Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey
2018-06-18 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Myo Lahey is Abbot at Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and our guiding teacher. He has previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson.
Rev. Myo is available for individual practice discussion by appointment prior to our Monday evening program. Email info@valleystreamszen.org

Zazen & Full Moon Ceremony
2018-06-25 19:00 - 21:00
This ceremony is an affirmation of the vow to live for the benefit of all beings. In the Zen tradition we associate the full moon with the ideal of awakening. All are welcome.

Dharma Talk by So On Jim Hare
2018-07-02 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 priest ordained by Myo Lahey in 2016.

Practice Talk by Doralee Grindler Katonah
2018-07-09 19:00 - 21:00

Tassajara Study Week - Presentation
2018-07-16 19:00 - 21:00
Tassajara was established in 1967 as the first Soto Zen training monastery outside of Japan. It offers monastic training periods during the fall and winter months, and each year from May to September, Tassajara, or Zenshinji (Zen Heart-Mind Temple), opens its gates to students and guests alike for the summer guest season. This year, ten members of Valley Streams Zen Sangha were invited to join with resident and guest students for 5 days of formal practice, work and play. Tonight we will hear about their experiences there.

Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey
2018-07-23 19:00 - 21:00
Rev. Myō Lahey is Abbot at Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and our guiding teacher. He has previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson. Rev. Myō is available for individual practice discussion by appointment prior to our evening program.

NOTE: We would like to take some (staged) photographs tonight for use on our website.

Poetry Night, led by Linda Dekker
2018-07-30 19:00 - 21:00
Sangha member, Linda Dekker, will lead us in an evening of reading and writing poetry.

Practice Circle: Acceptance & Respect in Community
2018-08-06 19:00 - 21:00
Practice Circle led by So On Jim Hare
The Three Treasures are the foundation of the Practice Circle: (1) the Oneness of Buddha, (2) the Diversity of Dharma, (3) the Harmony of Sangha. The circle itself is a container for being in the present, manifesting just as we are in the truth of the moment.
Practice Circle Guidelines (as adapted from the Zen Center of Los Angeles):
When speaking, we practice speaking from integrity and speak the truth as we know it. We stay focused on our own experience as opposed to taking about others or talking abstractly.
In listening, we try not to interrupt, even with our thoughts. We practice receiving whatever is being offered by another without attachments or judgements.
In silence, we allow all things to arise and pass away, accepting and honoring different expressions and perspectives. We sit with our discomfort.

Practice Talk by Doralee Grindler Katonah
2018-08-13 19:00 - 21:00
Peggy McIntosh, in her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, describes white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets.” These advantages in a very deep way remain invisible to white people because they are built in to our way of life, and we often mistake them for just how life is. White privilege and racism are reflections of each other. We practice to liberate all beings…..addressing white privilege is our side of the coin which remains hidden from our view.
Doralee will share her learnings and invite us to consider these insights through discussion and a guided exercise.

Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey
2018-08-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-09-17 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-10-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-11-26 19:00 - 21:00
Rev. Myo Lahey is Abbot at Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and our guiding teacher. He has previously served as Practice Leader at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson.
Rev. Myo is available for individual practice discussion by appointment prior to our Monday evening program. Please email info@valleystreamszen.org

Retreat Night
2018-08-27 19:00
On Retreat Night we enjoy our traditional retreat night; a chance to settle into our meditation practice with three 25-minute periods of zazen, interspersed with walking meditation (kinhin). Turning the light inward we explore the causes of suffering and what ends it. This invitation is extended to everyone.

Shamata/Vipassana Teachings - So On Jim Hare
2018-09-10 19:00 - 21:00

Fall Study Period Begins
2018-10-01 19:00 - 21:00
Our fall study period echoes the centuries-old tradition of Buddhist communities gathering for “winter rains” retreats. This is a time for deepening one’s study of the Buddha Way.
In a traditional Zen practice period you are in residence. Your days are regulated by a schedule of zazen, service, formal oryoki meals, and work around the temple grounds and kitchen. Simply following the schedule, you find yourself carried along in the stream of practice. You sit zazen, hear and study teachings, and meet with a teacher for dokusan or practice discussion. Your individual effort is reinforced by the collective effort of the sangha. The Valley Streams study period replicates some aspects of a traditional practice period, but relies more on your individual motivation and effort. It requires faith and confidence to remember you are joining other Sangha members when you sit, study, and work. More information here.
The study period will be led by So On Jim Hare. Our focus will be on Yogacara, an influential school of Buddhist philosophy that explains how our human experience is constructed by the mind. “All experience is preceded by mind, led by mind, made by mind”: this opening line of the Dhammapada could be called the root position of Yogacara thought. It captures the “radical” idea that nothing appears except what is previously conceived in human thought and perception. The Yogacara (yoga practice) school arose in 5th century India and was influential at the same time that the Zen school was developing in China. We will explore the central ideas of Yogacara thought, as succinctly conveyed through the text known as Vasubandhu’s Thirty Verses. Ben Connelly’s book Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara: a Practitioner’s Guide (Wisdom Publications, 2016) will be our guide.

Dharma Talk by So On Jim Hare
2018-10-01 19:00 - 21:00
Who was Vasubandhu?

Vasubandhu's 30 Verses, by So On Jim Hare
2018-10-08 19:00 - 21:00, 2018-10-15 19:00 - 21:00
In fourth-century India one of the great geniuses of Buddhism, Vasubandhu, sought to reconcile the diverse ideas and forms of Buddhism practiced at the time and demonstrate how they could be effectively integrated into a single system. This was the Yogacara movement, and it continues to have great influence in modern Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Vasubandhu’s “Thirty Verses” lay out a path of practice that integrates the most powerful of Buddhism’s psychological and mystical possibilities: Early Buddhism’s practices for shedding afflictive emotional habits and the Mahayana emphasis on shedding divisive concepts, the path of individual liberation and the path of freeing all beings, the path to nirvana and the path of enlightenment as the very ground of being right now.
This is a continuation of our Fall Practice Period theme on Yogacara, using Ben Connelly’s book, Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara: A Practitioner’s Guide for reference.

Sejiki Ceremony
2018-10-29 19:00 - 21:00
Our Sejiki or food-offering, ceremony is an opportunity to call forth the spirits of those who have passed this way before, offering them solace and acknowledging our ongoing connection to them. Treats, tea and conversation after the ceremony. Please bring noise makers and a treat to share.
If you would like the name of a loved one who has died during the past year, recited in the ceremony, please send the full name of that person (and pronunciation) to info@valleystreamszen.org.

Koan Study, led by Doralee Grindler Katonah
2018-11-05 19:00 - 21:00
Doralee will lead us in an experiential process of working with the different characters in a koan as parts of ourselves. Through sharing these experiences we may become open to something fresh arising. The koan we will work with is “Senjo and Her Soul are Separated“, p. 157 in The Hidden Lamp – Stories from Twenty-five Centuries of Awakened Women. Florence Caplow and Susan Moon, eds. (Wisdom Publications, 2013).
Copies of the koan will be provided.
The transmission of the dharma happens through intimate encounters, between seekers on the path and between students and teachers, to awaken us to our true selves and to relieve our suffering. Koans are stories of such encounters that at first appear opaque or like conundrums that don’t make sense. Koans are meant to come alive to us and meet us exactly where we are blind to our awakening, yet the keys to unlocking the awakening process offered in koans calls upon us to engage these stories beyond our usual ways of thinking.

Vasubandhu's Thirty Verses by So On Jim Hare
2018-11-12 19:00 - 21:00

Dharma Talk by Lama Yeshe Jinpa
2018-11-19 19:00 - 21:00
Lama Yeshe Jinpa is the spiritual director and resident teacher of Lion’s Roar Dharma Center in Sacramento. In 1995, Lama Jinpa received direct heart/mind transmission from Geshe Gyatso, after 25 years of Dharma practice and study. He is one of the few western lamas recognized within the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism, the lineage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Impressions from Sesshin - Panel Presentation
2018-12-03 19:00 - 21:00

Retreat Night
2018-12-10 19:00 - 21:00
Retreat Night offers an opportunity to settle into your meditation practice with three 25-minute periods of zazen, interspersed with walking meditation (kinhin). Turning the light inward, we explore the causes of suffering and what ends it. This invitation is extended to everyone.

Potluck Supper with Susan Moon
2018-12-17 17:30 - 18:30
You are invited to share a meal with the sangha prior to our evening sit and Dharma talk.

Dharma Talk by Susan Moon
2018-12-17 19:00 - 21:00
Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. She is the author of a number of books about Buddhism, including the humor book The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi and This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity. For many years she was the editor of Turning Wheel, the journal of socially engaged Buddhism. Her short stories and essays have been published widely. Her most recent book is The Hidden Lamp: Stories from 25 Centuries of Awakened Women.
Sue has been a Zen student since 1976, practicing in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi at Berkeley Zen Center, Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery, Green Gulch Farm, and now with Zoketsu Norman Fischer’s Everyday Zen sangha. She received “entrustment” as a lay teacher in 2005.

CLOSED - Christmas Holiday
2018-12-24 19:00 - 21:00

Winter Celebration & Refreshments
2018-12-31 19:00 - 21:00
Welcome the new year by celebrating the treasure of sangha with your sangha!
Please bring a finger food offering, and poetry, story, or music to share (if you wish).

Practice Circle on "Resolution and Vow"
2019-01-07 19:00 - 21:00
led by So On Jim Hare
