San Francisco Zen Center
E1038073
San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest and most influential Soto Zen Buddhist organizations in the United States, known for its urban temple in San Francisco and its affiliated retreat centers.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| San Francisco Zen Center canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13403222 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: San Francisco Zen Center Context triple: [Philip Whalen, associatedWith, San Francisco Zen Center]
-
A.
Mahayana Buddhist Temple
Mahayana Buddhist Temple is a prominent Chinese Buddhist temple in Manhattan’s Chinatown known for its large Buddha statue and role as a cultural and religious center for the local community.
-
B.
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine is a serene spiritual retreat and meditation center founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, featuring a peaceful lake, gardens, and shrines in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
-
C.
Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple is a historic Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood that has long served as a spiritual and cultural center for the Japanese American community.
-
D.
Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism
Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism is a global Buddhist community and monastic order founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh that integrates mindfulness practice with social engagement, peace work, and ethical living.
-
E.
Koyasan Buddhist Temple
Koyasan Buddhist Temple is a historic Shingon Buddhist temple in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood, serving as a spiritual and cultural center for the local Japanese American community.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: San Francisco Zen Center Target entity description: San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest and most influential Soto Zen Buddhist organizations in the United States, known for its urban temple in San Francisco and its affiliated retreat centers.
-
A.
Mahayana Buddhist Temple
Mahayana Buddhist Temple is a prominent Chinese Buddhist temple in Manhattan’s Chinatown known for its large Buddha statue and role as a cultural and religious center for the local community.
-
B.
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine is a serene spiritual retreat and meditation center founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, featuring a peaceful lake, gardens, and shrines in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles.
-
C.
Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple is a historic Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood that has long served as a spiritual and cultural center for the Japanese American community.
-
D.
Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism
Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism is a global Buddhist community and monastic order founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh that integrates mindfulness practice with social engagement, peace work, and ethical living.
-
E.
Koyasan Buddhist Temple
Koyasan Buddhist Temple is a historic Shingon Buddhist temple in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood, serving as a spiritual and cultural center for the local Japanese American community.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Buddhist organization
ⓘ
religious nonprofit organization ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs | SFZC NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
American Zen
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Western Buddhism ⓘ |
| buddhistSchool | Sōtō Zen NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| cityCenterLocation | Page Street, San Francisco NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| environmentalFocus | organic farming at Green Gulch Farm ⓘ |
| focus | integration of Zen practice with everyday urban life ⓘ |
| foundedBy |
Shunryu Suzuki
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
students of Shunryu Suzuki ⓘ |
| foundingYear | 1962 ⓘ |
| hasFarm | Green Gulch Farm Zen Center NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasPublication | Wind Bell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasTemple |
City Center
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center NERFINISHED ⓘ Tassajara Zen Mountain Center NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasUrbanTemple | City Center NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasWebsite | https://www.sfzc.org/ ⓘ |
| headquarters | City Center NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| influencedBy | Shunryu Suzuki NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| languageOfInstruction | English ⓘ |
| legalStatus | nonprofit organization ⓘ |
| locatedIn | San Francisco ⓘ |
| notableFor |
being one of the first Zen centers in the United States
ⓘ
being one of the largest Sōtō Zen organizations in the West ⓘ |
| notableTeacher |
Norman Fischer
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Richard Baker NERFINISHED ⓘ Shunryu Suzuki NERFINISHED ⓘ Sojun Mel Weitsman NERFINISHED ⓘ Tenshin Reb Anderson NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| offersPractice |
Buddhist study
ⓘ
sesshin ⓘ zazen ⓘ |
| offersProgram |
lay practice programs
ⓘ
residential training ⓘ retreats ⓘ |
| operatesRetreatCenter |
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center
GENERATED
ⓘ
Tassajara Zen Mountain Center GENERATED ⓘ |
| regionServed |
San Francisco Bay Area
ⓘ
United States of America ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| religiousAffiliation | Sōtō school of Japanese Zen NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| religiousTradition | Buddhism ⓘ |
| seasonalOperation | Tassajara Zen Mountain Center operates seasonally as a retreat center and guest season resort NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| state |
California, United States
ⓘ
surface form:
California
|
| teaches |
Bodhisattva precepts
ⓘ
Buddhist ethics ⓘ Zen meditation ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: San Francisco Zen Center Description of subject: San Francisco Zen Center is one of the largest and most influential Soto Zen Buddhist organizations in the United States, known for its urban temple in San Francisco and its affiliated retreat centers.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.