Dharma Talk by Rev. Eijun Linda Cutts (Hybrid)
2022-06-13 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The Dharma Talk will be offered via Zoom by Rev. Eijun Linda Cutts, Senior Dharma Teacher at San Francisco Zen Center. Priest ordained in 1975, she has lived at Tassajara, SFZC City Center, and at Green Gulch Farm, where she has resided since 1993. She received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996, and served as Abbess from 2000-2019 (with a hiatus from 2007-2010). As Senior Dharma Teacher, she continues to teach, leading practice periods and retreats at Tassajara, Green Gulch, and elsewhere. She will lead the January 2023 Practice Period at Tassajara.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Study Group - (Canceled-on hiatus)
2022-06-16 08:00 - 09:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The Study Group is taking a break before moving on to a more contemporary text— Waking Up To What You Do: A Zen Practice For Meeting Every Situation With Intelligence and Compassion by Diane Rizzetto.
Meetings will resume on Thursday, July 14th.

The Zen Study Group is now meeting at the Dharma Center AND online. The study group is facilitated by Rev. So’on Jim Hare, with readings from ancient and contemporary Mahayana Buddhist & Soto Zen texts and commentaries.
To join the Thursday morning study group, email the coordinator, Rollin Ives, twl4148@gmail.com

Retreat Night (Hybrid)
2022-06-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2022-08-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On Retreat Night we offer an opportunity to settle into your meditation practice with two or three 25-minute periods of zazen, interspersed with walking meditation (called kinhin). Turning the light inward we explore the causes of suffering and what can end it. This invitation is extended to everyone.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Family Sangha (In person)
2022-06-26 10:00 - 12:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Family Sangha – Last Sunday of the Month 10:00am – 12:00 pm

One of the many dilemmas that parents face is how to hand down their spiritual values and practice to their children. We are fortunate that the Sacramento Dharma Center is now hosting a Family Sangha! Meeting on the last Sunday of the month from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, this is a great way for children, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – the whole family – to learn about and further their dharma practice in a kid-oriented social setting.
Like all sanghas, this one operates on dana. This giving can take many forms. The facilitators tell us that this can include, “helping a bit, some funds to launch or a monthly contribution so FS could give a stipend to a facilitator, helping with the admin, doing art, yoga, mindfulness, stories, gardening, with the kids, all kinds of possibilities.”
Prior to the pandemic, Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group (SBMG), one of our co-tenants at SDC, operated this very popular sangha, and we are very happy to see that it has returned, and is now a “mahasangha” monthly event.
Please check the SDC event calendar, or contact Helen Hobart at hdhobart@gmail.com for details.

Dharma Talk "Letting life unfold in unpredictable ways from the mystery" by Paravrrti Doralee Grindler Katonah (Hybrid)
2022-06-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Paravrrti Doralee Grindler Katonah will present a dharma talk “Letting life unfold in unpredictable ways from the mystery” in person at the Dharma Center. She serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall. She studied 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 Center in Sunnyvale, California. She was priest ordained in 2019.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Sitting is True Reality: a half-day Sitting, led by So'on Jim Hare (In-Person)
2022-07-02 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Sitting with no agenda; putting nothing before the mind – this is the art of zazen. This practice is appropriate for people seeking relief from the vicissitudes of feelings and discriminating consciousness, and it is good for people seeking simply to sit in true reality.

This retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation and a Dharma talk. Both first-timers and more experienced students are welcome.
REGISTER at EVENTBRITE.COM

CLOSED for Independence Day
2022-07-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States

Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey (Hybrid)
2022-07-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Myo Lahey, our guiding teacher, will join us online via Zoom from Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco, where he is Abbot. He previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (Hybrid)
2022-07-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
So-On Jim Hare, our Tanto, or head of practice, will be in person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. He lived in the San Francisco Zen Center community from 1980 to 1984, and was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1985. He served as Head Student at Green Gulch Farm during the spring 2002 practice period. He was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by Ryuko Laura Burges (Hybrid)
2022-07-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Guest teacher Ryuko Laura Burges, a lay-entrusted dharma teacher in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, will join us in person or online. She teaches classes, lectures, and leads retreats in Northern California. A teacher of children for 35 years, she now mentors aspiring teachers. Laura co-founded the Sangha in Recovery Program at the San Francisco Zen Center and is the abiding teacher at Lenox House Meditation Group in Oakland. Shambhala Publishers will be offering her Buddhist children’s books, Buddhist Stories for Kids: Jataka Tales of Kindness, Friendship, and Forgiveness, (December 2022) and Zen for Kids: 50+ Mindful Activities and Stories to Shine Loving-Kindness in the World (March 2023). Laura’s most recent book, Finding Our Way: Zen Awakening in Recovery, will be published by Shambhala in the Fall of 2023.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

The Possibilities of Life: One-day Sitting, led by So'on Jim Hare (In Person)
2022-08-06 09:00 - 17:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
When sitting zazen we sit in the wellspring of life. Come practice together to further awaken our abilities to listen to the activity of wisdom that emerges from living intimately in stillness and receiving what comes.
This retreat, originally scheduled to be led by Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah, will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and silent lunch (bring your own). Masks are optional, but encouraged. All participants must be vaccinated against Covid-19.
REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE.COM

Dharma Talk by Rev. Renshin Bunce (Hybrid : teacher in person)
2022-08-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Renshin Bunce will offer the dharma talk in the zendo this evening. She was lay ordained by Myogen Steve Stucky in 1996, and priest ordained by Zenkei Blanche Hartman at San Francisco Zen Center in 2003. She served as Shuso (head student) with Myogen at Tassajara in 2008 and received dharma transmission from him in April of 2013. After completing the Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training and residency, she has been employed as a hospice chaplain since 2010.
Renshin is a photographer and author of Love and Fear: Stories from a Hospice Chaplain (2020), and Entering the Monastery (2014). She offers Beginner’s Mind Zen Meditation at Transfiguration Episcopal Church in San Mateo, and also assists Zen students in the sewing of Buddhas’s robe.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Full Moon Ceremony (Hybrid)
2022-08-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This ceremony reminds us that enlightenment is enacted with Bodhisattva precepts, which are recited in a call and response format during the ceremony. We enter the ceremony following two 30-minute periods of zazen interspersed with walking meditation.
Whole-heartedly we celebrate the whole moon. Everyone is invited to participate.
*Full Moon Ceremony Chants
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (Hybrid)
2022-08-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
So’on Jim Hare serves as Tanto, or head of practice. He lived in the San Francisco Zen Center community from 1980 to 1984, and was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1985. He served as Head Student at Green Gulch Farm during the spring 2002 practice period, and was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Practice Talk by Oscar Balaguer (Hybrid, speaker in person)
2022-08-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Senior student and longtime member of Valley Streams Sangha, Oscar was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

CANCELED: One-day Retreat
2022-09-03 09:00 - 17:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
We will not be meeting for our usual sitting on the first Saturday of September. Our next Retreat will be on Saturday, October 1 at the Sacramento Dharma Center (In-person).
Our one-day and half-day sittings are held on the first Saturday of every month at the Sacramento Dharma Center. They include sitting meditation, walking meditation, and usually a dharma talk and discussion.
Everyone is welcome. Registration is on Eventbrite.com
Sign up for VSZS Weekly News to learn the latest on program details.

Social Identities as a Cause of Suffering (Hybrid)
2022-09-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
A program presented (in-person) by Paravrtti Doralee Grindler-Katonah and Sarah O’Gara in preparation for our September 12th program with Rhonda V. Magee, MA, JD. Our evening will include:

Introduction to Rhonda V. Magee’s concepts of Color-Insight, not Color-Blindness;
Making – not Taking Refuge;
Guided Meditation;
Small Group Reflection.

*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

CANCELED - Morning Zazen & Service (Hybrid)
2022-09-08 06:00 - 07:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Taking a one-week hiatus. Please join us for early morning silent meditation next Thursday before Study Group meeting. Contact Rollin Ives at twl4148@gmail.com for Zoom login and program information.
Schedule:
5:45-Zoom room opens
6:00-Zazen
6:30-Walking Meditation
6:40-Zazen
7:10-Service
•Download SFZC Chants in PDF.

CANCELED - Study Group (Hybrid)
2022-09-08 08:00 - 09:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
We will reconvene next Thursday, September 15.
The Zen Study Group meets at the Dharma Center AND online. The study group is facilitated by Rev. So-On Jim Hare, with readings from ancient and contemporary Mahayana Buddhist & Soto Zen texts and commentaries.
To join the Thursday morning study group, email the coordinator, Rollin Ives, twl4148@gmail.com

BIPOC Sangha Meeting with Rhonda V. Magee (Online)
2022-09-11 16:15 - 18:00 | ONLINE via Zoom
BIPOC Sangha is pleased to welcome Professor Rhonda Magee for “Reflections on Engaged Mindfulness: The Inner Work of Confronting Social Injustice in a Time of Distress”
*This program is for BIPOC practitioners.

REGISTER FOR THIS ONLINE PROGRAM
Rhonda Magee, MA, JD has dedicated her life to healing and teaching that inspires personal, interpersonal and collective transformation. Professor of Law at University of San Francisco since 2004, her teachings support compassionate conflict engagement and management, holistic problem-solving to alleviate suffering, presence-based leadership and humanizing approaches to education. A trained mindfulness teacher, she demonstrates the merit of embodied meditation allied with the disciplines of study and community engagement. A Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, she is also a guest teacher and has held senior leadership positions with several international mindfulness organizations. Author of numerous articles and book chapters, her first book, The lnner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities through Mindfulness, was published in 2019.

⇒ Rhonda Magee will also be guest teacher on Monday, September 12, 7-9 PM at Valley Streams Zen Sangha.

Reflections on Engaged Mindfulness with Rhonda V. Magee (Hybrid)
2022-09-12 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rhonda Magee, MA, JD joins us on zoom with reflections on the inner work of confronting social injustice in a time of distress. She is an internationally recognized educator, author, and practice leader, focused on integrating mindfulness into social change. She draws from Buddhist teachings, law and legal history, weaving together storytelling, poetry, analysis and practices. A trained mindfulness teacher, Rhonda Magee demonstrates the merit of embodied meditation.
Professor Magee has dedicated her life to healing and teaching that inspire personal, interpersonal and collective transformation. Professor of Law at University of San Francisco since 2004, her teachings support compassionate conflict engagement and management, holistic problem-solving to alleviate suffering, presence-based leadership and humanizing approaches to education.
This event is co-sponsored with BIPOC Sangha-Sacramento, an affiliate of Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group (SBMG).

The zendo opens at 6:50 pm.
Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977
Tonight’s chant: Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s “Loving Kindness Meditation – For All Beings”
Donations for Professor Magee may be sent via Paypal to rvmagee@usfca.edu

Exploring the Many Faces of Compassion with Paravrtti Doralee Grindler-Katonah (Hybrid)
2022-09-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall, and president of the Valley Streams Board of Directors. She studied in the Soto Zen lineage with Sojun Diane Martin in Illinois and Rev. Val Szymanski in California. She was priest ordained in 2019 by Sojun Diane Martin.
A Practice Circle: Exploring the Many Faces of Compassion Through Listening Together to our Experiences and Reflections. Rhonda Mcgee wrote: “Compassion is the will, the wherewithal, and the motivation to actually do something to assist in alleviating suffering, whether it’s our own or others. We need compassion that embraces our own suffering – self-compassion. And we need compassion that embraces the suffering of others – other-regarding compassion.”
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk with Rev. Myo Lahey (Hybrid)
2022-09-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Myo Lahey, our guiding teacher, will join us online via Zoom from Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco, where he is Abbot. He previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson.

Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk. There are no membership requirements to participate. We invite donations to support the room rental, visits by teachers, and other sangha activities. Valley Streams Zen Sangha is dedicated to the study of Buddha’s teaching and the practice of meditation. We invite newcomers and experienced Zen students to join us.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Half-Day Retreat (In-Person)
2022-10-01 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Everything is in Everything!
There is “Not One Single Thing.” (Shodo Harada)
Come sit, walk together, deeply entering the silence as we realize our lives are not our own.
Rev. Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah will lead a half-day retreat with sitting meditation (zazen), walking meditation (kinhin), and a dharma talk and discussion. Everyone is welcome.
Bring a lunch and join a social conversation in the newly landscaped Dharma Center north yard at the conclusion of the retreat.
Register on Eventbrite.
Sign up for VSZS Weekly News to learn the latest on program details.

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (Hybrid)
2022-10-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
So’on Jim Hare serves as Tanto, or head of practice. He lived in the San Francisco Zen Center community from 1980 to 1984, and was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1985. He served as Head Student at Green Gulch Farm during the spring 2002 practice period, and was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016.
The Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk. There are no membership requirements to participate. We invite donations to support the room rental, visits by teachers, and other sangha activities. Valley Streams Zen Sangha is dedicated to the study of Buddha’s teaching and the practice of meditation. We invite newcomers and experienced Zen students to join us.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Jukai Ceremony (Hybrid)
2022-10-09 14:00 - 16:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The ceremony of Jukai consists in receiving the precepts of the Bodhisattva and, by doing so, takes refuge in the three treasures: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. It is the ceremony for lay ordination.
Preceptor Rev. Myo Lahey, together with So’on Jim Hare, will convey the precepts to sangha members Brendan O’Brien and Tony Wallin-Sato. A reception will follow the ceremony.
The Jukai ceremony and reception is an in-person event with a Zoom option. Masking is optional, but please be vaccinated and boosted for Covid 19.
• The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83950936011.

Way-Seeking Mind Talk with Tony Wallin-Sato (Hybrid)
2022-10-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Each of us has come to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry, from diverse backgrounds. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for members to share how it is they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions engaging each person.
Tony will receive jukai or lay ordination Sunday October 9, 2022 at the Sacramento Dharma Center.
To offer dana to support Valley Streams’ programs and space rental, click here.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Way-Seeking Mind Talk with Dave Jarrell (Hybrid)
2022-10-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Each of us has come to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry, from diverse backgrounds. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for members to share how it is they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions engaging each person. Dave is a member of Board of Directors and manages the Valley Streams newsletter.
To offer dana to support Valley Streams’ programs and space rental, click here.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Study Group (Hybrid)
2022-10-20 08:00 - 09:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On hiatus until November 10th
The Zen Study Group is now meeting at the Dharma Center AND online. The study group is facilitated by Rev. So’on Jim Hare, with readings from ancient and contemporary Mahayana Buddhist & Soto Zen texts and commentaries.
To join the Thursday morning study group, email the coordinator, Rollin Ives, twl4148@gmail.com
