Rev. Myō Lahey is Abbot at Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco and Valley Streams' guiding teacher. He previously served as the monastic Prior (Tantō) at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Rev. Lahey is a Dharma heir of Tenshin Reb Anderson. Raised in an observant Roman Catholic home, Myō was drawn to religion and spirituality at […]
Kokai Shalamah Yahchove is a Soto Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She was lay-ordained in 2019 and became a priest in August 2025, with both ceremonies conducted by her Root Teacher, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, at the Berkeley Zen Center. Kokai has practiced with the Still Breathing Sangha and at the Tassajara Zen Mountain […]
Kristin Diggs is a Soto Zen priest in the Suzuki Roshi lineage. She trained residentially for eight and a half years at Green Gulch, Tassajara, and the San Francisco City Center, beginning in 2014. She was lay ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson in 2017 and priest ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts in 2021. She served […]
The Full Moon Ceremony acknowledges the karma created by our intentional actions, and reminds us to renew our commitment to the ethical conduct expressed as the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts. These are guiding principles for our daily conduct in the world. This ceremony is rooted in a ritual from pre-Buddhist India. To prepare for the ceremony […]
Rev. 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 was priest ordained by Rev. Myo Lahey in […]
Shokan Clem Spring is in his second rotation at Head Doan for Valley Streams Zen. He received Jukai (lay precepts) with Rev. Myō Lahey in 2010 and Shukke Tokudo (priest ordination) with Rev. Kyosho Valorie Beer in 2023. Preparatory to ordination, he completed two practice periods at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center and he has […]
*Zoom link to program Shawn Hampton is originally from Texas. He moved to California in 2020 and began attending VSZS in 2023. He has been involved with Contemplative Christianity for many years and spent 12 years pursuing monastic life, 9 of which were spent with the Carthusian Order in France: a community of solitary hermit […]
Topic: Keep your eyes closely on the boat and see that the boat moves - a call to deepen our practice lives in this time of crisis. 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 […]
Bruce Fortin was ordained a Zen priest in 1977 at the San Francisco Zen Center. He is the founder and has been the guiding teacher at the Occidental Laguna Sangha in Sebastopol for twenty years. He has taught meditation in prisons, to Veterans, was the director of Hospice program in Sonoma country for many years, […]
Guest teacher Shōku Kathy Early came to zen practice in 1994 through classes with Tenshin Reb Anderson at the Yoga Room in Berkeley while working as a semiconductor engineer in Silicon Valley. She then practiced for several years with Keido Les Kaye at Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View, after which she trained at San […]
Reverend Mary Mocine, former abbess of Clear Water Zendo, trained at San Francisco Zen Center, Berkeley Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery. She was priest ordained by Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1994 and received dharma transmission from him in 2005. She also studied with Jikai Myo-ōn Yvonne Rand, former Abbess Zenkei Blanche Hartman and […]
"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 […]