(This is mostly an oral history so any corrections or additions would be welcome)

1973: Rev. Meiko (then Judith Jones) in Seattle and Gary Fear in Portland were enjoying books such as Be Here Now by Ram Dass. At the original, much smaller location of the now world-famous Powell’s bookstore, a little yellow flyer, put there by Rev. Koshin of Olympia, told of Buddhist practice at Mount Shasta.

1974: Rev. Shuyu Singer and his wife Rev. Gyozan Singer began driving up to Portland from Eugene on a monthly basis to hold Saturday retreats at Reed College. These were announced by bright yellow flyers posted in a few local bookstores and colleges, including Portland State. There were about a dozen participants in the day-long retreats. This was before Rev. Master Jiyu had set the scriptures to music, so rather than being sung, the scriptures were recited, not in the Japanese monotone style, but simply and naturally.

1975: Dharma classes could be found at Reed college on Wednesday nights, hosted by the Rev.s Gyozan and Shuyu Singer. They brought food, plates, zafus, and zabutons. They continued to hold retreats at Reed consisting of morning meditation, lunch, and more meditation. They taught about bowing to your cushion and other meditation hall etiquette. The Singers were devoted to the Portland branch and the Eugene branch of what was then called the Saginaw Zen Priory, located 30 minutes south of Eugene near Cottage Grove. Portlanders appreciated other monastic visitors as well: Rev. Godo, Rev. Teigan Stevens, and Rev. Haryo Young. After six months or so, the regular retreats moved to the Friends (Quaker) Meeting House on 44th and southeast Stark, which was less costly than renting a space at Reed College.

1976: The Portland meditation group’s regular location moved to the home of Rev. Rokuzan (then Ralph Kroenke), who attended Reed, and his wife. It had smaller rooms, but it was free. Plus they had a remarkable vegetable garden right out the front door! This house on southeast Ogden Street around 82nd was tiny, a backyard ADU cottage, so it wasn’t long before the group outgrew it and arranged to use a room that the savings and loan on Woodstock offered to the community. They were still meeting there when the Kroenkes became postulants at Shasta Abbey.

Sue Rhodes and her husband were there, along with Greg Laskaris, Jim Barnas, Henry Esformes (Rev. Kaizan), and Gary Fear.

Early 1977: The Portland meditation group was meeting for a retreat led by one of the Rev.s Gyozan or Shuyu Singer on the first Saturday of every month. They also met Monday evenings for Zazen and work on their garden project. One of the members, a high school teacher, got permission from his school and led short informal Zazen sessions daily with some of his students.

October – November 1977: Rev.s Gyozan and Shuyu Singer were meeting with the Portland Meditation Group, which now was recognized with a capitalized name in the Journal of Shasta Abbey, on the third Thursday of the month for a potluck dinner and class, and on the first Saturday of the month for an all-day retreat. In October, members of the Saginaw and Portland congregations journeyed to Shasta Abbey for a special weekend retreat. Participants were particularly grateful to have had a talk with Rev. Master Jiyu. They also enjoyed seeing former members of the congregation who had become monastics.

August – September – October 1978: Saginaw Zen Priory changed their name to the Eugene Priory and moved from Cottage Grove to Eugene, near the university. The Rev.s Gyozan and Shuyu Singer moved back to Shasta Abbey; Rev. Gyozan continued as parish priest for the Eugene Priory’s congregation, traveling to meet with the Eugene and Portland groups twice a month. The Portland congregation continued to meet for Zazen once a week in the homes of members while hoping to find a central location where they could sit together before going to work. The Oshiros are listed in the Journal of Shasta Abbey as the Portland contacts.

November – December 1978: The former Saginaw congregation took the name of the Oregon Zen Priory, with Eugene and Portland each having a branch. The members remained as one sangha or body of trainees, but had two meeting places, kept separate finances, etc. The Portland group gathered every Thursday evening for Zazen and taped lectures by Rev. Master Jiyu. Rev.s Gyozan and Shuyu Singer, Priors of the congregation, continued to visit the branches once or twice a month for full retreats. At this time, the Portland Branch first appeared among the “Branch Communities and Affiliated Meditation Groups” on the inside front cover of the Journal of Shasta Abbey as Oregon Zen Priory: Portland Branch, now meeting in northeast Portland on 70th near Sandy Boulevard.

November – December 1979: Oregon Zen Priory’s Portland congregation rented a large old house on northeast 9th in the Lloyd district with three members in residence, including Gary Fear and Jim Barnas. The living room with high ceilings had been converted into a meditation hall, and sliding doors to another adjacent room made it expandable for retreats. Morning sitting periods were open to the public.

March – April 1981: The Oregon Zen Priory, consisting of the Portland Branch and the Eugene Branch, was on the circuit of Shasta Abbey’s traveling priest program. Qualified priests visited regularly to conduct retreats, do spiritual counseling, teach classes and generally guide the activities of the Priory. They were invited to give public lectures and to talk to special interest groups such as human-service professionals. When a priest was not present, the Priory groups carried on their regular programs of scheduled Zazen and services, taped lectures from Rev. Master Jiyu’s Berkeley classes, community work sessions, retreats, and social get-togethers, all under the supervision of their Lay Ministers.

Members took turns with assigned jobs such as sacristan, precentor, or someone cleaning volcanic ash out of the gutters (Mt. St. Helens erupted around this time). The Portland Branch was featured in the March-April 1981 volume of the Journal of Shasta Abbey, in the “From the Priories” series, with a photo of the Portland Branch having tea in the Lloyd district Priory, possibly taken by Rev. Chishun Burckhardt, who was in residence at the time.

Late 1982: Revered Leon (then William Kackman) went there and received meditation instruction from Gary Fear. No monk was in residence then. Jim Barnas, Elaine and Mark Cousins, and Ted and Kate Schlapfer, all Lay Ministers, were practicing there.

November – December 1982: The Journal of Shasta Abbey announced that Rev.s Gyokuko and Kyogen Carlson would become Priors pro tem with the Portland Branch of the Oregon Zen Priory while Rev. Chishun Burckhardt visited family in Switzerland.

Early 1983: Rev. Leon (then William Kackman) became more active with the Priory. Rev. Chishun Burkhardt was in residence.

Early 1984: Rev.s Gyokuko and Kyogen Carlson were the Priors of the Oregon Zen Priory, in residence in Eugene and visiting Portland.

October – November – December 1984: Oregon Zen Priory changed to the Oregon Buddhist Priory, still with the Eugene and Portland branches. Rev. Master Jiyu visited around this time.

Early 1985 (or thereabouts): The Carlsons moved to Portland full time. The Portland group was trying to buy a temple building during this time, but there were zoning problems: neighbors in a strictly residential area wouldn’t grant permission for something that would draw increased traffic. Our current temple (2024) is zoned for mixed use.

Summer 1985: Rev. Leon (then William Kackman) took the precepts at a retreat on the coast with the Eugene and Portland groups, from Rev. Kyogen Carlson, who, along with Rev. Gyokuko Carlson, was living at the Portland Priory.

Late 1985 – Early 1986: Rev. Kyogen Carlson, along with Rev. Gyokuko Carlson and many of the lay members of the Priory, split from Rev. Master Jiyu’s teaching and the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.

Spring 1986: In the first volume of the Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, Rev. Mokushin Hart was listed as prior under the Eugene Buddhist Priory and no Portland group was listed.

1987: The Journal of the OBC announced that the Portland meditation group had been given the honor of becoming a Priory. The Portland Buddhist Priory was incorporated and got its first listing in the Journal, meeting on southeast 138th in the home of Rev. Fidelia (then Laura Dolan), who contributed several articles to the Journal of the OBC as a Lay Minister at the Portland Priory. Phil Miller (who would become Rev. Olaf) and Gary Fear had made a Mount Sumeru type altar for the meditation hall, which also had a shrine dedicated to Avalokiteshvara. On one Sunday a month, the Priory offered an introduction to meditation during their half-day retreat, provided free of charge and led by a Lay Minister. In addition to meditation and morning service, the retreats included discussions over tea and working meditation to learn to bring one’s practice of meditation into activity. Each Wednesday evening, the Priory members met for meditation, Vespers, and tea with a taped lecture by Rev. Master Jiyu or senior priests of the OBC. Rev. Mokushin Hart, Prior of the Eugene Buddhist Priory, and Rev. Master Koshin Schomberg of the North Cascades Buddhist Priory, came to Portland on several occasions to conduct full-day retreats and public lectures.

Late 1989: The Priory moved to our current temple building on southeast Milwaukie avenue. The priory was run by the lay ministers and other lay people from the foundation of the temple until 1997. The temple was supported by visits from monks of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.

November 6th, 1996: Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett passes away.

1997: Rev. Meiko Jones becomes Prior.

2015: Rev. Leon becomes Prior.

2024: Building a new meditation hall.