Providence Zen Center

USA, Rhode Island, Cumberland

The center was established at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1972 by Seung Sahn, a Korean monk. It is the international headquarters of the Kwan Um school of Zen Buddhism. In 1979, the institution was relocated to Cumberland, where it occupies 20 ha. The center is also the US headquarters of the Korean Jogye order.
The center consists of the main meditation hall, the Zen Center, Diamond Hill Zen Monastery, and the Peace Pagoda. The main meditation hall is a two-story building with a gray hip-and-gable roof decorated with wooden ridges. Internally, the roof is supported on exposed wooden trusses above the upper story. On the lower story are meeting rooms, while the upper story contains a meditation hall. On the gable side, a flight of stairs connects directly from the ground level to the veranda on the second story. A long covered walkway connects the main meditation hall to the Zen Center building in an L shape.
Between 1983 and 1984, the Diamond Hill Zen Monastery was constructed as a residence for monastics. It was built in traditional Korean architectural style with a hip-and-gable roof covered in blue tiles.
The seven-story, 20 m high, multi-eave Peace Pagoda was opened in 1992. It is surmounted by a conical spire of stacked rings and a finial. The first story contains a small room for ceremonies and serves also as a space for practice. Within the compound there is the Jung Wol Gak Hermitage.