San Francisco Zen Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) is the largest Soto Zen temple and practice organization in the United States and possibly anywhere outside of Japan. SFZC is made up of three temples:
- City Center (Beginner's Mind Temple; 發心寺, Hoshin-Ji) in the heart of San Francisco, California;
- Tassajara (Zen Mind Temple; 禪心寺, Zenshinji) in the middle of the Ventana Wilderness Area of Monterey County, California;
- Green Gulch Farm (Green Dragon Temple; 蒼龍寺, Sōryūji) on the coast of Marin County, California, a few miles north of the Golden Gate.
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[edit] Founding and Early History
Shunryu Suzuki came to the United States in 1959, to serve as the resident priest at Sokoji, the Soto Zen temple serving the Japanese community in San Francisco. Suzuki would sit zazen, or seated meditation, every morning at his temple on Bush Street in Japantown. Although the Japanese members of his congregation were not so interested in zazen, which in Japan is considered to be an activity for monks, some young Americans began sitting with him in the early morning. Many had read the zen writings of Alan Watts or D.T. Suzuki, but here was an opportunity to actually practice with a real "zen master". As this group of students grew, he gradually introduced them to various Buddhist teachings and zen practices. The group was incorporated as a standard church organization in 1962, calling itself San Francisco Zen Center. In 1968, it was reincorporated as a corporation sole, a structure which entrusted ownership of all SFZC property to Shunryu Suzuki in his role as abbot.
Shunryu Suzuki became best known for his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a collection of his talks, which became the best-selling book on Zen Buddhism in the english language. In it, he speaks of the importance of maintaining the open-ness, curiosity, and flexibility that is characteristic of the beginner, stating: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind, there are few."
[edit] Tassajara Zen Mountain Center
In 1966, SFZC acquired Tassajara Hot Springs, a remote hot springs resort in the Los Padres National Forest, inland from Big Sur. Tassajara had been a sacred site of healing for the Esalen Indians before the arrival of the Spanish in Monterey County, and a hot springs resort since the late 19th Century. SFZC financed the purchase of Tassajara in part by holding a benefit concert, known as the "Zenefit", featuring such acts as the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company. After SFZC bought the property, it was decided to continue its function as a resort during the summer months, but to close to the public during the rest of the year for monastic training periods. With the first of these training periods in 1967, Tassajara became the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside of Asia.
[edit] City Center
In 1969, it became obvious that Suzuki could not be a full-time teacher for his American students and still fulfill his duties towards the Japanese congregation at Sokoji. SFZC then bought a large brick building a few blocks away, which had been designed by the famed Bay Area architect Julia Morgan, and had served as a residence for unmarried Jewish women since 1922. Suzuki and his students took up residence in the building, converting the ball room into a meditation hall, and the large front lounge into a Buddha Hall.
[edit] Green Gulch
With Suzuki's death from cancer in late 1971, the abbotship passed to his dharma heir, Richard Baker, who had effectively run the organization throughout much of the 1960s. Richard Baker's abbotship saw the acquisition of a third practice center in 1972, Green Gulch Farm in Marin County. Green Gulch had been the property of George Wheelwright, whose plans to sell his ranch by the ocean coincided with Zen Center's desire to have a farming-based community that would be conducive to family practice.
Under Richard Baker's abbotship, Zen Center also expanded into several business ventures in San Francisco, such as Greens Restaurant, Alaya Stitchery, the Tassajara Bakery, and the Green Gulch Green Grocer.
SFZC is known to many people through the mark it has left on the vegetarian culinary arts, primarily through the Tassajara Bread Book and Tassajara Recipe Book, both written by Edward Espe Brown, a disciple of Suzuki, and through Greens Restaurant, and the cookbooks associated with it.
[edit] Scandal and Reform
The 1980s were a time of restructuring and turmoil. In 1983, amidst allegations of sexual and financial improprieties, Richard Baker stepped down as abbot and eventually started his own practice centers in Colorado and Germany. At this time, the organization structure of SFZC was changed, from a traditional Japanese hierarchy centered on the abbot to a more democratic model, with more power given to the Board of Directors. Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri, who had originally come to the US to assist Suzuki at Sokoji, and had been acting as head of the the Minnesota Zen Center, took over as SFZC's abbot on an interim basis. Tenshin Reb Anderson then became abbot, and in 1988, the Board of Directors decided that he should share the position with a co-abbot, Sojun Mel Weitsman. In the period of restructuring, many of Zen Center's business ventures were discontinued.
[edit] SFZC today
Today, San Francisco Zen Center has re-established itself as a vibrant place of zen practice, emphasizing zazen, work practice, and training in traditional Soto Zen monastic forms, while attempting to make the tradition accessible to a Western audience. Both City Center and Green Gulch have weekly public programs and classes, which serve as an introduction to Buddhist practice, while supporting the on-going practice of the non-residental Buddhist community. For residents, the three practice centers that comprise SFZC complement each other, with many practitioners spending time at all three places.
SFZC remains actively engaged in the wider community in many ways. It attempts to address many of the country's pressing social issues through its work with the homeless, the prison population, the sick and dying, and youth mentorship. It is also engaged in many efforts toward ecological renewal, through its work with organic agriculture and gardening, environmental education, renewable energy, and watershed restoration.
Since 1988, the San Francisco Zen Center has been led by two equal co-abbots, an Elders Council consisting of senior teachers, and the Board of Directors. The current abbots are Myogen Steve Stucky and Paul Haller.
[edit] Members and Former Members
San Francisco Zen Center currently has over 150 residents, about a thousand members, and over forty affiliated temples and zen groups in the US, Canada, Latin America, and Europe.
Several important Western Zen teachers have practiced at SFZC, including Shunryu Suzuki, Jakusho Kwong-roshi, Zentatsu Richard Baker, Sojun Mel Weitsman, Taitaku Patricia Phelan, Ryushin Paul Haller, Tenshin Reb Anderson, Issan Dorsey, Philip Whalen, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Dainin Katagiri, Kobun Chino, and Edward Espe Brown.
