

I am coming to the end of my whirlwind visit to San Francisco’s Zen Center. I’m here on the business of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, and we’re hard at it, yesterday a full day focused on the work of the board, and today a half day equally focused. After which, home.

Still, while I’ve not wandered too far from our meeting room at 310 Page, its impossible not to have had some glimpses of life here. And I will be carrying home some images and encounters, however brief, lodged safely in my heart.

Now, I have some mixed feelings about the utility of long term residency. It has a problematic aspect to it. But at the same time I am deeply moved by lifetimes given to something as precious as our Zen dharma. And I could see that on full display here. And, also, so important: this is one of those places around North America that is attracting young practitioners, and in significant numbers. There was a time when I feared Zen in the West was an obsession of a tiny part of my generation, and would pass away like a bubble popping as we passed away.

SFZC shows that while there will almost certainly a contraction of Zen practitioners in the West (what I’ve fondly called the Great Die-Off) and while there is little doubt in my mind that there will be a consolidation and with that a reframing in ways not yet at all obvious, a Western form of the Zen way, or rather Western ways of Zen will no doubt continue. And, the amazing three campus complex of the San Francisco Zen Center (and yes, daughter temples & centers from Berkeley to Brooklyn) will be one of the nexus points of that continuing Western style of Zen.

One of the reasons is the work of the Zen Center’s founder, the late Shunryu Suzuki. If you want a sense of his life you can’t go wrong with David Chadwick’s magisterial Crooked Cucumber. For something a bit shorter, you might look at this. For a taste, here are some Youtube clips.