Welcome to the Zen Community of Oregon
Great Vow Zen Monastery
A residential Zen community of lay and ordained people practicing and evolving spiritual community in response to our times. Grounded in our lineage inheritance, with an eye open to perspectives and methods that serve our vow for Awakening, we aspire to create and uphold a dynamic and connected community and practice life.
We are accepting applications for residency. Email the director of training, training@zendust.org for an application.
The Zen Community of Oregon welcomes everyone. We study together and practice for the benefit of all beings and this living earth. We recognize the suffering caused by biases, prejudices, systems of power, privilege, and oppression based on race, sex, class, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. We aspire to do no harm and to dismantle barriers that cause separation and suffering, recognizing that our liberation is interconnected with the liberation of all.
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
Located in northeast Portland, Heart of Wisdom is a sanctuary of serenity and community where a spectrum of Buddhist teachings are offered ranging from daily meditation to social action initiatives.
Service to the Temple
May 4, 2024
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
Working together is part of our spiritual practice, and allows us to honor and care for the sacred space that Heart of Wisdom provides in our city. Please join with community for this morning of practice and work together.
ZCO Annual Meeting
May 5, 2024
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple or Online
Once a year we gather for an annual membership meeting to reflect on what we've accomplished and intentions for the year ahead.
Home Hermitage – A Day Long Retreat Online
With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei
May 5, 2024
Online
We will spend a day meditating in the intimate aloneness that embraces all beings. Doing sustained zazen in our own dwelling place and its wild domesticity invites the desired integration of the everyday and the sacred. […]
May Sesshin – The Light of our Ancestors
With Amy Kisei, Sensei and Patrick Bansho Green
May 13 - 19, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online
Zen is a direct Mind to Mind transmission--a transmission of light. We study with teachers who help us recognize and embody our awakened wisdom and compassion. During this sesshin, we will connect with our roots and draw strength from the stories of those who have come before us. Our ancestors are real people, walking the path of their lives and opening the Dharma truths - just as we aspire to do. Join us for this intimate week of practice. Sesshin is a rigorous and, at times, challenging silent meditation retreat that is not recommended for beginners. In order to attend…
Chan Practice of Silent Illumination with Rebecca Li
With Rebecca Li
June 11 - 16, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online
“Silently and serenely, one forgets all words. Clearly and vividly, it appears before you.” These are the opening lines of the poem Silent Illumination composed by Chan master Hongzhi in the twelfth century China, a poem often used by the late Chan master Sheng Yen in his silent illumination retreats. Silent illumination is a practice where stillness and clarity are cultivated simultaneously through the process of recognizing and releasing layers of ever more subtle habitual reactivities that cause suffering. This practice allows us to live more in accordance with wisdom and compassion, as we suffer less and become more present,…
Jizo Ceremony for Children Who Have Died
With Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi
July 13, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
The loss of a child often opens a well of profound grief. No matter how the child dies, suddenly or slowly, whether through illness, accident, miscarriage, abortion, or suicide, our sorrow is deep and may be long-lasting.
Chant for Peace at Heart of Wisdom
July 13, 2024
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
INTERFAITH CHANT FOR PEACE AT HEART OF WISDOM ZEN TEMPLE, PORTLAND OREGON TIME: 9:00am - 9:00pm LOCATION: Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple ADDRESS: 6401 NE 10th Ave, Portland, OR 97211, USA To join via Zoom, click here Awake with a passion for inner and global transformation, this 12-hour chanting vigil is a celebration of our spiritual aspirations to see the Sacred in every person, and to live Unconditional Love. This is an InterFaith event. Each hour of the Chant for Peace is led by a different spiritual tradition. We form one community and join our voices together. Chanting is spiritually potent medicine.…
The Work: a weekend Inquiry Retreat
With Eduardo Zambrano
September 5 - 8, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
During this retreat, we will use Byron Katie’s method of inquiry called The Work to investigate our core beliefs and fixed ideas which cause suffering in our world. What ideas to you have about your life and the world that actually are not in service to the development of compassion? We hold many views simply from habit. In this retreat we will be given tools to expand beyond what we believe to be our limitations, and see our world from a place of insight and deeper wisdom. The monastery environment provides an ideal setting in which to deepen the practice of The…