Hartford Street Zen Center | Issan-ji temple
A Sōtō Zen temple for the LGBTQ+ community, friends and allies in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood
We will be closed for the holiday (Mem0rial day) Monday, May 25th and;
The week of May 26-29 we will only be offering the evening public schedule. We will be open for our schedule’s evening Zazen and Chanting Service these days. We will be back to regular schedule as of May 30th.
Thank you and please have a safe holiday and we will see you soon!
Join us this 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!
Fugan Eugene Bush, D.D., Practice Leader of Santa Cruz Zen Center will offer a talk for the HSZC Sangha.
Eugene or ‘Gene’ began formal Zen practice in 1982, was ordained as a priest in 2005 and received Dharma Transmission from Katherine Thanas in 2010. Until recently Gene served for many years as the Administrator of Santa Cruz Zen Center. He is now Coordinator of the Sangha Support Net.
He also teaches the traditional practice of sewing Buddha’s Robe (rakusu and okesa). His paid work was as teacher in a public alternative high school in Santa Cruz. He is most interested in the ways in which formal practice trains us for everyday life.
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!
May 2nd around 11am is our next full moon ceremony. May is the full flower moon; in most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. thus, the name of this moon. other names include the full corn planting moon, or the milk 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!
Please join us for a Dharma talk Next Saturday by Ko Shin 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.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), morning service, 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 and then socializing, tea and cookies.
Please join us next Saturday for a Dharma talk offered by Kōnin Cardenas.
Kōnin is A nun ordained in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition who began practicing Zen in 1987 and was ordained in 2007, currently working as a 
Spiritual Care Counselor for Pathways Hospice in the East Bay area (near San Francisco), and the Dorm Manager for the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley. Also the leader of “Dharma en Español,” a Spanish-language Zen study group at San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) and co-chair of the SFZC Cultural Awareness and Inclusivity Committee and an amateur calligrapher and sumi-e painter, occasionally giving classes in sutra copying. During the past 10 years Kōnin has been primarily engaged in Buddhist monastic practice, inter-faith chaplaincy, non-profit development, and volunteer management. In previous roles she served as a finance professional, Kōnin was a Mortgage Banking Subject Matter Expert, educating residential lenders on reinsurance structures, and a Vice President at a boutique investment bank executing middle-market software mergers and acquisitions with an MBA from University of California, Berkeley and the mother of a wonderful 23-year-old woman.
Her long-term vision is to found a women’s residential center that integrates Buddhist study and zazen with community service and socially-engaged leadership training.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), morning service, 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 and then socializing, tea and cookies.
We’ll have a Dharma talk as usual at 10:15 a.m., and afterwards a ceremony celebrating the birth of the baby Buddha in which we circumambulate the zendo (meditation hall) while chanting the Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra.
Subsequently we’ll repair to the dining room for the birthday party itself. Everyone is welcome, please join us!
