The purpose of San Francisco Zen Center is to make accessible and embody the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha as expressed in the Soto Zen tradition established by Dogen Zenji in 13th-century Japan and conveyed to us by Suzuki Roshi and other Buddhist teachers. Our practice flows from the insight that all beings are Buddha, and that sitting in meditation is itself the realization of Buddha nature, or enlightenment.
Latest episodes
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36 min
Undivided Giving: Empty Hands, Full Life
12/27/2025, Nyokai Kristin Diggs, dharma talk at City Center. Nyokai Kristin Diggs talks about the non-separation of feeling, sensing, and thinking as they relate to giving, as a w…
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29 min
Great Is The Matter
12/17/2025, Shundo David Haye, dharma talk at City Center. Shundo reflects on two recent deaths in his family, and what our practice can teach us about facing death and cherishing…
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46 min
Two Directions, One Way: Reflections on U.S. Soto Zen and Insight Buddhism
12/13/2025, Keiryu Liên Shutt, dharma talk at City Center. Keiryu Liên Shutt presents an informal comparison of Soto Zen and Insight practices within the context of The Three Marks…
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54 min
Opinions and “The Way”
12/07/2025, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler reflects on a line from the Song of the Trusting Mind, “If you want the Way to manif…
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44 min
Arising in Unimaginable Awareness
11/16/2025, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho teaches that sometimes it is necessary to be for or against but there is a broad…
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21 min
Suzuki Roshi's Legacy and Our Path of Practice
10/26/2025, Sessei Meg Levie, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Sessei Meg Levie reflects on Suzuki Roshi’s dedication to zazen, his work with early students in San Francisco, and t…
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40 min
Awakening Together is APT
11/02/2025, Gyokuden Stephanie Blank, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Gyokuden Steph Blank honors the effort and awakening of our ancestors and calls on us—the living—to rise up i…
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42 min
Tend to Your Spirit: Teachings from Illness
11/01/2025, Zenshin Florence Caplow, dharma talk at City Center. Zenshin Florence Caplow offers stories and teachings from her life as both a Zen practitioner and person with chron…
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32 min
Cultivating Stillness in Turbulent Times
10/25/2025, Dainin Marsha Angus, dharma talk at City Center. Dainin Marsha Angus teaches about cultivating and mental and physical capacity to settle into stillness.
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39 min
Freedom in Limitation
10/19/2025, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler reflects on the “Finding Yourself” chapter of “Becoming Yourself,” in which Suzuki R…
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43 min
Expanding How We See Things
10/18/2025, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho, dharma talk at City Center. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel Osho teaches that when we remain in the mode of discovery we open to new portals to engage…
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40 min
Perception and Practice
10/12/2025, Eli Brown-Stevenson, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. So-on Eli Brown-Stevenson uses the image of bubbles and the teaching of the Three Marks of Existence to explore ho…
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45 min
The Power of Non-Retaliation
10/11/2025, Shosan Victoria Austin, dharma talk at City Center. Shosan Victoria Austin teaches that we can deepen our understanding of the causes and cures of dispute, and practice…
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43 min
A New Here: How Practice Opens Different Worlds
10/05/2025, Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Tatsudo Nicole Baden explores how Zen practice literally shifts the architecture of our experience — from a…
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32 min
A Request for Jukai
09/27/2025, Chikudo Catherine Spaeth, dharma talk at City Center. Chikudo Catherine Spaeth teaches that zazen shows us what to care for, and leads the way in our request to study t…
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40 min
A Journey Toward Boundless Connection
09/20/2025, Tenmyo Dojima 堂島典明, dharma talk at City Center. Tenmyo Dojima 堂島典明 shares how her early struggles with depression led her to rediscover Buddhism in the U.S., begin mona…
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32 min
How Can We Not Pick and Choose?
09/14/2025, Sokaku Kathie Fischer, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Sokaku Kathie Fischer examines the Xin Xin Ming (Faith in Mind, or Trusting the Mind), a text by the third Chine…
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35 min
The Unique Role Tassajara Plays in the Times We Live
07/12/2025, Sozan Michael McCord, dharma talk at Tassajara. The world has so many issues that need people's time and attention yet we squester ourselves for days or weeks on end at…
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40 min
Engaged Buddhism
09/21/2025, Hoka Chris Fortin, dharma talk at Green Gulch Farm. Hoka Chris Fortin asks: How do we—individually and as one—not turn away but bear witness, and respond to the sufferi…
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44 min
The Struggle Is the Medicine
09/17/2025, Kim Kogen Daiho Hart, dharma talk at City Center. Kim Kōgen Daihō Hart explores her personal journey through anxiety to the realization that it is our own, all too real…