Michael Gelfond

Michael Gelfond (Kai-Gen Myo-Gyo, Ocean Source/Inconceivable Practice) began practicing Zen at SFZC in 1973. He practiced at City Center, Green Gulch Farm, and Tassajara for ten years and then went on to study medicine and practice Emergency Medicine at Oakland Kaiser Hospital for 30 years.

He received priest ordination in 2018 from Daito Steve Weintraub and trained as Shuso/Head Student at Green Gulch Farm in 2021. Currently he practices with and helps to lead Steve W’s Presidio Hill Zen Group; he practices as well with the group Everyday Zen, led by Norman Fischer. He is a husband, father and grandfather and tries to practice each day with Suzuki Roshi’s teaching that Zen practice is not separate from our ordinary human life.