Dear friends and members,

Abbot Gaelyn Godwin and President Laura Salazar-Hopps are happy to report that this year has been another steady, clear, and peaceful year at your Zen Center. As we ask for your generosity, we first express our deep gratitude to everyone who makes our Zen Center such a vibrant place of peace and practice.

All our beneficial activity continues on a daily basis, along with plans for next year and beyond. Our residents take excellent care of the practice as well as the grounds of Zen Center, and we’ve continued to experience the great benefit of our Administrative Assistant, Joy Tober.

Our budget for 2020 is very sound, but the year-end brings two important requests. First, we have made Rev. Gyōzan Royce Johnson a full-time priest, and his experience and enthusiasm are greatly enhancing the Center. We need your support to continue our steady growth, and fund our additional priest’s hours. With two full-time priests (who work more than full time, naturally) and our invaluable part-time Administrative Assistant, we are better able to creatively provide many practice and teaching events at the Center.

Our second request is to replace the fence along the Heights Boulevard side. The new design will be much more welcoming, allowing for a seating area on the lawn, a kiosk with brochures, and it will provide a feeling of invitation to new seekers, as well as long-time members. The new fence has been been on our wish list for a long time, and now is a good time because the existing fence is deteriorating, rusting through in various places, and losing its shape. With your help, Zen Center will be able to welcome even more Houstonians to Zen practice. Our goal is to raise $32,000 toward these two requests.

Read More Below About 2019 Activities

We would like to share just some of the highlights of the past year with you. In addition to our many well-attended classes, we have again brought outstanding Visiting Teachers to Houston whose teachings benefit us all. To name a few:

1. Tenshin Reb Anderson led the annual February Sesshin (which will take place again in 2020, you can sign up here!)

2. Sue Moon, the important author and Zen teacher led a wonderful workshop on writing

3. Greg Fain and Linda Galijan (President of SFZC) from San Francisco Zen Center led a packed one-day sitting

4. Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Senior Dharma Teacher from SFZC, gave a wonderful talk and book signing

5. Kokyo Henkel, the Abiding Teacher of Santa Cruz Zen Center led a packed one-day sitting

6. Professor Duncan Ryuken Williams from USC gave a wonderful talk on his new book

7. Esther Gokhale arrives November 8 to lead an important workshop on our bodies, how to inhabit them and care for our posture

8. Colin Gipson, head teacher from our sister temple in San Antonio gave a wonderful talk

9. Mako Voelkel, head teacher from our sister temple in Austin gave a wonderful talk.

Precepts: We traveled to New Orleans to set up a ceremony in a large Vietnamese Buddhist temple to give the precepts to four members of Mid-City Zen.

HZC Precepts: We held a precepts ceremony here in our own temple (pictured), and welcomed six new bodhisattvas to the practice of the precepts.

The Entering the Path of Practice Program, led by Tim Schorre and Audrey Charlton, was another successful and heartfelt program to deepen practice. The participants practiced together for 3 semesters and report gratitude and appreciation for this program, and this practice Center.

Shuso Ceremony, for our new Shuso, Head Monk, Hondo Dave Rutschman, took place and was a wonderful community-wide event. Hondo served as Shuso for a year, sending lessons, coming to HZC for Sesshin and dharma talks, and giving on-line classes to the practice period members. It had a feeling of deep practice, and deepening understanding.

Walk to Feed the Hungry was very well attended as usual. This is one of the biggest events that we do as a community that is entirely donated to Buddhist Global Relief. We are a big organization, in our modest way, and we try to share the benefits of our stability and deep practice.

The Abbot, Board of Directors, Practice Committee and Senior Practitioners, and Finance Committee members guide our Center with wisdom and creativity. The Strategic Plan process is continuing. We will have a report for you in the early part of next year, with recommendations for next steps.

Let’s Continue Our Stable, Steady Growth – and take care of our Center.

With warm bows,

Abbot Gaelyn Godwin & President Laura Salazar-Hopps

As you plan your year-end gift giving, please consider helping Zen Center continue its offerings.