Author: TetsuGen KeiDo

Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253),^[1][2] also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

Originally ordained as a monk in the Tendai School in Kyoto, he was ultimately dissatisfied with its teaching and traveled to China to seek out what he believed to be a more authentic Buddhism. He remained there for four years, finally training under Tiantong Rujing, an eminent teacher of the Caodong (Soto in Japan) lineage of Chinese Chan (“Zen” in Japan). Upon his return to Japan, he began promoting the practice of zazen (sitting meditation) through literary works such as Fukanzazengi and Bendōwa… more info here…

Join us for zazen (seated meditation) at 9:30am, with the Dharma talk to follow at 10:30. We offer in-person distanced attendance, and we also will continue to offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. There’s an earlier sitting at 6:30am, in addition to the later one at 9:30am (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize). A period of zazen is typically 40 minutes, and it’s ok to adjust your sitting posture as needed. The Dharma talk includes time for questions and answers, occasionally followed by a particular ceremony such as the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday. We enjoy tea and cookies together afterwards. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering 

And as always you can contact us to arrange an introductory session ~8:45am if you are a beginner.

As a reminder any week you do not see a speaker announced it is our Abbot, Rev. Myo Lahey.

In Atlanta, GA is the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Seeing actual journal notes and letters written in MLK’s own quite beautiful penmanship and seeing this recent history presented in a very touching way is a very emotional and beautiful opportunity.

 – South Wall. “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Washington National Cathedral, March 31, 1968.  Wishing you a wonderful Martin Luther King Jr. day in  honor of the still in progress dream and work towards equality.   https://www.civilandhumanrights.org/

We hope the changing of year for the solar calendar has been one of joy, good health and a calm core of equanimity.

It is back to our usual Saturday programs where the speaker is Rev. Myo Lahey, our Abbot on Saturdays unless otherwise communicated by a guest or the other resident priest. If you’re feeling a little less centered, miss community, have a new years resolution to take better care of your body-heart-mind we encourage you to join us!

This Saturday lands on the monthly Rev. Issan Dorsey (our founder) memorial to thank him for his life work and putting into motion the HSZC/Issan-ji temple we still enjoy and are grateful for today.

Join us for zazen (seated meditation) at 9:30am, with the Dharma talk to follow at 10:30. We offer in-person distanced attendance, and we also will continue to offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. There’s an earlier sitting at 6:30am, in addition to the later one at 9:30am (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize). A period of zazen is typically 40 minutes, and it’s ok to adjust your sitting posture as needed. The Dharma talk includes time for questions and answers, occasionally followed by a particular ceremony such as the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday. We enjoy tea and cookies together afterwards. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering 

And as always you can contact us to arrange an introductory session ~8:45am if you are a beginner.

As a reminder any week you do not see a speaker announced it is our Abbot, Rev. Myo Lahey.

We celebrated Bodhi day with the usual ceremony as part of the retreat last weekend and hope all enjoyed that holiday time frame.

And now living here in the USA there are multiple religious and secular united states’ holidays coming and thus some closures for Issan-Ji, HSZC.

We will be closed:
December 23-26, 2023
January 1, 2024

In addition we are told Meditation in Recovery groups:
will keep its schedule except Dec 25, 2023 and Jan 1, 2024 will be zoom only.

Photos of 2023 Winter Light Retreat attendees plus Donna on Zoom! A deep thank you to all for keeping the heart beating in this ancient and beneficial way for you and for the world and for Issan-ji, HSZC.

Thank you for guiding us as always Rev. Myo; Daiko Tanzen, David for the nourishment; Shuji, Shindo and Keido for running “stuff” under Myo’s skilled direction; Jim H. for traveling and staying the night. And all others who lent a hand in tasks and encourage us all with your presence.

We look forward to see you all again soon and encourage all to join for those who want to pursue this life of and in, peace and equanimity.

And a blurry one to try and catch the photographer… :-\

We look forward to you joining and have a nice signed up in-person number of attendees too. Below are the details:

Schedule here

Friday Night Zoom here

Saturday Zoom here (same as usual Saturday link)

Chant book from past years’ retreats here

Steven Tierney (Kai Po Koshin) is a Dharma transmitted teacher in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. Steven practices with: Meditation in Recovery, Great Spirit, SFLGBTQA, and Dragons Leap Sanghas in addition to the Harford Street Zen Center. Steven believes that we can find wisdom, compassion and awakening wherever good people come together for practice, healing, service and joy. Tierney is a psychotherapist in private practice and Professor Emeritus in Counseling Psychology at CIIS.

We hope you can join us!

Join us for zazen (seated meditation) at 9:30am, with the Dharma talk to follow at 10:30. We offer in-person distanced attendance, and we also will continue to offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. There’s an earlier sitting at 6:30am, in addition to the later one at 9:30am (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize). A period of zazen is typically 40 minutes, and it’s ok to adjust your sitting posture as needed. The Dharma talk includes time for questions and answers, occasionally followed by a particular ceremony such as the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday. We enjoy tea and cookies together afterwards. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering 

And as always you can contact us to arrange an introductory session ~8:45am if you are a beginner.

As a reminder any week you do not see a speaker announced it is our Abbot, Rev. Myo Lahey.