NORTH SHORE ZENDO

Great Vow Zen Monastery (www.zendust.org) is a residential community of lay and ordained people engaged in around-the-clock Buddhist practice. The practice heritage of the monastery is the Soto/Rinzai lineage of Taizan Maezumi, Roshi enriched by the teachings of the Tibetan and Theravada traditions.

Abbots Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi and Hogen Bays, Roshi are the spiritual directors and head teachers of the monastery with teaching assistance from other lay and ordained teachers, including Kim Hoben Hansen, the resident teacher of North Shore Zendo. Great Vow offers residencies, retreats and workshops that are open and available to everybody.

Zen Buddhist monastic life is based upon simplicity, silence, self-investigation, and wholehearted effort, embodied by the daily schedule of silent meditation (zazen), chanting, work practice and community living. These practices help put all our activity into perspective and offers an opportunity to cultivate a calm mind and open the heart so we can look into our essential nature.

Residential practice is one of the most potent ways to engage our whole being in the practice of Zen Buddhism. The heart of our monastic practice is the monthly sesshin (6-10 day silent meditation retreats).

The monastery is located 80 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon on twenty forested acres overlooking the Columbia River flood plain.

We practice in affiliation with the White Plum Sangha, an organization of Zen Communities in the lineage established by Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi, Roshi (1931-1995), one of the great pioneers of modern Zen, who opened up a unique tradition of Buddhist practice to a worldwide movement.

Learn more about White Plum