Hartford Street Zen Center | Issan-ji temple
A Sōtō Zen temple for the LGBTQ+ community, friends and allies in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood
At around 11am after our normal Saturday program and Dharma talk we will have our annual observance to commemorate the life and life’s work of Rev. John King, a loved and missed member of our Sangha. Please join us to remember and celebrate this wonderful human life and you can even hear one of his talks at HSZC by clicking here.
We hope you can join us!
Our apologies to the moon and you! In noting the once a month names and history of the native names 
for our full moon ceremony I mislabeled this month the Sturgeon or the green corn moon… That is incorrect and in late August! This Saturday is a second full Moon of July Celebration and something we use in a common phrase… “once in a ….”
Please join us for a renewal of Bodhisattva vows under the beloved BLUE MOON! A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year, either the third of four full moons in a season or, a second full moon in a month of the common calendar.
The phrase has nothing to do with the actual color of the moon, although a literal “blue moon” (the moon appearing with a tinge of blue) may occur in certain atmospheric conditions; e.g., when there are volcanic eruptions or when exceptionally large fires leave particles in the atmosphere.
The original meaning would then have been “betrayer moon”, referring to a full moon that would “normally” (in years without an intercalary month) be the full moon of spring, while in an intercalary year, it was “traitorous” in the sense that people would have had to continue fasting for another month in accordance with the season of Lent.
It is our renewal of our Bodhisattva vows this upcoming Saturday morning after the Saturday Morning Dharma talk.
The ceremony takes about a half-hour and involves some thirty full prostrations, but simple standing bows are also all right if prostrations are too strenuous. All are welcome to join in this ceremony/celebration.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), morning service, a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15am followed by ceremony when applicable and then right to social time, tea and cookies. Please join us as this only will occur once in a blue moon!
We have completed the Vimalakirti Sutra and will take a break and not hold study hour on August 6, 2015. Congratulations all! Thank you for joining us.
We will reconvene on Thursday August 13th and start to work through selections by Zen Master Dōgen. For August 13th, we will review the Manifestation of Great Prajña (wisdom) found in the Shobo Genzo. Please read this in advance of our next study hour and we will focus on the translation by Kazuaki Tanahashi and a team of translators. Pictured and found here.
The upcoming Saturday is the full moon ceremony. August is the full sturgeon moon, the fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month. a few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultry haze. it was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon and as such, it is our renewal of our Bodhisattva vows this upcoming Saturday morning after the Saturday Morning Dharma talk.
The ceremony takes about a half-hour and involves some thirty full prostrations, but simple standing bows are also all right if prostrations are too strenuous. All are welcome to join in this ceremony/celebration.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), morning service, a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15am followed by ceremony when applicable and then right to social time, tea and cookies. Please join us
Join us next Saturday for A talk at 10:15am offered by Rev. Daiko Tanzen, David Bullock; 
one of our current connections to the early days of Hartford Street’s Zen Center founding; the garden’s long term friend, current Board President and many other capacities past and present of HSZC (as well as the past Maitri); and he was ordained by the temple’s founder – Rev. Issan Dorsey.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30 am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15 am followed by a ceremony if applicable, then tea and cookies with socializing. Please know you are welcome and invited!
Anshi Daigi, Zachary Smith, has been practicing since 
1993. He took jukai in 1995 and was shuso in 2007 under Abbot Paul Haller, who ordained him as a priest in 2014. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai group in North Beach. In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband and father (of 4), an engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30 am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15 am followed by tea and cookies. Please join us!
