The Inner Prison, Koans and Freedom, Online 10/10–10/31
Description
The Zoom link to participate in this event will be provided at least 24 hours before it begins. Please call 415-354-0360 if you have any questions.
Saturdays, October 10–31, 2026
9:00–10:30 am PT
More than fifteen years ago, Dario Doshin Girolami first entered Rebibbia Prison with an unusual proposal: to teach meditation behind bars. As abbot of L’Arco Zen Center–Zenmon Ji in Rome, Doshin brought Zen practice into a labyrinth of bars and concrete, where daily exposure to suffering led him to question the meaning of freedom.
The teachings he offers emerge from this encounter between lived experience and millennia-old Zen wisdom. Through koans and parables, Doshin weaves together the stories of inmates with the wisdom of Buddhist masters such as Dōgen and Suzuki Roshi.
Together, these stories and teachings open a journey beyond fixed ideas of good and evil, beyond the visible walls of prison, and toward the recognition that the most confining prisons are often those built by our own minds. As the Buddha teaches, we are all imprisoned by greed, hate, and delusion.
Recommended Reading/Viewing:
- Meet Dario Girolami, A Zen Teacher Engaged in Interfaith Work
- La Via Interiore: Meditazione a Rebibbia (The Inner Way: Meditation in Rebibbia), Documentary Film In Italian with English Subtitles
- L’Arco Zen Center (Zenmon Ji) in Rome, Italy
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: $210 — supports others’ participation
- Standard ticket price: $162 — covers full program costs
- Member (Become an SFZC Member): $151 — for current SFZC members
- Supported: $101 — community supported rate
- Deeply Supported: $42 — for broadest accessibility
- 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.
Or call 415-354-0360.
Dario Doshin Girolami
Dario Girolami, Keimyo Doshin, is Abbot of Centro Zen L’Arco in Rome, which he founded in 1986 as a sitting group. A former San Francisco Zen Center resident, he was ordained by Zenkei Blanche Hartman and received Dharma Transmission from Eijun Linda Cutts.