Saturday, April 26, 2014
11 am – 12:30 pm
in the City Center dining room (free)

Haiku by Mitsu Suzuki; photo by Mitsue Nagase

Join us to celebrate Mitsu Suzuki Sensei’s birthday and the release of her new book, A White Tea Bowl: 100 Haiku from 100 Years of Life.

Suzuki Sensei is a tea teacher and the widow of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of San Francisco Zen Center. After he passed away in 1971, she remained at Zen Center, where she taught tea ceremony and began writing poetry.

A new book from Rodmell Press contains 100 haiku, written after her return to Japan in 1993. The poems were chosen by editor Kazuaki Tanahashi and translated by Zen teacher Kate McCandless to celebrate Suzuki Sensei’s 100th birthday on April 23. SFZC also marked her birthday month last year with a short tea ceremony and gathering.

This year we will honor “Okusan” with the Saturday dharma talk by Green Gulch Abiding Abbess Fu Schroeder, a long time tea practitioner and student of Suzuki Sensei. Following the dharma talk, join us in the dining room for tea, birthday cake, photos, memories and reminiscences from invited speakers. (Please note that Mrs. Suzuki lives in Japan and cannot join us.)

Copies of A White Tea Bowl will be available for purchase at the City Center Bookstore. In conjunction with the event, a special month-long exhibit will feature photos of Suzuki Sensei taken by Barbara Wenger and Mitsue Nagase from the past and present. A slideshow of photos, past and present is also available on this blog.