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.
Home Hermitage – A Day Long Retreat Online
With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei
March 31, 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. […]
Spring Practice Period: Awakening with the Earth
April 2 - May 26, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
Spring at Great Vow Zen Monastery is beautiful. The fruit tree blossoms open towards the heavens, the forest is abuzz with new insects, birds and tree frogs are waking up from their winter slumber, and daffodils, poppies, irises and tulips paint the world. With the natural world springing to life with such exubrance and force, residency at the monastery inclines towards the out of doors. We dedicate more of our daily practice to the care and maintenance of our garden and grounds. This includes maintaining our trails and caring for native trees in our forest to planting veggies in…
Liberation Beyond Belief
With Hogen Bays, Roshi and Myoyu Haley Voekel
April 4 - 7, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
Our practice is a continual invitation to expand our view. As our view expands, we no longer live tethered to our preferences, judgements and beliefs about how we think the world should be. We come to see that even the most tumultuous and challenging circumstances can become opportunities for deep insight and possibility. Our Zazen practice gives us a foundation upon which insight can land and be cultivated. It gives us a base upon which we can move with the winds of change. Here is our space to ground, to root, and then to look around with fresh eyes. What…
Understanding The Inner Critic
With Kodo Conover and Kosho Ault
April 5 - 6, 2024
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
Through steady but gentle inquiry, we’ll explore the inner critic in a supportive environment and come to some understanding around its complexity, elusiveness, and misplaced intentions as well as its deeper purpose. Building and healing our relationship with the inner critic is an unfolding practice, like zazen. There is no formula or one-size-fits-all. We'll practice responding to the inner critic with a variety of tools using meditation and Dharma teachings, devotional ritual, creative practice, and group work. Schedule: Friday April 5 from 6:00 - 9:00 pm Dinner included Saturday April 6 from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Lunch included
April Sesshin
With Larry Fuho Trussell and Danney Soten Lynch
April 15 - 21, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
Our meditation practice can be one of relaxed openness and vivid presence, with wisdom into our nature naturally revealing. This is the practice of serene-illumination, a form of meditation where calm-abiding (shamatha) and insight (vipassana) are practiced as one. Sesshin is a rigorous and, at times, challenging silent meditation retreat that is not recommended for beginners. In order to attend in person, we require that you attend one of our silent weekend retreats or a five-seven day silent retreat at another Zen Center before registering for our longer zen retreats. For more information about what to expect when attending…
Five Buddhist Precepts for Ethical Living: Online Class Series
With Ed Gensho Welsh
April 17 - May 22, 2024
Online
These one hour online 5 Precepts classes will happen every Wednesday for six weeks. We all want to live a compassionate life. The precepts give us a framework for what it means to live an ethical life. More then a set of rules to follow, the precepts are deep inquiries into the actual living of our lives with attention and love. The format is an introductory talk followed by class discussion. Participants will be encouraged to do a short writing on each precept and practice with the precept during the week. There are also some supplemental readings.
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.
Love & Spaciousness: A Loving Kindness Weekend Retreat
With Amy Kisei, Sensei and Myoyu Haley Voekel
May 24 - 26, 2024
Great Vow Zen Monastery
With wonderment on our side, and in relationship with all that is, we recognize the inherent compassion that naturally arises from deep and sustained presence. Held in a container of zen forms and the vibrant dance of a monastery waking up to spring, we will explore the nature of being anything at all! During this silent retreat our day will unfold within the practices of zazen, chanting, formal meals and a short work practice. Much of the day will be spent in the meditation hall practicing seated meditation together. Beginners welcome. 🙂
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.