Berkeley Zen Center picks its first female abbot

"Galijan comes to the center after 21 years at San Francisco Zen Center, where she split her time between Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, its monastery in the Big Sur mountains, where she served as director and head of practice, and its City Center temple, where she served as president of San Francisco Zen Center."

"I came here one Monday morning and sat with the community and just felt immediately right, said Galijan about her first visit to Berkeley Zen Center in 1996. It was just like there was a whole being, whole body Yes.' I felt like I was home."

"The center was founded in a house on Dwight Way in 1967 by Mel Weitsman, with encouragement from Shunryu Suzuki, who founded San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center after coming to San Francisco from Japan in 1959. Suzuki, who is often described as a founding father of zen in America, is also the author of the influential book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Berkeley Zen Center moved to its current home on Russell Street in 1979."

Linda Galijan will become the abbot of Berkeley Zen Center on March 1, serving as the third abbot and the first woman in that role in 59 years. She spent 21 years at San Francisco Zen Center, splitting time between Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where she served as director and head of practice, and City Center, where she served as president. Galijan began Zen training at Berkeley Zen Center in 1996, later became a resident, and was married at the center in 2005. Berkeley Zen Center follows the Soto Zen tradition, offering daily zazen, instruction, classes, retreats, dharma talks, and monthly sesshins.

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