Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
Encyclopedia
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, or Soryu-ji (meaning Green Dragon Temple) is a Soto Zen practice center located near Muir Beach, California
that practices in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki
. In addition to its Zen training program, the center also manages an organic farm and garden
s. Founded in 1972 by the San Francisco Zen Center
and Zentatsu Richard Baker
, the site is located on 115 acre (0.4653889 km²) in a valley
seventeen miles (27 km) north of San Francisco and offers a variety of workshops and classes throughout the year. The land is an inholding
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
and has much wildlife within its borders. In addition to meditation retreats, offerings include classes and workshops on the Japanese tea ceremony
and gardening
. While Green Gulch Farm has a residential monastery
and retreat center, guest house, and conference center, it has also become recognized as a place where organic farmers can come to learn the tools of their trade. One of the original architect
s of the gardens at Green Gulch was the renowned late horticulturist Alan Chadwick
—who had introduced the biodynamic farming techniques influenced by Rudolf Steiner
on the farm. Chadwick's grave is marked by a stupa
on site. Author Fenton Johnson writes that Green Gulch Farm, "...serve[s] as a model for living on the land in the context of a Zen Buddhist practice."
.jpg)
Before his death in 1971, Shunryu Suzuki
had asked that his sole Dharma heir—Zentatsu Richard Baker
—look for a farm near the San Francisco Bay area
where a lay community of practitioners could live amongst one another. When Baker had found just such a place at Green Gulch Farm, some members of the San Francisco Zen Center
were hesitant to commit themselves initially to such an endeavor. But Baker saw the area as a place for communal living, where entire families could come together and live as they practiced Zen Buddhism together. So, in the spring of 1972, the farm area was purchased from rancher George Wheelwright (a co-founder of Polaroid
). Part of the agreement attached to this sale was the San Francisco Zen Center's commitment to Wheelwright that it would always remain open to the public and engage in agricultural awareness. Community members quickly held various fundraising
efforts and constructed their new community, converting a hay barn
into the zendo
, caring for the land, and building houses.
.jpg)
Green Gulch is particularly concerned with the effects that human beings are having on nature
. They hold the philosophy that humans need to protect the environment from us, not the other way around. They do this with religious texts as the basis of such philosophy. Architect
Sim Van der Ryn created his first composting toilet
for Green Gulch Farm in 1974, built by David Chadwick and Ken Sawyer. Stuart Cowan writes, "The first composter was built in a house at Green Gulch Farm, a Buddhist retreat in nearby Marin County. Soon Sim's neighbor built one, and people started calling for plans. The virtues of the system were that it saved ten to fifteen thousand gallons of water that otherwise would disappear down the toilet each year; it reduced the need for large leach fields, and it literally made people responsible for their own shit, an idea that was attractive to libertarians, organic purists, outlaw builders, and people engaged in reexamining and redesigning all aspects of their daily lives."
.jpg)
Green Gulch operates, in addition to the Zen center, a 7 or 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) organic vegetable farm and a 1 to 1.5 acres (6,070.3 m²) fruit, herb and flower garden. The fruit, herb and flower garden is, "arranged in a series of 'rooms' in the formal English style. In the bowl of the valley is the core of the gardens: an herbal circle of shrubs, roses and perennials, enclosed by a yew hedge with rose arbors and paths out to the larger garden. At the center of the circle is a Japanese snowbell (Styrax japonica) encircled by herbs and lichen-covered rocks." The garden is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., though groups of more than six should call before arriving. Volunteers, also, are welcome to help cultivate the garden on Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (again, call in advance). The vegetable farm sustains the community living at Green Gulch and also sells its produce at various local farmers markets and to whole foods
stores. Green Gulch Farm also provides organic produce from the vegetable farm around the year to Greens Restaurant
in San Francisco, a vegetarian restaurant where Annie Somerville is executive chef.
.jpg)
Every Sunday Green Gulch opens to the public, beginning with zazen
at 8:15 a.m., followed by a lecture at 10:15 a.m., tea at 11:15 a.m., and finally lunch at 12:45 p.m. (donations are suggested for these events). The Green Gulch nursery and garden are open seven days a week, and throughout the year many classes are offered on gardening
, pruning
, flower arrangement and herb culture. Admission is free, though parking space is limited and a fee is associated unless your car has three or more occupants. During the summer Green Gulch also offers an apprenticeship
program for those interested in becoming organic farmers. Carmen Yuen writes, "The apprentices put nonviolence and mindfulness into action as they work. When digging the soil, they are careful not to expose the worms and split them in half—even if they will regenerate!" Guest houses include the Lindisfarne Guest House and the Wheelright Center. Lindisfarne is in the shape of an octagon, complete with twelve rooms, six baths and an atrium
with a woodburning stove where guests can come to read or for conversation; Lindisfarne's kitchen offers its guests tea and snacks. For larger families, the Wheelwright Center has larger living areas for families and a suite
equipped with a kitchen. At the Mountain Gate Study Center, classes in Buddhist practice and philosophy are offered.
As of 2006, Green Gulch Farm plans to team up with the National Park Service
to help restore Muir Beach to its original beauty. They will apparently remove the parking lot area — which was originally wetlands — in order to restore the area to its original condition. Additionally, author Andrew Ferguson was inspired to write the book Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings by having attended public koan classes offered at Green Gulch Farm. He has written, "For many years, Tenshin Reb Anderson has offered a 'Monday night class' on Thomas Cleary's translation of the Book of Serenity for the benefit of his students and other serious participants. In the manner of the Zen ancients, Tenshin has raised the ancient cases for public viewing. This is a style of Zen practice whereby students may realize their own personal understandings, and then set them forth for others to see, to taste, and to test."
Muir Beach, California
Muir Beach is a census-designated place , unincorporated community, and beach that is located northwest of San Francisco in western Marin County, California, United States...
that practices in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...
. In addition to its Zen training program, the center also manages an organic farm and garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s. Founded in 1972 by the San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...
and Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
, the site is located on 115 acre (0.4653889 km²) in a valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
seventeen miles (27 km) north of San Francisco and offers a variety of workshops and classes throughout the year. The land is an inholding
Inholding
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area...
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...
and has much wildlife within its borders. In addition to meditation retreats, offerings include classes and workshops on the Japanese tea ceremony
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called . The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called...
and gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
. While Green Gulch Farm has a residential monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
and retreat center, guest house, and conference center, it has also become recognized as a place where organic farmers can come to learn the tools of their trade. One of the original architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s of the gardens at Green Gulch was the renowned late horticulturist Alan Chadwick
Alan Chadwick
Alan Chadwick , English master gardener, was a leading innovator of organic farming techniques and influential educator in the field of biodynamic/French intensive gardening. He was a student of Rudolf Steiner, and is often cited as inspirational to the development of the "California Cuisine"...
—who had introduced the biodynamic farming techniques influenced by Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
on the farm. Chadwick's grave is marked by a stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
on site. Author Fenton Johnson writes that Green Gulch Farm, "...serve[s] as a model for living on the land in the context of a Zen Buddhist practice."
History
Shunryu Suzuki
Shunryu Suzuki was a Sōtō Zen roshi who popularized Zen Buddhism in the United States, particularly around San Francisco. Born in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan, Suzuki was occasionally mistaken for the Zen scholar D.T...
had asked that his sole Dharma heir—Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker
Zentatsu Richard Baker , born Richard Dudley Baker, is an American Soto Zen master , the founder and guiding teacher of Dharma Sangha—which consists of Crestone Mountain Zen Center located in Crestone, Colorado and the Buddhistisches Studienzentrum in Germany's Black Forest...
—look for a farm near the San Francisco Bay area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
where a lay community of practitioners could live amongst one another. When Baker had found just such a place at Green Gulch Farm, some members of the San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center , is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising the City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and the Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu...
were hesitant to commit themselves initially to such an endeavor. But Baker saw the area as a place for communal living, where entire families could come together and live as they practiced Zen Buddhism together. So, in the spring of 1972, the farm area was purchased from rancher George Wheelwright (a co-founder of Polaroid
Polaroid Corporation
Polaroid Corporation is an American-based international consumer electronics and eyewear company, originally founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February...
). Part of the agreement attached to this sale was the San Francisco Zen Center's commitment to Wheelwright that it would always remain open to the public and engage in agricultural awareness. Community members quickly held various fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
efforts and constructed their new community, converting a hay barn
Barn
A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...
into the zendo
Zendo
or is a Japanese term translating roughly as "meditation hall". In Zen Buddhism, the zen-dō is a spiritual dōjō where zazen is practiced...
, caring for the land, and building houses.
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
. They hold the philosophy that humans need to protect the environment from us, not the other way around. They do this with religious texts as the basis of such philosophy. Architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Sim Van der Ryn created his first composting toilet
Composting toilet
A composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...
for Green Gulch Farm in 1974, built by David Chadwick and Ken Sawyer. Stuart Cowan writes, "The first composter was built in a house at Green Gulch Farm, a Buddhist retreat in nearby Marin County. Soon Sim's neighbor built one, and people started calling for plans. The virtues of the system were that it saved ten to fifteen thousand gallons of water that otherwise would disappear down the toilet each year; it reduced the need for large leach fields, and it literally made people responsible for their own shit, an idea that was attractive to libertarians, organic purists, outlaw builders, and people engaged in reexamining and redesigning all aspects of their daily lives."
Whole foods
Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as salt, carbohydrates, or fat. Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains, beans, fruits, vegetables...
stores. Green Gulch Farm also provides organic produce from the vegetable farm around the year to Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant
Greens Restaurant is a landmark vegetarian restaurant in the Fort Mason Center in the Marina District, San Francisco, California, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge....
in San Francisco, a vegetarian restaurant where Annie Somerville is executive chef.
Zazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...
at 8:15 a.m., followed by a lecture at 10:15 a.m., tea at 11:15 a.m., and finally lunch at 12:45 p.m. (donations are suggested for these events). The Green Gulch nursery and garden are open seven days a week, and throughout the year many classes are offered on gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
, pruning
Pruning
Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping , improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for...
, flower arrangement and herb culture. Admission is free, though parking space is limited and a fee is associated unless your car has three or more occupants. During the summer Green Gulch also offers an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
program for those interested in becoming organic farmers. Carmen Yuen writes, "The apprentices put nonviolence and mindfulness into action as they work. When digging the soil, they are careful not to expose the worms and split them in half—even if they will regenerate!" Guest houses include the Lindisfarne Guest House and the Wheelright Center. Lindisfarne is in the shape of an octagon, complete with twelve rooms, six baths and an atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
with a woodburning stove where guests can come to read or for conversation; Lindisfarne's kitchen offers its guests tea and snacks. For larger families, the Wheelwright Center has larger living areas for families and a suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
equipped with a kitchen. At the Mountain Gate Study Center, classes in Buddhist practice and philosophy are offered.
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
to help restore Muir Beach to its original beauty. They will apparently remove the parking lot area — which was originally wetlands — in order to restore the area to its original condition. Additionally, author Andrew Ferguson was inspired to write the book Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings by having attended public koan classes offered at Green Gulch Farm. He has written, "For many years, Tenshin Reb Anderson has offered a 'Monday night class' on Thomas Cleary's translation of the Book of Serenity for the benefit of his students and other serious participants. In the manner of the Zen ancients, Tenshin has raised the ancient cases for public viewing. This is a style of Zen practice whereby students may realize their own personal understandings, and then set them forth for others to see, to taste, and to test."
Resident teachers
- Myogen Steve Stücky
- Tenshin Reb Anderson
- Jiko Linda CuttsJiko Linda CuttsJiko Linda Ruth Cutts is a Sōtō Zen priest practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, a Senior Dharma Teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. Cutts is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson, having received Dharma transmission from him in 1996...
- Meiya Wender
- Furyu Nancy Schroeder
- Carolyn Cavanagh
- Luminous Owl Henkel
- Daigan Lueck
- Shinko Rick Slone
- Mick Sopko
- Wendy Johnson - gardener emeritus
See also
- Buddhism in the United StatesBuddhism in the United StatesBuddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and Nonreligious, and approximate with Islam and Hinduism. American Buddhists include many Asian Americans, as well as a large number of converts of other ethnicities, and now their children and even...
- Tassajara Zen Mountain CenterTassajara Zen Mountain Center-External links:*...
- Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesTimeline of Zen Buddhism in the United StatesBelow is a timeline of important events regarding Zen Buddhism in the United States. Dates with "?" are approximate.-Early history:* 1893: Soyen Shaku comes to the United States to lecture at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago...
- Spiritual ecologySpiritual ecologySpiritual ecology is a recent term that refers to the intersection between religion and spirituality and environment . Practitioners of spiritual ecology fall into three categories: the scientific and academic, spiritual or religious environmentalism, and religious or spiritual individuals who...