April 28, 2026
Remembering Seirin Barbara Kohn

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

 

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.”

1 Comment

  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.

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