Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Changes

It's easy to get the idea that nothing much changes around Zen Center, job rotations notwithstanding, but occasionally we get surprised. When I was dropped of at the corner of Page and Laguna after the drive back from Tassajara last Friday, I immediately noticed a difference, which brought to mind the picture from the archives, of the building brand new in 1922:


Fast forward forty-seven years, to the time when the building was bought by Zen Center, and some changes are visible:


I love this picture from the same time, of Suzuki Roshi standing on the corner, which I think Scott used in a recent mailing; it's partly to do with the cars, but also it really anchors Suzuki Roshi here, in a way that pictures of him in the Buddha Hall or dokusan room don't quite:

So now we are back to this unfenced look at the front, and with it, a view of something I had never before noticed - the cornerstone:




And before you ask, I haven't yet heard what the letters represent.

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6 comments:

  1. Chris AmiraultSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:35 AM

    Thanks for this and all these posts. I read every one and appreciate them all. Gassho. Chris Amirault

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  2. ShundoSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    Thanks Chris.

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:56 AM

    amazing photos!

    thanks for sharing

    Shonen

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  4. ShundoSeptember 8, 2011 at 5:02 PM

    Thanks Shonen, we do have a great photo archive here, perhaps I should plunder it again.
    By the way, someone left a post-it on the desk in my office which read: Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Services, which I take it was the organisation who commissioned the building, for housing single Jewish working women in the city.

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  5. Sandy's witteringsSeptember 10, 2011 at 6:14 AM

    I do like these type of buildings through the ages type sequences. Looks like the Zen centre has been fairly safe from major change since it was built - apart from the fence going up and coming down the main change is in the traffic.

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  6. ShundoSeptember 10, 2011 at 6:50 PM

    I think that says a lot about the practicality and beauty of the design. I think there are not so many interio changes either, apart from the zendo and the Buddha Hall - I think I can find pictures of those in the old days as well...

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