Fall Practice Period at City Center: The Six Paramitas

Fall Practice Period at City Center is San Francisco Zen Center's fall training-season offering, in an online/commuter format. A practice period is a traditional Zen format — an extended stretch of intensified daily practice rather than a single weekend retreat — and this one runs from September 30 to December 5, 2026. The center describes it as eight weeks; the calendar dates run slightly longer, worth factoring in if you are planning around it.

The theme

The Six Paramitas are the classical list of bodhisattva virtues: generosity, ethical conduct, patience, diligent effort, meditation, and wisdom. The description pairs the theme with both sitting practice and study — morning and evening zazen, weekly classes, small group meetings, and dharma talks — so expect the paramitas to run through the whole period rather than appear in a single weekend workshop.

Schedule

The listing names these components:

• Morning and evening zazen
• Weekly classes on the Six Paramitas
• Small group meetings
• Dharma talks
• Embedded one-day and three-day sesshins (sesshin: an intensive block of sustained group sitting)

What it does not give: exact sitting times, the dates of the embedded sesshins, class topics, or a day-by-day schedule. Those may be published closer to the start date or available by contacting the center.

Format and cost

This signup page covers the online/commuter version of the period, listed at $706, with no other price tiers shown. The listing does not specify how the online component is delivered — live videoconference, stream, or recordings — or which scheduled elements online participants join. No lead teacher is named, and no experience requirement or application process is stated; if the commitment level is a question for you, ask the center directly before registering.