Updates

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Guest Speaker (Zoom available): Sat. 5/21 –Rev. Hobu, Beata Chapman

Hobu Beata Chapman has practiced Zen with chronic nerve pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for 23 years. She studied with Katherine Thanas at Santa Cruz Zen Center and with Darlene Cohen until her untimely death, and received Dharma transmission from Tony Patchell in 2013. Beata also helped Hartford Street Zen Center with its’ council process for several years and is a great friend of Issan-ji Temple.

Beata continues the Suffering & Delight groups for people with chronic pain that Darlene founded around 15 years ago, and teaches an online S&D group she began for people not able to attend in person. For more information about Beata’s work with chronic pain, you can see sufferinganddelight.net. Beata is an organizational consultant currently doing corporate leadership training and assisting health care organizations to develop compliance systems. She recently started a zazen group in San Mateo (PenZen.net).

Saturday mornings we offer in-person distanced attendance and continued zoom alternative or for those far from the temple.

You are invited to join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.

Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Guest Speaker ( including Zoom Sangha): Sat. April 23 –Rev. Gengyoko, Tim Wicks

Please join us for a Dharma talk by Rev. Tim, priest-ordained in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-rōshi, and who is a longtime leader in the Bay Area Recovery community, as well as a skilled instructor in the practice of sewing Buddhist Dharma robes. Born in Utah and raised in London, Gengyoko Tim Wicks studied fine art at San Francisco State University and received his MFA with distinction from California College of Arts and Crafts. He studied for four years with Spirit Rock teacher Eugene Cash and was a steering committee member of the Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco.

Saturday mornings we offer in-person distanced attendance and continued zoom alternative or for those far from the temple.

You are invited to join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.

Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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18 April – temple closed

Easter Monday has been an Issan-ji holiday for some years, as an “in memoriam” for those who perished during and after the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, and by extension the 1 million or so who died during the Great Hunger (an Gorta Mór) of 1845-52. 

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16 April – guest speaker Rev. Ryuei, Michael McCormick

Please join us on the 16th of April, Saturday morning for a Dharma talk by Rev. Ryuei, Michael McCormick, who was ordained to the Nichiren-shū (Lotus Sutra School) ministry in 2001 by Rev. Ryusho Matsuda, of the San Jose Nichiren Temple.

Rev. McCormick is also a long-time practitioner of zazen (seated meditation) and a student of the writings of Dōgen-zenji.

Saturday mornings we offer in-person distanced attendance and continued zoom alternative or for those far from the temple.

You are invited to join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.

Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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2 April – Guest Speaker Kokyo Henkel Dharma talk – 10:30am

Kokyo currently residing in Crestone, Colorado has served as 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.

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Kokyo’s interests include looking at how the classic 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.

You may join us in person or the Zoom meeting for meditation (zazen) any time starting at 9 a.m. for socializing and to check-in on how you are doing. Zazen begins at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Dharma talk at 10:30am am, followed by Q&A as well as an another opportunity to check in and see how you are doing and for those in person followed by treats and tea.

Please click here to be routed to our Zoom gathering.

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Thursday, March 31 – Día de César Chávez

Cesar Chavez Day — Issan-ji will be closed for morning zazen but will still make an effort to assemble for the evening study hour.

On March 31, 2008, while a senator, Barack Obama endorsed the idea of creating a national holiday in Chavez’s honor: “Chavez left a legacy as an educator, environmentalist, and a civil rights leader. And his cause lives on. As farm workers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago. And we should honor him for what he’s taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation. That’s why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez’s birthday a national holiday. It’s time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union.”

 Grassroots organizations continued to urge creation of such a national holiday; and, on March 30, 2011, Obama as president reiterated his support: “Cesar Chavez’s legacy provides lessons from which all Americans can learn.”

About Cesar Chavez – Cesar Chavez Foundation