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City Refuge Retreat

Location icon
6401 Northeast 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
Date
July 24 - 26, 2025

About this Retreat

Your Guides

Details of this retreat

Amidst the whirlwind of daily life in a busy metropolis, we gather to drink from the deep well of silence and stillness.

Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple will be offering an extended opportunity for retreat practice together in the city.
This three-day non-residential retreat will include many of the elements you’ll find in sesshin. The schedule will be similar to our one-day zazenkai, but with oryoki meals and some supplemental practices. (If you have an oryoki set, please bring it. Otherwise, we have sets you can borrow.)
This retreat will be held in silence. Part time participation is allowed, but you must commit to attending at least either morning or afternoon sessions on Thursday and Friday and all day on Saturday. Please discuss your schedule with Kodo or Kosho.

Cost: Sliding scale based on your participation full or part-time and ability. No one is turned away for lack of funds.

Due to the increased rigor of this retreat, we require that you first participate in a Zazenkai at Heart of Wisdom or a comparable daylong intensive at another Dharma center before registering for this retreat. 
Thursday
7:30 a.m. Zazen
9:00 a.m. Service
9:30 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. Work Circle (Work practice includes cleaning, cooking, or gardening.)
11:00 a.m. Zazen
12:00 p.m. Oryoki Lunch
1:30 p.m. Alternative meditative practice
2:30 p.m. Dharma Talk
3:15 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. Zazen
5:00 p.m End
Friday
Same as above with additional:
5:30 pm Oryoki Dinner
7 - 8:30 pm Zazen
Saturday
Same as Thursday, ending at 5 pm.

Getting Here

Location icon Zen Community of Oregon, 6401 Northeast 10th Avenue, Portland, OR, USA

Directions

Ride sharing can be arranged from the airport with some advanced notice with our registrar. The monastery is located 80 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon on twenty forested acres overlooking the Columbia River flood plain. The drive takes 80-90 minutes.

Directions from the airport:
1. Take I-205 North to I-5 North. I-5 North to exit 36 Longview (south of Seattle, north of Portland).
2. At the exit travel west on to 432 towards Longview City Center.
3. At the sign to “Highway 30 to Oregon”, turn left (south) onto “Oregon Way” .
4. Cross the Lewis and Clark Bridge into Oregon.
5. Turn right (west) onto Highway 30 towards Astoria. Clatskanie is 12 miles from this point.
6. In Clatskanie turn right at the stoplight onto Nehalem Street
7. Go straight to the end, and then follow the road left onto 5th street.
8. Stay on this road (do NOT take the first left fork to the Poplar Farm).
9. You will reach a fork after 2.9 miles; stay left, on Quincy-Mayger Road. Following the street signs saying “Zen Monastery”.
10. The Monastery is 1.8 miles past the fork, at 79640 Quincy-Mayger Road on the right.

Accommodation

Overnight guests stay in the guest hall (semi-private dormitory), follow the daily monastery schedule, and share meals with the community. A donation is suggested. Private retreat accommodations are sometimes available for those with significant prior meditation or contemplative experience. Private retreatants can follow their own schedule in solitude.

Full-time participation/sustaining level
Part-time participation/supporter level
One-day participation/scholarship level: Please contact kosho@zendust.org to discuss part-time participation

Venue & Amenities

A/C in Rooms icon A/C in Rooms
Free Wifi icon Free Wifi
Spa icon Spa
Sauna icon Sauna
Pool icon Pool
Towels icon Towels
Free Parking icon Free Parking
Kitchen icon Kitchen
Tour Assistance icon Tour Assistance
Hot Tub icon Hot Tub
Coffee/Tea icon Coffee/Tea
Cafe icon Cafe
Restaurant icon Restaurant
Fitness Center icon Fitness Center
Yoga Studio icon Yoga Studio
Housekeeping icon Housekeeping
Bicycles For Rent icon Bicycles For Rent
The monastery includes a spacious meditation hall, guest and resident dormitories, dining hall, and a large organic vegetable garden.

Within the forest is Great Vow's famous Jizo Garden, a memorial garden for people who have died, and the newly dedicated Shrine of Vows, a place where people leave tokens of their deep aspirations.

Meals

Menu Types

Meals are simple. Breakfast is usually hot grain cereal, nuts or nut butter, dairy and non-dairy milk, fruit, yogurt, and tea. Lunch is the most substantial with a main entree, salad, vegetable side, and condiments. Dinner is soup and bread. Many retreats are served as buffet. Zen-style retreats feature meals that are oriyoki, a Zen form of mindful eating in monasteries that goes back 1,000 years. Imagine Zen tea ceremony, but eating. Newcomers are guided on how to do it and people get the hang of it after a couple days. Meals are vegetarian with vegan options. Gluten-free alternatives can be accommodated. Coffee, caffeinated, and herbal tea are provided.

What's Included

  • Meals and lodging are included in the retreat cost for all our overnight retreats at the monastery.

Customer Reviews

4.92 out of 5.0 average rating

5.0
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Drop of Stillness - 1/2 day retreat
My first time at Heart of Wisdom temple; I will definitely be back. The space, inside and out, is beautiful. The half-day sit was perfect (though I long for the ability to make a full day at some point). And the folks leading the sit held a great container. I used to sit Zen in NYC over a decade ago and this felt like I was right back there, no separation.

5.0
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Retreat and Refuge
Daylong in city zen retreat with chanting, zazen and a great vegetarian meal.

5.0
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again
again please...

5.0
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Such a blessing 🙏
This was my second time attending the Jizo Ceremony. I appreciate that the monastery and monks hold this sacred space for those who are grieving the loss of the unborn, the children and the others, including the victims of wars and conflicts. It was also very meaningful to hear the history the Great Vow Monastery as well as the inception of the first Jizo ceremony in the SF Bay area many years ago. I feel that this type of ceremony is a wonderful blessing and a gift of service to humanity.

5.0
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Stillness Half Day Retreat May 31st
I really enjoyed the retreat. Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple is a beautiful environment and very welcoming. I went with a friend not very experienced in mediation and she's ready to do a Zazankai offered June 21st!

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