10:00 am Zazen
10:30 am Service and Dharma Talk
Location: 2999 Bowen Street, Graton
Please email info@stonecreekzen.org for the Zoom link or if you would like zazen instruction and an orientation.
Masks are optional.
One-Day Sitting – April 13
Led by Sessei Meg Levie and Jisho Warner with Shuso Jude Kreissman
The day of practice will be held in silence, with alternating periods of zazen (seated meditation, usually 30-minute periods) and kinhin (walking meditation, usually 10 minutes), and a work period each afternoon and time set aside for stretching. A Dharma talk will be given each day and participants will have the opportunity to speak with a teacher (dokusan).
We will be sitting from 8am to 5pm each day.
Please plan to attend for the full day unless you’ve spoken with a teacher to request an exception.
During the weeks of March 19 – April 19, we’ll be entering a period of focused attention on practice known as an ango, and during the one-day sittings we’ll be continuing to explore the theme, Embracing the Human Condition.
Embracing the Human Condition
This year’s Ango will be a collective exploration of what is involved walking the path of the Buddha in a human body, with a human mind and heart. We aim to bring our whole selves to all we do, and we rely on the Dharma to guide us to our whole self.
How do wisdom and compassion arise in a being with an inherently limited body and mind? What supports us in walking this path, and how do we support each other?
One-day sittings are included in the registration for ango participants, but also are open to anyone who would like to join.
If you are not participating in the ango, please use this form to register and make a donation for each day you plan to attend. Covid precautions: Masks will be optional for this retreat, though we ask that each person take a Covid test before coming each day.
An informal vegetarian lunch will be served, as well as morning and afternoon snacks.
The day will begin with a short orientation. Please plan on arriving by 7:45am and on being in your seat ready to start by 7:55am.
Donations are sliding scale of $60 – $100 per day including lunch and snacks.
If additional financial assistance is needed, please submit your request here.
See you soon!
SIGN UP HERE
Three-Day Sesshin – Wed-Fri, May 17-19
Led by Jisho Warner and Annette Joay Lille
Join in this opportunity to settle more deeply into practice with the support of sangha.
We will be sitting from 8am to 5pm each day. Attendance for all three days is encouraged, though you also may come for one or two days as your schedule allows (one full day minimum). If you will need to leave in the middle of a day, please request permission before registering (info@stonecreekzen.org).
The sesshin will be held in silence, with alternating periods of zazen (seated meditation, usually 30-minute periods) and kinhin (walking meditation, usually 10 minutes), and a work period each afternoon and time set aside for stretching. A Dharma talk will be given each day and participants will have the opportunity to speak with a teacher or practice leader.
Covid precautions: Masks will be optional for this retreat, though we ask that each person take a Covid test before coming each day.
An informal vegetarian lunch will be served, as well as morning and afternoon snacks.
Each day will begin with a short orientation. Please plan on arriving by 7:45am and on being in your seat ready to start by 7:55am.
Fees are sliding scale of $60 – $100 per day including lunch and snacks.
A 15% discount given for registering for all three days. (Please note that once you choose the three days in checkout, the discount will be applied automatically. No code is required.) If additional financial assistance is needed, please submit your request here.
Register
Dharma Talk – in-person and online – Oct 23
This Sunday we’re meeting in person at the Graton Community Club for our regular zazen and Dharma talk.
Meditation at 10:00 amPT, with the talk at 10:30 am.
Masks are required for in-person gatherings. Please see our full Covid protocols here.
If you’re new to practice and would like an orientation to meditation and Zen forms, please email info@stonecreekzen.org.
If you’d like to join by Zoom, please email info@stonecreekzen.org for the Zoom link.
Please note that the talk on Sunday, November 6 will be online-only as the hall is being used for voting.
Dharma Talk – in-person and online – Oct 2
This Sunday we’re meeting in person at the Graton Community Club for our regular zazen and Dharma talk.
Meditation at 10:00 amPT, with the talk at 10:30 am.
Masks are required for in-person gatherings. Please see our full Covid protocols here.
If you’re new to practice and would like an orientation to meditation and Zen forms, please email info@stonecreekzen.org.
If you’d like to join by Zoom, please email info@stonecreekzen.org for the Zoom link.
Racial and Social Justice as Dharma Practice – August 25
A multi-sangha program hosted monthly by Hoka Chris Fortin and Doralee Grindler Katonah.
Thursdays, 6:00 – 8:00 pm (PT) – On Zoom
The 4th Thursday of each month
If we were to simply walk past the fires of racism, sexism, and so on because illusions of separation exist within them, we may well be walking past one of the widest gateways to enlightenment.
— Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, The Way of Tenderness
More information and to register:
https://everydayzen.org/event/racial-and-social-justice-as-dharma-practice/2022-08-25/
Blessing Ceremony for Construction of the New Zendo – August 21
The completion of the zendo is underway!
As the foundation is poured and the walls rise, we’ll walk together in procession the two blocks from the Graton Community Club to the building at 2999 Bowen Street to reclaim the space as the center of our practice together, remember our vision and intentions, and offer blessings.
10:00 – 10:30 am Zazen
10:45 am Procession to the zendo and blessing ceremony
Refreshments to follow.
Join at any point – at the Graton Community Club for zazen and the procession, or meet at the zendo (2999 Bowen Street) for the ceremony.
Masks will be required indoors. Full Covid policy here.
Study Class: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet – July 6 – August 10
Six Wednesdays 6pm – 7pmPT, July 6 – August 10 – online
with Annette JoE’ Lille
Beloved Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh is blazingly clear: “there’s one thing we all have the power to change, which can make all of the difference, and that is our mind. Our way of looking, seeing, and thinking determines every choice we make, the everyday actions we take or avoid, how we relate to those we love or oppose, and how we react in a crisis.”
~ Zen & the Art of Saving the Planet
From Annette:
I have found Thich Nhat Hanh’s latest book to be a simple and straightforward response to the complex and ever-present questions we live as Buddhist practitioners. He has lived war, he has lived relocation, he has lived activism and he has developed community. We can learn joy and love from his experience and wisdom. In the hour we have together we will open with zazen, read from the text and engage in comments and discussion.
Annette Lille came to Zen practice in 1972. She was initially ordained in 1983 following ten years of practice at San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Annette moved with her husband and two daughters to Sonoma County, California in 1986 where she continued her practice and study with an emphasis on hospital, end-of-life and hospice chaplaincy. Annette re-ordained with Jisho Warner Roshi in 1999 and received dharma transmission in 2013. She has served the Stone Creek Sangha in multiple practice and administrative roles and as a hospital and hospice chaplain for ten years. She finds her joy in zazen, writing and tending her flower garden.
By Donation ($100-$60 suggested).
To register, contact info@stonecreekzen.org.
The zoom link for the class will be available upon confirmation.
Questions? Please email info@stonecreekzen.org.