Photo by Brent Haas   Gate Opening Ceremony at Tassajara On April 30, 2024, Tassajara marked the beginning of the summer guest season with a traditional Gate Opening Ceremony. A heartfelt service was officiated by the temple’s Director, Rev. Heather Iarusso, while Rev. Catherine Spaeth, the Head of Guest Services, and Rev. Lorenzo Garbo, SFZC’s Director of Hospitality, ceremoniously unlocked the wooden gate and opened its doors. Guiding Teacher Leslie James was present, along with many students who will practice and support Tassajara this summer. The gate will remain open throughout t ..read more

Wendy Lewis and David Zimmerman. Photo by Tova Green.   Photos and text by Tova Green Abbot David sharing some opening words. A Departing Ceremony, officiated by Central Abbot David Zimmerman, was held for Wendy Lewis in the City Center zendo on May 3. The ceremony was followed by a celebratory potluck dinner in the Conference Center. Wendy left City Center, where she was a resident for over thirty years, for Enso Village on May 8. Abbot David opened the ceremony and thanked Wendy for her thirty-five years of practice and service at San Francisco Zen Center. Wendy’s first staff role w ..read more

Image design by Jeannene Langford. Zen-a-thon is San Francisco Zen Center’s annual peer-to-peer fundraising event. Each spring, supporters of SFZC share the spirit of generosity and the importance of SFZC in their lives with their friends and family and invite them to donate. This year our goal is to raise $125,000. During Zen-a-thon, from May 14th through June 15th, we will celebrate the spirit and practice embodied in the perfection of generosity, or dana paramita. The perfection of generosity involves the recognizing that the three wheels of giving, receiving, and the gift all arise toget ..read more

By Tova Green Vanessa Sasson always loved mountains, though she grew up in Montreal. As a little girl, she had a poster of snow-capped mountains on her wall. When she was twenty-two, a recent college graduate on her way to work in Japan, she had a stopover in Nepal and saw the Himalayas for the first time. She didn’t get back on the plane; instead, she left her suitcase full of suits and stockings in Kathmandu and wandered around Nepal for a year. “I fell in love with the mountains. I was so happy there.” Now, in her role as a college professor, she brings students to Nepal every two years. V ..read more

“The body is not an obstacle to enlightenment; the body is itself enlightenment.” –Shunryu Suzuki By Brendan Crowe, Online Content Manager at San Francisco Zen Center In October, the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s Priests with Disabilities affinity group offered a two-part Disability in Zen Workshop Series. In keeping with several workshops SZBA offers, this series was open to the public, though I attended on the invitation of one of the organizers, Marta Dabis from Jisso-ji Zen Ann Arbor, MI.  I have a specialized interest in the topic, with years of experience working in the disabil ..read more

K Ray receiving the precepts from Kokyo Henkel. Congratulations to the initiate K Ray who received the bodhisattva precepts from Teacher Kokyo Henkel at Green Dragon Temple on March 20, Spring Equinox. K Ray’s new name is Kangetsu Keirei / Viewing the Moon, Joyful Spirit. As the ancient ceremonial text concludes: “At this time, in the Buddha lands in all directions, auspicious signs appear: the earth trembles and blossoms fall from the sky…” Congratulations to Keirei ..read more

Photo by Travis Stansel. San Francisco Zen Center is pleased to present an inspiring array of retreats at Green Gulch Farm, meant to integrate Zen-inspired practices into our daily lives. These retreats are geared towards guests who value the opportunity to practice in our beautiful coastal valley in Marin County, under the guidance of well-established teachers. Retreats range from simple hikes that energize our senses to the cultivation of presence through writing practices; from honoring the wisdom of those who came before us to body-mind practices meant to encourage harmony within. Below ..read more

Choku Proudfoot meets with the team weekly and is one of the few people allowed inside the building. Photo by Eli Brown-Stevenson. Text by Tova Green. Photos by Choku Proudfoot, City Center Director. San Francisco Zen Center has embarked on a large, much-needed renovation project at 300 Page Street (City Center). We are very excited and grateful to finally take the steps necessary to care for this precious 100-year-old building. The project includes, among many things, a new Welcome Center, complete bathroom restorations, and adding a new ramp and elevator for broader accessibility. For deta ..read more

Photo by David Del Francia We are pleased to announce that our apprenticeship programs have now reopened to international students! For decades, people from all over the world came to SFZC’s temples to take part in our Zen offerings, workshops, and retreats, as well as our many apprenticeship programs. Due to the pandemic and visa issues, this opportunity has been on hold for several years but is now once again open for applications. For more information on what opportunities are available at Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara, please visit our Live the Temple Life page. (Please note that due to ..read more

Handwritten letter by a participant of the Wildland Firefighter Retreat. By Tova Green and Lee Lesser To everyone at the San Francisco Zen Center, I have no idea where to begin to thank you for making the retreat a possibility. The invitation for this event came to me at a point in my life when I needed something…something I didn’t know I needed. I was tired and hurting. Tassajara allowed me to rest. Tassajara has shown me I can heal. With love and gratitude, my heart bows to you for everything you provided us. This is one of many letters that participants in the 2024 Wildland Firefighters ..read more