About
Sozan Michael McCord is President of San Francisco Zen Center, where he has been a resident practitioner since 2009. Ordained as a Zen priest by Ryushin Paul Haller in 2014, McCord has held several leadership positions at the organization, including Director of City Center (Beginner's Mind Temple) and Chief Financial Officer. Earlier in his practice, he served as Ino (Head of the Meditation Hall) and Tenzo (Head Cook) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Before entering Zen practice, he worked in technology and financial sectors. He holds a BA in Theology and previously volunteered with the Ambassador Foundation in Jordan.
Teaching focus
Sozan Michael McCord's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Zen and Mahayana traditions. Several threads come up: steady attention to body and breath; the relationship between ethics and meditation; and short, direct teachings rather than long talks. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Sozan Michael McCord works with whatever shows up in the room rather than reading from notes, which is part of why these talks land as conversational instead of scripted. Short pauses, longer sits, and questions that come back to direct experience are usual. Listed specialties on the source profile include retreat. The bigger move Sozan Michael McCord keeps making is back toward attention itself: what's happening, how it's being held, and what gets in the way. That keeps the teaching close to practice rather than drifting into commentary about practice. For talks, schedules, and longer essays, the affiliated organization's page is where the live material lives. Sozan Michael McCord's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on. Sozan Michael McCord's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on.
Background
Sozan Michael McCord teaches in the Zen and Mahayana traditions. The teaching home is San Francisco Zen Center. From the teacher's own profile: Sozan Michael McCord is the current President of San Francisco Zen Center, where he’s been a resident practitioner since 2009. Over the years, he’s held a number of leadership roles across the organization, including Director of City Center (Beginner’s Mind Temple) from 2019 to 2021 and Chief Financial Officer from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his practice, he served as Ino (Head of the Meditation Hall) and Tenzo (Head Cook) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Michael was ordained as a Zen priest by Ryushin Paul Haller in 2014. Before coming to Zen, he worked in both the technology and financial sectors. He also holds a BA in Theology from Ambassador University and spent time volunteering in Amman, Jordan, with the Ambassador Foundation, where he helped provide vocational training for individuals with developmental disabilities. His path has woven together spiritual practice, service, and organizational leadership, grounded in a deep commitment to the teachings of Soto Zen. In a Zen container, what Sozan Michael McCord offers is steady, mostly silent practice with short pointed teachings. The form is the teaching as much as the words are. Sitting, walking, work practice, and the relationship with a teacher all carry weight. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Sozan Michael McCord's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography.
Lineage
Sozan Michael McCord teaches as a monastic teacher in the Zen and Mahayana traditions. The institutional home, per the source listing, is San Francisco Zen Center, and that's where most of the public teaching schedule and any retreat offerings will be posted. The Zen lineage frame here, where stated, is what authorizes a teacher to lead practice, and the source page usually names the dharma teacher or root teacher when relevant.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Sozan Michael McCord, the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. Retreats are part of the offering, usually a few days to a week, mostly silent. The container is shaped by San Francisco Zen Center, so format details, fees, and access policies follow that organization's norms. Expect plenty of silence, less talking-at-you than you might think, and an emphasis on letting the practice do its work rather than chasing experiences. For exact dates, registration, and any sliding-scale or scholarship information, There's usually a short Q&A window and, on retreats, optional teacher interviews where students can bring specific questions about their practice.
