Suzuki Roshi’s Koan Commentaries with Abbot Jiryu, Online 8/10–8/31

Practice Center
Date / Time
Aug 10, 2026 / 5:00pm - Aug 31, 2026 / 6:15pm
Event Type
Classes & Extended Courses
Description

Four Mondays, 5:00 pm–6:15 pm  
Online Only

“We don't know how much our understanding is limited. That is why you have to study koans. Koans will open up your mind.” –Shunryū Suzuki Roshi

Like all Zen teachers, Suzuki Roshi often taught by retelling and commenting on the old dialogues of the Zen ancestors, the koans, or family stories, of the Zen tradition. He feels that koans are important for Zen students to read over and over, to devote themselves to, and to work on. 

He talks about koans not to explain them, but “in order to give some suggestion about how to practice zazen,” so while his comments are often insightful and clear in illuminating the original meaning of the koan, more than anything, they carry and transmit the warm heart and simple depth of Suzuki Roshi’s own way of Zen.

For the last several years, Jiryu Rutschman-Byler has been compiling and editing a full collection of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings on koans, in collaboration first with Sojun Mel Weitsman and, since 2023, with Kaimon Cooley of Austin Zen Center. The project is now far enough advanced that he is ready and excited to share some selections from it with the wider sangha through this online class.

Over the course of these four classes, a handful of the short, edited koan talks by Suzuki Roshi will be shared and reflected on together. Abbot Jiryu will offer his perspectives on each koan and Suzuki Roshi’s comments on it, with special attention to how they touch on central themes of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings. There will be time throughout for questions and comments, and small and large group discussion on the particular “work” of practice that each koan and commentary invites.

Recordings:
All course sessions will be recorded, and registered participants will receive temporary access to the recordings for later viewing.

Fee Information
  • Benefactor Ticket Price: $175
  • General ticket price: $140
  • Member (Become an SFZC Member): $126
  • Sliding Scale 1: $84
  • Current SFZC residents and qualified SFZC retirees may attend this course for free. To register, please email onlineprograms@sfzc.org at least 72 hours before the program begins.

Register Online

Or call 415-354-0360.

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