Hartford Street Zen Center | Issan-ji temple
A Sōtō Zen temple for the LGBTQ+ community, friends and allies in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood
Wishing you a safe, peaceful and happy season to you and yours during holidays you celebrate or even if you do not celebrate any holidays in December! 
For those who celebrate our deepest support and intentions of love during: Ashura, Yom Kipper, Feast of St. Nicholas, Bodhi Day (Rohatsu), Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Feast of Lady of Guadalupe, Hanukka (Chanukah), Yalda, Yule (winter solstice), Christmas, Zarathustra Memorial, Kwanzaa.
Please rejoin us for our regular schedule as of Dec 27th and have a safe and equanimous few days or if you celebrate… Holiday!
HSZC will house a pot luck dinner on December 25th for those who are around. Please see our facebook page post on Dec 16th for details!
An open invitation to the Sangha to attend the Annual Member, Resident Student & Board of Director meeting Saturday December 15, 2012 after the normal morning program schedule.
This meeting covers important items such as Board of Director elections, annual reporting and discussions on larger initiatives, our temple’s current operation conversation(s) and talks of and planning for the future state.
Please join us for this important annual event!
The Hartford Street Zen Center Sangha Council: We’ve formed council as a forum to continue to talk of and discuss with each other – and with the sangha at large – issues, concerns, questions and conflicts which have been challenging – or downright hard to talk about. We’ll use a practice model of working with each other with the most skillful speech we can access. This is a great opportunity also for those who haven’t been around lately to reengage and be a part of the present and future Hartford Street!
Our next meeting will be on Saturday morning, September 15th at 11:30am. We’ll be meeting for 150 minutes.
We’re continuing this format that is flexible enough for a diversity of needs. This session will be facilitated by Beata Chapman, a long time member and Board president of the Santa Cruz Zen Center. She is knowledgeable about many aspects of zen communities. The scaffold we’ll be working from is based on the Council process developed by the Ojai Foundation.
You do not need to have an ‘issue’ or overt concern to attend. Council is sangha building, connection and healing. All are welcome!
If you have questions regarding this, call Peter Goetz at 510.595.1281. If you’d like a copy of the Ojai Foundation guidelines for Council process, email Peter at goetzpj@aol.com
The Hartford Street Zen Center Sangha is continuing its Council group. We’ve formed council with the intention and hope of building a forum to continue to talk of and discuss with each other – and with the sangha at large – for issues, concerns, questions and conflicts which have been challenging – or downright hard to talk about. We’ll use a practice model of working with each other with the most skillful speech we can access. This is a great opportunity also for those who haven’t been around lately to reengage and be a part of the present and future Hartford Street!
Our next meeting will be on Saturday afternoon, August 25th at 12:30pm. We’ll be meeting for 120 minutes.
We’re continuing to build a format that will be flexible enough for a diversity of needs. The group has been built and previously facilitated by Beata Chapman, a long time member and Board president of the Santa Cruz Zen Center. She is knowledgeable about many aspects of zen communities. We now will facilitate using internal resources as of this meeting. The scaffold we’ll be working from is based on the Council process developed by the Ojai Foundation.
You do not need to have an ‘issue’ or overt concern to attend. Council is sangha building and healing. All are welcome!
If you have questions regarding this, call Peter Goetz at 510.595.1281. If you’d like a copy of the Ojai Foundation guidelines for Council process, email Peter at goetzpj@aol.com
Starting this coming Saturday and continuing for at least the next few weeks, we will gather as a sangha after tea-and-cookies time around 11:45 (or later if the dharma talk goes longer) to discuss how things are going with the temple and how people feel about the community and their place in it. This is sort of like a mini-council in which one person speaks at a time and we maintain a mindful and compassionate atmosphere so everyone feels comfortable speaking their mind.
The next few weeks will be a trial run to see if we want to make this a permanent fixture in the schedule, so please come and contribute if you can!
The Hartford Street Zen Center Sangha is continuing its Council group. 
We’ve formed council with the intention and hope of building a forum to continue to talk of and discuss with each other – and with the sangha at large – for issues, concerns, questions and conflicts which have been challenging – or downright hard to talk about. We’ll use a practice model of working with each other with the most skillful speech we can access. This is a great opportunity also for those who haven’t been around lately to reengage and be a part of the present and future Hartford Street!
Come to HSZC this Saturday for a talk by Rev. Jana, priest-ordained at 
San Francisco Zen Center. Jana has been very involved with Religious Witness for the Homeless and other outreach programs for the disenfranchised, and received Dharma Transmission from retired Abbess Blanche Hartman.
We’ll have 9:25 a.m. zazen, of course, then the talk at 10:15, and tea-and-cookies after.
All are welcome.