Rohatsu Sesshin Morning Program (Hybrid)
2023-11-30 06:00 - 07:30, 2024-12-05 06:00 - 07:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Morning Rohatsu schedule for Thursday – HYBRID
6:00 am Zazen
6:30 am Kinhin
6:40 am Zazen
7:10 am Service
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.

Rohatsu Sesshin Full Day Sitting (In Person)
2023-12-01 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. This sesshin is a combination of in-person and online. It will last a full week, but we’ll be sitting only morning and evening periods, Sunday – Thursday. Friday and Saturday we offer a full day of sitting in person at the Dharma Center. We close out the week on Sunday, Dec. 4, with a half-day, in-person program of zazen, a Dharma talk, and closing ceremony

Rohatsu Sesshin Half-Day Sitting and Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony (In Person)
2023-12-03 08:30 - 12:00, 2024-12-08 08:30 - 12:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Half-day Sitting – in person – 8:30 am – 12 noon.
Today concludes the seven days of intensive practice with a half-day sitting and the Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony.
We will gather after the ceremony to share a buffet lunch.
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.

Knowing without Touching Things - Half-day Retreat Led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare (In Person)
2024-01-06 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Hongzhi lived in 12th century China and is famous for his Zen poems, which are recorded the Book of Serenity and elsewhere. Eihei Dogen admired his poem called Zazenshin and commented on it in his own text of the same name. During this retreat we’ll look at Hongzhi’s Zazenshin, particularly the line, “Knowing without touching things, illuminating without facing objects.”
Our morning will entail alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talk, and end with a chanting service. Please bring some previous meditation experience and, if you like, a bag lunch – there will be a social lunch following the sitting.
If this will be your first half-day sitting or you have questions, please contact us through our website or at 916-456-7752.
To register go to Eventbrite.

A Buddhist Women’s Retreat (In Person)
2024-03-01 - 2024-03-03 | Green Gulch Farm, 1601 Shoreline Hwy, Muir Beach, CA, 94965, United States
EMBODYING OUR WILD SPIRIT ~ A Buddhist Women’s Retreat at Green Gulch Farm.

Led by: Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah, Ino and WaDen EiDo Barbara Baccei, Sensei
Imagine connection, creativity, body practices, deep sharing, and other guided practices.
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.
WaDen, an ordained Soto Zen Teacher, received Lay Entrustment from Kyōshō Valorie Beer Roshi. She is also a Soto Zen sewing teacher lineage holder of Suzuki Roshi. An alignment-focused yoga teacher, she is a graduate of the Berkeley Yoga Room Teacher Training. A contemplative artist and book artist, she works on paper and fabric embellished with findings from the natural world.
This retreat is now full.

Half-day Silent Retreat Led by Rev. So'on Jim Hare (In Person)
2024-03-02 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This will be a silent meditation retreat (no Dharma talk). It is offered to simply to rest in samadhi (aka zazen), allowing silence and stillness to offer their blessings. The schedule will alternate six half-hour periods of sitting and walking meditation, with a short break mid-morning.
We’ll have an optional social lunch following the retreat. Please bring your own lunch.
Note that this sitting coincides with the Valley Streams women’s retreat at Green Gulch Farm, so our numbers may skew male. That said, everyone is welcome.
A donation of $20 is requested. No one will be turned away for lack of funds or donations of lesser amount.
If this will be your first half-day sitting or you have questions, please contact us through our website or at 916-456-7752.
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.

In Praise of the Middle Way: Half-day Sitting led by So’on Jim Hare (In Person)
2024-05-04 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
“And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that – producing vision, producing knowledge – leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that – producing vision, producing knowledge – leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.” (from Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra: Setting in Motion the Wheel of Dharma, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, translator.)
Please bring a bag lunch if you would like to join us for a social lunch following the sitting.
Registration below. If this will be your first half-day sitting, or you have questions, please contact us at Info@valleystreamszen.org or 916-456-7752.

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

Half-day Sitting led by Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person)
2024-07-06 08:30 - 12:30 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, Sacramento Dharma Center 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
When two arrow points meet, this has nothing to do with the power of skill!
(Jewel Mirror Samadhi)
In our practice together we will consider this Truth of practice realization – that realization comes spontaneously and is not within the realm of consciousness (Genjo Koan) – it does not appear in the realm of perception – because it is unconstructedness in stillness (Self-Receiving and Employing Samadhi)
It matters that we come to practice together! Bring a sack lunch to enjoy sharing a meal.
Half-day retreat (8:30 am-12:30 pm) includes sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and discussion period. Outside the meditation hall we will maintain noble silence.
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 bring a bag lunch if you would like to join us for a social lunch following the sitting.
Registration below. Suggested donation is $20 -$30. 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

Half-day Sitting (In Person)
2024-08-03 09:00 - 12:00 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, Sacramento Dharma Center 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Join the sangha for a half-day of shikantaza or just sitting with alternating periods of zazen (sitting meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation), In the “grass-roof hermitage we “just sit” followed by a social lunch at noon (please bring a bag lunch).
Registration is requested, but not required. Dana is appreciated. Donation can be made below. 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

Song of the Grass-Roof Hermitage
Shih-t’ou (700-790)
I’ve built a grass hut where there’s nothing of value.
After eating, I relax and enjoy a nap.
When it was completed, fresh weeds appeared.
Now it’s been lived in – covered by weeds…
Just sitting with head covered, all things are at rest.
Thus, this mountain monk doesn’t understand at all.
Living here they no longer work to get free.
Who would proudly arrange seats, trying to entice guests?
Shitou Xiqian was an early Chinese Zen master. He was called one of Zen’s two ‘great jewels’ For some years, he meditated continually in a hut built on a rock at Nan Monastery, and was thus called Shitou (“Priest Rock Head”)

The path of Zen: Half-day Sitting led by So’on Jim Hare (In Person)
2024-09-07 08:30 - 12:30 | Valley Streams Zen Sangha, Sacramento Dharma Center 3111 Wisseman Dr., Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The path of Zen: Can you get there from here?
In many Zen texts and teachings, the path of Zen is described as what not to do, such as “don’t take the mind road” or “cease all the movement of the conscious mind.” What is the reason for this? How does it help us in our practice? We will consider these questions through sitting zazen and hearing a Dharma talk at our half-day sitting on Saturday, September 7th, 8:30 -12:30.
Led by So’on Jim Hare. A social lunch will follow this sitting – please bring your own.
Tickets can be purchased below with suggested donation $10 -$30. 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

Black Mountain Retreat (In Person)
2024-09-25 - 2024-09-29 | Black Mountain Retreat Center, 23125 Fort Ross Rd., Cazadero, CA, 95421, United States

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 – Opening Evening Program (Online)
2024-12-01 19:30 - 20:45 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rohatsu means the 8th day of the 12th month, which is the traditional day for celebrating Buddha’s enlightenment. Sesshin means ‘to gather the mind.’ As the darkest days of the year approach, we sit together with the principle of awakening, fully opening to the ‘wisdom beyond wisdom’ that becomes bright in sitting meditation.
The initial days of this week-long retreat will be offered online, sitting morning and evenings. beginning Sunday evening Dec. 1. On Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, we will sit all day at the Dharma Center, including into the evening. We will end with a half-day on the 8rd, the traditional day to celebrate Buddha’s awakening. The in-person days will include Oryoki meals, the traditional three-bowl Zen style of eating. There will be Dharma talks on days 6,7, and 8. For more information or to request a reduced fee or scholarship, please contact us at info@valleystreamszen.org.
Note that this retreat is intended for experienced practitioners. Participants should have a regular sitting practice and have attended several one-day retreats. There will be instruction in Oryoki meal practice for those not familiar with it.

Register for week-long program on Eventbrite
Full 7-Day Rohatsu Schedule

Sunday Schedule:
7:30 pm Welcome and Orientation
8:00 pm Zazen
8:30 pm Refuges (PDF)
For more information or to request a reduced fee or scholarship, please contact us at info@valleystreamszen.org

Rohatsu Sesshin Morning Program (Online)
2024-12-02 06:00 - 07:30, 2024-12-03 06:00 - 07:30, 2024-12-04 06:00 - 07:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Morning Rohatsu schedule for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – ONLINE
6:00 am Zazen
6:30 am Kinhin
6:40 am Zazen
7:10 am Service
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.

Rohatsu Sesshin Evening Program (Online)
2024-12-03 17:00 - 21:00, 2024-12-04 17:00 - 21:00, 2024-12-05 17:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Evening Rohatsu schedule for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – ONLINE
5:00 pm Zazen
5:30 pm Service
Break/Dinner
7:30 pm Zazen
8:00 pm Kinhin
8:10 pm Zazen
8:40 pm Refuges (PDF)
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.

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.

Half-day Retreat with Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (In Person Only)
2025-01-04 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Entering the seasons/the movement from day to night/the swirling of earth around the sun/the faces of the moon/the new year’s dawn.
Come practice together at the dawn of the New Year, sensing freshly the interconnectednes of all of life and our unique places in the universe. Periods of zazen, and kinhin, a Dharma talk, and service. This half-day retreat will be led by Paravritti Doralee Grindler Katonah, Valley Streams Zen Sangha’s leader of the meditation hall. At the conclusion, we will enjoy our bag lunches and sharing gentle conversation.
This retreat is offered by donation. Please consider a donation between $20 – $40. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please contact Ino@valleystreamszen.org if this will be your first retreat day with Valley Streams Zen or if you would like a scholarship.

Rev. Parāvṛtti Doralee Grindler Katonah serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall. She studies 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 Sangha in California. She was lay ordained in 2008 and priest ordained in 2019. She served as head student for the spring 2022 practice period at Bamboo in the Wind Zen Sangha. She offers practice interviews upon request.

Please register here.

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.

"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.

"Letting Go of Self-Concern" - Half-day Sitting led by Rev. So’on Jim Hare (In Person Only)
2025-06-07 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Join us for a half-day of sitting and walking meditation with a Dharma talk focusing on the practice that releases us from self-obsession.

There is a movie playing in the untrained consciousness. This movie stars me, is produced and directed by me. The plot of the movie features my interests, my problems, and my desires. Other people are the supporting cast.
The direction of Zen practice is toward a more inclusive, less self-centered awareness. How do we make that movie? Arousing the spirit of awakening is to imagine and realize a more panoramic vision of the self.
This half-day retreat will feature periods of sitting and walking meditation and a Dharma talk by So’on Jim Hare. A social lunch will follow the retreat; please bring your own. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information, please email us at info@valleystreamszen.org.

Please register here.

Women’s Retreat – Green Gulch Farm (In Person Only)
2025-06-12 - 2025-06-15 | Green Gulch Farm, 1601 Shoreline Hwy, Muir Beach, CA, 94965, United States
For details please contact Doralee Grindler Katonah at ino@valleystreamszen.org
