Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center

Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center

Kannon Do brings the spiritual practice of Soto Zen Buddhism to the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay, including Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Jose, and surrounding communities. Its purpose is to encourage and support a spiritual worldview in lives faced with constant distractions, work and family pressures, and demanding deadlines. Primary activities include meditation, exploration of Buddhist teachings, and discovering ways that Zen practice can be expressed in the activities of daily life.

Kannon Do is a non-residential center, voluntarily maintained and supported by its members. There are no membership requirements to participate in its activities. The center welcomes all individuals interested in exploring Zen practice, regardless of race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

Kannon Do brings the spiritual practice of Soto Zen Buddhism to the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay, including Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, San Jose, and surrounding communities, emphasizing its relevance in the modern world. Our purpose is two fold: to provide the opportunity for individuals to explore the spiritual dimension of life and to bring balance to busy lives faced with constant distractions, work and family pressures, and demanding deadlines. Primary activities include meditation, exploration of Buddhist teachings, and discovering ways that Zen practice can be expressed in the activities of daily life. Kannon Do is a non-residential center, voluntarily maintained and supported by its members. There are no membership requirements to participate in its activities. The center welcomes all individuals interested in exploring Zen practice, regardless of race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.

964 - 2010

Shunryu Suzuki-roshi arrived in San Francisco from Japan in 1959 to be resident priest of Sokoji, the Japanese-American Soto Zen Mission in San Francisco. In 1961, he and his new American Zen students founded the San Francisco Zen Center. (The early history of Zen Center and Suzuki-roshi’s life in the U.S. are well documented in his 1999 biography, Crooked Cucumber by David Chadwick.) In 1964, Roshi visited friends in Redwood City and remarked that if a good meeting place could be found on the Peninsula, he would like to begin a weekly meditation group. A Stanford graduate student offered his living room. He sent postcards to those on Zen Center’s Wind Bell mailing list who lived in the area, and in early November, 1964, the first zazen and lecture was held at 1005 Bryant Street in Palo Alto. Three or four people attended the first few Thursday morning meetings. In April, 1965, an evening group was established in Redwood City. marian