April 28, 2026
Remembering Seirin Barbara Kohn

Barbara Kohn (r) pictured here with her teacher Blanche Hartman (l) at Houston Zen Center.

Update: There will be a memorial service for Barbara, officiated by her longtime friend Rev. Mary Mocine, on Saturday May 23 at 4pm PT. It can be accessed via Zoom by clicking on the Enter the Zendo Now link from the Clear Water Zendo page.

Seirin Barbara Kohn passed away on Saturday April 18, 2026 after a moderate length of illness. She was living near her daughter and family in Northern California after she retired from leading Austin Zen Center. She was 88 years of age.

Barbara came to live at San Francisco Zen Center in the 1980s, along with her husband Jim Jordan. While at SFZC, Barbara served in many positions, including Tassajara Shika, Tenzo, and Director; Ino at GGF; Shuso (head Monk) at Tassajara; and President. She was ordained a priest by Tenshin Reb Anderson and received Dharma Transmission from Zenkei Blanche Hartman in 1999.

In early 1998 Barbara was sent to Austin, TX by then Abbess Blanche Hartman to formally dedicate the zendo for a group of practitioners there. This group would soon become the Austin Zen Center. On October 13, 2002 she became their first Head Teacher and resident priest, serving in that role until May 2009.

Her daughter reports: She passed peacefully and without too much struggle. My family and I were by her side. Throughout the day her other children, step-children, grandchildren and a great grandchild as well as other important folks said goodbyes. I’m incredibly sad but also grateful to have had her for so long.

From Konjin Gaelyn of Houston Zen Center: “The passing of a generous, ebullient, and sincere practitioner of the Way.”

6 Comments

  1. Basya Petnick

    I practiced and worked with Barbara in the 90s. Gaelyn’s description of her is perfect: “Generous, ebullient, and sincere.” Exactly. In mid-life, Barbara seemed inexhaustible, always driving back and forth from Tassajara to meetings at City Center, always toting her laptop and little printer, and later toting a dog, and a little later about five dogs. Always the first to greet. Always with a ready laugh. As president, she was open to new ideas and suggestions. I served as her assistant for a while, and we, along with Vicki, produced a wonderful event we called Julia Mororgan Day in honor of the great architect of 300 Page. Barbara outlined all the event’s dinner tables with Calla lilies and trusted each of us to be fully creative with our contributions. She was not hierarchical and vertical. She was a brown- robed priest and an officer, but she had the ability to be right with you no matter who you were. She taught improvisational movement theater and lived in the moment, willing to try anything. Barbara gave me a different sense of Zen, a sense of creativity, and the courage to take a chance. My generation is aging, and one by one we’re leaving. Right now I’m waving goodbye and feeling grateful that I knew her.

  2. mary mocine

    Barbara was as described by Basya and Gaelyn. And, she was upstanding and courageous. She was my friend.
    I first met Barbara when she was Ino at Green Gulch and I was a newbie in my first Practice Period. She was our mother hen. Before every ceremony Barbara would gather us and explain the ceremony. We felt included and supported by her generosity.
    I was at Tassajara with Barbara a few years later. We were Guest Cooks together, laughed a lot. When Barbara was Shuso in 1993, at the end of sesshin Reb led us in a rather free-form ceremony in the Zendo. Folks spoke or recited poems etc. Someone sang and I started to clap…Barbara lept up and danced the length of the Zendo as we all clapped rhythm.
    What a joy!
    When Barbara was President she faced some challenges and had to make some hard decisions. She dealt with it all with integrity and grace.
    In her last years Barbara lived in Fairfax, California, near her daughter and family. I visited her there, still with dogs. She retained her sense of humor and lively interest in the world. I miss her.

  3. john renwick

    Barbara was Tassajara’s director when I was a summer student in the mid 90’s. The next year or two, her precepts small group helped me find addiction recovery. I never really knew Daigu san, but I remember one adoptee — a little dog with no jaw. She showed me how to feed it.

  4. Jenny Spadafora

    Diane Miller shared this tribute with SFZC.

  5. mary mocine

    The Memorial will be on Saturday May 23 at 4 pm. at the family property in Fairfax. It will also be available on Zoom, using the Vallejo Zen Center link. http://www.vallejozencenter.org. Click on Enter Zendo Now.

  6. Rinchen Kido Stopher

    Ordained by Seirin in Austin. Tenshin Andersen did not think I should be ordained because I am not a very stable person but Barbara like a Tiger who knew she could capture her prey. She trained me thoroughly and well until I had a heart attack with complications in 2010. The Austin Sangha was very supportive of me sewing the kesa and rakisu for a year before ordination. She and they won my heart and mind. May you go on to a buddhafield far beyond birth and death Seirin Barbara Kohn.

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