Well known Buddhist monasteries in the USA

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Buddhism entered the US during the 19th century with the arrival of the first immigrants from East Asia.

Rise of Buddhism in the USA

The first Buddhist temple was established in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Americans.

The first prominent US citizen to publicly convert to Buddhism was Colonel Henry Steel Olcott in 1880 who is still honored in Sri Lanka for his Buddhist revival efforts.

An event that contributed to the strengthening of Buddhism in the US was the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893, which was attended by many Buddhist delegates sent from India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

During the late 19th century Buddhist missionaries from Japan traveled to the US. During the same time period, US intellectuals started to take interest in Buddhism.

The modern Era of Buddhism in the USA

The early 20th century was characterized by a continuation of tendencies that had their roots in the 19th century.

The second half, by contrast, saw the emergence of new approaches, and the move of Buddhism into the mainstream and making itself a mass and social religious phenomenon.

Buddhist monasteries in the USA

This is a list of the most well-known Buddhist monasteries in the United States.

Sravasti Abbey

Sravasti Abbey, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for Western nuns and monks in the U.S., was established in Washington State by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron in 2003. Whilst practicing in the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, Sravasti Abbey monastics ordain in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. It is situated on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of forest and meadows, 11 miles (18 km) outside of Newport, Washington, near the Idaho state line. It is open to visitors who want to learn about community life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastic setting.

San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner’s Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.

Dhammadharini Vihara

Dhammadharini Vihara is a Buddhist women’s monastic residence (vihara) in the Sonoma Hills of Santa Rosa, California. The name “Dhammadharini” is interpreted as a “holder” or “upholder” of the Buddhadhamma as a “flowing” or “streaming” reality, teaching and practice. A “vihara” is a monastic residence, and place of Dhamma and meditation teaching and practice.

Karmê Chöling

Originally known as “Tail of the Tiger”, Karmê Chöling is a Shambhala Buddhist meditation retreat center and community in Barnet, Vermont. The staff there offers meditation programs and retreats in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition to hundreds of students each year. Karmê Chöling facilities include 717 acres of wooded land, seven meditation halls, a Zen archery range, an organic garden, dining facilities, single and double rooms, dormitory housing, and seven retreat cabins. The center also houses visitors and staff in tents on wooden platforms in the warmer months of May through September. The center gives retreats, seminars, and workshops on meditation, gardening, archery, and theater.

Karma Triyana Dharmachakra

Karma Triyana Dharmachakra is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, New York, United States, which serves as the North American seat of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage. It was founded in 1976 by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche as abbot. This is a position which he has continued to hold as of 2014. The Third Bardor Tulku Rinpoche stayed in the United States to help Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Mr. Tenzin Chonyi establish and develop Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.

Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery

Gyobutsuji Zen Monastery is a small Sōtō Zen Buddhist monastery near Kingston in Madison County, Arkansas in the United States. It is located in the Boston Mountains of the Ozarks. The temple focuses primarily on the practice of zazen in the tradition of Kosho Uchiyama and Shohaku Okumura, the latter being the teacher of the founder, Shōryū Bradley. Study of the writings of Eihei Dōgen and the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are also emphasized. The monastery holds a five-day sesshin every month except in January and August.

Shasta Abbey

Shasta Abbey, located on sixteen forested acres near Mount Shasta in northern California, United States is a training monastery for Buddhist monks and a place of practice for lay Buddhists and interested visitors. It was established in 1970 by Reverend Master P.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett, who was Abbess and spiritual director until her death in 1996.

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the Ventana Wilderness area of the Los Padres National Forest, southeast of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, is the oldest Japanese Buddhist Sōtō Zen monastery in the United States. The Center is very isolated, more than 16 miles (26 km) from the nearest paved road, and only accessible via a narrow, steep, one-lane dirt road. During the winter months, practitioners live alone on site. During the summer months, the Center is opened to day and overnight guests. The hot springs have been developed into Japanese-style baths. It is the first Zen monastery established outside Asia.

Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery

The Deer Park Buddhist Center and Monastery in Oregon, Wisconsin is headed by Geshe Lhundub Sopa, the first Tibetan tenured professor in an American University who taught Buddhist philosophy, language and culture at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for 30 years. During that time, Geshe Sopa trained many of this country’s first generation of respected Buddhist scholars and translators, including Jeffrey Hopkins, José Ignacio Cabezón, and John Makransky.

City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas is an international Buddhist community and monastery founded by Hsuan Hua, an important figure in Western Buddhism. It is one of the first Chan Buddhist temples in the United States, and one of the largest Buddhist communities in the Western Hemisphere.

Chuang Yen Monastery

Chuang Yen Monastery is a Buddhist temple situated on 225 acres (91 ha) in Kent, Putnam County, New York, in the United States. The temple is home to the largest indoor statue of a Buddha (Vairocana) in the Western Hemisphere. The name “Chuang Yen” means “Majestically Adorned”.

Minnesota Buddhist Vihara

Minnesota Buddhist Vihara is a Theravada Buddhist temple in the state of Minnesota. It was established in 2004 by Venerable Witiyala Seewalie Maha Thera, who is also the current Abbot of the Vihara and the Deputy Chief Sangha Nayaka of North America, appointed by the Malwatta Chapter in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Its 10th anniversary was celebrated on March 30, 2014.

Texas Buddhist Association

The Texas Buddhist Association is a non-profit nondenominational religious organization committed to providing religious ceremonies and educational programs and serving the community. Not distinguishing between different sects of Buddhism, TBA places an emphasis on spreading the right views of the Dharma. The mission statement is to adopt and practice Buddha’s teachings of loving kindness, compassion, joyfulness, and serenity in our daily lives for the benefit of ourselves and others; and to cultivate the wisdom necessary for clear understanding of both the universe and the human spirit. With multiple monastics and a large lay congregation, TBA is now one of the largest Buddhist associations in the United States, with its 515-acre American Bodhi Center in Waller County, Texas one of the largest by area Buddhist facilities in the country, comparable with the nearby 500 acre Chung Tai International Retreat Center Texas Pagoda Chan Monastery in Shepherd, Texas, the 400 acre Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California, and the 700 acres of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California.

Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanaram

Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanaram is a Thai Buddhist Monastery. It is located near Bolivia, North Carolina. The Wat Carolina Monastery is under the leadership of Abbot Phrakru Buddamonpricha.

Wat Florida Dhammaram

Wat Florida Dhammaram is a Buddhist monastery in Kissimmee, Florida, established by Lung-po Chaokhun Phra Tepvaraporn in the mid-1990s.

Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Inc. and its sister organization, the French Congregation Bouddhique Zen Village des Pruniers are the governance bodies of the monasteries, press and fundraising organizations established by the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. The name Unified Buddhist Church, which originated in Vietnam, was intended to signify that this tradition practices to embrace all the teachings of the Buddha, whether they belong to the Mahāyāna or Theravāda stream.

New York Mahayana Temple

Mahayana Temple is a Chinese Buddhist temple located within a forest in South Cairo, New York. It is the retreat of the Eastern States Buddhist Temple of America, Inc. (“ESBT”), whose downtown branch of the Mahayana Temple is located in New York. The original retreat land was donated by James Ying. The temple grounds in South Cairo contain the Grand Buddha Hall, the Kuan Yin Hall, the 500 Arhat Hall, the Seven Storied Jade Pagoda, the Earth Spirit Bodhisattva Hall, a three-unit temple dedicated to the spirits of the land, and an obelisk marking the burial site of members of the Ying family.

Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery

Abhayagiri is a Theravadin Buddhist monastery of the Thai Forest Tradition in Redwood Valley, California. Its chief priorities are the teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation, as an effective way of completely uprooting suffering and discontent. Abhayagiri means ‘fearless mountain’ in the Pali language.

Mettā Forest Monastery

Mettā Forest Monastery, also known as Wat Mettāvarānaṁ or Wat Mettā, is a Theravāda monastery in Valley Center, California. It was founded in 1991 by Ajaan Suwat Suvaco (1919–2002) along with his student Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. Ajaan Ṭhānissaro has been the resident abbot since 1993. Currently there are ten resident bhikkhus, as well as space for lay Buddhists on overnight retreat.

Maple Forest Monastery

The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Inc. and its sister organization, the French Congregation Bouddhique Zen Village des Pruniers are the governance bodies of the monasteries, press and fundraising organizations established by the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. The name Unified Buddhist Church, which originated in Vietnam, was intended to signify that this tradition practices to embrace all the teachings of the Buddha, whether they belong to the Mahāyāna or Theravāda stream.

Magnolia Grove Monastery

Magnolia Grove Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village Tradition in Batesville, Mississippi. The 120-acre (0.49 km2) grounds are located near Memphis, Tennessee. In October 2005 Thich Nhat Hanh officially accepted the monastery. They are closely in touch with the Plum Village Monastery for resources and support. Magnolia Grove Monastery is one of the three monasteries in the United States which are under the spiritual guidance of Thich Nhat Hanh. The other two are Blue Cliff Monastery in New York and Deer Park Monastery in California. According to Magnolia Grove Monastery’s website, “Magnolia Grove Monastery is a residential monastery and is simultaneously, Magnolia Village, a Mindfulness Practice Meditation Center in the tradition of Plum Village, founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh”.

American Bodhi Center

The Texas Buddhist Association is a non-profit nondenominational religious organization committed to providing religious ceremonies and educational programs and serving the community. Not distinguishing between different sects of Buddhism, TBA places an emphasis on spreading the right views of the Dharma. The mission statement is to adopt and practice Buddha’s teachings of loving kindness, compassion, joyfulness, and serenity in our daily lives for the benefit of ourselves and others; and to cultivate the wisdom necessary for clear understanding of both the universe and the human spirit. With multiple monastics and a large lay congregation, TBA is now one of the largest Buddhist associations in the United States, with its 515-acre American Bodhi Center in Waller County, Texas one of the largest by area Buddhist facilities in the country, comparable with the nearby 500 acre Chung Tai International Retreat Center Texas Pagoda Chan Monastery in Shepherd, Texas, the 400 acre Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California, and the 700 acres of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California.

Empty Cloud Monastery

Empty Cloud Monastery is a gender-inclusive, non-sectarian Buddhist monastery in West Orange, New Jersey, USA.

Dharma Bum Temple

Dharma Bum Temple is an American Buddhist temple in San Diego, California. The temple focuses on being an introductory center for beginners to learn Buddhism and aims to provide a space for Americans to practice Buddhism in the comfort of their own culture. It has its roots in Taiwanese Buddhism but identifies with ecumenical Buddhism, or interdenominational Buddhism.

Deer Park Monastery

Deer Park Monastery is a 400-acre (1.6 km2) Buddhist monastery in Escondido, California. It was founded in July 2000 by Thích Nhất Hạnh along with monastic and lay practitioners from the Plum Village Tradition. The monastery is under the direct guidance of Thich Nhat Hanh and his Order of Interbeing in the Vietnamese Zen tradition.

Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji

Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, or International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji, is a Rinzai monastery and retreat center located in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. Maintained by the Zen Studies Society, Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji is led by Shinge-Shitsu Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi. It is part of the Zen Studies Society, founded in 1956 to support the work of D.T. Suzuki.

Blue Cliff Monastery

Blue Cliff Monastery is an 80-acre (0.32 km2) Zen Buddhist monastery located in Pine Bush, New York. It was founded in May 2007 by monastic and lay practitioners from the Plum Village Tradition.

Berkeley Buddhist Monastery

The Berkeley Buddhist Monastery is a Chan Buddhist monastery in Berkeley, California affiliated with the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and led by Heng Sure. It is the site of the Institute for World Religions, founded by Hsuan Hua.

Zen Mountain Monastery

Zen Mountain Monastery is a Zen Buddhist monastery and training center on a 230-acre (0.93 km2) forested property in the Catskill Mountains in Mount Tremper, New York. It was founded in 1980 by John Daido Loori originally as the Zen Arts Center. It combines the Rinzai and Sōtō Zen traditions, in both of which Loori received Dharma transmission. Loori’s first dharma heir was Bonnie Myotai Treace, Sensei, who received shiho, or dharma transmission, from him in 1996. From Loori’s death in October 2009 until January 2015, Zen Mountain Monastery had two teachers: Geoffrey Shugen Arnold and Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, who received Dharma transmission from Loori in 1997 and 2009, respectively. Since January 2015, the training at the Monastery has been led by Shugen Roshi, assisted by Ron Hogen Green, Sensei; Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei; and Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Sensei.