With a welcoming bow to the world, Rev. So On Eli Brown-Stevenson serves as Acting Tanto at Green Gulch Farm and as the Belonging and Inclusion Liaison at San Francisco Zen Center. He also sits on the Board as Chair of the Governance Committee. His service helps sustain the daily rhythms of practice and community life, supporting an atmosphere where sincere practice can grow and thrive.
Eli’s teaching invites direct, embodied presence with the moment at hand, calling students into a close study of the conditioned self and a return to what is immediate and true. He is particularly drawn to the way Zen practice can nurture a lived sense of connection and ease amid the complexity of modern life.
He received priest ordination from Rinso Ed Sattizahn in 2019 and has trained at all three of SFZC’s temples.
He lives between Green Gulch and City Center with his daughter, Maya, and has shared mindfulness practice with 1st and 2nd graders for more than five years. He is also one of the guiding facilitators for the Young Urban Zen program.