Zen Island Fellowship, Galveston

This is one in a series of "Profile" posts in which different local Buddhist groups and Temples will be described so that seekers will understand fully in advance what to expect should they decide to visit.

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The Zen Island Fellowship (ZIF) meets in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Galveston County building which is located within the City of Galveston.

502 Church Street, Galveston Texas
Map screengrabbed from GoogleMaps.

Close-up of the UU building location.  South of UTMB.

As of this blog post, ZIF sported a beautifully-designed and complete set of informational web pages.

Screengrab from the homepage at:
http://www.galvestonzen.org/index.html 

The pages explain succinctly the organization and protocols for meditation meetings, with information useful to visitors:

Details for newcomers.
Screengrabbed from http://www.galvestonzen.org/index.html

ZIF is currently listed by Wikipedia as being one of eight groups (all but one located in America) currently under the guidance of Zen Master Dae Gak. 

Zen Master Dae Gak, image screengrabbed from Wikipedia.

ZIF is correspondingly affiliated with Dae Gak's Furnace Mountain Retreat Center, which is located in Kentucky.

Moderator's Viewpoints.  As with all Temple profiles, an attempt is made to include mention of any relevant external accounts of the profiled group and/or its leadership, although a thorough evaluation is beyond the scope of this blog post and beyond the expertise of this blogger. 

As of the date of this blog post, the first ten pages of Google search returns revealed little third-party informational resources for Dae Gak or his affiliated groups.  Wikipedia makes biographical mention of a licensure disciplinary action (as well as being a Zen practitioner, he is (or was) a practicing psychologist in the state of Kentucky), an event which was echoed on a few Buddhist discussion boards such as this one.  Amazon carries a few of his published works, including one published in April 2012 and an older volume that received mixed reader reviews. 

Additional relevant information was not found during internet searches.  As always, please contact me via southhoustonsangha - at - gmail if you have anything to add.