Bay Zen Center Ordinary Mind Zen School

The Bay Zen Center offers a non-denominational approach to cultivating mindful awareness and presence in the activities of daily life. It is open to beginner and experienced practitioners and people of all traditions. Our practice is down-to-earth, practical, and centered in the understanding that it is in the heart of our daily life—in the workplace, at home, through relationships, in the community—that we can learn to engage with clarity, intelligence, and love. The foundation of our practice rests in the Zen Buddhist tradition, but we are open to teachings from other wisdom traditions.

The Center began in 1985 when a group of Charlotte Joko Beck's students in the San Francisco Bay area started sitting together. After receiving Dharma Transmission — authority to teach and lead a practice center) — from Joko in 1994, Diane Eshin Rizzetto became the teacher and abbess of the Bay Zen Center. Membership is open to people who live locally and at a distance.