I am a relationship and child welfare attorney, mediator and Zen priest in San Francisco. I have had an active spiritual and meditation practice of one form or another for more than three decades. In 2004, I found Zen practice (or Zen practice found me) and I became a student of Zen and a practicing member of Hartford Street Zen Center. I began studying with my heart teacher, the late Surei Darlene Cohen, in 2004, receiving Jukai (Lay Ordination) in 2006 and Priest Ordination in 2010. I also served as a Board member and past president of the Hartford Street Zen Center Board of Directors from 2005 to 2012, guiding the Board through a host of the challenges faced by a small temple and sangha.
My past Board experience also includes membership and participation on the non-profit Governing Board and Board of Directors of Community Boards, a community-based mediation organization, from 1985 to 1986.
For many years, I was an active member of the Dharma Lawyers group led by Mary Mocine. As part of my involvement with the Dharma Lawyers, I taught yoga classes at the Lawyers’ Retreat at Tassajara. I have also completed three years of Sangha Leadership Training, and was granted a certificate of Zen ministry by the Shogaku Zen Institute.
Currently, I am an active participant in the monthly Dogen Study Group, which meets at San Francisco Zen Center and is led and taught by Shinshu Roberts. Over the years, I have attended and benefited from the many practice offerings of San Francisco Zen Center, including classes, Tassajara retreats and study weeks in the summers, public dharma talks, the sewing room, and ceremonies. I greatly value SFZC as a place of practice and a jewel of sangha and welcome the opportunity to support and give back to the SFZC community through Board service.