Stone Creek Zen Center

10/30/2026

Join us for Stone Creek's *silent auction* with an evening of Buddhist storytelling! 🌙
🖌️ Thich Nhat Hahn brush painting
🌴 Bahamas Vacation Home
🎍Osmosis Day Spa Package
🏩 Overnight Stay at Inn at Occidental
🍽️ 7-Course Meal at Bohemian Bistro
🛏️ Overnight Stay at Bohemian Inn
💆🏻‍♀️ In-home Massage
🪴 Wood-fired Pottery
➕Tea, Art, Malas & more! ....................................
Timely Wisdom Event:
🪷 Meditation & teaching about Dharma stories
📚 Interactive exploration of how your own story can inspire compassion and wisdom in today's world
🎟 Support Stone Creek Zen Center! $25 reduced cost tickets ($75 regular).
3:00-4:00: Mingling, tea & cookies, silent auction.
4:00-6:00: Main Event
6:00-7:00: Book signing, closing of silent auction, community connection. ❤

10/26/2026

Join an evening of Buddhist storytelling! 🌙
🪷 Meditation & teaching about Dharma stories
📚 Interactive exploration of how your *own* story can inspire compassion and wisdom in today's world
🎟 Support Stone Creek Zen Center! $35 reduced cost tickets ($75 regular).
3:00-4:00: Mingling, tea & cookies, silent auction.
4:00-6:00: Main Event
6:00-7:00: Book signing, closing of silent auction, community connection. ❤

10/23/2026

Join us for an evening of Buddhist storytelling! 🌙
🪷 Meditation and Dharma stories
📚 Exploration of how your *OWN* story can inspire compassion and wisdom in today's world
🎟 Support Stone Creek Zen Center! $35 reduced cost tickets ($75 regular).
3:00-4:00: Mingling, tea & cookies, silent auction.
4:00-6:00: Main Event
6:00-7:00: Book signing, closing of silent auction, community connection. ❤

Get tickets or sponsor on Humanitix - Timely Wisdom 2026 hosted by Stone Creek Zen Center. The Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, USA. Sunday November 8th 2026. Find event information.

10/21/2026

Join us for an evening of Buddhist storytelling! 🌙 Meditation and the Dharma principles. 🪷 Explore how your own story can inspire compassion & wisdom in today’s world. ❤

A few reduced cost $35 tickets left! (Regular $75) Support Stone Creek Zen Center.

https://events.humanitix.com/https-events-humanitix-com-timely-wisdom-2026

10/13/2026

Join Zen priest Dainin Jesse Brunette for an introductory dive into the heart of Zen practice. Each week we'll explore the hows and whys of this ancient technique with a period of meditation and group discussion.

This class is intended to give you an intimate familiarity of the practice of Zen meditation (zazen) To help support your understanding we will discuss the Buddha's teachings, the forms (including bowing and chanting), and the internal experience of meditation.

Suggested reading: Opening the Hand of Thought by Kosho Uchiyama

This offering is open to all regardless of experience. The group will be limited to a maximum of 14 participants.

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10/11/2026

Last Sunday the sangha was privileged to witness and share in the priest ordination of Chad Frick: Kirin Tōkū - Refuge Forest Cave of Emptiness.

Priest ordination can bring up very human questions: What does it mean? Why does it matter? Who feels called to it, and how does someone know when the time is right? Although each person’s reasons for answering the call may be deeply personal, ordination is, at heart, about more than receiving a title or stepping into a special role. It is a public promise to keep practicing, to serve with care, and to be present for others through both ordinary days and difficult moments.

That promise often begins with a desire to help—to carry the lamp forward so that the teachings remain alive and within reach. Like any meaningful calling, it usually grows slowly through practice, conversation, guidance, and life in community. Ordination gives that desire a clear shape, asking a person to return to the teachings again and again and make service part of everyday life.

For people in a lay community, a priest can be a steady companion and a trusted source of guidance—someone who helps hold the thread of practice when life becomes busy, confusing, or painful. The sangha is still grounded in the understanding that everyone has wisdom to offer. Leadership at its best does not place a priest above the community; it roots that person more deeply within it, with a particular responsibility to listen, support, and help the community stay connected to its shared values.

Ordination doesn't change the truth that we are all students and teachers. It simply names one way of caring for the path. A priest may help tend the lamp, but its light belongs to the whole community: to the person who shows up for the first time, the longtime practitioner who quietly supports others, and all who bring compassion into daily life. When ordination is held in this spirit, it draws the sangha closer, reminding us that the path is something we walk together—each of us keeps its light alive. By sharing the light, we encourage others to do likewise.
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Warm gassho,
Myogen Kathryn
Head Priest

10/03/2026

A joyful day in community!

What a wonderful day we shared at Graton Day last Saturday! Taking part in this small-town, down-home celebration was a beautiful reminder that we do not practice alone: we practice in community, for the benefit of all beings.

The gathering was wonderfully well attended, with great music, games, and food. The festivities included zucchini races, pie and watermelon eating contests—our own Ino Jesse gamely joined the watermelon-eating contest! Many local organizations hosted booths offering information, products, and services, and we were delighted to be among them.

We loved seeing several sangha members stop by to say hello, and we sold lots of jars of jam made by sangha members David Henry and Kate Burroughs. We also introduced a new item: a lemon, olive oil, and sea salt body scrub made by your very own head priest. It was such a fun day to share together!

Many thanks to all our volunteers who helped organize, staffed the booth and helped set up and break down: Jesse and Katie Brunette, Laura Hansen, Annette Lille, Mark Mauricio, Laura Moss, Sharon Bouton, Jude Kreissman and Bobbie Jo Allen.
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Warm gassho,
Myogen Kathryn
Head Priest

10/01/2026

09/29/2026

On September 21, the city of Sonoma gathered for Peace in the Plaza, a free event inspired by the UN International Day of Peace and presented by Sonoma Ashram. There was live music, yoga, meditation, wellness hub, kids activities, with remarks by local civic and faith leaders.
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Head Priest Myogen Kathryn (pictured center-right) was one of the faith leaders who offered a blessing:
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Beloved friends, gathered across many paths of wisdom, compassion, and peace, let us pause and breathe together. Beneath our prayers, songs, silences, and scriptures lives one shared longing: that life may flourish, suffering ease, and all beings live in dignity and safety.

We dedicate this gathering to Earth and all life: rivers and oceans, forests and fields, every creature, and every community seeking shelter, nourishment, belonging, and hope.

In the spirit of the Dharma, may wisdom become action, compassion become courage, and peace become practice. Seeing the causes of suffering—fear, greed, hatred, delusion, and forgetfulness of our interdependence—may we choose another way.

May every faith and sincere path of conscience be a lamp for healing. May all who pray, bow before mystery, honor ancestors, take refuge, or serve through silence and love recognize one another as companions in peace.

May loving-kindness arise in us, sympathetic joy connect us, compassion steady us, and equanimity keep us from despair. May loved ones, strangers, and enemies be free from fear and harm. May all beings be safe, peaceful, and free.

We ask blessing upon leaders of nations, communities, and homes: may humility, truth, justice, and care for the vulnerable guide them. Where there is war, may there be ceasefire; where revenge, restraint; where division, listening.

If there is merit in our prayers, silence, service, or wish for peace, may it extend to the frightened, displaced, grieving, lonely, and unseen, moving through every border and beyond every boundary.

Together, in the language of our hearts, let us vow to avoid harm, heal where possible, listen before judging, speak truth without cruelty, and remember that no one is liberated alone.

May peace begin in the breath, root in the heart, and be practiced in our homes, streets, houses of worship, schools, workplaces, and halls of government. May peace be the path beneath our feet.

May the merit of this offering extend throughout all worlds, that all beings awaken to wisdom, compassion, and freedom. May all beings be well, safe, peaceful, and free.
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09/28/2026

Join us in exploring storytelling as a creative way to wield the liberating power of the Dharma in our daily lives. Our accomplished speakers will guide the community in building our own collective story about practicing the compassion of the Dharma. ✨Paula Arai brings lifelong research into writing as a contemplative practice, and ✨Kathie Fischer offers a focus on Zen practice in domestic and monastic life. All are welcome!
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3:00 - 4:00: Doors open for tea and cookies, Stone Creek store, silent auction, and conversation.
4:00 - 6:00: Main Event
6:00 - 7:00: Mingling, book signing, closing of silent auction.
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In-Person Silent Auction: 3pm-4pm and 6pm-7pm.