Tag: News

Photo by Jesse Blalock   The kitchen at Green Gulch Farm has nourished many monks, students, guests, and teachers over the past 53 years. As one of the kitchens of SFZC’s three temples, and along with the beautiful fields of GGF’s organic farm, it has inspired some of America’s most revered vegetarian chefs (Deborah Madison,…

Left to right: Charlie Korin Pokorny, Abbot Jiryu, and Sarah Dōjin Emerson. Photo by Andrea Vecchione.   Photos by Andrea Vecchione In recent weeks, Abbot Jiryu Rutchman-Byler introduced the new Suzuki Roshi book, Becoming Yourself, to members of several Zen communities in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Abbot Jiryu, who co-edited the book with Sojun Mel Weitsman,…

Photo by James Higgins.   On Sunday, September 7, the residents of Tassajara came together for a Gate Closing Ceremony, which signaled the end of the 2025 Guest Season. The ceremony began with a procession from the work circle, followed by an incense offering, wisdom water, and bows. Abbot Mako made a statement: “Closing this…

Left to right: Dan Landy, Rinso Ed Sattizahn, Rosana Castrillo.   Congratulations to Dan Landy (Sōseki Mitsuzen / Sangha Rock Intimate Whole) and Rosana Castrillo (Kyōgetsu Honshin / Mirror Moon Original Trust), who received the Bodhisattva precepts from Rinso Ed Sattizahn in a Lay Initiation Ceremony at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center on September 3.  

  By Tova Green Zenshin Florence Caplow, a Soto Zen priest and teacher who trained at San Francisco Zen Center, has lived with chronic illness and pain since 1999, and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2021. Three years ago, she began offering an online program at SFZC for people with chronic pain and health…

Photo by Margo Moritz   In this letter, Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman writes on forgiveness and repair in his own life and how SFZC is working with former Abbot Richard Baker to reconcile a difficult past and move forward together. Dear Sangha: I first came to San Francisco Zen Center (City Center) in the…

  By Tova Green Shinshu Roberts, a Dharma Heir of Sujun Mel Weitsman, received her priest training at San Francisco Zen Center and from the North American branch of the Japanese Soto School. Her latest book, Meeting the Myriad Things: A Zen Practitioner’s Guide to Dogen’s Genjo Koan, is a new commentary on one of…

  By Tova Green Prolific author and archivist David Chadwick may be best known for his biography of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki. David’s newest book, Tassajara Stories: A Sort of Memoir/Oral History of the First Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West—The First Year, 1967 will be…

  On Saturday, July 19, the Toro Nagashi Ceremony and lamp-floating event took place at Sokoji Temple, the Soto Zen Mission temple in Japantown, San Francisco. Lamps commemorating the Sangha’s ancestors were floated after the O-bon Ceremony. Toro Nagashi, or “floating lanterns,” is a beloved Japanese tradition marking the close of O-bon. Each August, countless…

Photo by Matt Nickel   Roger Hillyard (Henzan Tokuryu, Universally Seeking/Receiving the Stream) received Lay Teacher Entrustment from Central Abbot Ed Sattizahn on May 23, 2025. This ceremony recognizes Roger as a lay teacher in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. In a statement, Roger said: “Lay Entrustment charged me with the responsibility to practice, model, and…