San Francisco Zen Center
Encyclopedia
San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), 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 Suzuki
-roshi and a group of his American
students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.
to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokoji—a Soto Zen temple then located at 1881 Bush Street
in Japantown
. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. Sokoji—founded by Hosen Isobe in 1934—had been housed in a former Jewish
synagogue
that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. Upon Suzuki’s arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. Unlike his predecessors, Suzuki was a fluent speaker of English
who actually wanted to come to the United States. Suzuki's arrival came at the tail end of the Beat movement and just prior to the social movements of the 1960s, both of which had major roots in San Francisco. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans — mostly beatniks— coming to the temple to sit zazen
with him in the morning. Soon these Westerners participated in regular services, and new non-Asian students came to outnumber the Japanese-American congregation. This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki’s Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.
The number of practitioners at SFZC grew rapidly in the mid-sixties. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. In 1966, Suzuki and Baker scouted Tassajara Hot Springs
, located in Los Padres National Forest
behind Big Sur
, as a possible location for the envisioned monastic center. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the land—which contained a rundown resort
and mineral springs
in 1967. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
("Zen Mind Temple" or Zenshinji) was the first Zen Buddhist monastery built in the United States, and the first in the world to allow co-ed practice.
1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. Kobun was resident teacher at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. In 1971, he became resident priest at Haiku Zen Center, a practice center in Los Altos where Suzuki-roshi had been giving lectures, and soon after the sangha
there grew and changed its name to Bodhi. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California
in 1979.http://www.jikoji.org/kobun.htmlhttp://www.cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/suzuki%20stories/haiku1.htmlhttps://latc.com/2000/10/25/special_sect/yourhome1.print.html
Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri
-roshi, who served there from 1969 to 1971. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice center—the Minnesota Zen Center
—in 1972 in Minneapolis.
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In 1969, Sokoji's board of directors asked Suzuki to resign his position as the temple's priest, asserting that he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. Months later Suzuki—with the help of his American
students—purchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street.
In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission
to Richard Baker
, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong
but died before his completion. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.
Suzuki died of cancer
on December 4, 1971. He was 67 years old. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. His death came shortly after the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
, a collection of lectures translated into numerous languages considered a classic of contemporary Zen literature.
.jpg)
Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm
in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist
life while working together. Green Gulch Farm ("Green Dragon Temple", or Soryuji), located in Sausalito, California
in a valley
on the Pacific Ocean
, was acquired by SFZC in 1972. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid
, George Wheelwright. Despite hesitance of some members of SFZC due to the size of 80 acres (323,748.8 m²), Baker felt that acquiring Green Gulch Farm was very important for Buddhism in America. Members soon raised funds for a zendo
to be built there, and over time the farm transformed into a monastery
and retreat center for residents and guests with an organic farm, flower garden
s, a teahouse and a plant nursery.
In 1976, SFZC purchased the Gallo Pastry Company to found the Tassajara Bakery, which became popular before being sold to the company Just Desserts in 1992. The bakery was closed altogether in 1999. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown
's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant
and some local grocers.
Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason
of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine
in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown
and Deborah Madison
. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco.
The center received significant media coverage concerning the 1984 resignation of then abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker
, who was ousted after it was alleged that he had been having an affair with the wife of a prominent Zen Center member. In the wake of Baker's resignation, SFZC transitioned to a democratically-elected leadership model until in 2010 there was a new introduction of a predesignated slated of board members.
Additional businesses run by SFZC were the Alaya Stitchery storefront, which made zafu
s, zabuton
s and clothing, and Green Gulch Grocery, which sold produce from Green Gulch Farm. Neither business is today operative.
was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission
from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. In 2003 Paul Haller
, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. In 1987 SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice
program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds, as well as a twenty-five bed ward within Laguna Honda Hospital; it is the largest Buddhist
hospice center in the United States
. The volunteer project's founding director was Frank Ostaseski who served until 2000, when he began a training program for SFZC students called the End-of-Life Counselor Training Program. Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life.http://www.zenhospice.org/2_hospice_services/hospice-services.htm Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West.
trips, and have the opportunity to arrange for practice with the community living at the monastery for a few days. The monastery
is closed to outsiders from the months of September through April, then opens to the public by reservation from May through August - offering retreats, seminars, and workshops. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monastery—a physically daunting challenge.
building with a wood burning stove as the heating source. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen
or any other activities. Tenshin Reb Anderson-roshi, former abbot of City Zen Center, is senior Dharma
teacher at Green Gulch——training priests and laypeople
, leading sesshin
s, giving talks and conducting workshops while also living onsite.http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=3,76,107&pageid=96
These revelations led Baker to resign as abbot in 1984. San Francisco Zen Center's web site now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations."
In the 1980s Baker ordained Issan Dorsey as a priest. This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken
and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gay
s, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center
.
Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri
led the community until 1985. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Center—serving until 1995. In the early 1990s the Board of Directors at the Zen Center created the "Ethical Principles and Procedures for Grievance and Reconciliation" for its members, for conflict resolution mediation guided by Buddhist precepts. The Board of Directors at SFZC also began election
of leaders. In 1995 Zoketsu Norman Fischer
was installed as Abbot at SFZC, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history).
In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shihō
from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). From 1986 to 1988 he served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, and from 1988 to 1995 he served there as co-abbot with Sojun Mel Weitsman. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983— just after Zentatsu Richard Baker
had resigned as abbot. While jogging through Golden Gate Park
, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Upon his final visit he found the body no longer there, and a fellow priest in whom he had confided showed him a newspaper article covering the apparent suicide. Five years later (in 1988), roughly fifteen months after Anderson had become abbot of the San Francisco, Anderson was arrested for brandishing this same firearm
in public. He reported being mugged
at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. He then drove after the alleged mugger and followed him into a housing project with the revolver (unloaded) in hand, being arrested minutes later by a police officer with his own gun pointed at him.
This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence
from his position as abbot. After six months, he returned to his position. Shocked by the series of scandal involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. Zen priest Mel Weitsman
served with Anderson as a co-abbot during the remainder of his term, and the tradition of two sitting Abbots continued for the next few decades.
Regarding this ordeal, Anderson wrote:
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
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
-External links:*...
, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, or Soryu-ji is a Soto Zen practice center located near Muir Beach, California that practices in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. In addition to its Zen training program, the center also manages an organic farm and gardens...
. The sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
was incorporated by 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...
-roshi and a group of his American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.
History
On May 23, 1959, Shunryu Suzuki (then age 57) came from JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokoji—a Soto Zen temple then located at 1881 Bush Street
Bush Street Temple
The temple at 1881 Bush Street in San Francisco, California, is a State Landmark with historical significance to both the Orthodox Jewish community and to Buddhism in the United States.-Building:...
in Japantown
Japantown, San Francisco, California
comprises about six square city blocks in San Francisco, California, USA. San Francisco's Japantown is the largest and oldest such enclave in the United States.-Location:...
. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. Sokoji—founded by Hosen Isobe in 1934—had been housed in a former Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. Upon Suzuki’s arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. Unlike his predecessors, Suzuki was a fluent speaker of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
who actually wanted to come to the United States. Suzuki's arrival came at the tail end of the Beat movement and just prior to the social movements of the 1960s, both of which had major roots in San Francisco. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans — mostly beatniks— coming to the temple to sit 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...
with him in the morning. Soon these Westerners participated in regular services, and new non-Asian students came to outnumber the Japanese-American congregation. This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki’s Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.
The number of practitioners at SFZC grew rapidly in the mid-sixties. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. In 1966, Suzuki and Baker scouted Tassajara Hot Springs
Tassajara Hot Springs
Tassajara Hot Springs is a natural hot springs in the Ventana Wilderness, within the Santa Lucia Range and Los Padres National Forest in Monterey County, California. The hot springs have been the site of a resort of one kind or another since the 1860s...
, located in Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland...
behind Big Sur
Big Sur
Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big...
, as a possible location for the envisioned monastic center. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the land—which contained a rundown resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
and mineral springs
Mineral Springs
Mineral Springs is the name of several locations in the United States:* Mineral Springs, Arkansas* Mineral Springs, North Carolina* Mineral Springs Township, North Dakota* Mineral Springs at Green Springs, Ohio...
in 1967. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
-External links:*...
("Zen Mind Temple" or Zenshinji) was the first Zen Buddhist monastery built in the United States, and the first in the world to allow co-ed practice.
1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. Kobun was resident teacher at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. In 1971, he became resident priest at Haiku Zen Center, a practice center in Los Altos where Suzuki-roshi had been giving lectures, and soon after the sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
there grew and changed its name to Bodhi. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California
Los Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
in 1979.http://www.jikoji.org/kobun.htmlhttp://www.cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/suzuki%20stories/haiku1.htmlhttps://latc.com/2000/10/25/special_sect/yourhome1.print.html
Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri
Dainin Katagiri
Jikai Dainin Katagiri , aka Hojo-san Katagiri, was a Soto Zen roshi and the founding abbot of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served from 1972 until his death from cancer in 1990...
-roshi, who served there from 1969 to 1971. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice center—the Minnesota Zen Center
Minnesota Zen Center
Minnesota Zen Meditation Center was formed when the founding head teacher, Dainin Katagiri, was invited to come from California in 1972 to teach a small but growing group of Minneapolis students interested in the dharma. After his death, Shohaku Okumura served as interim head teacher until the...
—in 1972 in Minneapolis.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
students—purchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street.
In 1970, Suzuki gave 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...
to Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong
Jakusho Kwong
Jakusho Kwong , born William Kwong, is a Chinese-American Zen Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He serves as head abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, of which he is founder...
but died before his completion. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.
Suzuki died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
on December 4, 1971. He was 67 years old. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. His death came shortly after the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a book of teachings by the late Shunryu Suzuki, a compilation of talks given to his satellite Zen center in Los Altos, California. Published in 1970 by Weatherhill, the book is not academic. These are frank and direct transcriptions of Suzukis' talks recorded by his...
, a collection of lectures translated into numerous languages considered a classic of contemporary Zen literature.
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
life while working together. Green Gulch Farm ("Green Dragon Temple", or Soryuji), located in Sausalito, California
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
in a valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, was acquired by SFZC in 1972. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
, George Wheelwright. Despite hesitance of some members of SFZC due to the size of 80 acres (323,748.8 m²), Baker felt that acquiring Green Gulch Farm was very important for Buddhism in America. Members soon raised funds for a zendo
Zendo
or is a Japanese term translating roughly as "meditation hall". In Zen Buddhism, the zen-dō is a spiritual dōjō where zazen is practiced...
to be built there, and over time the farm transformed into a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
and retreat center for residents and guests with an organic farm, flower garden
Flower garden
A flower garden is any garden where flowers are grown for decorative purposes. Because flowers bloom at varying times of the year, and some plants are annual, dying each winter, the design of flower gardens can take into consideration to maintain a sequence of bloom and even of consistent color...
s, a teahouse and a plant nursery.
In 1976, SFZC purchased the Gallo Pastry Company to found the Tassajara Bakery, which became popular before being sold to the company Just Desserts in 1992. The bakery was closed altogether in 1999. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
-External links:*...
. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown
Edward Espe Brown
-External links:*...
's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant is a landmark vegetarian restaurant in the Fort Mason Center in the Marina District, San Francisco, California, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge....
and some local grocers.
Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason
Fort Mason
Fort Mason, once known as San Francisco Port of Embarkation, US Army, in San Francisco, California, is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense...
of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine
Vegetarian cuisine
Vegetarian cuisine refers to food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products. For lacto-ovo vegetarianism , eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese are permitted...
in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown
Edward Espe Brown
-External links:*...
and Deborah Madison
Deborah Madison
Deborah Madison is an American chef, writer and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking and her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce...
. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco.
The center received significant media coverage concerning the 1984 resignation of then abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
, who was ousted after it was alleged that he had been having an affair with the wife of a prominent Zen Center member. In the wake of Baker's resignation, SFZC transitioned to a democratically-elected leadership model until in 2010 there was a new introduction of a predesignated slated of board members.
Additional businesses run by SFZC were the Alaya Stitchery storefront, which made zafu
Zafu
A zafu is a round cushion. Although also a utilitarian accessory, it is most well known for its use in zazen Zen meditation.-Name:...
s, zabuton
Zabuton
A zabuton is a Japanese cushion for sitting. The zabuton is generally used when sitting on the floor, and may also be used when sitting on a chair. Ordinarily any place in Japan where seating is on the floor will be provided with zabuton, for sitting comfort...
s and clothing, and Green Gulch Grocery, which sold produce from Green Gulch Farm. Neither business is today operative.
SFZC today
In 2000 Jiko Linda CuttsJiko Linda Cutts
Jiko Linda Ruth Cutts is a Sōtō Zen priest practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, a Senior Dharma Teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. Cutts is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson, having received Dharma transmission from him in 1996...
was appointed Abbess, having received 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 Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. In 2003 Paul Haller
Paul Haller
Ryushin Paul Haller, a Soto Zen roshi, is the current Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center—a position he has held since 2003. Leaving his homeland of Belfast in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, Haller spent time in Russia, Afghanistan and Japan. He then went to Thailand for two years where he...
, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. In 1987 SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds, as well as a twenty-five bed ward within Laguna Honda Hospital; it is the largest Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
hospice center in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The volunteer project's founding director was Frank Ostaseski who served until 2000, when he began a training program for SFZC students called the End-of-Life Counselor Training Program. Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life.http://www.zenhospice.org/2_hospice_services/hospice-services.htm Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West.
Tassajara Zen Mind Temple
Located atop a bumpy 10 miles (16.1 km) road which is difficult for some vehicles to climb, Tassajara offers shuttles to and from the retreat for those inclined to forgo trying to make the trek on their own. Visitors can enjoy the springs, go swimming or on hikingHiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
trips, and have the opportunity to arrange for practice with the community living at the monastery for a few days. The monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
is closed to outsiders from the months of September through April, then opens to the public by reservation from May through August - offering retreats, seminars, and workshops. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monastery—a physically daunting challenge.
Green Gulch Green Dragon Temple
The organic farm at Green Gulch supplies local restaurants and food suppliers and sells flowers, produce and herbs at Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional JapaneseJapanese architecture
' originated in prehistoric times with simple pit-houses and stores that were adapted to a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han Dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores and ceremonial burial chambers....
building with a wood burning stove as the heating source. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in 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...
or any other activities. Tenshin Reb Anderson-roshi, former abbot of City Zen Center, is senior Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
teacher at Green Gulch——training priests and laypeople
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
, leading sesshin
Sesshin
A sesshin , literally "touching the heart-mind" , is a period of intensive meditation in a Zen monastery....
s, giving talks and conducting workshops while also living onsite.http://www.sfzc.org/zc/display.asp?catid=3,76,107&pageid=96
Baker resigns
In March 1983 Baker was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with the wife of an influential sangha member. Although Baker claimed that his relationship was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to accusations of impropriety, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. The community's sense of crisis sharpened when the woman's husband, one of SFZC's primary benefactors, threatened to hold the organization legally responsible for its abbot's apparent misconduct.These revelations led Baker to resign as abbot in 1984. San Francisco Zen Center's web site now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations."
In the 1980s Baker ordained Issan Dorsey as a priest. This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
s, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center
Hartford Street Zen Center
The Hartford Street Zen Center, temple name Issan-ji , is a Soto Zen practice-center located in the Castro district of San Francisco. Issan Dorsey brought the center from its early beginnings as The Gay Buddhist Club of 1980 to the modern-day Hartford Street Zen Center, becoming Abbot there in 1989...
.
Dainin Katagiri
Jikai Dainin Katagiri , aka Hojo-san Katagiri, was a Soto Zen roshi and the founding abbot of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served from 1972 until his death from cancer in 1990...
led the community until 1985. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Center—serving until 1995. In the early 1990s the Board of Directors at the Zen Center created the "Ethical Principles and Procedures for Grievance and Reconciliation" for its members, for conflict resolution mediation guided by Buddhist precepts. The Board of Directors at SFZC also began election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
of leaders. In 1995 Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a Jewish-American Soto Zen roshi, poet and Buddhist author practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1988. Having served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995—2000,...
was installed as Abbot at SFZC, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history).
Tenshin Reb Anderson's arrest
Shiho
refers to a series of ceremonies in Sōtō Zen Buddhism wherein which a priest receives full transmission, inheriting the Dharma from his/her master and becoming empowered to transmit the precepts and lineage to others. A shiho ceremony can last anywhere from one to three weeks, with the final...
from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). From 1986 to 1988 he served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, and from 1988 to 1995 he served there as co-abbot with Sojun Mel Weitsman. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983— just after Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
had resigned as abbot. While jogging through Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Upon his final visit he found the body no longer there, and a fellow priest in whom he had confided showed him a newspaper article covering the apparent suicide. Five years later (in 1988), roughly fifteen months after Anderson had become abbot of the San Francisco, Anderson was arrested for brandishing this same firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
in public. He reported being mugged
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. He then drove after the alleged mugger and followed him into a housing project with the revolver (unloaded) in hand, being arrested minutes later by a police officer with his own gun pointed at him.
This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence
Leave of absence
Leave of absence is a term used to describe a period of time that one is to be away from his/her primary job, while maintaining the status of employee...
from his position as abbot. After six months, he returned to his position. Shocked by the series of scandal involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. Zen priest Mel Weitsman
Mel Weitsman
Sojun Mel Weitsman , born Mel Weitsman, is the founder, abbot and guiding teacher of Berkeley Zen Center located in Berkeley, California. Weitsman is a Soto Zen roshi practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, having received Dharma transmission in 1984 from Suzuki's son Hoitsu...
served with Anderson as a co-abbot during the remainder of his term, and the tradition of two sitting Abbots continued for the next few decades.
Regarding this ordeal, Anderson wrote:
"On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. Even newer students, who come to Zen Center and find out about these incidents, are sometimes confused and question whether I can be their teacher. These events are a helpful reminder—both to me and to others—of my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. I see how my empowerment to protect and care for the Triple Treasure inflated my sense of personal authority, and thus detracted from and disparaged the Triple Treasure. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow."
Friends of SFZC
SFZC is connected, in an unofficial capacity, to the following Zen Centers:- Berkeley Zen CenterBerkeley Zen CenterBerkeley Zen Center , temple name , is a Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice center located in Berkeley, California led by Sojun Mel Weitsman. An informal affiliate to the San Francisco Zen Center , BZC was originally founded in 1967 by Weitsman and Shunryu Suzuki as a satellite group for the SFZC...
- Hartford Street Zen CenterHartford Street Zen CenterThe Hartford Street Zen Center, temple name Issan-ji , is a Soto Zen practice-center located in the Castro district of San Francisco. Issan Dorsey brought the center from its early beginnings as The Gay Buddhist Club of 1980 to the modern-day Hartford Street Zen Center, becoming Abbot there in 1989...
- Kannon Do Zen Meditation CenterKannon Do Zen Meditation CenterKannon Do Zen Meditation Center provides Soto Zen practice in the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay. Named after Kannon, the Buddhist personification of compassion, the center provides a supportive environment in which Americans can experience traditional Zen teaching.- History :Zen Master...
- Sonoma Mountain Zen CenterSonoma Mountain Zen CenterSonoma Mountain Zen Center is a Soto Zen practice center located on in the mountainous region of Sonoma County in California—near Santa Rosa—carrying on the tradition and lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. Founded by Jakusho Kwong and his wife Laura Kwong in 1973, Kwong-roshi is the current guiding...
Alumni
| 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... (founder) |
Zentatsu Richard Baker Zentatsu Richard Baker Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest... |
Edward Espe Brown Edward Espe Brown -External links:*... |
Kobun Chino Otogawa | Taigen Dan Leighton Taigen Dan Leighton Taigen Dan Leighton is a Soto Zen priest and teacher, academic, and author. He is an authorized lineage holder and Zen teacher in the tradition of Shunryu Suzuki, and is the founder and Guiding Teacher of Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, Illinois.Leighton began his Zen practice in 1975 at the... |
| Jakusho Kwong Jakusho Kwong Jakusho Kwong , born William Kwong, is a Chinese-American Zen Buddhist teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He serves as head abbot of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center, of which he is founder... |
Sojun Mel Weitsman | Tenshin Reb Anderson | David Chadwick | Seirin Barbara Kohn Seirin Barbara Kohn Seirin Barbara Kohn is a Soto Zen sensei and head priest of The Austin Zen Center in Austin, Texas, practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. She was ordained as a Soto priest by Reb Anderson and received Dharma transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman—Kohn being Hartman's first Dharma heir.... |
| Ryushin Paul Haller | Issan Dorsey | Philip Whalen Philip Whalen Philip Glenn Whalen was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and close to the Beat generation.-Biography:... |
Jiko Linda Cutts Jiko Linda Cutts Jiko Linda Ruth Cutts is a Sōtō Zen priest practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, a Senior Dharma Teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. Cutts is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson, having received Dharma transmission from him in 1996... |
Zoketsu Norman Fischer Zoketsu Norman Fischer Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a Jewish-American Soto Zen roshi, poet and Buddhist author practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1988. Having served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995—2000,... |
| Dainin Katagiri Dainin Katagiri Jikai Dainin Katagiri , aka Hojo-san Katagiri, was a Soto Zen roshi and the founding abbot of Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he served from 1972 until his death from cancer in 1990... |
Josho Patricia Phelan | Zenkei Blanche Hartman | Hozan Alan Senauke | |
| Wu Bong Wu Bong Wu Bong, born Jacob Perl, is a Soen Sa Nim in the Kwan Um School of Zen. Perl currently acts as the head teacher of the . As the first student of Dae Soen Sa Nim in the United States, he had previously practiced Zen Buddhism in the Sōtō tradition at the San Francisco Zen Center under Shunryu Suzuki... (Jacob Perl) |
Furyu Nancy Schroeder | Fenton Johnson Fenton Johnson John Fenton Johnson was born ninth of nine children into a Kentucky whiskey-making family with a strong storytelling tradition.-Life:His most recent book Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey draws on time spent living as a member of the monastic communities of the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani in... |
Yvonne Rand Yvonne Rand Yvonne Rand is a "lay householder" Soto Zen priest and guiding teacher of located in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, California. A meditation center which practices predominantly Soto Zen but also incorporates elements of Theravada and Vajrayana Buddhism, the "name Goat-in-the-Road recalls... |
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... |
| Issan Dorsey | Angie Boissevain Angie Boissevain Angie Boissevain is a Sōtō Zen roshi currently leading the in San Jose, California. A Dharma heir of Vanja Palmers, for many years she was director and then teacher of in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which was founded by her main teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa in 1983... |
Joanne Kyger Joanne Kyger Joanne Kyger is an American poet. Her poetry is influenced by her practice of Zen Buddhism and her ties to the poets of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the Beat generation.-Overview:... |
Dairyu Michael Wenger |
See also
- Buddhism in the United StatesBuddhism in the United StatesBuddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Nonreligious, and approximate with Islam and Hinduism. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a large number of converts of other ethnicities, and now their children and even...
- Hartford Street Zen CenterHartford Street Zen CenterThe Hartford Street Zen Center, temple name Issan-ji , is a Soto Zen practice-center located in the Castro district of San Francisco. Issan Dorsey brought the center from its early beginnings as The Gay Buddhist Club of 1980 to the modern-day Hartford Street Zen Center, becoming Abbot there in 1989...
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesTimeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesBelow is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.-Early history:* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago...
- Bush Street TempleBush Street TempleThe temple at 1881 Bush Street in San Francisco, California, is a State Landmark with historical significance to both the Orthodox Jewish community and to Buddhism in the United States.-Building:...
- Kannon Do Zen Meditation CenterKannon Do Zen Meditation CenterKannon Do Zen Meditation Center provides Soto Zen practice in the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay. Named after Kannon, the Buddhist personification of compassion, the center provides a supportive environment in which Americans can experience traditional Zen teaching.- History :Zen Master...