Buddhism on the Streets of San Francisco
Photos on this page are mine. All three are of the SF Zen Center. Do you know what you’re seeing in the stained glass left? The hands below left are a facsimile of Suzuki Roshi’s; the ones on the right are Katagiri Roshi’s. The hands are set in the swinging doors to and from the SF Zen Center’s kitchen.
The New York Times (10/10/08) has a great piece (peace?) on Buddhism in San Francisco, my home town. Yes, I grew up in New Jersey, moved to San Fran in 1973, and grew up (again), in San Francisco.
I share the link to the piece, Buddhism on the Streets of San Francisco by Perry Garfinkel, author of “Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness, and the Man Who Found Them All” (Three Rivers Press, 2007). And don’t miss the photos—I’m caught in the act or non-act (that’s me in the burgundy top). Photographer Peter DaSilva came to last Saturday’s (10/4/08) Dharma Talk (a great one by Marc Lesser) and shot us doing what we do so well—nothing. At NYT online, there is a slide show with all the scenic Buddhist spots around SF, including my Zen Center. I love the one of Lou Hartmann sitting in the courtyard of Zen Center’s historic Julia Morgan building, the large blue Persian urns, the scattered leaves of fall . . . well, have a look. To relegate it to words is to defile it . . .
Useful information at the Times article end lists Zen Center. But it doesn’t say, what I would tell you—if you are new to the practice, best time to come is for the Saturday morning program. Get a free briefing on how to sit zazen meditation among other newbies, then stay on for the lecture at 10 a.m. If you are at all intimidated about taking your first step into this Beginner’s Mind Temple, email me (ocaramiaATearthlinkDOTnet) ahead of time (at least a week) and I’ll show you the ropes and the cushions.
Here is an excerpt of the 
NYT article:
“Since the 1800s, San Francisco was the most important gateway for people coming from the Pacific Rim,” said Charlie Chin, artist in residence at the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco, who also leads tours and gives lectures. “They weren’t proselytizing Buddhism, but they brought it here with their other cultural beliefs and practices.”
Today, a spiritual tourist, whether Buddhist or not, can find inspiration if not enlightenment following in the footsteps of American Buddhism on a pilgrimage throughout the Greater Bay Area.
The Buddhism the Chinese brought was a spiritual mix of traditional folk beliefs, Taoism, Confucianism and Chan, the antecedent of Japanese Zen. Though there are differences, central to both Chan and Zen is meditation, or zazen in Japanese, as well as the Buddha’s basic lessons of compassion, impermanence and awareness of the present moment.” End of excerpt