Our Teachers
Great Vow Teachers and Dharma Holders
Jan Chozen Bays
Co-Abbot
Since 1985 Chozen Roshi has been the teacher for Zen Community of Oregon. In 2002 she helped to found Great Vow Zen Monastery and is co-abbot. In 2011 she also helped found Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon. She has written books on mindfulness and mindful eating, and written articles published in Buddhadharma and Shambhala Sun.
Hogen Bays Roshi
Co-Abbot
Hogen Bays, Roshi began practicing Zen in 1968 with Philip Kapleau, Roshi doing residential training at Zen Center of Rochester and eventually at Zen Center of Los Angeles with Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He has been teaching since 1985 and has continued his Zen studies with Shodo Harada Roshi in Japan and on Whidbey Island from 1990 – 2015.
Patrick Bansho Green
Zen Teacher
Patrick Bansho Green has practiced with the Zen Community of Oregon since 2004 and received Lay Transmission from Chozen Bays and Hogen Bays in 2019 and ordained in 2021. As board president, he led the effort to found Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon (2010). Bansho worked for twenty years in the labor movement leading social and economic justice political and legislative campaigns. He is married to Laura Jomon Martin and lives at the Monastery.
Laura Jomon Martin
Lay Zen Teacher
Laura Jomon Martin has been practicing Zen since 2004 receiving Lay Teacher Transmission from Chozen and Hogen Roshi in 2019. She has served in various capacities within the ZCO Sangha, and is always excited about Sangha-building. She continues a long career as a social worker (since 1993), with most of those years in community mental health agencies. She is an LCSW in private practice, specializing in working with healthcare professionals. She has taught MBSR and secular mindfulness since 2009. She and her husband Bansho currently reside at Great Vow.
Myoyu Haley Voekel
Dharma Holder
Myoyu attended her first meditation retreat in 2006. Following that, she took a dive into Zen practice and yoga training. She began practicing with ZCO in 2013. She ordained in 2019 as a novice priest and is currently the Training Director at the Monastery. Before coming to the monastery, Myoyu taught yoga in Olympia WA, after graduating from Evergreen State College. Myoyu has managed the garden and grounds, served as Tenzo, Shuso and helped manage the ZenWorks Store. Myoyu became a Dharma Holder in 2023
Onshin Tim Landry
Dharma Holder
Onshin started practicing Zen in 2012 during the Summer Program at Great Vow. He entered the monastery as a full-time trainee in 2014, and received Tokudo (Zen priest ordination) in 2019. Onshin has served as the in-house bookkeeper of Zen Community of Oregon for over six years, and has deeply enjoyed how simple and loving Zen Buddhist practice is and can be. He became a Dharma Holder in 2023.
Heart Of Wisdom Teachers and Dharma Holders
Nancy Kodo Conover
Lay Zen Teacher
Nancy Kodo Conover has been practicing Zen since 2000 and received Lay Transmission from Chozen and Hogen Roshi in 2015, ordained as a temple priest in 2021 and received Dharma Transmission and Preceptor authorization in 2023. Kodo retired from a career as a vocational rehabilitation counselor to help establish Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple and is the Temple Manager since 2010.
Larry Fuho Trussell
Lay Zen Teacher
Larry Fuho Trussell has been practicing Zen since 1976, and received Lay Transmission from Chozen and Hogen Roshi in 2015. Fuho is the lead teacher on Sunday mornings at Heart of Wisdom. He is one of the sesshin leaders in ZCO. He works as a research scientist and is married with one grown son.
Jogen Salzberg
Zen Teacher
Jogen Salzberg, Sensei has been practicing Zen since 1997, entered monastic training at Great Vow in 2003 and received Dharma Transmission from Chozen Bays, Roshi and Hogen Bays, Roshi in 2017. His teaching draws on the teachings and practices of Zen, with inspiration from the Dzogchen tradition, as well as Depth psychology, Voice Dialogue parts work and more. He is a parts work facilitator and spiritual counselor. Jogen lives in Portland, OR.
Ed Gensho Welsh
Dharma Holder
Ed Gensho Welsh has been practicing with the Zen community of Oregon since 2002 and was made a Dharma Holder in 2016. He co-leads the Thursday evening program at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple, where he also leads classes and retreats. He works in IT and is a married father of 3 grown children.
Darah Shonin Ashton
Dharma Holder
Darah Shonin Ashton has practiced with the Zen Community of Oregon since 2009 and became a Dharma Holder in 2019. She currently co-leads Thursday evening meditation at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple. Since 2019 she has served as treasurer for ZCO. Shonin recently retired from a 30 year chiropractic career and enjoys spending more time with family and friends. A sewing hobbyist, she happily tutors zen students through the construction of wagessas and rakusus.
Remote Teachers and Sesshin Leaders
Amy Kisei
Zen Teacher
Amy Kisei, Sensei entered monastic training at Great Vow in 2010 and received Dharma Transmission from Chozen and Hogen Roshi in 2020. Kisei draws inspiration from the Zen teachings of embodiment, compassion and spontaneity. Kisei is a Somatic IFS-informed Spiritual Counselor and artist. They currently facilitate the Monday Night Online Sangha at Heart of Wisdom and lead sesshin, classes and retreats for ZCO.
Sara Shinei Monial
Dharma Holder
Sara Shinei Monial is a Zen priest who completed her novice training at Great Vow in 2020. She has been practicing meditation intensively since 2007, and spent her first five years of spiritual practice in a sangha living simply and in harmony with the natural world. Shinei has a BA in Education, but left the field years ago to pursue full-time spiritual practice. She has been a teacher at Sangha Jewel Zen center in Corvallis, OR offering regular meditations, yoga, study, retreats, and individual practice guidance. Shinei also co-leads outdoor and wilderness retreats in the PNW and Latin America
Danny Soten Lynch
Dharma Holder
Danney Soten Lynch is a Dharma Holder and ordained Zen priest. He was a monastic resident at Great Vow from 2010-2020 completing his novice training in 2019. Soten has been playing and enjoying music all of his life. He served as the Music Director at Great Vow, breathing new life into the liturgy, and led a monastery choir and the Great Vow marimba band. He is an avid long-distance runner and outdoor enthusiast, who developed our wilderness sesshin.
Anusha Enryu Fernando
Dharma Holder
Anusha Enryu Fernando was born in Sri Lanka to a Theravadin Buddhist family. Her grandparents founded the Vipassana Meditation Centre located in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1957. She began practicing Zen Meditation with Hogen and Chozen Roshi in 2007, and became a dharma holder in 2021. She holds a BA in Religious Studies, specializing in Buddhism and Hinduism and a Masters of Arts in Asian Studies, specializing in Sanskrit. Enryu is the founder and Artistic Director of Shakti Dance Society. She has also been the book purchaser at Banyen Books and Sound, Vancouver’s iconic spiritual and metaphysical bookstore.
Affiliate Sangha Teachers
Kim Hoben Hansen
Lay Zen Teacher
Kim Hoben Hansen has been practicing Zen since 1995 and is the guiding teacher of the North Shore Zendo in Vancouver, Canada. Hoben received Lay Transmission from Chozen and Hogen Roshi in 2015. He is one of the sesshin leaders in ZCO. He practices law as a tax litigator and is married with three grown daughters.
