Valley Streams Zen Sangha

Practicing Patience - One-day Retreat Led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare
2024-02-03 08:30 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The stream of sorrow is cut through by patience: so teaches an ancient Buddhist text. Practicing patience with the many ideas and feelings that arise in our sitting meditation trains our body/mind to more wisely respond the many situations in life that don’t align with our wishes or meet our expectations.
Our retreat day will include sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and afternoon discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.
The suggested donation is $20 -$60. No one will be excluded for lack of funds. If this will be your first retreat day with us or you have questions, please email: info@valleystreamszen.org
Register on Eventbrite.

The Mother of All Buddhas and Celebrating Buddha's Birthday: One-day Retreat led by Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person)
2024-04-06 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Prajna Paramita, the mother of all Buddhas, invites us to participate in the continual birthing of living spiritual energy in each moment.

Come, put aside all worldly affairs, sit zazen and walk together in community. We will touch the ground of Mother Earth, open our heart/minds to the spiritual energy ready to penetrate and awaken our love for all living beings. Our expressions will spontaneously arise in each moment. These potentials do not arise from our self-effort. The awakening of the Wisdom Body comes by itself. We will rest, open, listen, and receive.

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. ~ Eihei Dogen

In the afternoon, we will enter the Ceremony of Bathing the Baby Buddha – celebrating the Birth of our Buddha nature arising from the Baby Buddha. If you can only sit half the day, please arrive at 1:30 p.m., to sit the afternoon periods and participate in the ceremony at the end of the day.

If you are new to this practice, please email Ino@valleystreamszen.org, and we will arrange an introduction to zazen at the beginning of the day.

Please bring a bag lunch.

The Illusion of Separate Self - One-day Retreat led by Kokyo Henkel (In Person)
2024-06-01 08:30 - 16:30 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, Sacramento Dharma Center 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
In morning and afternoon discussions, we will explore the Buddha’s teaching of the discontent that arises from the unconscious belief in separate self, and the freedom that comes from not holding this belief.
Kokyo Henkel was ordained as a Zen priest in 1994 by Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, receiving the Dharma name Kokyo Yakai (Luminous Owl, Midnight Liberation 光梟夜解). He received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Roshi in 2010, becoming a lineage-holder authorized to guide others on the path. From 2010 – 2020 Kokyo was teacher at the Santa Cruz Zen Center. He has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen (“Great Perfection”) Teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu.
Our retreat day will include sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and afternoon discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.
Tickets can be purchased below with suggested donation $20 -$100. No one will be excluded for lack of funds. If this will be your first retreat day with us or you have questions, please email: info@valleystreamszen.org

Knowing who you are: One-day Retreat Led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare (In Person)
2024-11-02 08:30 - 16:30 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, Sacramento Dharma Center 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
“Practicing zazen is a way of knowing beyond perceptions of a self, a soul, a living being or a person” – a Zen reading of the Diamond Sutra.
One-day retreat (8:30 am – 4:30 pm) which includes sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.
Suggested donation is $10 – $80. No one will be excluded for lack of funds. Please write to info@valleystreamszen.org to request a scholarship or if this will be your first extended sitting with us. You are welcome!
Please register here.

Rohatsu Sesshin Full Day Sitting (In Person)
2024-12-06 08:30 - 20:45, 2024-12-07 08:30 - 20:45 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Full-Day Sitting – In Person – 8:30 am – 8:45 pm
This sitting will be in person at the Dharma Center and will not be offered on Zoom. Traditional oryoki meals will be served at noon and for the “medicine meal” in the evening.
Register for week-long program on Eventbrite
Full 7-Day Rohatsu Schedule
This traditional week of intensified practice celebrates the enlightenment of our original teacher in India, Shakyamuni Buddha. Rohatsu sesshin is a time for bringing light into the dark time of the year and for celebrating Buddha’s awakening, which is our awakening too.

Taking Refuge in the Body: One-day Retreat Led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare (In Person Only)
2025-02-01 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
In sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talk and discussion we will consider “one essence in three bodies,” aka the triple body of Buddha.

The Platform Sutra says: “One’s skin and flesh is the physical body… but you can’t take refuge in it. Just be enlightened to the three bodies of the self-nature, and this will be to recognize the Buddha of the self-nature.” How do we recognize and enjoy the Buddha body within our ourselves and others? This inquiry will be the subject of our retreat, which will consist of sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talk and discussion.
Please bring a bag lunch. A donation of $20-$80 is requested. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this will be your first one-day sitting, please contact us before registering at info@valleystreamszen.org
Please register here.

One-day Retreat (CANCELED)
2025-04-05 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
We have had to cancel our one-day sitting for April 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We hope to see you at our next retreat on Saturday, May 3.

"Your Original Face" - One-day Retreat led by Kokyo Henkel (In Person Only)
2025-05-03 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The Sixth Ancestor of Chinese Zen awakening his Dharma brother by asking “without thinking of good and bad, what is your original face?”
This daylong retreat will focus on the 24th case in the koan collection known as the Mumonkan, or the Gateless Barrier. There will be morning and afternoon talks, zazen, and optional dokusan (private interviews). A donation of between $30 and $100 is requested to support 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.

Rev. 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, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan. He was a resident teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center from 2010 to 2020. Most recently, he led the Spring Practice Period at Green Gulch Farm.
Kokyo was ordained as a priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010. He is interested in exploring how the original teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan can still be very much alive and useful in present-day America to bring peace and openness to the minds of this troubled world.
Kokyo has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen (“Great Completeness”) Teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu.
Our retreat day will include sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and afternoon discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.
Please register here.

"In Front of the Door is the Land of Stillness and Light" - One-day Retreat led by Danan Wark (In Person Only)
2025-08-02 09:00 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
These lines beckon us to meet the clear, still, nature of reality as our own intimacy and immediacy.

This day-long retreat led by guest teacher Danan Wark will feature morning and afternoon talks, zazen, and optional dokusan (private interviews). Your registration on a sliding scale offers support to 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.
Danan is a teacher in the Single Flower Sangha line that descends from the Kwan Um School of Zen, which in turn derives from the Sudeoksa mountain lineage of the Jogye Order of Korean Zen (Seon). Danan received precepts in 2009 and Inka in 2019 from Zen Master George Bo Mun Bowman, the founder of the Single Flower Sangha. Danan has practiced in the Rinzai tradition and studied koans with Bo Mun for over 20 years. He has also practiced in the Soto tradition with Tenshin Reb Anderson roshi at No Abode Hermitage for more than a decade. In 2014 Danan established Cloud Zendo, a sangha that presently meets each Saturday (except this one!) at 8:30 a.m. in Auburn.
Our retreat day will include sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks and afternoon discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.

Please register here.

“Becoming Yourself” – One-day Retreat led by Jiryu Rutschman-Byler (In Person Only)
2025-09-06 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Our retreat day will include sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and afternoon discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence. Please bring a bag lunch.
Please register here.

"Living the Way in Tumultuous Times" - One-day Retreat led by Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person Only)
2025-11-01 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Manifesting the promise of liberation becomes our legacy for future generations.

This one-day retreat 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.
Rev. 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.

Rohatsu Sesshin Full Day Sitting (In Person Only)
2025-12-05 08:30 - 20:45, 2025-12-06 08:30 - 20:45 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Full-Day Sitting – In Person – 8:30 am – 8:45 pm
This sitting will be in person at the Dharma Center and will not be offered on Zoom. Traditional oryoki meals will be served at noon and for the “medicine meal” in the evening.
Register for week-long program on Eventbrite
This traditional week of intensified practice celebrates the enlightenment of our original teacher in India, Shakyamuni Buddha. Rohatsu sesshin is a time for bringing light into the dark time of the year and for celebrating Buddha’s awakening, which is our awakening too.

"When the Wooden Man begins to Sing, the Stone Woman gets up Dancing" - One-day Retreat led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare (In Person Only)
2026-02-07 08:30 - 16:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Following up on January’s half-day, we’ll explore the next lines in the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi and their guidance for our practice.

This retreat day will be led by So’on Jim Hare. The day will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, morning Dharma talk and afternoon Q&A/discusson. Jim will be available for practice discussion in the afternoon. Please bring a bag lunch. If this will be your first one-day sitting with us, please introduce yourself and briefly describe your meditation experience in an email to info@valleystreamszen.org

Please registrer here.

"Shitou's Thatched Hermitage" - One-day Retreat led by Kokyo Henkel (In Person Only)
2026-04-04 08:30 - 16:30 | 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.

"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
This one-day retreat will feature periods of sitting and walking meditation and a Dharma talk by Nyokai Kristin Diggs. Lunch will be silent; please bring your own bag 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.
If this will be your first extended sitting with us, please send us a note at info@valleystreamszen.org to introduce yourself.
Registration link is coming soon.
