This evening’s practice will be zazen (sitting mediation), kinhin (walking meditation), zazen, followed by a memorial service for Kyoji Linda Dekker. Linda passed from this life at 10 p.m. Sunday night after a long illness, surrounded by friends and family. She was a founder of Valley Streams Zen Sangha and a founder of the Sacramento Dharma Center. She […]
Rev. Ganbō Berry Crawford will speak on "The Science of Zen." Rev. Crawford has been a Zen practitioner since 1992. In the mid 90's he lived for a year at a Soto Zen monastery and afterwards practiced with Diane Rizzetto in Charlotte Joko Beck's Ordinary Mind Zen School. He is a fully ordained priest in […]
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 […]
Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah will present a dharma talk 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 […]
Rev. Myō Lahey, Valley Streams' guiding teacher, joins 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 are hybrid beginning with zazen (sitting meditation) […]
Spiritually inspired art can illuminate Zen teaching and enrich Zen practice without the need for verbal overlay. in his talk "Zen Practice and Inspired Art," Oscar will consider four approaches to expressing the ineffable through imagery, using examples from Zen and other traditions. Oscar is a retired environmental scientist, a long-time student of Tenshin Reb […]
This beloved text, unique among Buddhist Scriptures, contains the quintessence of Mahayana doctrines, taught with vivid imagery, dramatic encounters and sly humor. Members of the Thursday morning study group recently completed a study of this text and, together other cast members, present a dramatic reading of excepts from the Vimalakīrti Sutra, slightly adapted. Our Monday […]
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 […]
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 […]
Guest teacher Shōku Kathy Early came to zen practice in 1994 through classes with Tenshin Reb Anderson at the Yoga Room in Berkeley while working as a semiconductor engineer in Silicon Valley. She then practiced for several years with Keido Les Kaye at Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, after which she trained at San […]
Rev. Myo Lahey is Abbot at Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and Valley Streams' guiding teacher. He previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Rev. Lahey 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, group discussion, […]