This is our first one-day sitting of the new year. This gentle one-day sitting will include a work period and formal tea in the afternoon if enough people attend. The day will include a Dharma talk by Practice Leader Jim Hare. Everyone is welcome. Register for the sitting. *Please note our one-day sittings are now held […]
We sometimes call zazen “choiceless awareness.” This means that in zazen we don’t attempt to regulate what comes into awareness; we just let what arises arise. We let our feelings be our feelings and our thoughts be our thoughts. Not making any choices about what comes into awareness, we also don’t manipulate our breath, we […]
Visiting teacher, Rev. Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, of Still Breathing Zen Meditation Center in Oakland, will lead our meditation and offer dharma talks during this special one-day sitting. Rev. Zenju was ordained by Zenkei Blanche Hartman Roshi and received dharma transmission in January 2016. As an author and ordained Soto Zen Buddhist priest, she combines Zen meditation, intuitive knowing, and indigenous wisdom in a path […]
Zazen surfaces our "mind of clover," a pliant mind, a flexibile mind, a mind like clouds and water. This mind that is not "our" mind, but rather one that comes to us as a gift of practice. Informed by that mind we are inspired to be kind, to be flexible with others, to bend like […]
In our Soto Zen-style one-day sittings we engage with alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks, and silent bag lunch (please bring your own). If this is your first one-day sitting, please speak with Practice Leader Jim Hare (916-456-7752) prior to signing up. Sitting all day brings forth the great mirror awareness in […]
"...when we practice zazen, it is not that big mind is actually controlling small mind, but simply that when small mind becomes calm, big mind starts it true activity." ~Suzuki Roshi For the first time Valley Streams Zen is offering a multi-day, non-residential retreat. This is an opportunity to set aside the concerns of daily […]
"Outwardly still while inwardly moving, like a tethered colt or a trapped rat, the ancient sages pitied them and bestowed the teachings." - Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi "Traps and snares can never reach it." - Eihei Dogen, Fukanzazengi The traps and snares of thinking and feeling often seem to block the way of […]
In drawing, we have an opportunity to set aside our egos while becoming one with the object. The investigation takes us into the essence of the object, seeing it as it truly is. This is not an art class per se, and no prior drawing experience is required. What is asked for is our willingness to […]
A Day of Zen Meditation, Buddhist Teaching & Yoga, taught by Kyosho Valorie Beer and Barbara Baccei Immerse yourself in a day of traditional Buddhism and alignment Yoga. From Buddhism’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness, you will be guided in identifying long-held emotional patterns and the way they show up in your body. Meditation allows us to […]
We are sorry that Zenju has had to cancel this retreat with us due to illness.