As a part of the Nyorai-nyokyo lineage of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism, the tenets of this sect and, broadly, the main tenets of Zen and all of Mahayana Buddhism are included in the belief system of MBZC. At the same time, because all direct teaching comes through Roshi Joshu Sasaki, the tone and direction of the teaching, not to mention any specifics about practices, are set by his words.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the goal of the practitioner is to gain enlightenment, in order to overcome the basic human condition of suffering. Mahayana recognizes the true character of the universe, which is pratitya-samutpada, that is, the interconnectedness of everything, seen through sunyata, or emptiness, where nothing can exist apart from all else. Thus, nirvana, or the experience of the selfless "I," is recognized by the enlightened person to be intimately connected with samsara, or ordinary day-to-day existence.

In traditional Zen, these realizations are reached through monastic practice, and particularly through the practice of zazen, or seated meditation. The monk sits one of the classic zazen positions, such as the full lotus, and seeks to empty the mind of all this-worldly concerns, focusing on the body through controlled breathing. This is often done by new practitioners of Zen by counting and controlling the pace of breathing. By focusing on the immediate experience, the practitioner moves away from ordinary entanglements with subjectivity (Ives 1992,18). This practice is aided by sanzen with the roshi, as discussed above.

Because Joshu Roshi travels to so many other centers, the monks at MBZC do not meet with the Roshi daily, but only when he is in residence, or when they travel with him to dai-sesshins or meetings in other places.

At MBZC, when the student has been judged to have achieved some skill at zazen and is seen to be serious about going further, he or she will be allowed to begin sanzen with the Roshi. This is where the essential teaching takes place, and it is an individual experience, aimed at what the Roshi recognizes the student needs. The students try very hard to demonstrate understanding of the koans. Because there is a growing understanding even after the initial experience of enlightenment, it takes a very long time for one to clarify the Dharma, or teachings, to become a roshi, and so Joshu Roshi continues to teach his students.

One of the first koans given to a new student by Joshu was developed by his ninth-century namesake. It says: "A monk asked Joshu, 'Has the dog a Buddha-nature?' Joshu answered 'Mu!'" (Mu is usually translated in English as 'nothing.'] When Joshu Roshi commented on this koan during a teisho, he said one could only understand the koan if one understands the Buddha-nature. The Roshi went on to describe the Buddha-nature as something like being awake, or awakening into enlightenment. This is found through the process of silence, where emptiness is manifest. From this comes the awakened self (Radin 1992, 22-25).

While zazen is the primary form of meditation practiced, meditation is also done while walking between sessions of zazen, during work around the monastery, and even during meals, particularly during a sesshin (Ives 1992,18-19). MBZC has a laundry located under the zendo and, to quote Margaret Dornish (1994), "you may not do laundry during zazen, but you will do zazen while you are doing the laundry." Indeed, MBZC's flyer notes that their training is done in the "traditional manner: zazen (formal seated meditation), chanting, monastic style meals, and work-practice." The brochure goes on to mention that the program is designed for those who "together are striving for the full maturity that is grounded in the awakening of the True Self. The schedule is rigorous and is designed to help us abandon our personal interest and enter into the relationships of group practice. With this common effort we can develop a spiritual wisdom that is expressed even in the ordinary circumstances of our daily lives."

According to Kido, the Nyorai-nyoko sect of Rinzai focuses on unifying the objective world and the subjective self. Nyorai-nyoko means "thus come, thus gone" and refers to the oscillation of the mind of the Zen practitioner between the "normal" or incomplete state of mind which sees the world of form and self, and the Bodhisattva, or enlightened mind, which is able to replace the form outside and the self inside with samadhi, or unification. This enlightened state of mind is difficult to achieve and no one can remain in it for long. Someone who goes into it deeply enough will not be born to the world of form and self on leaving it, but this mind of nothing, or no space, that is, sunyata, cannot be sustained (1994).

Joshu Roshi teaches "self is emptiness. What Buddhism teaches, particularly in the Prajna-paramita, or Wisdom Literature, is the error of fixating on the self as a thing. If you come in front of a Zen master and claim, 'I am eternal,' you're going to get whacked. Don't fixate on self" (Radin 1992,15).

Along with this understanding of the mind's states, goes an understanding of samadhi, or contemplation as a dynamic state, wherein the self looks in on the self.

"We seek to become enlightened to the fact that everything is ourself, our content. The way to make this happen is to practice unification with form outside and unifying with the objective self inside, so that they come to be replaced with that unification. When self looks out, it objectifies the unification it has just been in and so no longer objectifies form. When the unification is experienced deeply enough, the self is able to look at itself. So the self is born into the self, which is the mind of the bodhisattva" (Kido 1994b).

This is also the meaning of pratitya-samutpada, that is, that everything is created together, so that the incomplete mind is born into everything and the self, then, to the self. The masters of the line in which MBZC stands have achieved this state of unification (Kido 1994b).

While the goal in all Buddhism is to ultimately achieve the Buddha-nature, Mahayana Buddhists aim first at the goals of the bodhisattva, or one who delays achieving the Buddha-nature in order to bring others to it, too. The importance of this for those at MBZC is seen in the fact that one of the texts chanted daily is the Four Great Vows of the Bodhisattva. These can be rendered in English as:

Sentient beings are innumerable: I take a vow to save them. The deluding passions are inexhaustible: I take a vow to destroy them. The gates of the Dharma are immeasurable: I take a vow to enter them; The Buddha's way is supreme: I take a vow to attain it. (MBZC Summer 1994 Newsletter)

Thus, while the students are seeking to achieve enlightenment, it is not to be seen as a selfish or individualistic goal, but something they also seek to lead others to. This is not done by the sort of "missionary" work utilized by other religious groups, but is seen in their openness to admit anyone who is serious about Zen. They do require that any person who wishes to take residential training show a "capacity for harmonious participation in the life of the Zen Center" in addition to submitting a formal application and going through a formal interview prior to admission (Brochure 1994). On the other hand, on Saturday morning Visitor's Days, usually held on the third Saturday of each month, any person or group "who desires a brief introduction to Zen practice" is welcome; these times include meditation instruction, short periods of zazen, informal discussion and a vegetarian buffet lunch (Brochure 1994).

One important feature of MBZC which was emphasized several times in conversation with the various monks, is the closeness of the Zen at MBZC to Zen as practiced in Japan, at least as they understand it, since for the most part the monks have never been to Japan, and are not encouraged to go. The Roshi seems to emphasize that what happens at MBZC is what happens in a Japanese monastery. At the same time, as the Roshi acknowledged in an interview, American Zen is different, because Americans feel free to give up if things get to be too hard for them (Radin 1992,18). Those who stay, however, seem to find enlightenment of the sort one would expect from any solid experience of Zen (see Capaldi 1982; Gallagher 1994).