Please join us for our annual celebration of Buddha’s Birthday this coming Saturday. There’ll be zazen (seated meditation) a little earlier than usual for Saturday, at 6:00 a.m., walking meditation at 6:40 a.m., and a shorter sitting at 6:50 a.m. followed by morning chanting at 7:20. A simple breakfast will then be taken semi-formally in our dining room, but please note that you must sign up ahead-of-time if you want breakfast (415-863-2507, hszc108@yahoo.com). There will be the usual period of sitting at 9:25 a.m., and the Dharma talk at 10:15, after which we’ll walk-and-sit until about 11:40, when we’ll have the ceremony of Bathing the Baby Buddha. Then we’ll have refreshments for all upstairs in the living room. Everyone is welcome. Donations are always appreciated and very much needed, but don’t let that stop you from attending if you’re not in a position to donate right now. Happy Buddha’s Birthday to all!
20 February full moon ceremony & half day retreat
Please join us for a half day retreat/schedule including Oryoki breakfast if you let us know in advance (sign up). this event will go from 6am until a bit after 12, noon. included in the schedule is the monthly full moon ceremony.
The full snow moon. usually the heaviest snows fall in February. hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some Native American tribes this was the Hunger Moon.
The Full Moon Ceremony is our renewal of our Bodhisattva vows and will occur 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 for < 60minutes, followed by ceremony when applicable and then right to social time, tea and cookies.
Please join us!
6 February @11am 恭禧發財 Happy New Year!
恭禧發財 Gong Xi Fa Cai ! Please join us for the fourth annual event for a Chinese (lunar) New Year Celebration and remembrance to those who have gone beyond. This is the year of the FIRE Monkey.
Join us next Saturday for our normal program including a talk by our Abbot Rev Myo Lahey, followed by some Chinese New Year décor, treats and the symbolic call to our deceased loved ones, followed by offerings to make their current state a more enjoyable one and just remember them and send loving intentions through joss paper offerings.
It is also the event we recognize our completed goals and wishes by offering our Daruma to the beyond in the joss paper fire and installing a new Daruma by coloring in one eye as setting the goal (traditional Daruma process).
This day in China is also recognized as the birthday of Maitreya Bodhisattva (better known as the more familiar Budai Luohan), the Buddha-to-be. Thus people also abstain from killing animals (eating meat) on this day.
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. Dharma talk at 10:15 am followed by tea and cookies.
Please join us this Saturday for this celebration and we hope to see you often!
let peace & quiet find you
23 January double feature!
Please join us for two events this upcoming Saturday:
Koso gotan-e – observed – Jan 23rd. January 26th is the birthday of Dogen (the Founder of Soto Zen). Dogen was born in Kyoto on January 2nd (January 26th in the solar calendar). On January 26th, in Japan Soto Temples two ceremonies are held in celebration of his birth.
The monthly Full Moon 
Ceremony for the “full wolf moon” This full Moon appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages. It is also known as the Old Moon. To some Native American tribes, this was the Snow Moon, but most applied that name to the next full Moon, in February
The Full Moon Ceremony is our renewal of our Bodhisattva vows and will occur 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 for < 60minutes, followed by ceremony when applicable and then right to social time, tea and cookies. Please join us!
HSZC closed, Monday January 18th – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther 
King, Jr.) is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King’s birthday, January 15. The holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act.
King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years later. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.
Enjoy the holiday & we will see you Tuesday!
Welcome to 2016!
Welcome to 2016!
in Chinese astrology the year of the Monkey (Element Fire). We will celebrate the Chinese new year on February 6th. Using the Gregorian calendar, as we do in the U.S.A. as does Japan, we have started the new year as of today and wish you joy, peace and a prosperous year!
We are closed today but hope to see you tomorrow as we go back to our regular routine!
In Chinese astrology:
Full of strength and determination, Fire Monkeys are excellent at not only setting goals, but in meeting them as well. Others enjoy being in the company of Fire Monkeys, even though these Monkeys want the upper hand in every situation.
The positive and negative quality of the Monkey Year 2016 culminate in a year that anything can happen. There is little point in storing up goods or planning one’s life. The influence of the Monkey puts everything into flux. Things will get accomplished, but largely through personal and individual efforts. Group movements, such as political upheaval or revolutions, will not make a mark during this year.
New Year 2016! join us Dec 31! starting at 7:30pm
Join us for an evening event kicking off at 7:30pm Dec 31 and taking us into 12am Jan 1 2016!
There’ll be some soji or traditional New Year’s temple cleaning, a light snack , zazen (seated meditation), striking our large bell 108 times, a burning ceremony of things to leave behind in 2015, and finally a toast to the new year.
Please note: There won’t be the regularly scheduled zendo events on the 31st… and we will be closed the 1st of January (We will additionally observe Chinese new year and goals set with a new Daruma, as we have been the past few years along with joss offerings to those beyond our visible realm for the year of the Monkey in early-February).