Author: TetsuGen KeiDo

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6 February 2021 – Guest Speaker Rev. Koshin, Steven Tierney

Please join us for a Dharma talk Next Saturday by Koshin Steven Tierney, Ed.D. LPCC, who is Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as well as a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco. Steven has been studying and practicing Buddhism for more than 25 years and was ordained by Michael Wenger in 2013, serving as Shuso in 2014. Steven’s commitment is to a community-based Buddhism and he has spent the last twenty years extending Buddha’s teachings to those living with addictions, in recovery and those facing serious physical and mental health challenges.  A certified addiction specialist, he is the Co-Founder of the San Francisco Mindfulness Foundation providing training, consultation, psychotherapy mindfulness-based mental health services to individuals and families.

To join us Saturday mornings online we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. ~9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~10:10am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Dharma Talks on Saturdays –

Whenever we do not post a guest speaker please know the talk on Saturdays still occurs and is offered by our Abbot, Rev. Myō Lahey.

Thank you and please join us!

To join us Saturday mornings online we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events starting at 9am to socialize, ~9:25 zazen (meditation) a Dharma talk at ~10:10am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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9 January 2021 – Guest Speaker Rev. Koshin, Steven Tierney

Please join us for a Dharma talk Next Saturday by KoShin Steven Tierney, Ed.D. CAS who is Professor of Counseling Psychology and Chair of the Community Mental Health Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. A certified addiction specialist, he is the Co- Founder of the San Francisco Mindfulness Foundation, providing relapse prevention and mindfulness- based services to individuals and families.

Steven has been studying and practicing Buddhism for more than 20 years and was ordained by Michael Wenger on January 6, 2013. Steven’s commitment is to a community based Buddhism and he has spent the last ten years extending Buddha’s teachings to those living with addictions, in recovery and those facing serious health and mental health challenges.

To join us Saturday mornings online we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. ~9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:55am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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New Year’s Eve event for 2021

Please join us online as we welcome in the new year using east coast times! The event will start at 7:30pm PT and wrap up 9pm PT which is midnight at times square where people in past year’s gathered to watch the crystal ball usher in a new year. Below are our details including how to make the traditional noodles like we served in past years at issan-ji temple/hszc when we could gather in-person—

Details include:

7:30 – zazen with metta 

8:10 – kinhin

8:20 – zazen with 108 bells 🔔 

9:00 Happy East Coast New Year! 🙏🎉

101 Cookbooks Vegan Ramen recipe is here to inspire your new year’s noodles 🍜

To join us on zoom click here

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Happy Holidays! & temple closure

We wish you all a happy holiday season and hope that despite the difficulties of 2020 you find peace, joy and love alongside good health for you and yours whether you celebrate a winter holiday or do not.

Please note Issan-ji Temple/HSZC will not be online on Saturday December 26th the day after the christian/national holiday, or on Saturday 02 January 2021. We will see you Wednesday the 30th for the next practice opportunity followed by our East Coast timing New Years eve event at 7:30pm through 9pm PT. Our Saturday online events will resume on 09 January 2021, with folks invited to begin gathering at 9:00am.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 12/19 – Rev. Daigan Gaither ~9:45am

Daigan began Buddhist practice in 1995 as a Vipassana practitioner, and began to study Zen in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller. He received Lay Ordination in 2006 and Priest Ordination in 2011 and lived at San Francisco Zen Center properties a number of years.

His work and practice include many hours devoted to community service as one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (since 1995) and a volunteer caregiver with Zen Hospice Project (since 2003). He has spoken nationwide on sex, sexuality, queer identity, and gender and has sat on a number of boards of community organizations serving marginalized communities. He has lectured at colleges as well as conferences and is featured in Sex, Sin and Zen by Brad Warner.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker (Zoom Sangha): Sat. 12/12 –Rev. Peter Van Der Sterre

Peter was ordained by Richard Baker in 1975 and practiced at Zen Center in San Francisco, Tassajara and Green Gulch, returning to the market place in 1983 to establish a construction company and support his family. Prior to his arrival at Zen Center in 1972, he was practicing the solitary path of unguided meditation and rough carpentry in Zuni, New Mexico, Boston, Massachusetts, and Custer, South Dakota. He joined the Everyday Zen Community in 2001, and was the first Bay Area Shuso.

Since receiving transmission from Norman in 2011, He has been exploring the challenges and opportunities that poses, with the intention to extend his practice and support to others.

A few years ago he discovered an old Basque boarding house in the old North End of Boise, Idaho. He renovated one of the existing units and extended the new space up into the attic level, which required the removal of the roof and sagging rafters and reinforcing the existing structure. The new attic Zendo and guest space is light and warm, with a view to the south which includes several old church spires and part of the city center. Boise has several Buddhist groups, and he has connected with the Floating Cloud Sangha, who now have a place to meet, study and hold half day sittings, called The 7th Street Zendo. They can be located on the web at 7thStreetZendo.org

In San Francisco, located less than three blocks from Zen Center, he and others created The Oak Street Zendo, which offers a daily morning schedule, as well as classes and half day sittings on a semi regular basis, since it’s dedication in January 2015.  The power and engagement of group sitting and study has formed the core of his activity, both within and without the Everyday Zen practice calendar. On the web, they are located at OakStreetZendo.org.

Saturday mornings we offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:25 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) and a Dharma talk at ~9:45am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.