By Train:
From Grand Central Station to Cold Spring or Brewster, then take a taxi or Uber.
The phone number for Cold Spring Taxi is 845-265-8294, Alley’s way car Service 845- 265-7655.
and for Brewster Taxi the are 845-278-8830, 845-279-6552, 845-279-1390.
By Car:
You can also arrange with Vanguard Int’l Travel Inc. (phone no. 718.888.1016) to bring you to CYM from Flushing, NY.
By Air:
For airport transportation, you can contact Mr. Lee Hai-bing at 914-498-2031.
We have several large and small designated parking areas at the monastery.
The largest parking area is located in front of the Bodhi Path. Two small parking areas are located in front of the Dining Hall and Thousand Lotus Terrace. We strongly suggest you park in the large parking area in order to save the other two small parking areas for the elderly and handicapped.
The handicapped parking space is located at in front of the Dining Hall and Thousand Lotus Terrace, and at the back of the Great Buddha Hall.
Please park only in the designated parking spaces. No parking is allowed on the lawn or other areas without special permisson.
From New York City:
Take I-87 Major Deegan Expressway North. Take Exit 5 Route 100 (Central Avenue) North. Stay left until the second traffic light. Take Sprain Brook Parkway North which continues onto Taconic Parkway North, take the Route 301 East exit (towards Carmel). The Monastery is approximately 1.7 miles on the left side of the road. (From Bronx River Parkway: Travel North on the Bronx River Parkway which becomes the Taconic State Parkway, take the Route 301 East exit (towards Carmel). The Monastery is approximately 1.7 miles on the left side of the road.)
From New Jersey:
Take Palisades Parkway North Exit 20 to Bear Mountain Bridge. Make left to Route 9D (North). Take Route 301 and turn right to East. The Monastery is approximately 10.4 miles on the left side of the road.
From Connecticut:
Take I-84 West to Lake Carmel Exit 18. Turn left off of exit ramp and turn right at the light onto Route 52. Turn left at the overhead blinker onto Farmer Mills Road and follow the road to its end. Turn right at the stop sign onto Route 301. The Monastery is approximately 1.6 miles on the right side of the road.
Lunch service and hours (Sat/Sun, noon-1 pm)
Visitors to the monastery may enjoy a vegetarian lunch at the Dining Hall on Saturdays and Sundays between noon and 1:00 pm.
The lunch service in the monastery is provided by volunteers who use their weekends to come to cook and serve lunch for everyone.
Everything we have at the monastery is made possible by donations from the public.
Please cherish the food we serve, and take only the amount that you will actually consume.
We suggest a donation of $6 per person to show gratitude.
Due to the limited space we have, currently we’re only offering accommodation to our volunteers and staff.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
For accommodation in the surrounding area, you can check the Bed & Breakfast or Hotels information of the nearby towns of Cold Spring or Carmel.
The baby changing area is located in the restroom on the ground floor of the Great Buddha Hall.
The facility provides comfort and convenience.
Chuang Yen Monastery close for Winter
January 02 – March 31
Chuang Yen Monastery is located in a rural area of Putnam County, New York off Route 301, between Carmel and Cold Spring.
The winter weather is always cold and often icy, so the roads become too treacherous to drive on. Visitors have often had accidents, although fortunately, no one has been seriously hurt. We, at the Monastery, wish to avoid any further accidents or injuries that may occur, so we have made this decision.
We wish visitors would not come to CYM when the weather makes the roads too dangerous. If any accident occurs we cannot take responsibility for it.
However, we will open for Chinese New Year.
Beginning April 1st, we will resume our normal schedule, 9:00am to 5:00pm, all week.
To be a vegetarian meal sponsor is a great way to create good karmic affinity with people as well as to cultivate merit and blessings for oneself.
You will have good karmic affinity with the people who visit the monastery in the future, because the donations you make will be used to buy the food prepared for them when they visit.
By the same token, when we have meals at a monastery, we should be thankful and glad that we’re being treated to a nice meal.
We’re sure to feel much joy too if we follow suit and pay it forward by treating others to a nice meal.
We thank you for social distancing. Be well.