Rev. So’on Jim Hare serves as Tanto, or head of practice. He lived in the San Francisco Zen Center community from 1980 to 1984 and was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1985. He served as Head Student at Green Gulch Farm during the spring 2002 practice period, and was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey […]
Celebrate the winter solstice with sangha friends. After a 35-minute meditation and service, we will gather to entertain each other on this long winter night with instruments, song, favorite poetry new and old, stories and skits. Bring your creativity and share your hidden talents. Bring a treat to share after the entertainment. Zoom link to […]
We will sit two zazen periods accompanied by the ringing of 108 bells. Each hit represents one of the delusions/desires that anchor our lives in the world of birth and death. This is a sobering practice that reminds us of the importance of practicing for the welfare of suffering beings. Sangha members will be invited […]
Our practice of relinquishment is our practice of liberation. Our Way of liberation is to release all that is in the way of our full aliveness and our capacity to express the dharma in the situations that come to us. This Monday evening, we will reflect on letting go of patterns and ‘habits of being’ […]
This Monday's program will vary from our usual format. We will begin with a 15 minute sit and then move into a large circle and break-out groups. During the first half of the evening we will be discussing our guest teacher structure as it is now: what you value, what you find limiting, and what […]
To honor Martin Luther King's legacy, we will be listening to his "I Have a Dream" speech and reflecting on how this affects our life now. This will include small group discussions. *Zoom link to program We offer a Well-Being Ceremony on the third Monday of every month to remember friends, family, neighbors, pets and people of […]
Guest teacher Shōku Kathy Early came to zen practice in 1994 through classes with Tenshin Reb Anderson at the Yoga Room in Berkeley while working as a semiconductor engineer in Silicon Valley. She then practiced for several years with Keido Les Kaye at Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, after which she trained at San […]
The Full Moon Ceremony acknowledges the karma created by our intentional actions, and reminds us to renew our commitment to the ethical conduct expressed as the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts. These are guiding principles for our daily conduct in the world. This ceremony is rooted in a ritual from pre-Buddhist India. To prepare for the ceremony […]
Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. She is the author of a number of books about Buddhism, including the humor book The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi and This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity. For many years she was the […]
Meikyo Robert Rosenbaum, PhD. received lay entrustment in Soto Zen from Sojun Mel Weitsman. He is also authorized as a senior teacher of the Taoist practice of Dayan (Wild Goose) Qigong in the lineage of Yang Meijun by Master Hui Liu. In addition, he has received denkai in Ordinary Mind Zen from Karen Terzano. Bob […]
Nyokai Kristin Diggs joined our sangha as Teacher in 2026. Prior to moving to Sacramento, she trained residentially at all three San Francisco Zen Center temples (2014-2025), holding a number of senior positions, including Ino, Tenzo, and Work Leader. Lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson and priest ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts, she served as […]
Jisan Tova Green, she/her, was ordained in 2003 and received Dharma transmission from Eijun Linda Cutts in 2015. During her twenty-four years as a resident of San Francisco Zen Center, she served as Branching Streams Director, supporting and connecting more than seventy-five sanghas in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She co-founded, and co-leads SFZC's Queer Dharma […]