Great Vow Zen Monastery

Love & Spaciousness: A Loving Kindness Weekend Retreat

With Myoyu Haley Voekel and Kosho Ault

October 30 - November 2, 2025
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 in Autumn, we will explore the nature of being anything at all! During this silent retreat […]

November Sesshin - Gratitude

With Laura Jomon Martin, Myoyu Haley Voekel and Anusha Enryu Fernando

November 10 - 16, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

With gratitude for our beloved sangha near and far, the Monastery joyfully offers another sesshin. This sesshin has no set price. All are welcome to attend, and donations from the heart are welcome. During this week of practice, we will eat only the offerings brought to us specifically for this retreat. So food donations, while […]

ZCO Board meeting at Great Vow

November 23, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery (in person) and Online (Zoom)
Board meetings are open and members of the community are invited to attend. Board meetings  are a place to find out what’s happening and how ZCO functions. Typical topics include finances, reports on goings on at the monastery and temple, committee reports, and the community's strategic plans.

December Sesshin - Rohatsu

With Hogen Bays, Roshi, Larry Fuho Trussell and Myoyu Haley Voekel

December 7 - 14, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online

The current option is to sign up for the Waitlist. We will contact you with more information once you have joined the waitlist.  The light of the Buddha's awakening has not dimmed. This very moment, alive, awake and luminous. Each year people from all over the world gather to celebrate, to sit in stillness and […]

Beginner's Mind Weekend Meditation Retreat

December 19 - 21, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

The teachings and practices of Zen Buddhism empower us to live our lives wholeheartedly with openness, insight and compassion. During this weekend retreat we follow a silent retreat schedule, which allows us to temporarily put aside outside concerns and go deeply into inner work. The silent retreat schedule includes about seven hours of sitting meditation […]

Monastery Winter Practice Period

February 3 - March 29, 2026
Great Vow Zen Monastery

In the stillness and quiet of the monastic container, when we allow the dust to settle and the thinking mind to open and relax, spontaneous wonderment and delight naturally appear. Attention is love. How do we attend to our life? During this practice period we will lean into the natural expression of love and creativity […]

Pari-Nirvana Sesshin: A Meditation Retreat exploring Life, Death & the Unknown

With Larry Fuho Trussell, Myoyu Haley Voekel and Ed Gensho Welsh

February 16 - 22, 2026
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online

During this sesshin we take up the Buddha’s Parinirvana–the Buddha’s death--as the essential inquiry into our own relationship with death, dying and the uncertainties of this life. How often in your daily life do you allow yourself to reflect on your own mortality, your own death? This sesshin provides the structure and support needed to […]

Beginner's Mind Weekend Meditation Retreat

February 27 - March 1, 2026
Great Vow Zen Monastery

The teachings and practices of Zen Buddhism empower us to live our lives wholeheartedly with openness, insight and compassion. During this weekend retreat we follow a silent retreat schedule, which allows us to temporarily put aside outside concerns and go deeply into inner work. The silent retreat schedule includes about seven hours of sitting meditation […]

March Sesshin - Deep Listening

With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei, Hogen Bays, Roshi and Anusha Enryu Fernando

March 13 - 22, 2026
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online
Awareness meeting sound has been a gate into the depths of the heart-mind for as long as human beings hve longed to open. During this sesshin we come together in joyous recognition of the power of deep listening, and sink into the rhythms of our wild, wonderful and mysterious life.

Spring Practice Period: Awakening with the Earth

April 7 - May 26, 2026
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 life as birds, insects  and tree frogs are wake up from their winter slumber.  Early spring flowers emerge in  abundant color, offering fresh perspectives and encouragements. With the natural world springing to […]

April Sesshin

With Larry Fuho Trussell and Laura Jomon Martin

April 13 - 19, 2026
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 […]

May Sesshin - The Light of our Ancestors

With Amy Kisei, Sensei, Patrick Bansho Green and Darah Shonin Ashton

May 11 - 17, 2026
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 […]

Summer Residency Program 2026

July 7 - August 16, 2026
Great Vow Zen Monastery
The Summer Program at Great Vow Zen Monastery is an opportunity to plunge into Zen practice with the support of community and teachers, and to taste the benefits of calming the mind and opening the heart. Our Summer Program is a special part of our on-going residential program at the monastery. It is designed to give you a genuine immersion in Zen practice, through the practices of meditation, mindful eating. ritual/liturgy, movement practices (yoga/qi gong), and temple work.