2009 Annual Benefit Event and Auction
Honoring
Angeles Arrien and Huston Smith
Sunday, April 19, 2009 | Greens Restaurant
The Most Important Thing Award
For 50 years, San Francisco Zen Center has been a cultural vanguard: musicians, philosophers, painters, writers, poets, scholars, scientists, environmentalists, farmers, cooks and more have come to Zen Center to deepen their understanding of life and its mysteries. Deep in the stillness of Zen practice, we wrestle with Suzuki Roshi’s loving but insistent question, “What’s the most important thing?” What we discover is our interconnectedness and interdependence with all beings, great or small, visible or invisible. At our Annual Benefit Event, we honor those individuals who express these values in their everyday life, in everyday situations, and who show an exemplary and unwavering commitment to be of benefit to others.
This year, we are especially pleased to honor Angeles Arrien and Huston Smith.
Angeles Arrien is a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She lectures and conducts workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. Her work is currently used in medical, academic, and corporate environments. Angeles is the President of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research. Her books have been translated into nine languages, and she has received three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of her work.
Huston Smith is among the preeminent religious studies scholars in the United States. His work The Religions of Man (later revised and retitled The World’s Religions) is a classic in the field, with over two million copies sold, and remains a common introduction to comparative religion. In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith’s life and work: The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith. Smith has produced three series for public television: The Religions of Man, The Search for America, and, with Arthur Compton, Science and Human Responsibility. His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals.

Angeles Arrien
and
Huston Smith

