Wholeheartedly Being Ourselves by Paul Haller

Ryushin Paul Haller, City Centre Abbot at the San Francisco Zen Centre, is a dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman and has taught at Zen Center for over 20 years. He teaches throughout the U.S. and Europe and has led mindfulness programs to assist with depression and recovery. Paul has also taught in prisons and has a long involvement with the Zen Hospice Project. He has been practicing yoga for 25 years.
Founder and former Director of Outreach at SFZC, Paul is interested in finding ways of expressing our practice in society, both as compassionate service and making it available to as many people as possible. He became abbot of Zen Center in 2003 and is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland.



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Rebirth, Not Reincarnation by Steve Hagen

Steve Hagen has been a student of Buddhist thought and practice since 1967. In 1975 he became a student
of Dainin Katagiri Roshi in Minneapolis and was ordained in 1979. He has studied with teachers in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and in 1989 received transmission (endorsement to teach) from Katagiri Roshi. He is currently head teacher at Dharma Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.



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Final Talk at July Sesshin 2011 by Rev. Master Olwen Crookall-Greening

This talk is by Rev. Master Olwen Crookall-Greening who used to be Prior at Reading Buddhist Priory which was founded by the late Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett in 1990. It is one of a number of temples of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives (www.obcon.org) in Great Britain, Europe, Canada and North America. The Priory has had a number of resident monks over the years.

The Priory, to which the Newport Soto Zen group is affiliated, is located in a residential area of Reading and provides a place of peace and calm in the city where people can come to learn about Soto Zen Buddhism and meditation and participate in a regular weekly schedule of events.



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Awaken Your Unborn Buddha Mind by Edward Espe Brown

Kainei Edward Espe Brown (born March 24, 1945) is a Soto Zen priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki and a well-known gourmet cook. A Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, Brown is the author of the best-selling Tassajara Bread Book. He regularly leads instructional cooking and baking classes and has been featured in the 2007 documentary film How to Cook Your Life by Doris Dorrie. Brown was ordained a priest by Suzuki-roshi in 1971, and from the mid-1960s on through the 80′s Brown lived at any one of the three San Francisco Zen Center locations—City Center, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm. Currently Brown leads the Peaceful Sea Sangha in California. Brown is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.



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Unholy Emptiness by Stephen Batchelor

Bodhidharma, the founder of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism, was invited to visit the Emperor Wu of Liang, who was a great patron of Buddhism. The Emperor had built many monasteries, and he asked Bodhidharma what merit his generosity had earned. "No merit," said Bodhidharma. Startled, the Emperor asked Bodhidharma the supreme truth of the Dharma. "unholy emptiness" replied Bodhidharma. Finally, the Emperor asked, "Who are you?" "I don't know" said Bodhidharma.

Stephen Batchelor examines "Emptiness" in the context of the Buddha's teaching of the "Four Noble Truths".



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How is the Understanding of Cognition-Only Verified by Reb Anderson

The group found this a challenging talk the theme of which was that we can verify our experience by "eating rice and drinking tea"...... very Zen!

Reb Anderson, Tenshin Roshi is a lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition. Born in Mississipi, he grew up in Minnesota and left advanced study in mathematics and Western psychology to come to Zen Center in 1967. He practiced with Suzuki Roshi, who ordained him as a priest in 1970 and gave him the name Tenshin Zenki ("Naturally Real, The Whole Works"). He received dharma transmission in 1983 and served as abbot of San Francisco Zen Center's three training centers (City Center, Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center) from 1986 to 1995. Tenshin Roshi continues to teach at Zen Center, living with his family at Green Gulch Farm.



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Mudita by Norman Fischer

Zoketsu Norman Fischer (c. 1946) is a Jewish-American Soto Zen roshi, poet and Buddhist author practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom he received Dharma transmission in 1988. Having served as co-abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1995—2000, he has published several works of poetry and books on Buddhism. Fischer founded the Everyday Zen Foundation in 2000, a network of sanghas with chapters in Canada, the United States and Mexico. He has authored several essays on interreligious dialogues, and to that end has attended gatherings such as the 1996 Gethsemani Encounter held at The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky (where the Trappist Thomas Merton lived). Fischer has also stayed in touch with his Jewish heritage, occasionally attending services at Beth Sholom synagogue in San Francisco, California and offering instruction in meditation to interested parties there. In addition, he has also served as mentor to teenage boys—all of which is chronicled in his book "Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up." Fischer also serves on the Board of Directors for the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, California.



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The Importance of Problems in Practice by Edward Brown

Edward Espe Brown is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest. Edward was ordained in 1971 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, who gave him the Dharma name Jusan Kainei, which means "Longevity Mountain, Peaceful Sea." He is famous for also being a chef, co-founder Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, has written many books on "Zen cooking" and in 2007, was the subject of a critically acclaimed feature-length documentary film entitled "How to Cook Your Life", directed by Doris Dörrie. So this talk is a good follow on from Larry Rosenberg's talks on Dogen's  instructions to the cook.




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