Category: News

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28 of January @11am double feature events! Dōgen Zenji’s birthday & Lunar New Year!

After the dharma talk @10:15am on Saturday January 28th we will have short ceremony to pay homage to the Birth of Dōgen Zenji the founder of our school of Zen Buddhism in Japan and then we will hop the sea of Japan for our 5th annual Chinese New Year Celebration (lunar new year) as we welcome in Chinese Astrology the year of the Fire Rooster or sometimes referred to as the year of the Phoenix.

817 years ago born in Kyōto, Dōgen founded the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan after traveling to China and training under Rujing, a master of the Chinese Caodong (Chinese Sōtō Zen) lineage.

He is widely respected for his  beautiful writing, teachings and thorough documentation of how a monastery should operate. Click here to read more about Dōgen.

Then…

Gong Xi Fa Cai ! Please join us for the fifth annual event for a Chinese (lunar) New Year Celebration and remembrance to those who have gone beyond. This is the year of the FIRE Rooster.

After the dharma talk and birthday ceremony by our Abbot Rev Myō Lahey, join us for 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!

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Jan 7, 2017 – Jukai lay initiation ceremony @11am

Two of our dear and beloved Sangha members will have a Jukai (lay initiation) receiving of precepts ceremony immediately following the Saturday morning Dharma talk. This public ceremony is to celebrate and formally mark a practitioner receiving the sixteen Bodhisattva precepts (3 refuges, 3 pure precepts, 10 essential precepts) and vowing to work to live their life in accordance with these precepts.

Please join us for this wonderful event to celebrate Ben and Richard’s vows, renew our own, to congratulate Richard, Ben and all on the Soto Zen path!

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26 November – Guest Speaker Sensei Elaine Donlin @ 10:15am

Sensei Elaine Donlin is a fourth-generation San Franciscan native and is so very grateful to be living in the city she loves. She was raised Catholic, attending 12 years of Catholic school, and made a conscious decision to leave the church—at 17 years of age—after struggling with Church doctrine around homosexuality, birth control, and female clergy.

15450584185_ba6a585ac9_k-2Elaine discovered Buddhism through a comparative religion course in college and thus began a 30-year journey of practice in a variety of traditions. Her home is in Jodo Shinshu, a Pure Land Buddhist tradition.  Since 2008 she has been teaching “Essentials of Buddhism” courses at Buddhist Church of San Francisco (BCSF) serves at several Buddhist Church locations and serves as the Buddhist Community Clergy Chaplain for several SF hospitals. Elaine is an ordained priest serving the Resident Minister at BCSF.

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 are offered a dharma talk at 10:15 am followed by tea and cookies.

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12 November @ 10:15am – Rev. Daiko Tanzen, David Bullock, dharma talk

Join us next Saturday for  A talk at 10:15am offered by  Rev. Daiko Tanzen, David Bullock; Jizo_Bosatsu__Oth_._Insp._Webone 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!