
Painting Enlightenment (A Preview): The Art and Science of the Heart Sutra
In an Advanced Buddhist Studies Lecture on Friday, April 24, Dr. Paula Arai will exhibit and discuss paintings by a Japanese contemplative scientist that meld insights from scientific expertise with the Buddhist tradition of contemplative calligraphy. Integrating the sacred words of a Buddhist text prized for its liberative power with images both microscopic and cosmic, the Zen ink paintings on exhibit offer visual counsel on how reality can be perceived through the lens of wisdom to see the realm of compassion. (See full description of lecture.)
Below are some examples with enlarged details from paintings by Iwasaki Tsuneo (1917-2002), whose work will be discussed in the lecture on April 24. Read more

Congratulations to City Center Shuso
Congratulations and thanks to Tim Kroll for serving as shuso (head student) for the Winter 2015 Practice Period at City Center, led by Urban Temple Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. Both are pictured below after the Shuso Ceremony on Saturday, March 28, which closed the practice period at the end of a seven-day sesshin. Read more

Suzuki Roshi in the South: Introducing Chapel Hill Zen Center
A Branching Streams sangha profile
Red Cedar Mountain Temple, perhaps better known as the Chapel Hill Zen Center (CHZC), is the only Soto Zen temple in Suzuki Roshi’s lineage located in the southeastern United States. “Red Cedar” refers to the many cedar trees on our property, and “mountain” is a traditional designation for a Soto temple. We are grateful to be hosting the next Branching Streams meeting of SFZC affiliated sanghas in May 2015. Read more

Book Review for Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender
Published by Wisdom Publications, 2015
Review by Shahara Godfrey
Reverend Zenju Earthlyn Manuel has written a thoughtful and poignant book titled The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender. As a black lesbian Zen priest, she invites us to explore awakening through the challenges of race, sexuality and gender. Her audacious, fearless, courageous Buddhist framework reflects the potential for love and healing in a way rarely addressed within spiritual communities. Read more

Zen’s Disruptive Tradition
The first in a series of monthly updates on the Sangha Project, from Robert Thomas
Can we use technology to wake up and experience liberation? Zen has a long tradition of using disruptive practices to wake up. Just sitting, or zazen—the core of Zen practice—is an exceedingly simple and deeply transformational practice that asks us to sit still and think not-thinking. What could be more disruptive? In the Sangha Project, we are exploring how cutting-edge technology might be used to cut through the conditioned habits and values that perpetuate suffering. These explorations and discoveries are the focus of this new monthly feature. Read more
SFZC Board Meeting Abbreviated Minutes (3/18/15)
The Zen Center Board met on March 18 at Greens Restaurant. Read more

Roaming Zen: An Urban Walking Meditation
Since ancient times, walking has been an important activity for meditators. Nonetheless this mindfulness practice may seem to be an unusual focus for a daylong retreat at San Francisco Zen Center. On April 11, Roaming Zen: A Daylong Urban Walking Meditation Retreat offers participants a chance to venture much further than the zendo quadrant usually traversed during the daily “kinhin” period in the temple. Read more

Introducing Open Circle Sangha, Helena, Montana
A Branching Streams sangha profile
Helena has a strong Catholic heritage, and the magnificent St. Helena Cathedral is visible from everywhere in town. Read more

New Website Launched as Hub for Branching Streams Affiliates
Visit branchingstreams.sfzc.org.
Zen Center’s Branching Streams network is branching out in a new way. A website was launched earlier this month that is dedicated to affiliate sanghas, offering the network’s growing membership new ways of supporting one another. SFZC Branching Streams Liaison Steve Weintraub says he looks forward to watching how extensive use of the website will contribute to further “knitting our practice at the different centers together.” Read more

Green Gulch Farm Projects Completed
Thank you for supporting these projects, from the SFZC Development Office Read more