Sweetwater Zen Center

Sweetwater Zen Center (SWZC), temple name Kosen-in (光泉院), is a Soto Zen Buddhist practice center located in National City, CA, founded by Roshi Anne Seisen Saunders, who serves as Abbot and guiding teacher. Sweetwater began in January 2000 as a satellite group of Yokoji Zen Mountain Center when Saunders, then Co-Abbot of Yokoji, moved to the San Diego area to establish an urban residential Zen practice community. In 2003, Rev. Junyu Kuroda Roshi, brother of Taizan Maezumi, gave SWZC the temple name Kosen-in or ‘Temple of a Fountain of Light.’ In March 2004, SWZC became an independent non-profit, and Saunders became the first Abbot of Sweetwater Zen Center. Sweetwater Zen Center practices zazen and koan study in the tradition of Maezumi Roshi’s White Plum Asanga. It is also Zen Peacemaker training center, providing training in the Zen Peacemaker Order’s distinctive approach to socially engaged Buddhism.

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As a small community temple, one of the goals of SWZC is to support "wisdom and compassion in the context of work, family life, and other social responsibilities." The center supports a residential training program, as well as a regional commuter sangha in the greater San Diego-Tijuana border region. Formal practice at SWZC centers on four aspects: zazen, council practice, studying with a teacher, and service through social action and community involvement. It follows a traditional Soto meditation schedule, observing a daily schedule of zazen, Buddhist service, and work practice, as well as monthly sesshin, ango, and other intensive periods of practice. These elements are accompanied by an emphasis on living in community, working together through shared stewardship, interfaith activity and social engagement.