Clear Mountain Monastery, a Theravada community founded in the Seattle area, has established a permanent home on forested land near North Bend, Washington, following a three-year search and a fundraising campaign that raised nearly US$5 million.
Monks Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho arrived at the new monastery on 31 August after completing a three-day walk from Seattle. The two departed from St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on 29 August and stopped at Si View Park and North Bend City Hall on their final morning, where they met local residents and city officials, including North Bend Mayor Mary Miller.
Clear Mountain purchased an initial 20 hectares of land earlier this year. Friends of Clear Mountain, the nonprofit organization that manages the monastery’s finances, said a second property was expected to bring the total area to approximately 36 hectares once a title issue was resolved.
Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho are Western-born monks in the Theravada tradition who spent significant portions of their monastic lives in Thailand. Both have been ordained for more than 10 years and speak Thai, according to Friends of Clear Mountain.
The monastery consists of the two monks and a steward. The monks will initially live and practice in small monastic huts, known as kuti, while supporters develop longer-term plans for the property.
“The ultimate vision for the land is a flourishing community of up to 20 monastics, open to the public in a variety of ways: pujas (chanting and meditation); sutta and Pali study; online and public teachings; daily meal offerings; observance of the Buddhist holy days; visits from guest monastics; and day retreats.” (Friends of Clear Mountain)
Plans also call for a large temple accommodating several hundred people on major observance days, a multipurpose hall, accommodations for visiting female monastics, gardens, walking paths, and additional kutis. Development is expected to take place gradually over a period of years.
Clear Mountain traces its beginnings to 2021, when Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho began developing a Theravada community in the Seattle area. The monastery is influenced by the Thai forest tradition, which emphasizes a simple monastic lifestyle centered on meditation, study, and close dependence on lay communities for material support.
The group said the North Bend location was selected in part because it combines relative isolation with accessibility from Seattle. Friends of Clear Mountain describes the property as including forests, wetlands, streams, wildlife habitat, and views of Mount Si.
The monastery is located off Cedar Falls Road SE, between Interstate 90 and Rattlesnake Lake, near the community of Wilderness Rim, about a 40-minute drive from downtown Seattle.
Supporters donated US$4.93 million toward the purchase of the two properties. Because monks following the Theravada monastic discipline do not handle money, donations and financial matters are administered by Friends of Clear Mountain, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Friends of Clear Mountain vice president Steve Wilhelm said supporters had contributed amounts ranging from a few dollars to thousands.
“There’s a team of us . . . who rotate thanking people,” Wilhelm said. “Every single donor gets thanked at least every six months, either in person or by phone. Everything from US$5 to US$10,000. It’s an amazing experience.” (Snoqualmie Valley Record)
The monastery joins a diverse Buddhist landscape in the western United States. According to the Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study, approximately 1.1 per cent of US adults identify as Buddhist, with 45 per cent of American Buddhists living in the western states.
See more
Buddhist monastery takes root outside North Bend (Snoqualmie Valley Record)
Friends of Clear Mountain
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