Valley Streams Zen Sangha

Study Group (Hybrid)
2026-03-05 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-03-12 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-03-19 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-03-26 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-04-02 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-04-09 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-04-16 08:00 - 09:00, 2026-04-23 08:00 - 09:00 (America/Los_Angeles) and 3 more dates | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
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 Shokan Clement Spring (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-03-09 19:00 - 21:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
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.

Morning Zazen and Service (Hybrid)
2026-03-12 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-03-19 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-03-26 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-04-02 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-04-09 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-04-16 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-04-23 06:00 - 07:30, 2026-04-30 06:00 - 07:30 and 3 more dates | 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)

Dharma Talk by Rev. Mary Mocine (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-03-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Reverend Mary Mocine, former abbess of Clear Water Zendo, trained at San Francisco Zen Center, Berkeley Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery. She was priest ordained by Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1994 and received dharma transmission from him in 2005. She also studied with Jikai Myo-ōn Yvonne Rand, former Abbess Zenkei Blanche Hartman and former Abbots Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Tenshin Reb Anderson of the San Francisco Zen Center.
Rev. Mocine graduated from Hastings College of the Law in 1971. In 1988 she became interested in Zen Buddhism and took three months off in 1989 to do intensive residential practice at Green Gulch Farm, after which she never returned to practicing law.
In 1998 Rev. Mocine formed a meditation group in Vallejo California. The group grew and Clear Water Zendo was formally opened in January 2000. The name of the zendo, Clear Water, comes from a poem by Zen Master Dogen, “The Point of Zazen.”
Realization, neither general nor particular,
is effort without desire.
Clear water all the way to the bottom;
a fish swims like a fish.
Vast sky transparent throughout;
a bird flies like a bird.

*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.
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 Kristin Diggs (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-03-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Kristin Diggs is a Soto Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She trained residentially for eight and a half years at Green Gulch, Tassajara, and the San Francisco City Center, beginning in 2014. She was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 2017 and priest ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts in 2021. She served at Shuso (Head Student) for the spring 2025 practice period at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.
*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)
2026-03-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
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.

Dharma Talk by Hoka Chris Fortin (Hybrid, Speaker on Zoom)
2026-04-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This evening we welcome guest teacher, Chris Fortin, a Soto Zen teacher who began practicing Buddhism in 1976 while living at the San Francisco Zen Center. After many years of practice she received Dharma Transmission from Zoketsu Norman Fischer of Everyday Zen, in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.

Chris founded Dharma Heart Zen to share the path of wholehearted living and awakening with others. She leads the Dharma Heart Zen Sangha in Cotati and the Woman’s Lotus Sangha in Sebastopol. She is a senior teacher in the Everyday Zen community and leads workshops at SFZC. She is guiding teacher of Sky Island Zen in Tucson, Arizona and leads retreats in ancient Aravaipa Canyon. She was the co- founder of Veterans PATH (formerly Honoring the Path of the Warrior), offering retreats and meditation and mindfulness practices for returning veterans. She offers Jizo Bodhisattva trainings and ceremonies for those who have lost children, loved ones and those who are grieving the pain and suffering of the world. Chris is actively engaged in the dharma of social and racial justice and the climate crisis. She co-leads a monthly Racial Literacy and Dharma Group and serves on the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s Diversity Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility (DEIA) Committee.

*Zoom link to program
Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, practice circle or retreat night. 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.

Dharma Talk by Kristin Diggs (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-04-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States

Earth Day Event led by Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-04-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Our Earth Day celebration will begin with sitting meditation, followed by outside walking meditation and observation. Then we will return to the zendo for service to chant the Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi, which includes these lines:
Grass trees and lands which are embraced by this teaching together radiate a great light and endlessly expound the inconceivable, profound dharma. Grass, trees and walls bring forth the teaching for all beings, common people as well as sages. And they in accord extend this dharma for the sake of grass, trees and walls.
In a practice circle following service, we will do a writing exercise and discuss our commitment to the great earth.
Rev. Parāvrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall. 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.
*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.
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 Rev. So’on Jim Hare (Hybrid, Speaker in Person)
2026-04-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. 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
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.
