This page covers Chinese Buddhist temples in Washington State and Oregon, including Portland and Seattle.
See separate pages for: USA Overview | California (Los Angeles) | California (San Francisco) | New York , New Jersey, and Pennsylvania | Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin) | Northeast (Boston, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut) | Southeast (Atlanta, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina) | All Other USA States
Washington State 華盛頓州/西雅圖
Buddha Jewel Monastery 佛寶寺 (中台禪寺)
17418 8th Ave NE, Shoreline WA 98155
www.BuddhaJewel.org
https://www.facebook.com/BuddhaJewelMonastery/
Buddha Jewel Monastery is the Seattle branch of Chung Tai Chan Monastery, Zen Meditation Center. Founded in 2008 originally at 7930 Rainier Ave South on the south side of town closer to the airport, in 2016 the property was sold and Buddha Jewel Monastery moved to a 25,000 square foot religious facility on the north side of town at its current address, an old former Lutheran church. In 2021, the temple closed for extensive modernization and renovation, including environmentally-friendly upgrades — fortuitously timed with the pandemic, the Zen Meditation Center hopes to reopen by 2023!
Activities include Zen Meditation classes in English and in Chinese, Children’s and Family meditation, Zen meditation day-retreats, vegetarian cooking classes, Buddhist ceremonies, and more. Small groups also go to Vancouver Canada at times for Dharma talks and services.
(above small photos from the old Rainier Avenue location, now a church)
Gold Summit Monastery 金峰聖寺
233 1st Avenue W. Seattle WA 98119
www.GoldSummitMonastery.org
Part of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association founded by the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, Gold Summit Monastery is the group’s Seattle area Buddhist temple that was founded in 1984.
Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association Seattle DDMBA 法鼓山西雅圖分會
14130 NE 21st St, Bellevue WA 98007
https://seattle.ddmba.org/ / old: Seattle.DDMUSA.org
https://www.facebook.com/ddmbawa
https://www.youtube.com/DDMBASeattle
Seattle Washington branch of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association, focused on Chan (Zen) meditation, founded by the late Venerable Master Sheng Yen.
Hwazan Buddhist Foundation
1110 Edmonds Ave. NE., Renton, Washington 98056
http://www.amitoufopureland.org/
Founded in 2007, this Pure Land temple might be related to the Amitabha Buddhist Society Pure Land societies. As far as we know, there are no activities in English.
Amitabha Buddhist Society Of Seattle 西雅圖淨宗學會
701 1/2 S. King Street, Seattle, WA 98104
http://absos.org/
Traditional Pure Land chanting in Chinese in historic Seattle Chinatown, founded in 1997 as part of the late Venerable Master Chin Kung’s network of independently run Pure Land Learning Centers.
Washington Amitabha Society
18230 E. Valley Hwy. #135, Kent, WA 98032
* We are unclear if this location still exists or went defunct or if it merged with the Amitabha Buddhist Society above
Seattle Urban Monastery – Woodenfish Foundation
7113 12th Ave SW, Seattle, Washington 98106
www.facebook.com/SeattleUrbanMonastery/
* now defunct
The Woodenfish Foundation began in 2002 as a summer immersion program at Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan as a way to expose young adults of all backgrounds to Buddhism and monastic life. In part due to political reasons, Woodenfish split from Fo Guang Shan Taiwan and summer programs were relocated to temples in the People’s Republic of China in 2009. (Fo Guang Shan Monastery continues to host one-month monastic immersion experiences for young adults agest 18 - 35 in Taiwan, and Woodenfish HBMLP hosts summer experiences for young adults in China; both are in English and geared for Americans and other Westerners.) In 2018, Woodenfish announced ambitions to create Woodenfish HUB (Humanistic Urban Buddhism) sites throughout the United States as exploring a new way of bringing monastic practice to young people in the complex and busy cityscape of urban America. However, it seemed short-lived, and as of 2020, it appears the idea has been abandoned, though a meditation group of mostly younger Westerners still meets under “Middle Wave Meditation” at this site, which is a single-family house building.
Fa Sheng Temple 美雅佛教會法興禪寺
1007 South Weller St, Seattle, WA 98104
http://fashengtemple.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Religious-Organization/Fa-Sheng-Chan-Temple-%E6%B3%95%E8%88%88%E7%A6%AA%E5%AF%BA-356518917868828/
American Seattle Buddhist Association, Seattle Fa Sheng Chan Temple 美雅佛教會 西雅圖 法興禪寺, was founded in 1980 by Venerable Hsin-Tien (心田長老) The temple building burned down in 2011 but services resumed in 2013.
American Evergreen Buddhist Association Chi Yuan Temple
13000 NE 84th St, Kirkland, WA 98033
Tzu Chi Seattle 慈濟西雅圖
Main: 15800 Southeast Newport Way, Bellevue WA 98006
Chinatown branch office: 421 7th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104
https://www.facebook.com/seattle.tzuchi/
TzuChi.us
Tzu Chi Academy (Weekend Chinese School) 西雅圖慈濟人文學校 / 兒童中文學校
https://www.facebook.com/TCASeattle/
https://tzuchiacademyseattle.blogspot.com/
Tzu Chi USA Buddhist Foundation charity’s Washington branch is active in Seattle with community service activities, Dharma events, children’s school, summer camp, and more!
Snow Mountain Monastery
50924 Index-Galena Road Index, WA 98256
http://smm.drba.org/
This branch of Dharma Realm Buddhist Association had its roots in 1985 when the late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua was passing by and noted the region with its Cascade Mountains was very auspicious. In 1986, a property of 27 acres was purchased in Skykomish WA, which the Master later remarked was OK but that the group needed to find a new property with better feng shui. In 2009, the property burned down, and in 2011, the monastery moved to a newly acquired 10 acre land with better feng shui near Index Washington. Snow Mountain Monastery is mostly used for intensive retreats by monastics, or summer outings by members from the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in California, Gold Summit Monastery in Seattle, Gold Buddha Monastery in Vancouver, Avatamsaka Monastery in Calgary Canada, and other DRBA branches.
Other Notable Non-Chinese groups:
There are dozens of other Asian temples representing Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Lao, Sri Lankan, Burmese, and Cambodian ethnicities around the Seattle region.
Sravasti Abbey
692 Country Lane, Newport WA 99156 USA
https://sravastiabbey.org/
Venerable Thubten Chodron leads this unique monastery, perhaps the only American monastery for ordained female Westerners in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The nuns offer meditation retreats in this rural retreat center, and connect via live online and Youtube Dharma teachings in English for everyone across the world.
Dharma Friendship Foundation: Tibetan Buddhist events in English in the Seattle area
https://dharmafriendship.org/
https://www.facebook.com/DFFSEA/
Oregon 俄勒岡 - 波特蘭
Miao Fa Temple 妙法禪寺 / 世界佛教傳佈協會
1722 S.E. Madison Street, Portland OR 97214
http://www.miaofatemple.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Miao-Fa-Chan-Temple-1434160923541782
Miao Fa Buddhist Temple, which is reasonably close to Lan Su Chinese Garden and Old Town Chinatown in the center city of Portland, was founded in 1998 as a branch of Miao Fa Temple in Taiwan. The historic building originally dates from 1926 as a Third Church of Christ Christian Science Portland headquarters, but has now been remodeled with Asian architectural features. While most activities are Mahayana Buddhist chanting in Chinese, there are also events in English at times, usually meditation and a talk led by Theravada / Vipassana teachers.
Kwan Yin Temple of Oregon
美國俄勒岡州觀音寺
16525 NE Glisan St, Portland, OR 97230
http://www.facebook.com/kwanyintemple
Kwan Yin (also spelled Guan Yin) is the Bodhisattva of Compassion and perhaps the most famous Buddhist figure in East Asia. This Chinese Buddhist temple is in the eastern suburbs of Portland, and welcomes all to visit or attend recitation services, such as Amitabha Buddha Pure Land chanting Dharma functions.
Tzu Chi Portland 佛教慈濟基金會波特蘭聯絡處
3800 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd. #194, Beaverton, OR 97005
https://sites.google.com/site/tzuchifoundationpdx/
https://www.facebook.com/tzuchi.portland
波特蘭慈濟人文學校 (Tzu Chi Academy Chinese School)
https://tzuchi.us/academy/Portland
The Tzu Chi Academy Portland is a weekend only Chinese language school with a cultural and humanities curriculum focus led by Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation. It currently meets at Conestoga Middle School. All are welcome to register (children must be 5 or older), though most children are ethnically Chinese or Taiwanese family heritage speakers.
Others featured non-Chinese groups:
Amitabha Pure Land Society (mostly Vietnamese)
3800 SW Cedar Hills Blvd Suite #105, Beaverton, OR 97005
http://www.tinhtonghochoioregon.org/
There are several other Buddhist temples in Oregon. The Japanese lineages, such as Rinzai and Soto Zen centers, Pure Land traditions, as well as the Buddhist Churches of America temples, are strong in the West Coast and Portland is no exception with BCA affiliate Oregon Buddhist Temple, as well as Nichiren-shu and Shingon temples. There’s even a Korean Buddhist monastery (relatively rare in the US), Bokwangsah Korean Buddhist temple in Portland.