Shosan Victoria Austin: "Zen Work Practice: Cultivating a Field of Blessings"

What can ancient work practices offer Silicon Valley today? Hidden in more than a thousand years of Sōtō Zen monastic codes, we can trace the development of what we might now call a 90-day serious role-playing game. Its purpose: to spiritually mature practitioners, separately and together, for their own benefit and that of all beings.

In this lecture, we will explore aspects of Chinese, Japanese, and Western monastic work codes to find out how they promote human-hearted qualities such as generosity, morality, forbearance, and energy. Familiarity with these practices can help us illuminate the meaning and function of our responsibilities to ourselves, our work groups, our communities, and our world.

4:00pm - Guided Meditation (Room TBD)

7:00pm - Lecture (East Asia Library, Room 224)

Bio:

Shosan Victoria Austin began practicing Zen in 1971. She trained in the U.S., in India, and in Japan, and is entrusted as a Dharma heir in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1999), an international Soto Zen priest (2005), and a Dharma teacher at San Francisco Zen Center (1999). Some of her previous San Francisco Zen Center roles include Work Leader, Tenzo, Tanto, and President. In 2022, she co-led the training and participation of the Ryoban (ceremonial assembly) for the Zenshuji 100th Anniversary Jukai-e in Los Angeles, a five-day retreat in which over 100 people received precept teachings and vows.

In addition to her deep study and daily teaching of yogic aspects of meditation—in diverse settings including workplaces, institutions, and homes—Shosan serves as an Iyengar yoga teacher (1988), teacher educator (2003), assessor of new yoga teachers (2005), and Right Use of Power facilitator (2019). In her offerings, she emphasizes inclusion, accessibility, trauma sensitivity, and appropriate challenge, grounded in awareness of the possibility and presence of liberation.