Summer Residency Program 2026

The program

The Summer Residency at Great Vow is built on a clear structure: mornings and evenings centered on zazen (sitting meditation), daily sanzen (private instruction with a teacher), oryoki (formal eating practice), and integrated temple work. Rather than one continuous sesshin, the six weeks are punctuated by several week-long intensive periods that intensify the practice rhythm. This architecture allows you to build capacity gradually while also experiencing the depth of sesshin-pace sitting.

The addition of classes and ritual — chanting, ceremonies, the formal rhythms of monastic life — means you're not just sitting in isolation. You're learning the texture of Zen practice as it's actually lived in a functioning monastery.

What to expect

A residential summer program means you live on-site for the full six weeks. Daily schedule typically begins early (often 5 or 6 a.m.) with zazen, continues through work periods, classes, meals, and evening practice. Sanzen interviews are usually brief (10–15 minutes) and happen regularly, giving you ongoing contact with a teacher. Oryoki — eating in silence, in formal ceremony, in the meditation hall — is not just a practice but a teaching in itself: how attention transforms even a simple meal.

Temple work (cleaning, cooking, grounds maintenance) is practice, not chore duty. It's how you learn to bring zazen off the cushion into ordinary activity.

The monastery

Great Vow Zen Monastery is located in rural Oregon and operates within the Soto Zen tradition — a school that emphasizes shikantaza (just sitting) and the expression of practice through daily life and community work. The setting itself — a working monastery with fields, gardens, and a genuine rhythm of seasons — shapes the experience.

Accommodation is communal and simple, which is part of the practice. You're not there for comfort but for depth.