We’ll have the monthly Full-Moon Ceremony renewal of our Bodhisattva vows Saturday morning. 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. Everyone is welcome to take part in this celebration of the Bodhisattva Way.
Sunday 7 October: Castro Street Fair
Sunday 7 October – Castro Street Fair
please join us as a volunteer at this fun*draiser to help raise funds for HSZC, but also spend an enjoyable day with our Sangha!
Darkness and Light (Rev. David Zimmerman)
Rev. David Zimmerman reads from the book And There Was Light by Jacques Lusseyran, a blind French resistance fighter during World War II, and relates his description of interacting with the world without sight to Buddhist teachings of interdependence, mindful awareness, and compassion.
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Guest Speaker, Sat. 15 Sept.: Rev. David Zimmerman
Please join us this Saturday for a Dharma talk by Kansan David Zimmerman. David has been practicing Zen for 20 years, over half of which have been in residence at San Francisco Zen Center. He was ordained in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi by Rev. Teah Strozer in 2006, and spent eight years at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where he held a number of positions including monastery director and Head Monk (Shuso). David is now Program Director at City Center/SFZC and also serves on the SFZC Diversity and Multiculturalism Committee, is a co-facilitator of Queer Dharma, and supports Dr. Lee Lipp with classes and workshops on “Transforming Depression and Anxiety”. Zazen (seated meditation) is at 9:25 a.m., the talk to follow at 10:15, and, as (almost) always, top-drawer tea and cookies afterwards. Everyone is welcome.
Sangha Council Meeting – 15 September 11:30AM
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
Monday, 3 September: Labor Day Holiday, Zendo CLOSED
Peace Bell: Turning Conflict Into Connection (Rev. Tova Green)
City Center Director Rev. Tova Green talks about her history engaging in causes for peace and social justice and explains the relationship of inner peace to world peace. She then discusses the current undertaking of the San Francisco Zen Center to foster greater diversity in the sangha and increase awareness of the effects of white privilege.
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Saturday 1 September: Extended Practice Opportunities
This coming Saturday, we’ll have a 40-minute period of zazen beginning at 8:30am, in place of the Saturday early morning schedule (see link) which ordinarily 
begins at 6:30am. While there won’t be the 8:30 a.m. instruction period that day, the 9:25 a.m. period of sitting and the 10:15 a.m. Dharma talk will take place as usual. Following the Dharma talk, we’ll celebrate the monthly Full-Moon Bodhisattva ceremony. Every one is welcome to attend, of whatever level of practice experience. Don’t miss this occasion to anchor your weekend firmly in body-and-mind study of the Buddha Way.