
Greeting the world with a warm bow—Rev. So On Eli Brown-Stevenson is a Soto Zen priest and the Director of Inclusion and Belonging at San Francisco Zen Center. His work integrates Zen practice with DEIA principles, emphasizing how both traditions involve studying the conditioned self, examining harm, and cultivating belonging—internally and externally. Eli is especially committed to fostering direct, embodied engagement with inclusion, moving beyond aspirational ideals toward grounded, relational practice.
He is particularly inspired by how Zen practice reinvigorates and expresses our shared humanity, offering clarity and compassion in an ever-changing, technological world. Rather than separating inner transformation from social responsibility, Eli explores how the inner sense of belonging cultivated through Zen relates to the external realities of inclusion and exclusion.
Eli received priest ordination from Rinso Ed Sattizahn in 2012 and has trained at all three of SFZC’s temples. He currently resides at City Center with his daughter, Maya. For over half a decade, he has brought mindfulness practice to grade school classrooms and BIPOC youth communities, and he is one of the guiding facilitators for Young Urban Zen program at SFZC.