Mumon Roshi Day

Mumon Roshi Memorial Alter
Yamada Mumon Roshi, July 16, 1900 – December 24, 1988

“Those of us who came into contact with Mumon Roshi felt him to be an exemplar of the truly developed person, one who lives each gesture and every moment beyond ego. In his every movement, he showed us that what we had read about was actually possible, that awakening was alive in an accessible human being. Mumon Roshi was clear of all attachment to any desires. In truly forgetting himself, he was beyond the need to make any further conscious efforts to let fo of ego. He was constantly, energetically, and unselfconsciously using his life to be the Way for others.”
– Daichi Zenni, writing in the forward to Yamada Mumon’s Lectures on the Ten Oxherding Pictures