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Join us for our weekly Well-Being ceremony dedicated to friends, family members and loved ones who may be in distress, or could otherwise benefit from receiving kindness and compassion. 

One may wonder what good it does to chant for others’ well-being. The founder of our temple, Zenkei Blanche Hartman, offered the following words:

“Putting our heart into our intention, our compassionate intention, and putting it out in the world has an effect on the world. It isn’t that we get what we want. We create compassion in the world when we call on our own compassion in this way. So for me, chanting for friends who are ill or for the safety of our monastery mobilizes my compassion and puts it out there. I think we can all do that. And it’s very satisfying to me. What can I do when I can’t do anything? This is something I can do. I can’t go down to Tassajara and fight the fire. I can’t go operate on my friends who are ill and remove the cancer. But I can put my heart in my deep concern for their well-being and this is not doing nothing. This is doing something.

Following a 21-verse chant of the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo, Blanche asked: “What is this? What are we doing when we do a chant like this? What are we calling on when we call on the great compassionate mind of Avalokiteshvara? I think this is an expression of our faith and devotion and it’s a calling forth of the great compassionate mind of each one of us and turning our intention and attention toward whoever we’re dedicating it to. It’s calling up our compassionate mind. Avalokiteshvara is just the combination of all of the compassionate minds of all of us together [and that’s what] make[s] Avalokiteshvara appear in the world.

When we really focus our intention and attention in all sincerity, it has an effect on the world.”

— Zenkei Blanche Hartman on July 2, 2008 at the San Francisco Zen Center