Programs

ZCO Bylaws Change - Q&A

April 13 - 19, 2025
Online
Once a year we gather for an annual membership meeting to reflect on what we've accomplished and intentions for the year ahead.

New Member Tea

May 10, 2025
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple

Calling New Members~ The ZCO membership committee joyfully invites you to join us at our New Member Tea! New member tea is open to ZCO members who joined in the 2024/2025 calendar year. Come connect, make new friends, tour the temple, learn about ways to practice and the organization as a whole. It's a great […]

Five Buddhist Precepts for Ethical Living - in person

With Ed Gensho Welsh

May 11 - June 15, 2025
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
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.

May Sesshin - The Light of our Ancestors

With Amy Kisei, Sensei, Patrick Bansho Green and Ed Gensho Welsh

May 12 - 18, 2025
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 […]

Jukai Ceremony at Great Vow Zen Monastery

May 18, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery and Online
Jukai is the process and public ceremony of taking up the 16 precepts, committing to practicing them in everyday life.  People take jukai after some years of practicing with the community, establishing a relationship with one of the teachers, and taking part in sesshin. In this ceremony, people join the lineage so formally become a Zen Buddhist.

Home Hermitage - A Day Long Retreat Online

With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei

May 18, 2025
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. […]

The Work: a weekend Inquiry workshop

With Eduardo Zambrano

May 22 - 25, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

During this Workshop, 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 […]

Silver Dragons Monthly Gathering - Practicing Impermanence (Online)

With Kodo Conover

May 28, 2025
Online Only

Zoom Only In her Dharma Talk “Diving into Impermanence,”Chozen Roshi taught: Impermanence is not just a teaching, it is also a practice. (You can view her Dharma talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuHczgCFWaY) These monthly gatherings are offered for Silver Dragons that is, people 60 and older, to provide an opportunity to co-create an open conversation about dying, […]

Great Vow Work Party

May 30, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery
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.

Jizo Ceremony for Children Who Have Died

With Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi

May 31, 2025
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.

Drop of Stillness - 1/2 day retreat

With Kosho Ault, Linda Chōon Frischmeyer and Onkatsu Doug Kagel

May 31, 2025
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple

Touch into the still point at the center amidst our busy schedules. This silent retreat will include seated and walking meditation, chanting service, and movement practice. Join us for a half-day of simply sitting. ~ Tentative Schedule  8 - 8:50 am Zazen meditation 8:50 am Kinhin walking meditation 9:00 am Zazen 9:50 am Chanting service […]

June Sesshin - Loving Kindness

With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei and Laura Jomon Martin

June 9 - 15, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online

Because of our past as well as presently existing beliefs and attitudes, our capacity to meet ourselves and life and the people, places and things within it, with an open heart, is probably not fully embodied. Buddha taught that love and friendliness can be developed immeasurably, and that there is only benefit in filling ourselves […]

Solstice Zazenkai: A One Day Meditation Retreat

With Larry Fuho Trussell

June 21, 2025
Heart Of Wisdom Zen Temple
This is a silent day of Zen Buddhist meditation practice together, seated and active. The schedule includes meditation (zazen), chanting, caring for the garden and grounds, and Dharma talk.

Silver Dragons Monthly Gathering - Practicing Impermanence (Online)

With Kodo Conover

June 25, 2025
Online Only

Zoom Only In her Dharma Talk “Diving into Impermanence,”Chozen Roshi taught: Impermanence is not just a teaching, it is also a practice. (You can view her Dharma talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuHczgCFWaY) These monthly gatherings are offered for Silver Dragons that is, people 60 and older, to provide an opportunity to co-create an open conversation about dying, […]

Mindful Eating Weekend Retreat

With Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi

June 27 - 29, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

It can be so easy to lose touch with the basic joys of our life.  With eating, the simple exploration of texture, smell, taste and touch, can bring us into deep presence and ease. What is it like to truly taste a raisin? How often do we just eat, without a cellphone or radio, without […]

Summer Residency Program 2025

July 8 - August 17, 2025
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.

Five Buddhist Precepts for Ethical Living: Online Class Series

With Darah Shonin Ashton

July 9 - August 13, 2025
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.

Beginner's Mind Weekend Meditation Retreat

With Laura Jomon Martin and Myoyu Haley Voekel

July 11 - 13, 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 […]

Summer Zazenkai: A One Day Meditation Retreat

With Darah Shonin Ashton

July 19, 2025
Heart Of Wisdom Zen Temple
This is a silent day of Zen Buddhist meditation practice together, seated and active. The schedule includes meditation (zazen), chanting, caring for the garden and grounds, and Dharma talk.

July Sesshin - Summer Breeze

With Patrick Bansho Green and Darah Shonin Ashton

July 21 - 27, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery
Summer is bright and alive. The sun hangs high in the sky, illuminating the earth with unflinching clarity. What wisdom does a warm summer day offer? Everything is laid bare before the luminous rays of the sun. In this meditation immersion, we will endeavor to study the self, forget the self and glimpse Buddha Nature, opening in silent communion with this community of human and non- human beings. This is our collective awakening.

City Refuge Retreat

With Kodo Conover

July 24 - 26, 2025
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple

Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple will be offering an extended opportunity for retreat practice in the city. This three-day non-residential retreat will include many of the elements you’ll find in sesshin.

16 Bodhisattva Precepts Series (in - person)

With Kodo Conover

July 29 - September 2, 2025
Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
**A new offering**: precept study outdoors in Heart of Wisdom temple garden. Appreciate the longer days and summer breezes with community. The beginning and end of our practice is ethical living; acting, speaking and thinking in ways that support the greatest well-being and awakening for all beings. Anyone who has taken the 5 Precepts Class can take this class, whether you have already formally taken the precepts, are considering taking the precepts, or you are simply curious about the ethical guidelines that rest at the foundation of Zen practice.

Grasses, Trees, and the Great Earth Sesshin

With Amy Kisei, Sensei and Myoyu Haley Voekel

August 11 - 17, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

Earth body, sky heart. Rooted and flowing. Luminous and open. We are made of earth and sky, of wind breath and rain song, our lives woven from the teachings of the natural world. This retreat is an opportunity to re-connect and relax into the wild, ancient, wisdom of the Grasses, Trees and Great Earth. We […]

Chant for Peace at Heart of Wisdom

August 30, 2025
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 […]

Jizo Sesshin

With Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi and Laura Jomon Martin

September 9 - 14, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery - In Person Only

This retreat begins on Tuesday!   This retreat will focus on the qualities of Jizo Bodhisattva, guardian of all that comes from the earth, and Jizo’s qualities – benevolence, optimism, fearlessness, determination, and vow. A unique element of this retreat is the inclusion of time devoted to art projects, creative time, and a slide show […]

Oceans of Compassion: A Retreat In Service To The Earth

With Kodo Conover and Laura Jomon Martin

September 18 - 21, 2025
Offsite: Beverly Beach State Park
In conjunction with SOLVE’s Oregon Beach Cleanup activities, you’re invited to join the Zen Community of Oregon for a weekend CAMPING/MEDITATION retreat at BEVERLY BEACH STATE PARK. Take a weekend on the coast to connect with the Sangha. With a relaxed schedule and opportunity for socializing, there will be sitting times, Dharma talks, and practices to take with you into the clean-up.

Annual Community Dinner

September 27, 2025
Saint Andrew Catholic Church
Once a year we gather for a dinner celebration to reflect on what we've accomplished and intentions for the year ahead.

Autumn Ango - Fall Residency 2025

With Hogen and Chozen Roshi, Patrick Bansho Green and Myoyu Haley Voekel

October 7 - December 21, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery

This Dharma is abundantly present in each human being, but if we do not practice it, it does not manifest itself, and if we do not experience it, it cannot be realized. - Dogen Zenji In communion with our ancestors who set aside time each year for deep retreat, the Monastery offers this Autumn Ango. […]

October Sesshin - The Ancient Way

With Hogen Bays, Roshi, Jogen Salzberg, Sensei and Danney Soten Lynch

October 9 - 19, 2025
Great Vow Zen Monastery or Online

There is something very special about the magic of autumn and the kicking off of the fall ango practice period that makes this sesshin so powerful. What a great gift it is to be able to sit together in silence. This is our longest sesshin of the year. The extra days enable us drop down […]

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 […]

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 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 to be nourished by this truth. All over the world people join in the ritual of Rohatsu sesshin. This sesshin is the […]