San Francisco Zen Center
Eli Brown-Stevenson serves as the Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, as well as the Director of Work Practice/HR at the San Francisco Zen Center since June 2016. In this role, responsibilities include implementing the SFZC Staff Policy, coordinating Paths and Gates with the Dean of Students, and managing immigration work visa programs alongside work practice review and training programs. Prior experience includes serving as a Transition Advisor at the University of Phoenix from October 2008 to June 2012, where Eli supported students transitioning from Associates to Bachelor’s programs, oversaw degree research and career development, and acted as Team Lead for the health and wellness program for over 400 workers. Educational credentials include a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from the University of Phoenix and an Associate’s Degree in Business/Commerce from Chandler/Gilbert Community College.
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San Francisco Zen Center
San Francisco Zen Center was established in 1962 by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971) and his American students. Suzuki Roshi is known to countless readers as the author of the modern spiritual classic, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. The purpose of San Francisco Zen Center is to make accessible and embody the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha as expressed in the Soto Zen tradition established by Dogen Zenji in 13th-century Japan and conveyed to us by Suzuki Roshi and other Buddhist teachers. Our practice flows from the insight that all beings are Buddha, and that sitting in meditation is itself the realization of Buddha nature, or enlightenment. Today, San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest Buddhist sanghas outside Asia. It has three practice places: City Center, in the vibrant heart of San Francisco; Green Gulch Farm, whose organic fields meet the ocean in Marin County; and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center—the first Zen training monastery in the West—in the Ventana Wilderness inland from Big Sur. These three complementary practice centers offer daily meditation, regular monastic retreats and practice periods, classes, lectures, and workshops. Zen Center is a practice place for a diverse population of students, visitors, lay people, priests, and monks guided by teachers who follow in Suzuki Roshi's style of warm hand and heart to warm hand and heart. All are welcome. Zen Center programs also reach out to the community, helping prisoners, the homeless, and those in recovery; protecting the environment; and working for peace. See our outreach program for details. Suzuki Roshi's disciples and students of his disciples now lead dharma groups around the country.