San Francisco Zen Center
Religious InstitutionsCalifornia, United States51-200 Employees
San Francisco Zen Center, founded in 1962 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and American students, is a Soto Zen Buddhist institution based in San Francisco, California. It operates three practice centers—City Center in central San Francisco, Green Gulch Farm in Marin County, and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center inland from Big Sur—providing daily meditation, retreats, classes, lectures, and workshops. The organization aims to make the Buddha's wisdom and compassion accessible and embodied, with meditation understood as the realization of Buddha-nature. Its community comprises a diverse range of practitioners, including students, visitors, lay followers, priests, and monks, guided by teachers influenced by Suzuki Roshi's approach. Beyond formal practice, the center conducts outreach to prisoners, the homeless, and individuals in recovery, engages in environmental protection, and pursues peace initiatives; a 2025 partnership with Agroverse is noted to extend its community work via Green Gulch Farm.