The church building has housed three congregations in the past 100 years, starting in 1891 as Methodist Episcopal congregation, then a Ukrainian Orthodox Christian congregation in 1959 and finally, in 1968, the home of the Church of the Living God.

The members of the Church of the Living God had recently started to dwindle and the building faced foreclosure. The Zen Community of Oregon heard news of that the building would face foreclosure, met with the pastor and offered him a fair price of $205,000.

Buddhists, who believe in karma – that the actions have consequences – didn’t want to start off their new church by taking advantage of someone’s bad luck.

While they possibly could have paid less if the building went to the auction, the Zen community members did not want to benefit from someone’s misfortune. Now, the building is under construction with a new roof, furnace, newly painted walls and a repaired Douglas fir wood floor.

The Buddhist religion thrives on the idea of taking pride in one’s work, taking care of one’s equipment and tools and to be able to reflect on the results of one’s work.