"Shitou's Thatched Hermitage" - One-day Retreat led by Kokyo Henkel (In Person Only)
2026-04-04 08:30 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
In this Dharma poem we hear how to build a thatched hut and to practice zazen by turning the light around.
Our daylong retreat will focus on the classic Zen poem, Song Of The Thatched Hermitage by our lineage ancestor Shitou, who also wrote the Sandokai or the Harmony of Difference and Equality. There will be morning and afternoon talks, zazen, and optional dokusan (private interviews). The retreat will end with a celebration of Buddha’s Birthday.
Your registration offering supports our guest teacher and the ongoing activities of Valley Streams Zen Sangha. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Contact info@valleystreamszen.org to request a scholarship, or if this will be your first retreat with us.
Kokyo Henkel has been practicing Zen since 1990, in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan, and Santa Cruz Zen Center. He was ordained as a Zen priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010. Kokyo has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen (“Great Completeness”) teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu, as well as other Tibetan teachers in the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, completing Vajrayana ngondro (foundational practices) in 2020. Kokyo’s retreat near Tassajara, called Bright Window Hermitage, welcomes Buddhist practitioners of all traditions.
Please register here.

Introduction to Zen Meditation (In Person Only)
2026-04-13 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-05-11 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-06-08 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-07-13 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-08-10 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-09-14 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-10-12 18:00 - 18:40, 2026-11-09 18:00 - 18:40 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On the second Monday of each month, we offer a 40-minute introduction to Zen practice. We focus on the art of sitting meditation, with emphasis on posture, breath and mental focus. This is for new meditators and those wishing to refresh their practice of meditative immersion.
Following the instruction the Valley Streams Zen Sangha meets for a 30-minute meditation in the Dharma Hall followed by a 10-minute service and Dharma talk. You are invited to stay for these events after the instruction.
* Meets in the Library at Sacramento Dharma Center.
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Women’s Retreat at Green Gulch Farm (In Person Only)
2026-04-30 - 2026-05-03 | Green Gulch Farm, 1601 Shoreline Hwy, Muir Beach, CA, 94965, United States
Be part of our Sangha of Embodied Women Co-creating Our Future. Our weekend together at Green Gulch Farm will include dharma teachings, meditation, mindfulness practice, yoga, conversation and sharing, communal living and eating. There will be generous free time for walking in nature or whatever your heart desires. Plus, the merriment of art making and koan theater. This is the place from which trust, faith, creativity and friendship grow.
Registration is limited, so please apply today. For registration details and application, contact Doralee Grindler Katonah, grindkaton@icloud.com, 916.284.4783 or Katrena Paine, katrenapaine@gmail.com, 916-261-9902.

"Cultivating the Mind of Equality" - Half-day Sitting led by So’on Jim Hare (In Person Only)
2026-05-02 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Our practice of observing thoughts and feelings without getting involved in them cultivates the mind of equality.
As we go through life, we learn that it is not possible to control circumstances so that everything always goes smoothly; not possible to make it so that there are never any deviations from our plans, our hopes, and our desires. Zen practice is teaches us how to meet pleasant and unpleasant circumstances with the mind of equaity.
“There is a power which you cannot grasp with your rational mind. It operates freely, according to the situation, in a more natural way. At the same time, this power functions in our lives to clarify and settle activities and is beneficial to all living beings.” Dogen
If this will be your first extended sitting with us, please send us a note at info@valleystreamszen.org to introduce yourself.
A social lunch – bring your own – will follow the sitting.
Attendance is available on a sliding scale from $10 to $50. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Please register here.

"Releasing Nests of Being" - One-day Retreat led by Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person Only)
2026-06-06 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
We create nests of being that call for release for our true nature to freely engage our everyday lives. Come practice together.
The theme of this one-day retreat will be a discussion of the koan, “If you don’t swing the sword, the fisherperson stays in the nest.” (68 Jiashan “Swinging the Sword”, Book of Serenity.)
Come Practice together: Wonder “What is this nest of being?” (not Why), let the sword swing, let go, let go, exhale into emptiness.
The day will feature periods of sitting and walking meditation and a Dharma talk by Paravritti Doralee Grindler Katonah, Valley Streams Zen Sangha’s leader of the meditation hall. Lunch will be silent; please bring your own bag lunch.
Attendance is available on a sliding scale from $10 to $100. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this will be your first extended sitting with us, please send us a note at info@valleystreamszen.org to introduce yourself.
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.

Please register here.

One-day Sitting led by Nyokai Kristin Diggs (In Person Only)
2026-07-18 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
In zazen, we rest awake in the boundless silence and stillness that invisibly nourishes and sustains our everyday, active lives.
The mind holds the body, and the body holds the mind, in deeply habitual ways. In zazen (just sitting with nothing to get ahold of and nothing to get away from – in complete acceptance), we sit upright and settle deeply in the embrace between gravity and the earth. In zazen, we simply settle the body and disengage from excessive thinking, thus releasing the breath, the nervous system, and the musculature of the body. We dare to rest awake in the boundless silence and stillness that invisibly nourishes and sustains our everyday, active lives.
This retreat will be led by Nyokai Kristin Diggs. Our day will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, and a Dharma talk. A silent lunch break will be offered, during which indoor and outdoor seating will be available. Please bring your own lunch.
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.
This day of sitting will also offer periods of optional, personalised posture suggestions/adjustments to those who wish to receive help establishing a settled/easeful sitting posture.
Attendance is available on a sliding scale from $10 to $50. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
If this will be your first extended sitting with us, please send us a note at info@valleystreamszen.org to introduce yourself.
Please register here.

Doan Training For Everyone (In Person Only)
2026-08-01 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
After 2 opening periods of zazen, followed by morning service, we will offer Doan training for anyone who would like to strike the bells (the doan), play the wooden fish or mokugyo (the fukudo), or intone the sutra title and dedication (eko) of the service (the kokyo). Participants don’t have to commit to future service on the doan ryo (the doan team), but can express their interest if so moved. Our morning will end with a closing service and social lunch (please bring your own). This is a free event.
If this will be your first extended sitting with us, please send us a note at info@valleystreamszen.org to introduce yourself.

SDC 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
2026-08-15 13:00 - 16:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On August 15, the Sacramento Dharma Center is marking 10 years of providing a home for Buddha’s wisdom and compassion in our community.
To celebrate this milestone, we invite you to join us for an ice cream social and birthday party at the Dharma Center from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
We will also be celebrating our founders and those whose involvement in the early years made our spiritual home what it is today.
Please come by for ice cream, cake, and live music. Visit with your friends and make new ones.
Please register here: SDC 10th Birthday Party
We hope you will join us.

Inter-Sangha Jizo Ceremony Led by Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person Only)
2026-08-30 13:30 - 16:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Jizo is the beloved Great Bodhisattva found within many Buddhist traditions, who carries us across the threshold of death and loss and safely accompanies us through the ‘hell zones’ of deep suffering.
Especially honored in Japan, Jizo (also known as ‘Earth Store’ or ‘Earth Womb’) brings to us the qualities of courage, fearlessness, and tenderness needed to enter into our experiences of grief and loss and to open our hearts to the mystery of life and death.
This will be a sacred time for us to come together to acknowledge and remember the death of someone dear to us or another kind of significant loss, whether recent or from long ago. We will take refuge in the safe container of our shared presence with each other for the sake of our healing.
We will be introduced to this ceremony by our facilitator and then in silence we will create hand-made offerings for our loved ones. In a ceremony of remembrance we will honor their lives and our relationship with them. We will complete the ceremony with a processional into our garden to offer prayer flag messages for the dying and for ourselves as we continue to live our lives.
In this sacred space we will together turn towards the complexity of grief and discover the strength that arises when we embrace our interconnectedness with all beings.
For further information contact: Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah at Ino@valleystreamszen.org.
This ceremony has been brought to us from Japan by Yvonne Rand and Jan Chosen-Bays and transmitted to Chris Forten and Sarah Emerson (all transmitted Zen Priests). Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah will lead this fourth inter-sangha event. She has had two years of training in preparation for guiding this ceremony.
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.

Sangha Annual Meeting & Potluck Brunch (In Person Only)
2026-10-24 10:00 - 13:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
You are invited to Valley Streams Zen Sangha’s Annual Meeting and potluck brunch. Spouses, partners, friends, and family—all are welcome. Gather in the West Lobby at 10 a.m. to share a meal and each other’s company. After the brunch, the 2026-2027 Board and officers will be introduced and give a report on the state of the Sangha. You will get an update on the Sangha’s financial health, including the Maitreya Fund that was established last year to provide a resource for future Sangha leadership. We look forward to enjoyable conversations and hearing your thoughts about ongoing Sangha activities.
