Blanche Hartman

Zenkei Blanche Hartman (née Gelders; May 8, 1926 – May 13, 2016 ) was a Soto Zen teacher practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. From 1996 to 2002 she served two terms as co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. She was the first woman to assume such a leadership position at the center. A member of the American Zen Teachers Association, Blanche was especially known for her expertise in the ancient ritual of sewing a kesa. Hartman became known for her attention to issues faced by women; she and her late husband Lou Hartman had four children, eight grandchildren, and a number of great-grandchildren.

Biography Blanche Hartman was born in Birmingham, Alabama to non-practicing Jewish parents, Joseph Gelders and Esther Frank in 1926. Educated in the Catholic school system in the early 1930s—and impressed with the religiosity and faith of one teacher—in 1943 she moved to California, where her father served in the military. After taking up biochemistry and chemistry at the University of California she married Lou Hartman in 1947, giving birth to four children. In the late 1950s she found work as a chemist, though by 1968 she began questioning the direction of her life. She and her husband began sitting zazen regularly at the Berkeley Zen Center in Berkeley, California in 1969,

Character According to the author James Ishmael Ford, Hartman was "... seen as a quiet and yet compelling leader exercising her authority through her simple and pure presence, a true heir to Suzuki's Dharma."

Writing Hartman regularly contributed to publications like Lion's Roar (magazine) and Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly. In the latter, she offered advice through the "Ask the Teachers" column for over a decade.

A short collection of her talks and teachings on the subject of boundlessness was compiled by Zenju Earthlyn Manuel into Seeds For A Boundless Life: Zen Teachings From The Heart, Hartman's first book, published in 2015.