Berkeley Zen Center temple name , is a Sōtō

Soto

Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...

 Zen Buddhist practice center located in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

 led by Sojun Mel Weitsman. An informal affiliate to the San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center

San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...

 (SFZC), BZC was originally founded in 1967 by Weitsman and Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki

Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...

 as a satellite group for the SFZC. Despite founding the center, Weitsman was not installed as abbot there until 1985, one year after receiving Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

 from Hoitsu Suzuki. Weitsman's Dharma heir, Alan Senauke, lives on site with his wife Laurie Senauke (as of 1999) and also works for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship

Buddhist Peace Fellowship

The Buddhist Peace Fellowship is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism with chapters all over the world...

. Another former teacher at BZC was Maylie Scott

Maylie Scott

Maylie Scott , Buddhist name Kushin Seisho, was a Sōtō roshi who received Dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1998 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. She graduated from Harvard University in 1956 and obtained a masters degree in social work from the University of California, Berkeley...

, who died in 2001. In 1969 Zenkei Blanche Hartman began sitting zazen

Zazen

In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...

at BZC, receiving Dharma transmission from Weitsman in 1988.http://www.zencircle.org/speakers.html In 1979 the center relocated to its current location on Russell Street—and today houses a small group of residents who live on site.http://www.berkeleyzencenter.org/aboutBZC.shtml