Programs
Retreat Cabin Application
The retreat hut is available only to those who have already participated in a weekend retreat or longer here at the monastery. The monastery retreat cabin rests on the edge of our 23 acres of forest. Though, just a short walk to the monastery buildings, it has a feeling of a forest hermitage. Equipped with […]
Silver Dragons Monthly Gathering on Aging, Death and Dying (Online)
With Kodo Conover
Zoom Only Join other Silver Dragons (people 60 and older) to deeply explore Aging, Death, and Dying through a Buddhist Lens. We will meet monthly over zoom for the rest of 2025 with preselected topics and both large and small group facilitated discussions. In her Dharma Talk “Diving into Impermanence,” Chozen Roshi taught: Impermanence […]
New Member Tea
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 […]
Love & Spaciousness: A Loving Kindness Weekend Retreat
With Myoyu Haley Voekel and Kosho Ault
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 […]
Inner Critic Workshop
With Jogen Salzberg, Sensei
This retreat will bring together parts work modality (i.e. IFS, Voice Dialogue) with Buddhist meditation practices to amplify understanding, empathy and dis-identification from parts, specifically the inner critic and perfectionist, that hinder our unfolding. Sessions will be a mix of silent and guided sitting meditation and group facilitations where participants directly explore parts of themselves such as those listed above. […]
City Refuge Retreat
With Larry Fuho Trussell
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.
November Sesshin - Gratitude
With Laura Jomon Martin, Myoyu Haley Voekel and Anusha Enryu Fernando
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 […]
Doing The Work of Byron Katie
With Linda Chōon Frischmeyer
“Of all the diseases, all the ailments that afflict humanity, there is one common denominator: the conditioned mind. Our unconditioned minds are deeply interconnected." --Chakung Jigme Wangdrak "The Work is about internal cause and effect. It is not about the external world.” – Byron Katie Please attend Friday evening and Saturday. This in-person workshop at […]
Online Ango Practice Check-in
With Kodo Conover
Online Ango Practice Check In Sunday November 16 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm PST This Ango check-in is an opportunity to share reflections on your Ango experience with Sangha members, renew your intentions, and ask a teacher questions about practice. This event will be on Zoom only. Zoom link to join.
Silver Dragons Monthly Gathering on Aging, Death and Dying (Online)
With Kodo Conover
Zoom Only Join other Silver Dragons (people 60 and older) to deeply explore Aging, Death, and Dying through a Buddhist Lens. We will meet monthly over zoom for the rest of 2025 with preselected topics and both large and small group facilitated discussions. In her Dharma Talk “Diving into Impermanence,” Chozen Roshi taught: Impermanence […]
Autumn Zazenkai: A One Day Meditation Retreat
With Laura Jomon Martin
ZCO Board meeting at Great Vow
Way Seeking Mind with Chozen Roshi - Part 3 at Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple
HEART OF WISDOM ZEN TEMPLE A Way Seeking Mind talk is a way to tell our life story from the perspective of our spiritual life path and its maturation. It is an offering to our community as the teller examines and shares their history from the perspective of opportunity and the cultivation of life vows. […]
December Sesshin - Rohatsu
With Hogen Bays, Roshi, Larry Fuho Trussell and Myoyu Haley Voekel
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 […]
Silver Dragons Monthly Gathering on Aging, Death and Dying (Online)
With Kodo Conover
Zoom Only Join other Silver Dragons (people 60 and older) to deeply explore Aging, Death, and Dying through a Buddhist Lens. We will meet monthly over zoom for the rest of 2025 with preselected topics and both large and small group facilitated discussions. In her Dharma Talk “Diving into Impermanence,” Chozen Roshi taught: Impermanence […]
Beginner's Mind Weekend Meditation Retreat
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
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
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
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
Spring Practice Period: Awakening with the Earth
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
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
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 […]
