Tassajara Zen Mountain Center honors Suzuki Roshi with a torii gate

Photo by Shundo David Haye

During the most recent practice period at Tassajara, a torii gate was built to mark the path leading to the onsite ashes of the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC) and Tassajara. While torii are often found in Japan at Shinto shrines, where they mark the entrance to a sacred place, they are also common at Buddhist temples.

The gate was honored with a ceremony during the 50th anniversary Alumni Gathering, before the guest season at Tassajara started on Friday. Myogen Steve Stücky, a co-abbot of the SFZC, honored Suzuki at the ceremony. "Through your quiet, dedicated effort, your willingness to meet whomever appeared," Stücky said, "you planted the flag of dharma in American soil." His full speech can found at the SFZC blog.

Tassajara is one of three practice communities of the San Francisco Zen Center, which includes City Center in San Francisco, Green Gulch Farm in Marin, and Tassajara in the Ventana Wilderness. For more information about the Zen Center, visit its website.

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