Dec 8 – 9th: Winter Light Extended Schedule/Sitting
For the 2023 year, we offer an evening and the bulk of the following day.
We will have zoom presence. We are finalizing the schedule and offerings that will be included, meal planning and will be offered for second full day.Click here for the schedule
We hope you will join us for this rare annual event and deepening practice opportunity.
Join us Saturday for a talk at 10:30am offered by Rev. Daiko Tanzen, David Bullock; one of our current connection 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. In addition we will conduct our brief monthly founder’s memorial for Rev. Issan Dorsey.
We will thank our dear founder of our temple, little zen community start and our space; also remember him for those who knew him after the talk on Saturday.
Join us for zazen (seated meditation) at 6:30am and/or 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.
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.
The Billys is a heart-centered community of cis and trans men, woven together by shared values and our shared experience as gay, bi, and queer men. We embrace everyone with deep welcome and radical acceptance regardless of age, race/ethnicity, religion, and income level. Heart Circle is the Billys central ritual where we “sit” gently together, holding space for each other and sharing deeply. Heart Circle is where community is forged.
This is a mask optional event, full vaccination is encouraged; please stay home if ill. Online Billys Heart Circle via zoom is available each week; see thebillys.org/events for registration and details.
the ancient ceremony known in Japanese as Sejiki, or “Feeding the Jiki (wandering spirits)” is often performed near Halloween in United States’ Zen Centers. This ceremony addresses our connection to the “unseen world”, typically overlooked in the West. All aspects of our life that have been disowned, disrespected and denied are invited to come forth from exile and be nourished, a gesture that may have particular significance for members of the LGBTiQQ community, whose own place in the social order has been undermined by fear, prejudice and violence.
Join us for zazen (seated meditation), with the talk to follow, we offer in-person distanced attendance; We also will continue to offer a Zoom web conferencing for video and/or audio presence for the scheduled events. 9:30 zazen (you can log into the conference starting at 9am to socialize) for 40 minutes and a Dharma talk at 10:30am, followed by Q&A as well as an opportunity to check in and see how you are doing, followed by a ceremony if applicable, then tea and cookies in person after that. Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.
Please join us Saturdays and we hope to see you often!
We have been kindly invited to join the SFZC parade contingent of the SF LGBT+ Parade Sunday, June 26th 2022, Historically it has been acceptable if you wish, to wear an HSZC/Issan-ji temple t-shirt to promote our temple too if you own any from the past few designs that have been developed.
Please both join us this month @ Issan-ji to continue to be a part of one of the world’s only and longest running Buddhist spaces with a particular focus as it was founded and still is primarily attended and funded for and by the LGBT+ community & walk in the parade.
Here are details if you wish to join the march/walk and if you intend to go or can serve as a safety monitor please let us know so we can let SFZC organizers know.
As of now, below are the full details on the march/parade we have and more to come, also please for more and to notify SFZC email: tetsugen.keido@yahoo.com (Keido) to get updates and he can advise SFZC of your attendance.
“We will gather at 300 Page Street at 9:30 a.m. and take Muni together to the spot assigned to our contingent. If people prefer to meet us there, I will send our contingent number and meet-up location once we receive that information. We’ll have a truck for those who’d like to ride rather than walk and will be decorating the truck while we wait to begin marching. The theme of this year’s parade is Love Will Keep Us Together. Some of us will be wearing robes or other Zen clothing, others of us will be dressing creatively. You are welcome to create banners. Here’s a link to the parade website. We’ll need some volunteers to be contingent monitors (for safety); SF Pride provides a brief online training for that role.”
A special happy pride month as we still continue to crawl out of the pandemic. There is an opportunity for Issan-ji/HSZC Sangha to march/walk in the Pride Parade the last Sunday of June with sfzc. More details to come.
Otherwise and in addition, have a very joy-filled month celebrating who you are and who you love and the progress our community has made since these events began and the many years prior.
Please join us on the 16th of April, Saturday morning for a Dharma talk by Rev. Ryuei, Michael McCormick, who was ordained to the Nichiren-shū (Lotus Sutra School) ministry in 2001 by Rev. Ryusho Matsuda, of the San Jose Nichiren Temple.
Rev. McCormick is also a long-time practitioner of zazen (seated meditation) and a student of the writings of Dōgen-zenji.
Saturday mornings we offer in-person distanced attendance and continued zoom alternative or for those far from the temple.
You are invited to join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.
Kokyo currently residing in Crestone, Colorado has served as Head Teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center. He has been practicing zen since 1990 in residence at Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan. He was ordained a priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010.
Kokyo’s interests include looking at how the classic original teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan are still very much alive and useful in present-day America to bring peace and harmony to this troubled world.
You may join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.
