Today, Eihei-ji is the main training temple of Sōtō Zen.
The standard training for a priest in Eihei-ji is from three months to a two-year period of practice.
It is in communion with all Japanese Soto Zen temples, and some temples in America, including the San Francisco Zen Center.

Fukuyama Taiho Zenji is the head priest or abbott, who oversees trainees at Eihei-ji, and also serves as the head priest of Sotoshu (the Sōtō school of Zen) for two years beginning late January 2012.
Head priests at Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji alternate terms leading Sotoshu.
Fukuyama Zenji is serving his second term (his first term was from January 2008 to January 2010).

About two hundred or two hundred fifty priests and nuns in training are in residence.
A single tatami, a 1 metre (3.3 ft) by 2 metres (6.6 ft) mat laid in rows on a raised platform called a tan in a common room, is provided for each trainee to eat, sleep, and meditate on.

The monks start their day at 3:30 a.m., or one hour later during winter, when they do zazen and read and chant sutras.
Breakfast is a bowl of rice gruel with pickles.
Then they do chores: clean, weed and, if needed, shovel snow.
The floors and corridors have been polished smooth by daily cleaning for hundreds of years.
Then they read and chant again.
Dinner at 5 p.m. is meagre and ritualized: the position of the bowl and utensils is observed.
Zazen or a lecture follows before bed at 9 p.m. The trainees shave each other's heads and take a bath every five days (every time the date contains a 4 or 9).

Eihei-ji has sought, since medieval times, a source of income by soliciting monks to purchase honorary titles.
Monks may progress through four hōkai (dharma ranks) with some time requirements of months or years between ranks.
The final step in becoming a priest is zuise which means becoming ichiya-no-jūshoku (abbot for one night) at both head temples (Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji).
Zuise entails paying each temple 50,000 yen (about $605 as of April 2012) for the ceremony (and about $50 to the official photographer).
A monk receives an honorary meal and a bag of souvenirs at Eihei-ji and then, within one month, repeats the ceremony at Sōji-ji.
The monk is then considered an oshō (priest and teacher).
Today, Eihei-ji is the main training temple of Sōtō Zen. The standard training for a priest in Eihei-ji is from three months to a two-year period of practice. It is in communion with all Japanese Soto Zen temples, and some temples in America, including the San Francisco Zen Center.
Fukuyama Taiho Zenji is the head priest or abbott, who oversees trainees at Eihei-ji, and also serves as the head priest of Sotoshu (the Sōtō school of Zen) for two years beginning late January 2012. Head priests at Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji alternate terms leading Sotoshu. Fukuyama Zenji is serving his second term (his first term was from January 2008 to January 2010).
About two hundred or two hundred fifty priests and nuns in training are in residence. A single tatami, a 1 metre (3.3 ft) by 2 metres (6.6 ft) mat laid in rows on a raised platform called a tan in a common room, is provided for each trainee to eat, sleep, and meditate on.
The monks start their day at 3:30 a.m., or one hour later during winter, when they do zazen and read and chant sutras. Breakfast is a bowl of rice gruel with pickles. Then they do chores: clean, weed and, if needed, shovel snow. The floors and corridors have been polished smooth by daily cleaning for hundreds of years. Then they read and chant again. Dinner at 5 p.m. is meagre and ritualized: the position of the bowl and utensils is observed. Zazen or a lecture follows before bed at 9 p.m. The trainees shave each other's heads and take a bath every five days (every time the date contains a 4 or 9).
Eihei-ji has sought, since medieval times, a source of income by soliciting monks to purchase honorary titles. Monks may progress through four hōkai (dharma ranks) with some time requirements of months or years between ranks. The final step in becoming a priest is zuise which means becoming ichiya-no-jūshoku (abbot for one night) at both head temples (Eihei-ji and Sōji-ji). Zuise entails paying each temple 50,000 yen (about $605 as of April 2012) for the ceremony (and about $50 to the official photographer). A monk receives an honorary meal and a bag of souvenirs at Eihei-ji and then, within one month, repeats the ceremony at Sōji-ji. The monk is then considered an oshō (priest and teacher).
Eihei-ji