Buddhist Chaplaincy Speaker Series: “Jizō: A Ceremony of Grief Care for Chaplains” with Jennifer Block

An introduction to Jizō Boddhisattva and a ceremony of grief care, Japanese in origin, that was originally offered for children and has gradually expanded to hold all forms of loss. The ceremony came to the San Francisco Zen Center through the vision of Yvonne Rand and is now offered at Green Gulch Farm in the spring and fall each year.

The presentation will include an embodiment of the ceremony, giving participants an opportunity not only to learn about Jizō, but to experience the ceremony itself. With a touch of Zen, we’ll explore how ritual creates a quiet space for grief, uncertainty, and the thresholds of life and death—and what it means to accompany grief without needing to fix or explain it.

For context before or after the talk, attendees are welcome to visit www.jizoceremony.com.

About the Speaker
Jennifer Block, MA (she/her) is a Buddhist chaplain, Interfaith minister, educator, and Zen practitioner whose current chaplaincy work focuses on accompanying people through the spiritual and emotional dimensions of aging, illness, dying, grief, and life transitions. One of the early Buddhist chaplains in the United States, Jennifer brings experience in hospice, grief, and spiritual care to her work with individuals and families, caregivers, clinicians, and chaplaincy students; she is also a founding faculty member of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies’ Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Programs and has facilitated Jizo ceremonies for mourners with San Francisco Zen Center since 2012. Receiving Lay Ordination from Norman Fischer in 2012, and serving as shuso with Peter van der Sterre and Oak Street Zendo in 2021, Jennifer brings warmth, authenticity, deep listening, and Buddhist wisdom to the practice of compassionate presence.