Valley Streams Zen Sangha

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (in-person and online)
2022-03-21 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This will be will be a short Dharma talk and small group discussion exploring Suzuki roshi’s saying:
“even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva only has one way.”
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. He was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016.

This evening’s chant: Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma talk by Rev. Kokyo Henkel (online)
2022-03-28 19:00 - 21:00 | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Kokyo Henkel has been practicing Zen since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (most recently as Head of Practice), Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, No Abode Hermitage in Mill Valley, and Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan.
He was ordained as a priest in 1994 by Tenshin Anderson Roshi and received Dharma Transmission from him in 2010. Kokyo 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.
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*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Sitting in the Midst of Self-fulfilling Samadhi: One-Day Sitting (in person)
2022-04-02 09:00 - 17:00 | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Join with others in person for a day of sitting and walking meditation and Dharma talk, making the effort that refreshes both body and mind, becoming a shining golden buddha! The sitting will be led by So On Jim Hare.
Please bring a lunch to support your efforts on the cushion, bench or chair. For questions, please email Jim Hare at info@valleystreamszen.com.
REGISTER on EVENTBRITE.com

Dharma Talk & Reflection by Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (in person & online)
2022-04-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
In the Eihei Koroku, Dogen says, “When you build a pond naturally the moon will come.”
Come to our Practice Circle on The Precious Jewel of Sangha Life.

Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall. She studied in the Soto Zen lineage with Sojun Diane Martin in Illinois and Rev. Val Szymanski in California. She was priest ordained in 2019 by Sojun Diane Martin.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Introduction to Zen Meditation (In-person)
2022-04-11 18:00 - 18:40 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On the second Monday of each month, we offer a 40-minute introduction to Zen practice. We focus on the art of sitting meditation, with emphasis on posture, breath and mental focus. This is for new meditators and those wishing to refresh their practice of meditative immersion.
* Meets in the Library at the Sacramento Dharma Center.
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Dharma Talk by Hoka Soko Chris Fortin (in-person and online)
2022-04-11 19:00 - 21:00 | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This evening we welcome guest teacher, Chris Fortin, a Soto Zen teacher who began practicing Buddhism in 1976 while living at the San Francisco Zen Center. After many years of practice she received Dharma Transmission from Zoketsu Norman Fischer of Everyday Zen, in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.

Chris founded Dharma Heart Zen to share the path of wholehearted living and awakening with others. She leads the Dharma Heart Zen Sangha in Cotati and the Woman’s Lotus Sangha in Sebastopol. She is a senior teacher in the Everyday Zen community and leads workshops at SFZC. She is guiding teacher of Sky Island Zen in Tucson, Arizona and leads retreats in ancient Aravaipa Canyon. She was the co- founder of Veterans PATH (formerly Honoring the Path of the Warrior), offering retreats and meditation and mindfulness practices for returning veterans. She offers Jizo Bodhisattva trainings and ceremonies for those who have lost children, loved ones and those who are grieving the pain and suffering of the world. Chris is actively engaged in the dharma of social and racial justice and the climate crisis. She co-leads a monthly Racial Literacy and Dharma Group and serves on the Soto Zen Buddhist Association’s Diversity Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility (DEIA) Committee.

*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

POSTPONED to May 1 - Buddha's Birthday Celebration
2022-04-16 10:30 - 14:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
This event has been moved to Sunday, May 1 at the Dharma Center.

Full Moon Ceremony (in-person and online)
2022-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
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.

Our Monday night programs begin with zazen (meditation) followed by a devotional service and dharma talk, group discussion, practice circle or retreat night. There are no membership requirements to participate. We invite donations to support the room rental, visits by teachers, and other sangha activities. Valley Streams Zen Sangha is dedicated to the study of Buddha’s teaching and the practice of meditation. We invite newcomers and experienced Zen students to join us.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by Diane Wilde (in-person and online)
2022-04-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
DIANE WILDE has studied meditation in various traditions since 1990. In 2001 she was a founding member of Sacramento Insight Meditation. She founded Buddhist Pathways Prison Project (aka Boundless Freedom Project) in 2010 and has been a prison chaplain for 18 years. She is a graduate of Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy program and graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leadership Training Program. She is a board member of Sati Center for Buddhist Studies at the Sacramento Dharma Center. In 2015 she was lay-ordained as a Buddhist minister by Gil Fronsdal.
*Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Buddha's Birthday Celebration & Family Picnic (in person)
2022-05-01 10:30 - 14:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Join the sangha and their families at the Dharma Center for a celebration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth and to honor his mother, Queen Maya, who died shortly after his birth. We will ceremoniously bathe the baby Buddha; then have a dramatic reading of Norman Fischer’s Buddha’s Birthday poem.
• Bring a picnic lunch and drinks for your family. Cupcakes will be provided for dessert.
• 10:30 am – 2:00 pm
• REGISTER on EVENTBRITE.COM (If you registered before the date/location change, you do not need to register again.)

Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey (in-person and online)
2022-05-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 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. Tonight’s talk will be online from Hartford Street Zen Center.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Practice Secretly, Working Within: Half-day Sitting (In Person)
2022-05-07 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
To practice secretly is to practice within; it is getting close to and friendly with everything we experience.

In stillness and silence, we will spend the morning together, practicing zazen and walking meditation. This retreat is suitable for those with some familiarity with Zen practice and forms. Masking is optional, but everyone who attends must be vaccinated against Covid-19.

We will enjoy a social lunch after the sitting – please bring your own.
If you have questions, please contact us at info@valleystreamszen.org.
Register at Eventbrite.com

Dharma Talk by Danan John Wark (in person & online)
2022-05-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Danan John Wark, abbot of Cloud Zendo in Pilot Hill, practices koan introspection and has received inka from Zen Master BoMun (George Bowman) in the Single Flower Sangha tradition. Master BoMun is associated with the Kwan Um School of Zen and also with Boundless Way Zen. John has also studied koans with Tenshin Reb Anderson at No Abode Hermitage. Cloud Zendo offers sutra service and zazen every Saturday morning at 8:30 in Auburn at Sierra Foothills Unitarian Universalist Church, 190 Finley St., Auburn, CA 95603.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah (in person & online)
2022-05-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah serves as Ino, or head of the meditation hall. She studied in the Soto Zen lineage with Sojun Diane Martin in Illinois and with Rev. Val Szymanski in California. She was priest ordained in 2019 by Sojun Diane Martin. She will offer her talk in the Meditation Hall.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (in person & online)
2022-05-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
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. He was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016. Jim will offer his talk in the Meditation Hall.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

CLOSED for Memorial Day Holiday
2022-05-30 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States

Dharma Art Day: Zazen and SoulCollage® with Alexa Singer-Telles (in person)
2022-06-04 13:00 - 17:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Preparing a Sincere Offering to the Three Treasures: A Creative Exploration of Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook

Please join us for a day of mindful practice to explore Dogen’s teachings for cooking your life in a creative and experiential way. It is said that “bodhicitta is born of the smallest offering made with sincerity.” In our time together we will practice cultivating the mind of love by combining the ingredients of zazen, SoulCollage®, guided writing practice, collaboration, and ritual. Please bring your open heart, imagination and curiosity to see what unfolds in this transformational process. Our offerings will be honored in a closing ceremony.
The SoulCollage® process was developed by Seena B. Frost, M.Div. as a mixture of joyful art play and as a healing guide using the potentiality of images and symbols to access our own innate wisdom through journaling and sharing.
Alexa Singer-Telles, True Silent Action, is a dharmacharya (teacher) in the Plum Village tradition, receiving Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh in 2014. She is the guiding teacher for several sanghas in California, Washington, Oregon and Calgary. She co-founded the River Oak Sangha in Redding, and led it for 30 years. She is a practicing psychotherapist, certified facilitator of SoulCollage® groups, and women’s spiritual ceremonialist. She recently founded the MotherRoot Sangha. Inspired by studying our Buddhist women ancestors, she aspires to be an old woman of no rank.
You don’t need artistic skill to attend this event, but you do need to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Mask wearing is optional and will be supported.
Register on Eventbrite.com Event Flyer

Dharma Talk by Rev. Mary Mocine (in person & online)
2022-06-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Joining us this evening is Reverend Mary Mocine, abbess of Clear Water Zendo in Vallejo. She was trained at San Francisco and Berkeley Zen Centers, and Tassajara Zen Monastery. She was ordained in 1994 by Sojun Mel Weitsman, former Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center and continuing Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. Reverend Mocine has also trained with Abbess Zenkei Blanche Hartman and former Abbots Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Tenshin Reb Anderson of the San Francisco Zen Center. She received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in May 2005.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by Rev. Eijun Linda Cutts (Hybrid)
2022-06-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The Dharma Talk will be offered via Zoom by Rev. Eijun Linda Cutts, Senior Dharma Teacher at San Francisco Zen Center. Priest ordained in 1975, she has lived at Tassajara, SFZC City Center, and at Green Gulch Farm, where she has resided since 1993. She received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996, and served as Abbess from 2000-2019 (with a hiatus from 2007-2010). As Senior Dharma Teacher, she continues to teach, leading practice periods and retreats at Tassajara, Green Gulch, and elsewhere. She will lead the January 2023 Practice Period at Tassajara.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Study Group - (Canceled-on hiatus)
2022-06-16 08:00 - 09:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
The Study Group is taking a break before moving on to a more contemporary text— Waking Up To What You Do: A Zen Practice For Meeting Every Situation With Intelligence and Compassion by Diane Rizzetto.
Meetings will resume on Thursday, July 14th.

The Zen Study Group is now meeting at the Dharma Center AND online. The study group is facilitated by Rev. So’on Jim Hare, with readings from ancient and contemporary Mahayana Buddhist & Soto Zen texts and commentaries.
To join the Thursday morning study group, email the coordinator, Rollin Ives, twl4148@gmail.com

Retreat Night (Hybrid)
2022-06-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2022-08-01 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
On Retreat Night we offer an opportunity to settle into your meditation practice with two or three 25-minute periods of zazen, interspersed with walking meditation (called kinhin). Turning the light inward we explore the causes of suffering and what can end it. This invitation is extended to everyone.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Family Sangha (In person)
2022-06-26 10:00 - 12:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Family Sangha – Last Sunday of the Month 10:00am – 12:00 pm

One of the many dilemmas that parents face is how to hand down their spiritual values and practice to their children. We are fortunate that the Sacramento Dharma Center is now hosting a Family Sangha! Meeting on the last Sunday of the month from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, this is a great way for children, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles – the whole family – to learn about and further their dharma practice in a kid-oriented social setting.
Like all sanghas, this one operates on dana. This giving can take many forms. The facilitators tell us that this can include, “helping a bit, some funds to launch or a monthly contribution so FS could give a stipend to a facilitator, helping with the admin, doing art, yoga, mindfulness, stories, gardening, with the kids, all kinds of possibilities.”
Prior to the pandemic, Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group (SBMG), one of our co-tenants at SDC, operated this very popular sangha, and we are very happy to see that it has returned, and is now a “mahasangha” monthly event.
Please check the SDC event calendar, or contact Helen Hobart at hdhobart@gmail.com for details.

Dharma Talk "Letting life unfold in unpredictable ways from the mystery" by Paravrrti Doralee Grindler Katonah (Hybrid)
2022-06-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Paravrrti Doralee Grindler Katonah will present a dharma talk “Letting life unfold in unpredictable ways from the mystery” 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 in the Wind Zen Center in Sunnyvale, California. She was priest ordained in 2019.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Sitting is True Reality: a half-day Sitting, led by So'on Jim Hare (In-Person)
2022-07-02 08:30 - 12:30 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Sitting with no agenda; putting nothing before the mind – this is the art of zazen. This practice is appropriate for people seeking relief from the vicissitudes of feelings and discriminating consciousness, and it is good for people seeking simply to sit in true reality.

This retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation and a Dharma talk. Both first-timers and more experienced students are welcome.
REGISTER at EVENTBRITE.COM

CLOSED for Independence Day
2022-07-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States

Dharma Talk by Rev. Myo Lahey (Hybrid)
2022-07-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Rev. Myo Lahey, our guiding teacher, will join 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.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by So'on Jim Hare (Hybrid)
2022-07-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
So-On Jim Hare, our Tanto, or head of practice, will be in person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. 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. He was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in 2016.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

Dharma Talk by Ryuko Laura Burges (Hybrid)
2022-07-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
Guest teacher Ryuko Laura Burges, a lay-entrusted dharma teacher in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, will join us in person or online. She teaches classes, lectures, and leads retreats in Northern California. A teacher of children for 35 years, she now mentors aspiring teachers. Laura co-founded the Sangha in Recovery Program at the San Francisco Zen Center and is the abiding teacher at Lenox House Meditation Group in Oakland. Shambhala Publishers will be offering her Buddhist children’s books, Buddhist Stories for Kids: Jataka Tales of Kindness, Friendship, and Forgiveness, (December 2022) and Zen for Kids: 50+ Mindful Activities and Stories to Shine Loving-Kindness in the World (March 2023). Laura’s most recent book, Finding Our Way: Zen Awakening in Recovery, will be published by Shambhala in the Fall of 2023.
*Zoom link for this program: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82008151977

The Possibilities of Life: One-day Sitting, led by So'on Jim Hare (In Person)
2022-08-06 09:00 - 17:00 | Sacramento Dharma Center, Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA, 95826, United States
When sitting zazen we sit in the wellspring of life. Come practice together to further awaken our abilities to listen to the activity of wisdom that emerges from living intimately in stillness and receiving what comes.
This retreat, originally scheduled to be led by Paravrtti Doralee Grindler Katonah, will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, a Dharma talk and silent lunch (bring your own). Masks are optional, but encouraged. All participants must be vaccinated against Covid-19.
REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE.COM
