Celebrating Kosho 

Kosho arrived at Great Vow Zen Monastery for the summer program of 2014. In the years to come she would serve many roles and play many parts at the monastery including, but not limited to, groundskeeper, chant leader, playwright and director, registrar, gardener, Tenzo, dear friend, confidante, artist, musician, climate activist and committee leader, and fellow dreamer.

Her presence here has been important and life-giving, from her invitations to shy residents to have lunch, to her yummy cooking as Tenzo, and to her beautiful garden and grounds projects that have nourished us all. To live at the monastery is to live a life of service. 

To be the tenzo is to essentially throw all of your personal time and preferences into the nightly soup and keep stirring. The demands and hungers of the sangha are seemingly bottomless. Kosho carried this position with poise, determination and deliciousness. She continues to demonstrate her powerful spirit as the 20201 Great Vow  gardener. Another realm of bottomless activity.

Her many titles at the monastery serve as evidence of her versatility and vigor. And of course, they are only titles. Whether acting as groundskeeper or registrar, Tenzo or Climate Czar, Kosho’s dedication to the practice life was clear and deeply inspiring to the streams of guests and residents that filed in and out of the monastery doors.

As the Monastery gates swing open and our wonderful Kosho Janet Ault steps out into the world, Great Vow sighs and waves and sends kisses and hugs, watching her footsteps recede across a great open sky of possibility. We are sorry to lose such a powerful feminine force, and excited to see her luminous spirit stepping out into a world that so deeply needs light.

We will miss you, dear one! And may you touch the lives of everyone you meet just as you have touched ours!

Kosho is moving to Portland! We hope to see her at the Temple when we re-open.