TassNow: Plenty of opportunities to visit in early June!
Plenty of opportunities, across all cabin categories, to visit Tassajara in early June. Book your stay for a relaxing getaway!

The Long Road to Sitting Still, by Pico Iyer
Part 1 [Skip to Part 2 or Part 3] [Watch TED Talk: “The Art of Stillness”]
“There is no Garden of Eden” was the judgment that greeted me, as an impressionable boy, in the pages of my teenage hero, D.H. Lawrence, “the Hesperides never were.” Lawrence was my hero, though, precisely because he could never stay fixed in any one dogma, and was intensely alive to the limitations of his own perspective. So he continued, “Yet, in our very search for them, we touch the coasts of illusion and come into contact with other worlds.” Read more

Raising a Bell Tower: A Message from Arlene Lueck
Dear Friends,
For those of you who have written, called and otherwise reached out, thank you so much for your kindness and your expressions of support and love of Daigan. Read more

Special Delivery: Temple Instruments from Japan
Last month when Hoitsu Suzuki Roshi visited the United States, he attended the Mountain Seat Ceremony at Austin Zen Center to install a new abbot. But he also made a visit to San Francisco Zen Center, bringing with him two beautiful instrument boxes. Read more
Important Announcement for Members: Please Read
Dear Dharma Friend:
We are profoundly grateful for your continued support of San Francisco Zen Center. Your contributions support the practice of so many people in our local temples and throughout the world. Thank you.
Due to an unavoidable change in computer systems, we need to re-enroll all members who make recurring credit card payments. Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience. Read more

Ethics and Investments: A Message from the Central Abbess
Dear Friends,
With the help of so many benefactors and donors in the last few years, San Francisco Zen Center has, for the first time, been able to create an endowment. This fund will be a major help to sustain and support our beautiful practice places, teachers, students and programs. Along with the endowment comes the imperative to study and be clear about our commitment to ethical investing while responsibly stewarding this great gift to the sangha. Read more

Supporting Others with Your Practice; Practicing with the Support of Others: Dharma Buddies
It’s like ravens soaring on a ridgeline. . . . it’s comforting to do deep journeys with others nearby.
—dharma buddy in Idaho
A monthly update on the Sangha Project, from Robert Thomas
In the Sangha Project, we create ways to help all members of the extended sangha to connect and interact as dharma friends and to engage in Zen practice-related activities together. During the past five months, we have launched several small-scale experiments. Read more

Soto Zen in Northern Ireland: Introducing Black Mountain Zen Centre
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last . . .
—David Whyte, from “The Opening of Eyes”
A Branching Streams sangha profile by Brenda Liddy Read more

Green Gulch Organic Produce Back in Season at Farmers’ Markets
Green Gulch Farm organic produce is available seasonally, from May through October. As this week’s featured photo shows, greens come fresh off the farm, and not without a little fresh hard work. (See also note below.*) Read more

Bike to Worship Week: Special SFZC Events Sat & Sun, May 30-31
On Saturday, May 30, Zen Center is participating once again in the annual Bike to Worship event organized by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Read more