Hartford Street Zen Center

After being expelled from the US Navy alongside his male lover for homosexual conduct during the Korean War, Tommy Dorsey Jr. began travelling the country as a successful drag performer and prostitute. During these years, he developed an addiction to methamphetamine and frequently abused other hard drugs. In the early 1960’s, Dorsey moved to San Francisco’s Castro District after hearing about the area’s substantial gay and hippie community. There, he founded a commune, became manager for a rock band, and began dealing drugs. Due to his drug usage and dealing, Dorsey overdosed and was arrested multiple times in San Francisco.

Around 1965, however, things changed for Dorsey after he witnessed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg break up a street brawl by simply reciting a Zen chant. This experience deeply impressed Dorsey, who then began studying Buddhism and sitting zazen (meditating in the Zen practice) at the nearby San Francisco Zen Center under famous monk, Shunryu Suzuki. After the death of Suzuki in 1971, the San Francisco Zen Center’s new abbott, Richard Baker, ordained Dorsey as a Buddhist priest and made him director of the Center in 1975. He was also given the name Issan, as a part of his ordainment. While still in this position, Issan Dorsey helped form the Gay Buddhist Club- a discussion group specifically for gay Buddhists in the San Francisco area- in 1980.

Eventually, the Gay Buddhist Club began holding their meetings in the basement of one member’s Victorian-era house located at 57 Hartford Street, where they hosted guest speakers such as Allen Ginsberg, Baker Roshi, and Ram Dass. On December 8, 1981- the holiday commemorating Buddha’s enlightenment- a ceremony was held inaugurating the building as an official zendo. Thus, the Hartford Street Zen Center was born.

In 1987, Maitri Hospice was opened by Issan Dorsey in the Center to serve gay men and addicts in the Castro District who were dying of AIDS. The Buddhist hospice was the first of its kind in the United States. The Center eventually leased the building next door in order to add nine beds for those in extremis. Dorsey was officially made abbott of the Hartford Street Center in 1989. One year later, he died of AIDS-related complications in one of the beds of the hospice which he helped create.

In 1997, Maitri Hospice moved out of the Center and into larger facilities with room for fifteen beds at the intersection of Church and Duboce Streets. Hartford Street Zen center, meanwhile, was led briefly by another abbott who departed after a difficult tenure. Beat poet Zenshin Philip Whalen became the Center’s third abbott in 1991 and served there until his retirement 5 years later. Today, the Hartford Street Zen Center is led by Rev. Myō Denis Lahey who has served there since his induction on October 13, 2013. 

Hartford Street Zen Center. History, Hartford Street Zen Center. 2015. Accessed October 25th 2020. https://hszc.org/about/history-of-hszc/.

Carson, Chris. Castro Zen center gets new abbot, The Bay Area Reporter. November 20th 2013. Accessed October 26th 2020. https://www.ebar.com/news///244048.

Schneider, David. Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey. Edition 2nd. Boston, Massachusetts . Da Capo Press, 2000.