San Francisco Zen Center facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Francisco Zen Center - City Center |
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Sōtō |
| Location | |
| Location | 300 Page St., San Francisco, CA 94102 |
| Country | United States |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Julia Morgan |
| Founder | Shunryu Suzuki |
| Completed | 1922 |
| Website | |
| www.sfzc.org | |
The San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) is a group of Sōtō Zen practice and retreat places in the San Francisco Bay area. It includes three main locations: City Center (also called Beginner's Mind Temple), Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The community, known as a sangha, was started in 1962 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and some of his American students. Today, SFZC is the largest Sōtō Zen group in the Western world.
Contents
History of the Zen Center
On May 23, 1959, Shunryu Suzuki, who was 55 years old, came from Japan to San Francisco. He became the head priest of Sokoji, a Soto Zen temple in Japantown. His wife, Mitsu, joined him in 1961. The Sokoji temple was in an old Jewish synagogue. When Suzuki arrived, the people who attended the temple were all Japanese-American. Unlike many priests before him, Suzuki spoke English very well.
Suzuki arrived around the time of the Beat movement and just before the big social changes of the 1960s. Both of these movements had strong roots in San Francisco. Soon, people who were not Japanese-American, mostly beatniks, started coming to Sokoji. They came to practice zazen (meditation) with him in the mornings. These new Western students soon joined regular services and became more numerous than the Japanese-American members. This change led to some differences within the Sokoji community. To help with this, Suzuki's Western students began having separate services at Sokoji in 1961. Some of these students started calling their group City Center, and they officially formed the San Francisco Zen Center in 1962.
Growing the Zen Community
The number of people practicing at SFZC grew quickly in the mid-1960s. Within a few years, Suzuki thought about starting a monastery. This would be a place for students who wanted to practice Zen more intensely. In 1966, Suzuki and his student Richard Baker looked at Tassajara Hot Springs. This place is in Los Padres National Forest near Big Sur. It seemed like a good spot for the new monastic center. After a big effort to raise money, led by Baker, the Zen Center bought the land in 1967. The land had an old resort and mineral springs. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (also called "Zen Mind Temple" or Zenshinji) was the first Zen Buddhist monastery built in the United States. It was also the first in the world to allow both men and women to practice together.
In 1967, Kobun Chino Otogawa from Eiheiji in Japan also arrived. He helped Suzuki at SFZC. Kobun was a teacher at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. Around 1970, he started meditating with a group in Santa Cruz. This group later became the Santa Cruz Zen Center.
Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri-roshi. He worked there from 1969 to 1971. Katagiri later started his own practice center, the Minnesota Zen Center, in 1972 in Minneapolis.
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In 1969, the leaders of Sokoji asked Suzuki to step down as their priest. They felt he was spending more time with his Western students. A few months later, Suzuki and his American students bought the current City Center building. It is located at 300 Page Street and is much larger. The building was designed by Julia Morgan and built in 1922. It was originally a residence club for women, with rooms upstairs and public spaces downstairs. This layout worked well for the San Francisco Zen Center. They used the lower levels for meditation halls and public areas, and the upper floors for students living there.
In 1970, Suzuki passed on his teachings to Richard Baker. Baker was his only American student chosen to carry on his teachings at SFZC. Suzuki planned to pass on his teachings to Bill Kwong too, but he passed away before it was completed. Kwong's teachings were later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.
Suzuki passed away from cancer on December 4, 1971, at 67 years old. Even though he had only been in the United States for 12 years, Suzuki had done a lot to establish Soto Zen in America. His death happened soon after his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published. This book is a collection of his talks and is now a classic book about Zen.
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Suzuki had asked Baker to find a farm nearby. This farm would be a place where whole families could live a Buddhist life and work together. Green Gulch Farm (also called "Green Dragon Temple" or Soryuji) was bought by SFZC in 1972. It is located in Sausalito, California, in a valley near the Pacific Ocean. The land was bought from George Wheelwright, one of the people who started Polaroid. Some members of SFZC were unsure about buying such a large place (80 acres (320,000 m2)). However, Baker felt that Green Gulch Farm was very important for Buddhism in America. Members soon raised money to build a zendo (meditation hall) there. Over time, the farm became a monastery and retreat center for people living there and guests. It has an organic farm, flower gardens, a teahouse, and a plant nursery.
In 1976, SFZC bought the Gallo Pastry Company. They used it to start the Tassajara Bakery. This bakery became very popular before it was sold in 1992 and then closed in 1999. The Tassajara Bakery was an idea from Richard Baker. It was an extension of the baking done at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Tassajara had been baking bread for students and guests since 1967. The book Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown showed that people were interested in their baking. The bakery supplied bread to Greens Restaurant and some local grocery stores.
Greens Restaurant, which opened in 1979 in Fort Mason in San Francisco, was another business started by SFZC under Baker's influence. It was a leader in fancy vegetarian cuisine in America. The first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. They published a cookbook in 1987 called The Greens Cookbook. Throughout the 1980s, Greens was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco. It got its fresh food from Green Gulch Farm.
In 1984, the abbot at the time, Zentatsu Richard Baker, stepped down from his role. After this, SFZC changed how it was led. They moved to a system where leaders were chosen by a vote. In 2010, they changed again to a new system where board members were chosen ahead of time.
SFZC also ran other businesses like the Alaya Stitchery, which made zafus (meditation cushions) and clothing. They also had Green Gulch Grocery, which sold food from Green Gulch Farm. These businesses are not open today.
San Francisco Zen Center Today
In 2000, Jiko Linda Cutts became the Abbess. She had received her teachings from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. In 2003, Paul Haller joined her as co-abbot. He had received his teachings from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993.
In 1987, SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project. This is a volunteer program that helps people who are very sick. It started in a guest house on Page Street with five beds. The Zen Hospice Project also trains volunteers. These volunteers give non-medical care to people at the hospice and at Laguna Honda Hospital. The first director of this project was Frank Ostaseski, who served until 2004. The Zen Hospice Project helps people of any religion, or no religion, who are looking for a kind way to end their life. Today, SFZC is the largest Soto Zen group in the West. The Zen Hospice Project was featured in a 2018 Netflix documentary called End Game. This film was about very sick patients in a San Francisco hospital and at the Zen Hospice Project house.
Tassajara Zen Mind Temple
The Tassajara monastery is closed to visitors from September through April. It then opens to the public by reservation from May through August. Students who come to practice at the monastery from September through April must go through a tradition called tangaryo. They will sit in the zendo (meditation hall) for five days or more before they are officially allowed into the monastery. This is a very challenging experience.
Green Gulch Green Dragon Temple
The organic farm at Green Gulch provides food to local restaurants and stores. It also sells flowers, produce, and herbs at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Guests can stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House. This is a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove for heat. Guests do not have to practice Zen to stay at Green Gulch, but they are welcome to join in zazen or other activities. Tenshin Reb Anderson-roshi, who used to be the abbot of City Zen Center, is a senior teacher at Green Gulch. He trains priests and laypeople, leads meditation retreats, gives talks, and holds workshops. He also lives on site.
Friends of SFZC
SFZC has unofficial connections to these other Zen Centers:
- Berkeley Zen Center
- Brooklyn Zen Center
- Chapel Hill Zen Center
- Hartford Street Zen Center
- Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center
- Santa Cruz Zen Center
- Sonoma Mountain Zen Center
- Austin Zen Center
- San Antonio Zen Center
- Houston Zen Center
- Dharma Vow Zen Sangha, Santa Monica
People Connected to SFZC
| Shunryu Suzuki (founder) | Zentatsu Richard Baker | Edward Espe Brown | Kobun Chino Otogawa | Taigen Dan Leighton |
| Jakusho Kwong | Sojun Mel Weitsman | Tenshin Reb Anderson | David Chadwick | Seirin Barbara Kohn |
| Ryushin Paul Haller | Philip Whalen | Jiko Linda Cutts | Zoketsu Norman Fischer | |
| Dainin Katagiri | Josho Patricia Phelan | Zenkei Blanche Hartman | Hozan Alan Senauke | |
| Wu Bong (Jacob Perl) | Furyu Nancy Schroeder | Fenton Johnson | Yvonne Rand | Maylie Scott |
| Issan Dorsey | Angie Boissevain | Joanne Kyger | Dairyu Michael Wenger | Gil Fronsdal |
See also
- Zen in the United States
- Buddhism in the United States
- Bush Street Temple
- Hartford Street Zen Center
- Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States
