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 […]
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. Enso […]
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
Thanksgiving Day Potluck Celebration
Come celebrate Thanksgiving and the spirit of autumnal release at Great Vow. Vegetarian potluck dinner begins at 4pm. Main courses (nut loaf, mashed potatoes, stuffing) will be provided by our kitchen. Side dishes, desserts, salads, and other magical accompaniments are brought by guests. Potluck Dinner will be followed by games, dancing, and spontaneous conviviality. […]
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 […]
New Year's Eve Ceremony and Celebration
Life Vows Weekend Retreat
With Kodo Conover and Kosho Ault
As we pass the Winter Solstice and turn to the new year, the time is ripe for contemplating vow. When you think about life’s purpose, what comes up? Zazen and inquiry offer a framework to become grounded and transform the energy of the unknown into possibilities. Zazen teaches us to turn down the volume […]
Five Buddhist Precepts for Ethical Living - In Person
With Kodo Conover
Winter Zazenkai: A One Day Meditation Retreat
With Ed Gensho Welsh
ZCO Board meeting January 2026
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 […]
The Work: a weekend Inquiry workshop
With Eduardo Kyozen Zambrano
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 […]
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 […]
