08/09/2025, Shundo David Haye, dharma talk at City Center. Shundo David Haye reflects on the way we hold stories about ourselves and others, and how our practice of dwelling in silence can help us change our relationship with them.

Stories and Silence

08/10/2025, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho discusses the reality that a human body will turn to dust and yet it is the body in which we carry the dharma and come to know it. As Dogen Zenji, founder of Soto Zen, taught, "To expound the dharma with this body is foremost."

To Expound the Dharma with This Body

08/13/2025, Anshi Zachary Smith, dharma talk at City Center. Anshi Zachary Smith examines case 96 from the Blue Cliff Record which holds suggestions about how to frame one’s practice and warnings about the many ways we can get it wrong.

Three Turning Phrases

08/16/2025, Tenzen David Zimmerman, dharma talk at City Center. Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman unpacks what it might mean to become yourself through the simple but challenging practice of shikantaza (just sitting), referencing Suzuki Roshi’s teachings and two Zen koans.

Sitting as Your True Self

07/12/2025, Kiku Christina Lehnherr, dharma talk at City Center.
Kiku Christina Lehnherr explores the dharma of living and practicing in a human body.

This Human Body

08/17/2025, Doshin Dan Gudgel, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Doshin Dan Gudgel explores how feeling the preciousness of life can support deep practice, kindness and gentleness.

Lucky to Be Alive

07/13/2025, Gengyoko Tim Wicks, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.
Gengyoko Tim Wicks explores cultivating joyful energy in times of crisis, with reference to Eihei Dogen Zenji and the Dhammapada.

Virya / Hypernormalisation

08/23/2025, Myles Cowherd, dharma talk at City Center.
Myles Cowherd explores the transformative power of sincerity and acceptance as a counterpoint to a life of seriousness and fear.

Bearing Witness to the Tension in Our Life

08/24/2025, Marc Lesser, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm.
Marc Lesser points out that “And yet” is a way of seeing differently, with greater confidence and greater humility. “And yet” could be how we describe history, our lives, and our futures.

Live What You See, Not What You Know

08/27/2025, So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at City Center.
So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson explores what it means to be a good ancestor now: carrying warmth, witnessing others into fullness, and tending the ceremonies of life with reverence.

Ancestor Warmth

The purpose of San Francisco Zen Center is to make accessible and embody the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha as expressed in the Soto Zen tradition established by Dogen Zenji in 13th-century Japan and conveyed to us by Suzuki Roshi and other Buddhist teachers. Our practice flows from the insight that all beings are Buddha, and that sitting in meditation is itself the realization of Buddha nature, or enlightenment.

Virya / Hypernormalisation

San Francisco Zen Center

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