Category: Way Seeking Mind Talk

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September 29th, 2025 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Todd Stein

Way Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, September 29th, 2025 –  Todd Stein (11.2 MB, 44 min).

Todd Stein

Todd Stein

Board of Directors

Todd Stein has been practicing Zen since the early 1990s and was a resident within San Francisco Zen Center from 1996 to 2002. He received Jukai from Ryushin Paul Haller in 1997. A former journalist, he’s currently a marketing consultant to healthcare technology companies. His marriage of 23 years has produced two children, a mortgage, two lazy cats and one exceedingly noisy chihuahua.

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May 19th, 2025 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Allison Claire

Way Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, May 19th, 2025 –  Allison Claire (12.1 MB, 45 min).

Allison Claire

Allison Claire is both a lay-ordained Zen practitioner and a Unitarian Universalist. She has been a peace and justice activist, a lawyer for death row inmates, a longtime federal employee, and the single mother of triplets. Her practice is deeply rooted in the Dharma of the Green World and the principles of engaged Buddhism.

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March 17th, 2025 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Shawn Hampton

Way Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, March 17th, 2025 by Shawn Hampton (13.8 MB, 57 min).

Shawn Hampton

Shawn Hampton is originally from Texas. He moved to California in 2020 and began attending VSZS in 2023. He has been involved with Contemplative Christianity for many years and spent 12 years pursuing monastic life, 9 of which were spent with the Carthusian Order in France: a community of solitary hermit monks.
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October 7th, 2024 – Dharma Talk by Katrena Paine

Dharma Talk given on Monday, October 7th, 2024 – Katrena Paine (11.8 MB, 48 min).

Katrena Paine

Katrena Paine

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August 12th, 2024 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Konen Scott Lowe

Way Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, August 12th, 2024 by Konen Scott Lowe (9.6 MB, 39 min).

Konen Scott Lowe

Konen Scott Lowe’s Dharma biography: “I first encountered the Buddha Dharma when I was a teenager. In the library of the town I grew up in (Gallup, New Mexico). I randomly picked up a small volume of Hinayana Buddhism Sutras and history. As soon as I read a few pages, I was drawn to the voice of the Buddha, and from that day on, I considered myself a Buddhist. Many years later, in 1994, I attended a Dharma talk at Green Gulch. Someone named Tenshin Reb Anderson gave the talk, and after hearing his talk, I thought, “I think this man is my teacher,” and so he is to this day. I took Jukai in 1999 and received the Dharma name Konen Shogaku.”
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June 19th, 2023 – “Way Seeking Mind Talk” – by Malia McCarthy

Way Seeking Mind talk given on Monday, June 19th, 2023 by Malia McCarthy (14.4 MB, 1 hr 1 min).

Malia McCarthy

Malia McCarthy

Board of Directors

Malia is a member of the Valley Streams Board of Directors and serves as secretary.  She recently retired from the practice of child and adolescent psychiatry.  She has two daughters in college and lives in Davis with her husband.  She feels very fortunate to have been able to practice with Valley Streams since 2019

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March 13th, 2023 – “Way Seeking Mind Talk” – by Jody Ansell

Way Seeking Mind talk given on Monday, March 13th, 2023 –  Jody Ansell (7.5 MB, 32 min).

Jody Ansell

Jody Ansell

Board of Directors

Jody Ansell started meditating in 2008 with One Drop Rinzai Zen’s Water Moon Sangha. She has been sitting with Valley Streams since 2014. She is retired, a hiking and biking enthusiast and a poet.

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November 21st, 2022 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Brendan O’Brian

Way Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, November 21st, 2022 –  Brendan O’Brian (12.3 MB, 53 min).

Brendan O’Brian

Brendan O’Brian

Senior Student

Shi Shin Brendan O’Brien has been a member of the Valley Streams community for the past three years. He is also a member of the Hartford Street Zen Sangha in San Francisco. Recently, in October, he received the Bodhisattva precepts from Rev. Myō Lahey and Rev. So’On Jim Hare. Brendan is a student of history at Sacramento State University and works as a civil servant for the State of California.
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October 17th, 2022 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Dave Jarrell

Talk given on Monday, October 17th, 2022 –  Dave Jarrell (11.2 MB, 48 min).

Ko Shin Dave Jarrell

Ko Shin Dave Jarrell

Board of Directors

Ko Shin Dave Jarrell was first attracted to Buddhism, and Zen in particular, through the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He received the precepts from Rev. Myō Lahey and is a member of the Valley Streams Doan Ryo.

Dave works on the staff of Child Advocates of El Dorado County, and when not engaged with family, work, or sangha, he enjoys wandering through the Sierra Nevada.

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October 10th, 2022 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Tony Wallin-Sato

A Talk given on October 10th, 2022 by Tony Wallin-Sato (16.9 MB, 1 hr 12 min).

Tony Wallin-Sato

Tony Wallin-Sato

Tony Wallin-Sato is a Japanese American who works with formerly/currently incarcerated individuals in higher education and is a long time Zen practitioner.  He received the Jukai precepts in October 2022.  He is on the board of directors of the Boundless Freedom Project.
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August 29, 2022 – A Practice Talk by Oscar Balaguer

Practice Talk given by Oscar Balaguer on Monday, August 29th, 2022 – (Audio Version: 11.4MB, 56 min 10 sec).

Oscar Balaguer

Oscar Balaguer

Senior Student

A longtime Zen practitioner and member of Valley Streams, Oscar was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson.
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May 20, 2019 – Way Seeking Mind Talk by Doralee Grindler Katonah

A Way-Seeking Mind talk is an opportunity for anyone in the sangha to tell their story of how their life led them to the Buddhist path, what practice has taught them, and how they experience the Dharma, in an open-ended format which is often relatable, funny, moving, and inspiring.

Way-Seeking Mind Talk given on Monday, May 20, 2019 (6.2MB, 45 minutes).

Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah

Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah

Practice Committee, Teachers

Serves as Ino,  or head of the meditation hall. She studies in the Soto Zen lineage with Sojun Diane Martin, founder and guiding teacher of Udumbara Zen Center in Illinois and Rev. Val Szymanski, Head Priest of Bamboo in the Wind Zen Sangha in California. She was lay ordained in 2008 and priest ordained in 2019. She served as head student for the Spring practice period at Bamboo in the Wind Zen Sangha this May 2022. She offers Practice Interviews upon request.