On Friday, October 10th, an article was published in the New York Times entitled “In Buddha’s Path On the Streets of San Francisco.” The article describes how, in 1852, Chinese immigrants moved to San Francisco and planted the early seeds of Buddhism in the USA. They were not proselytizing Buddhism but brought esoteric Buddhist traditions along with other cultural beliefs and practices. Japanese immigrants arrived in San Francisco in the late 19th century, bringing Zen and its variations. At that time, few Americans, if any, participated in Zen or Buddhist practices.But interest in Zen Buddhism grew, sparking great interest in its ancient Buddhist traditions that had come through India, China and Japan. For the 1950s beat poets, it was a central subject of discussion. City Lights Bookstore, in San Francisco’s north beach, was the unofficial headquarters of the Beat literary movement. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen (who later became a Zen priest at SFZC) and many other writers and authors were reading, practicing and writing about Buddhism and hanging out there.
In 1959, Shunryu Suzuki, a Buddhist priest from Japan, came to San Francisco to teach Zen to ethnic Japanese in the city’s Western Addition and Japantown. But so many Westerners were attending his talks that in 1962 a separate center was purchased to house Suzuki-Roshi (roshi means teacher) and his family. San Francisco Zen Center was established on the corner of Page and Laguna in the middle of the Fillmore neighborhood and down the hill from Haight/Ashbury.
Suzuki Roshi attracted artists, civil rights activists, theologists and other agents of social change and consciousness in the Bay Area. This included Alan Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Alan Watts, who often visited Zen Center from his houseboat in Sausalito. Several of Mr. Watts’ lectures were recorded at San Francisco Zen Center’s city center and at Tassajara after he was invited by Suzuki Roshi to lecture for the Zen students.
Suzuki Roshi was very unusual in the way that he approached bringing Zen to America. One of his outstanding attributes was that he always opened his doors to teachers from other lineages and of different cultures and mindsets. He never thought it necessary to limit the exposure of his students to Soto Zen but believed that other Buddhist schools, teachings and ideas enriched them.
When Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the first Tibetan Buddhist teacher on western soil, arrived in the U.S., he and Suzuki Roshi became such close friends that they called each other “father” and “son.” Trungpa Rinpoche later established multiple centers for what became Shambhala Meditation Centers and Naropa Institute, the first Buddhist University in Boulder, Colorado. He lectured occasionally at San Francisco Zen Center and insisted that Suzuki Roshi’s photograph be framed and put on the wall in all of his meditation centers around the country.
Stephen Gaskin, founder of The Farm in Tennessee, was a well-known San Francisco icon during the Sixties and was also profoundly influenced by Sukuki Roshi. He told stories about the roshi and encouraged thousands who came to his weekly meetings to study the Roshi’s teachings. His well-known Monday Night Class, originally held at the Straight Theatre on Haight Street, drew two thousand people in 1969 at the large Family Dog rock and roll hall. Roshi was known to spend time in Golden Gate Park and seen in his robes at various events, including concerts by the Grateful Dead. Gaskin had a big influence on the San Francisco hippies’ interest in Zen which spread across the continent.
San Francisco Zen Center has produced many well-known and respected Zen teachers including Blanche Hartman (first woman Abbot), Mel Weitsman, Norman Fischer, Reb Andersen, Michael Wenger, Edward Brown and Victoria Austin, among others. It has grown steadily over the years but has never proselytized itself nor has it intentionally established multiple centers in other states. Instead, it spread itself out and into two other centers in nearby parts of California where most of its progeny still live. Only in recent years has that begun to change as students in other parts of the country have called its teachers to travel and live in other states.
Green Gulch Farm, located on Stinson Beach in Marin County, across the Golden Gate bridge is San Francisco Zen Center’s large second practice center which invites the public every Sunday morning for meditation, lecture and lunch. It includes organic farming as part of the students’ regular practice and sells organic produce to many restaurants in the city. The Farm houses 100 students and priests and includes a large community kitchen as well as the gardens which spread out to the ocean.
Tassajara Springs, located three hours further south and inland from Monterey, is San Francisco Zen Center’s monastery in the Los Padres National Forest. During the summer, Tassajara becomes a resort as a source of money for the Center which attracts people from far and wide to its remote and beautiful location in the mountains. Zen meditation and lectures are offered to guests but interested students can stay on a work-study basis. Buddhist teachers from multiple lineages have visited and stayed at Tassajara as have famous guests including Joan Baez, Taj Mahal, Jerry Brown, Linda Ronstadt and Daniel Ellsberg among many others.
The City Center continues to offer Zen meditation daily except for Sunday and houses at least fifty students who are allowed to live in the building for practice sessions that last various lengths of time. Some of Zen Center’s teachers live in the three-story building, some live nearby in the neighborhood (which has improved greatly since the sixties), some come in from outside of the city to teach and hold events. Some teach meditation and serve as counselors for participating students, some teach cooking, sewing, baking and others household arts. Some teach yoga and combine it with the practice of Zen meditation.
San Francisco Zen Center is the largest Buddhist training center outside of Asia. Since the practice does not require beliefs, the students vary greatly, producing an atmosphere where differences are respected and appreciated. Students who have trained at San Francisco Zen Center are readily accepted into nearby business communities as they tend to be focused, sincere and trustworthy. But Zen practice is relatively new in the southeast United States, including Florida, where the word “Zen” is often misused and misunderstood.
In Tampa, many know and love Alan Watts for his lectures on Zen as a result of WMNF’s weekly program where recordings of his 1960s and 1970s talks are played. “Buddhism” in the Tampa Bay area is usually thought to be philosophy and lacks understanding of the important aspect of practice. Ironically, the opposite is true in California where the importance of practice is emphasized. But now, Tampa Zen Center, an affiliate of San Francisco Zen Center, offers Zen meditation and services on Sunday mornings, 7:30 to 10:00 AM, at the Lotus Room Yoga Center, 1101 West Kennedy.
Zen practice involves learning a specific posture which, according to the ancient teachings, is very important to achieving a clear mind. Zazen is meditation but like yoga in that respect. Zen teaches us that holding oneself still in this posture for 30 or 40 minutes at a time, practicing focusing on our breath and using techniques to let go of our thought streams is a healthy way to decrease stress and learn to stay focused in the moment. Zazen practice daily or at least once weekly, transfers benefits into our daily lives, giving us the ability to react calmly to stressors, among other things. It helps the practitioner consciously alter the way he or she perceives challenges and manages reactions.
Carrie Bearden, M.D. and assistant professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA was recently quoted in the UCLA journal Healthy Years (October, 2008) as saying: “studies show that meditation can reduce production of stress hormones by slowing down the heart rate and breathing and lowering blood pressure.” “The slow deep breathing that accompanies meditation will help center you in the present moment instead of allowing you to become overwhelmed by stress.” Zen meditation has this and other benefits, some that go beyond stress relief and is not seen or noticed by the person practicing.
For those who find the philosophy of Zen intriguing, Tampa Zen Center recommends reading the classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, published at San Francisco Zen Center in 1970, for basics on right practice, right attitude and right understanding. Since Suzuki Roshi’s death in 1986, students from the center have published several other books which are also excellent, including Not Always So, Practicing the True Spirit of Zen (E. Brown, 2003), Crooked Cucumber, the Life and Zen Teachings of Shunryu Suzuki (D. Chadwick, 2000), To Shine One Corner of the World (D. Chadwick, 2001), and Zen is Right Here (D. Chadwick, 2007).
Suzanne Suarez Hurley, a Tampa attorney, lived at San Francisco Zen Center from 1974-1976 at the city center and at Tassajara, where she was a student of Richard Baker Roshi, Zen priest and the dharma heir to Suzuki Roshi. Suzanne and others at Tampa Zen Center provide Zazen instruction every Sunday morning at 7:30 AM, before two thirty-minute meditation sessions. There is walking meditation between the two sessions, then a simple Zen service with chanting, a brief work period and, lastly, coffee, tea, home-made pastries and social time for participants.
For further information, contact Suzanne at ssuarez@ij.net. Tampa Zen Center’s web site, tampazencenter.org, which usually has the weekly schedule and events, is currently out of service and being reconstructed. Zazen instruction and Zen meditation is always free of charge; donations accepted.
