THE WEEKEND WIND-DOWN
The Weekend Wind-Down is a series from The Bold Italic highlighting ways to explore the Bay Area and wind down from your stressful week. If you have an idea or tip, email us, or DM us on Twitter or Instagram.
If you have ever wondered what is the sound of a monk’s footsteps in a populous city, you have to join one of David Haye’s regular Roaming Zen walks. For about ten years, David, better known by his Buddhist name, Shundo (meaning “the Way of the Fleet Steed”), has been leading walks, quiet and informative, all over the great city of San Francisco.
Interested hikers meet at a designated place, areas specifically chosen by Shundo himself.
“We walk mostly in silence, stop to meditate a few times, and be mindful of social distancing, vaccinated or not,” Shundo says. He brings along research on the history or geography of places visited, which makes hikes even more gratifying. Everyone brings snacks and water—a donation is requested at the walk’s end.
‘We will enjoy our walk… without thinking of arriving anywhere’ — excerpt from the ‘Walking Meditation’ poem by Thich Nhat Hanh
“I am fond of many of the staircases, like Henry St., Harry St., Iron Alley,” says Shundo. He notes that some of the places “we roam are not hard-earned treasures, but the simple, restful pleasure of sitting under a tree and looking out over the city, taking moments to walk silently up quieter back streets and hidden staircases.”
A Roaming Zen Meetup site lists more than seven hundred followers, but only anywhere from one to fifteen show up for walks (reserving ahead). His walks have crisscrossed the city over the years, from Marshall Beach to Mount Sutro to Goldsworthy’s wood line in the Presidio, Vulcan Stairs, Mission Bay, and Mission Creek to the Dogpatch and Sunnyside.
Sign up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best of the Bay Area in your inbox every week.
Glenn Canyon, Botanical Garden, Stow Lake, Strawberry Hill, the redwood grove, and Golden Gate Park’s oak trail have all seen the soles of his group’s feet.
‘I think if I had a favorite section of trail it would be the reworked Lobos Creek trail in the Presidio. My favorite place to sit is a little alley in Russian Hill that is just the most tranquil spot—Marian Place, not far from Macondray Lane.’
In terms of unusual finds, he says, “there is the trail behind Laguna Honda, which is now more popular because it’s on the Crosstown Trail. I’ve seen it referred to as Bedpan Alley, Florida Alley, and now the Steep Ravine trail—it still has piles of old hospital detritus along its slopes.”
Who is Shundo? Before moving to the United States and fully embracing Zen Buddhism, he lived in London with a rewarding career in radio at the BBC. “I had a nice apartment, a jazz band, a warm circle of friends and a wide range of cultural activities,” he recalls. But a love “crisis,” followed by meeting “this really cool person who was practicing at the Zen Center in San Francisco,” changed the course of his life—some twenty years ago.
Although he loves the robes and Zen’s formal rituals, he says he is interested in reaching people who will never set foot inside a Zen temple.
He teaches at tech companies, schools, colleges, yoga studios, retreat centers, the county jail, and helps organize Young Urban Zen. And of course, he loves being outside.
In such a fast-paced world —where we’re told our value is synonymous with our network; our moral cache is, somehow, tied to our ability to produce— the smile act of consciously walking sounds like an almost sinful pursuit.
For more information on Roaming Zen Meetups, including Covid-19 safety protocols and specific walking paths, visit meetup.com/Roaming-Zen. These roam are offered on a sliding scale donation system; these funds are one of the ways Shundo—who is fully vaccinated against Covid-19—is able to afford to continue living in San Francisco as a zen priest.