Shasta Abbey Soto Zen Church Details

Shasta Abbey is a Soto Zen Buddhist Monastery

Shasta Abbey is a Soto Zen Buddhist Monastery. It was founded in 1970 by Rev. Roshi Jiyu-Kennett, disciple of the late Keido Chisan Koho Zenji, former chief abbot of Dai-Honzan Soji-ji in Yokohama, Japan. Shasta Abbey has a resident community of 25 monastics, and is a center for both monastic and lay training.

Shasta Abbey follows a traditional monastic schedule of daily mediation, ceremonies, religious study, and working meditation. It emphasizes the threefold training of precepts, meditation, and wisdom (sangaku). The community is inclusive and is gender-equal.

In addition to monastic training, the Abbey maintains a year-round schedule of retreats, residential opportunities, Dharma talks, and religious activities. The Abbey has a vibrant and supportive local congregation in the Mt. Shasta area. We offer retreats for beginners as well as practicing Buddhists. Lay trainees may come and live at the monastery, participating in the monastic schedule with the community while receiving on-going instruction in lay Buddhist practice. Dharma talks are offered several times a week, and the local community participates in a Buddhist reading group lead by one of the Abbey's senior priests. Soto Zen has a rich ceremonial tradition, and the Abbey offers many opportunities for participation in the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly ceremonies held in the monastery. We have transformed traditional Japanese Buddhist sutra recitation into Western Buddhist chants. We currently hold a weekly reading group and a Saturday Dharma. There is a weekly Sunday service offered, followed by the Abbot's Dharma talk, plus an informal social tea for members of the local lay and monastic community to meet and talk. A small bookstore and gift shop open to the public is located at the monastery.

Shasta Abbey charges no fees and is supported entirely by donations. We welcome lay residents, guests, and visitors, as well as sincere and dedicated Buddhists who wish to enter monastic training.