Category: News

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Wed, 11 Feb @7pm hszc member annual meeting

On Wed @ 7pm, we will meet in lieu of a board of director meeting with the full membership of hszc to have our annual meeting for the year 2014. Please all members and to be members join us, and please also see the letter below the image from the board of directors:

zen-monks

Dear Sangha (hszc community) Friend,

We hope this finds you doing well.

HSZC is expanding the membership of its Board of Directors, and seeking board members both inside outside of our immediate ‘temple family.’

This coming Wednesday (February 11) at 7 p.m., we’ll hold our annual Board meeting; it’s an opportunity for those interested in participating to observe, and ‘meet and greet.’

Our sangha and friends have a wide and varied depth of experiences across it’s membership, so I’m making a sales pitch to you…

HSZC is an active, intimate temple with 5 full time residents and twice daily zazen and service. 2015 holds an ambitious agenda for us; a nascent capital campaign, plans for a symposium to mark the 25th anniversary of our founder- Issan Dorsey’s- passing and celebrating the ongoing practice today, expanding our relationship to Maitri Compassionate Care, etc. We also host Meditation in Recovery (MIR) on Fridays, HIV and HIV Caregiver’s meditation groups, and monthly Women’s and Men’s MIR evenings.

Being a board member is a very meaningful way to ‘practice in the world.’ We care deeply about Issan-ji, and we all work with the ‘primary purpose’ of it’s well being as our intention.

So, think about being part of the HSZC Board of Directors: we’d be grateful to welcome you. And come visit this Wednesday, 11 February, at 7 p.m.

In gassho,

Hartford Street Zen Center Board of Directors

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Sat. January 24 – Dogen Zenji’s birthday

DogenZenjiDogen Zenji, the founder of Soto Zen School as well as of Daihonzan Eiheiji, was born on January 26, 1200 CE. This was during the Kamakura Period of Japanese history, the year following the death of Minamoto Yoritomo. It is said that his father was Koga Michichika, a government minister, and that his mother was Ishi, the daughter of Fujiwara Motofusa. Presumably, young Dogen Zenji lived in comfort. However, at the age of thirteen, he climbed Mt. Hiei, and the next year he shaved his head and became a monk. It is said that he became a monk because he felt the impermanence of the world on his mother’s death when he was eight years old. (more here)

As the founder of our school of Zen Buddhism, we would like to offer a bit of a celebration after the Dharma talk of his life and contributions to Zen & Buddhism in Japan and study and practice in China. Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation) at 6:30am, morning service, 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 ceremony if applicable) and then socializing,  tea and cookies.

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Please support HSZC!

monk-beggingGreetings and best wishes for the New Year to all of you, with many thanks for your continuing support. The new year will bring us to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of our founder, Issan Dainei. Through his original vision, along with the work and support of many people since, Hartford Street Zen Center has been offering the Dharma in the Castro for more than thirty years.

We ask that you help insure the practice of the Buddha Way in the Castro through your generosity. (click here for full annual appeal for donations letter)

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Sat. Dec 13th Guest Speaker – Kokyo Henkel @ 10:15am

Please join us this Saturday for Guest Speaker Kokyo Henkel
Kokyo is currently 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 thclassic 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.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation) a bit later at 6:30am, morning service, a brief drop-in or by appointment 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 ceremony if applicable) and then socializing, along with tea and cookies.
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Saturday 29, November 10:15am – Guest Speaker: Zachary Smith, Anshi Daigi

We are now wrapping up week 5 of our Fall into Winter Study period. We are also just 4 days away from the Winter Light (Rohatsu timing), Sesshin which will be our last week of the 2014 Fall Study Period.

AND this weekend we welcome into our more robust period of practice Zachary Smith, Anshi Daigi, for a Saturday Dharma talk at 10:15am.Untitled-1

Zachary Smith, Anshi Daigi has been practicing since 1993, took jukai in 1995, and was shuso under Abbot Paul Haller in Fall of 2007. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai group in North Beach. In addition to his involvement with Zen, Zachary is a husband and father (of 4), an engineer, a musician, a bike fanatic, and an avid but mediocre poet. He may be the only person in the history of Zen in the West to have interrupted a residential practice period to tour with a rock band and he has visited us earlier in 2014 to deliver a talk and we look forward to welcoming him back!

Please feel free to join any of these times to help maintain the energy and effort of this period! Schedule for the Study Period is here; the schedule for Winter Light Retreat and sign up details are here!