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’ll have the monthly Full-Moon Ceremony renewal of our Bodhisattva vows Saturday morning.
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.
Everyone is welcome to take part in this celebration.
In Chinese astrology we are getting ready to say good bye to the year of the Dragon 2012 and to welcome the Year of the Water, Snake! Snake is the Yin to last year’s Dragon Yang. Snake does not settle for mediocrity. The Snake is believed to symbolize developments in the area of science and technology. Research and development are said in year of the snake to flourish. The element this year is Water, the element most closely associated with education and research, making 2013 a great year for scientists and scholars. Snake is a great sign, a positive one, with energy that can help us face all of the challenges ahead of us.
Hartford Street Zen Center will be launching a month-long clothing drive on Saturday, January 19th continuing until February 23rd. Please click here for more details
The Hartford Street Zen Center has availability for one practice resident as of February 2013. We are looking for individuals interested in and committed to experiencing residential practice at a small, urban temple, helping to create and maintain a harmonious and welcoming place for our resident and non-resident sangha and living an engaged practice schedule.
Applicants ideally have prior experience with Soto Zen practice, and prior residential practice experience is not a requirement, but is preferred. While participation and assistance in the daily events of the sangha are expected of any practice resident, it is our expectation that most residents are employed outside of the center, and so we are accommodating toward one’s professional schedule as long as there is enough personal practice as guided and determined by our Practice Leader to be an active and engaged residential student.
Please drop by to inquire in person!
Anshin Rosalie Curtis came to SF Zen Center for the first time on January 2, 1982 for a Saturday Dharma talk. She has held various staff and officer positions and was SF Zen Center’s graphic designer for ten years in the 1990s. She completed her shuso training as a lay practitioner in 2004, was ordained as a priest a year later, and received Dharma transmission from Michael Wenger in 2011. Recently she served as the Chief Financial Officer for SFZC and it’s subsidiaries. Currently she is the tanto, head of practice, at SFZC – City Center.
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!
Wishing you a safe, peaceful and happy season to you and yours during holidays you celebrate or even if you do not celebrate any holidays in December! 
For those who celebrate our deepest support and intentions of love during: Ashura, Yom Kipper, Feast of St. Nicholas, Bodhi Day (Rohatsu), Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Feast of Lady of Guadalupe, Hanukka (Chanukah), Yalda, Yule (winter solstice), Christmas, Zarathustra Memorial, Kwanzaa.
Please rejoin us for our regular schedule as of Dec 27th and have a safe and equanimous few days or if you celebrate… Holiday!
HSZC will house a pot luck dinner on December 25th for those who are around. Please see our facebook page post on Dec 16th for details!
