Valley Streams Zen Sangha

Morning Zazen and Service (Hybrid)
2026-05-28 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-06-04 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-06-11 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-06-18 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-06-25 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-07-02 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-07-09 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-07-16 06:00 - 07:30 (America/Los_Angeles) and 2 more dates | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Join us for two periods of zazen (seated meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation), or just the first or second second meditation periods, as your schedule allows.
6:00 am – Zazen (sitting meditation)
6:30 am – Kinhin (walking meditation)
6:40 am – Zazen
7:10 am – Morning Service
Please arrive a few minutes before the beginning of each period to take your seat in the zendo or, if arriving via Zoom, to allow the AV person time to admit you. If you arrive on Zoom after the beginning of the sit, the AV person will not admit latecomers until the beginning of the next period. Stay for a cup of tea after service if you join in person.
•Zoom meeting link
•Chants used in our morning service (SFZC website)

Study Group (Hybrid)
2026-05-28 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-06-04 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-06-11 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-06-18 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-06-25 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-07-02 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-07-09 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-07-16 08:00 - 09:00 and 2 more dates
The Zen Study Group meets at the Sacramento Dharma Center and on Zoom. 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

Dharma Talk by Ango Sara Tashker (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-06-01 19:00 - 21:00
Ango Sara Tashker has been a San Francisco Zen Center residential practitioner since 2002. She has held many positions, including Farm Manager, Creek Restoration Project Manager, and Director at Green Gulch Farm, as well as working in the kitchen and bathhouse and being Head Student (Shuso) at Tassajara. She loves that her every activity is the fertile ground of Zen practice: growing food, relating to community, being a mother, appreciating the breath and body. In the fall of 2019, she received Dharma Transmission from her late teacher, Sojun Mel Weitsman.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Dharma Talk by Nyokai Kristin Diggs (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-06-08 19:00 - 21:00
Nyokai Kristin Diggs joined our sangha as Teacher in 2026. Prior to moving to Sacramento, she trained residentially at all three San Francisco Zen Center temples (2014-2025), holding a number of senior positions, including Ino, Tenzo, and Work Leader. Lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson and priest ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts, she served as Shuso during the winter 2025 practice period at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, led by Eijun Linda Cutts.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Dharma Talk by So’on Jim Hare (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-06-15 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-07-20 19:00 - 21:00
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 to program
We offer a Well-Being Ceremony on the third Monday of every month to remember friends, family, neighbors, pets and people of the world who are ill, facing a recent loss, or struggling with some difficulty in their lives. Please send the names of those you wish to be remembered to: Parāvrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (Ino@valleystreamszen.org) by the Sunday evening prior. Or you may add a name Monday evening in the Zoom Lobby before zazen. Please consider speaking with the person(s) you want to name for their permission or to know their wish to not be named.
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

"Chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra" - Group Reading Program (Hybrid)
2026-06-22 19:00 - 21:00
For our Dharma program this evening we will do a group reading Chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra, titled “Faith Discernment” or “Faith and Understanding.” This chapter tells the story of a son long-separated from his father and is a parable for students of the Way who have trouble recognizing their kinship with Buddha.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Full Moon Ceremony (Hybrid)
2026-06-29 19:00 - 21:00
The Full Moon Ceremony acknowledges the karma created by our intentional actions, and reminds us to renew our commitment to the ethical conduct expressed as the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts. These are guiding principles for our daily conduct in the world. This ceremony is rooted in a ritual from pre-Buddhist India. To prepare for the ceremony there are two 25 minutes meditation periods separated by 10 minutes of walking meditation. All are welcome to participate.
*Full Moon Ceremony Chants
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Wild Women's Sangha 3rd Annual Retreat Panel Presentation (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-07-06 19:00 - 21:00
WILD WOMEN’S SANGHA 3RD ANNUAL RETREAT AT GREEN GULCH FARM (April 2026)
PANEL PRESENTATION by Sangha Participants –
Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah, Wa Den Barbara Baccei
UnJo Karen Hamilton, Valerie Hanson, Lori Chambers
It is important, when some of us go off on ‘pilgrimage’ upon returning, to bring our gifts of wisdom and discovery to the larger community. Time for discussion and questions will follow.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Dharma Talk by Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-07-13 19:00 - 21:00
Tonight we will learn about and practice together with the ingredients, or processes that make us human – form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness – to be liberated from all that bind us to enter the field of awakened life.
Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah 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 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 in May 2022. She offers Practice Interviews upon request.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Dharma Talk by Danan John Wark (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-07-27 19:00 - 21:00
Danan John Wark is a teacher in the Single Flower Sangha line that descends from the Kwan Um School of Zen, which in turn derives from the Sudeoksa mountain lineage of the Jogye Order of Korean Zen (Seon). Danan received precepts in 2009 and Inka in 2019 from Zen Master George Bo Mun Bowman, the founder of the Single Flower Sangha. Danan has practiced in the Rinzai tradition and studied koans with Bo Mun for over 20 years. He has also practiced in the Soto tradition with Tenshin Reb Anderson roshi at No Abode Hermitage for more than a decade. In 2014 Danan established Cloud Zendo, a sangha that presently meets every first and third Saturday of the month and start at 9 AM in Auburn.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.

Practice Talk by Shokan Clement Spring (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-08-03 19:00 - 21:00
Shokan Clement Spring is in his second rotation at Head Doan for Valley Streams Zen. He received Jukai (lay precepts) with Rev. Myō Lahey in 2010 and Shukke Tokudo (priest ordination) with Rev. Kyosho Valorie Beer in 2023. Preparatory to ordination, he completed two practice periods at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center and he has recently returned from his first post-ordination practice period, again at Green Gulch Farm.
*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, or practice circle. 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. If this is your first visit please arrive at least 15 minutes early for a brief orientation.
