Thanksgiving
4. Hakuin Zenji Zazen Wasan—Hakuin Zenji’s Song of Zazen
5. Shi Gu Sei Gan Mon—The Four Great Vows
BANKA (Afternoon Sutras)
1. Hannya Shin Gyo—Heart Sutra
2. Sho Sai Shu Dharani—Dharani of the Great Light that Dispels Ignorance and Suffering
3. Honzon Eko—Thanksgiving
4. Dai Hi Shu Dharani—Dharani of the Great Compassionate One
5. Dai Hi Shu Eko—Thanksgiving
6. Daiei Zenji Hotsu Gan Mon—Priest Daiei’s Prayer
7. Shi Gu Sei Gan Mon—The Four Great Vows
Sutras used by Cold Mountain Zen (taken from https://www.coldmountainzen.org/)
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Events
Cold Mountain Zen holds weekly group practice, monthly biweekly sits, and many week-long retreats (known as sesshins) throughout the year. The sangha hosts many Zazen mediation groups across New Jersey, which are all open to the public throughout the week. Cold Mountain Zen also hosts sits at several locations on weekends. A half-day of medication is offered several times a month at Rutgers University. Morning and evening sits are also offered on weekends at various locations in New Jersey, including New Brunswick, Piscataway, Highland Park, Princeton, Westfield, Metuchen, and Blairstown.
As mentioned before, Cold Mountain Zen also offers meditation retreats known as sesshins. These are 1-7 days long and are considered sacred to Zen practice. The sangha holds them three times a year at the Murray Grove Retreat & Conference Center in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey. In 2025, the sesshins are offered in January, May, and August. A typical daily sesshin schedule includes zazen, chanting, teisho, cleaning, rest periods, and dokusan. The days are very busy, starting around 4:30 AM and ending around 10:30 PM. Below, I provided a copy of the daily schedule from the sangha’s website:
AM Schedule:
4:30 Wake Up
5:00 Sutra Recitation
5:40 Tea and bathroom break
6:00 Zazen
7:30 Bathroom break
7:40 Zazen
8:00 Breakfast and Cleaning
10:00 Zazen
11:00 Teisho (talk on Zen practice)
12:00 Bathroom break
PM Schedule:
12:10 Zazen
12:30 Lunch
2:30 Zazen
3:30 Showers (optional zazen)
4:30 Afternoon sutra recitation
5:00 Zazen
5:30 Kinhin (walking meditation)
5:40 Zazen
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Optional zazen
8:00 Zazen and Dokusan (private interviews with sensei)
9:00 Kinhin
9:15 Tea and bathrom break
9:30 Zazen and Dokusan
10:30 End of day
Daily sesshin schedule of Cold Mountain Zen (taken from https://www.coldmountainzen.org/)
How do members of this community understand Buddhism?
A section of Cold Mountain Zen’s website is dedicated to newsletters from different years (i.e. Summer 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Winter 2020, and Fall 2020). Every newsletter includes at least one interview with a member of the sangha, where they are asked about their experiences and thoughts about Cold Mountain Zen. Very few of the interviewees mentioned Buddhism directly in their responses. The majority of them solely focus on the meditation practice and how it influences their daily life.
One interviewee even said she does not “belong to Buddhism” but finds it very interesting (Spring 2023 Newsletter). She discussed how she does not believe she belongs to any specific identification or label. However, she did mention the idea of “no self” (anātman). She claimed she isn’t necessarily against the idea of having a self, but she does see the issues of trying to achieve some certain identity.
Although it is difficult to know exactly how members of the community understand Buddhism, there seems to be a common consensus. Many members seem to view Buddhism as a meditative practice focused on calming the mind and understanding oneself. Many members also stated that they have found that practicing meditation helped them stay healthy and maintain a better lifestyle. This community seems to specifically focus on the practice of meditation, rather than the greater religion of Buddhism as a whole.
Members of Cold Mountain Zen (taken from https://www.coldmountainzen.org/)
Funding
Cold Mountain Zen receives its funding through donations and annual membership fees. Their membership fee does not have a set amount, but the website suggests paying $150. Cold Mountain Zen also charges a fee for taking part in their sesshins. Cold Mountain Zen is a not-for-profit organization, so all donations go towards providing supplies for sittings and sesshins, covering rent, replacing zafu or zabuton, and funding scholarships for those in need.
The community is run primarily by volunteers who do not get paid for their work. Volunteers help in different ways, such as setting up for daily zazen, helping plan and run sesshins, and updating the sangha’s website. Additionally, the Board of Directors are all volunteers who dedicate their time to help run the sangha.
Sources
https://www.coldmountainzen.org/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/331365290459/about
https://boundlessinmotion.org/
By Megan Simpson