Timely Wisdom 2026

The Power of Storytelling in Troubling Times

We will explore storytelling as a creative way to wield the liberating power of the Dharma in our daily lives, especially in these troubling times.  

Drawing on the lifelong commitments of Paula Arai’s research-based writing as a contemplative practice and Kathie Fischer’s focus on Zen practice in domestic and monastic modes, we will invite people to help us create our own community story about wielding the compassionate teaching of the Dharma in these times. 

A Benefit for Stone Creek Zen Center

Sunday, November 8, 2026 | 3:00–7pm

3:00 - 4:00: Doors are open for tea and cookies, Stone Creek store, silent auction and conversation.

4:00 - 6:00: Main Event

6:00 - 7:00: More time for mingling, book signing, Stone Creek store, and closing of silent auction

Glaser Center | 547 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA

In-Person Silent Auction: 3pm-4pm/6pm-7pm.

Tickets

• General admission: $75

• Supporter: $125

• Bodhisattva: $150+

• Reduced cost: $35

  A limited number of reduced price tickets are available for those for whom the general admission price would be a hardship.
  

Paula Arai 

(Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, Harvard University) holds the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies chair at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is author of Women Living Zen; Bringing Zen Home; Painting Enlightenment; The Little Book of Zen Healing; and Of Mud & Lotuses: Dreaming the Lives of Buddhist Women. She also co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice. Under the tutelage of Aoyama Shundō Rōshi, she did Zen training at the Aichi Senmon Nisōdō nunnery in Nagoya, Japan. Steeped in ethnographic research, she takes an embodied approach to her work and finds poetic immersive storytelling a potent medium for conveying the experiences of transformative healing she researches. An active public speaker, Arai also leads workshops on healing rituals. Website: Zenhealing.org

Sokaku Kathie Fischer

began practicing Zen in 1971 with Sojun Mel Weitsman at the Berkeley Zen Center. She was ordained a Zen priest at San Francisco Zen Center in 1980 by Zentatsu Richard Baker, and continued residential practice at Zen Center for 15 more years. Kathie also studied and practiced with Maurine Stuart MyoOn Roshi. She received Dharma transmission from Sojun Weitsman in 2011 while in the midst of her 28-year career as a school teacher in Mill Valley. Since retiring from teaching science to adolescents she has turned her attention to studying and teaching Dharma. Kathie and her husband Norman are parents of adult twin sons and grandparents of three children.

Sponsorship Opportunities

We invite both businesses and individuals to partner with Stone Creek Zen Center in bringing this special event to life. Your sponsorship directly supports our mission of cultivating mindfulness, community, and compassion—while offering meaningful visibility and recognition among our sangha and wider community. All sponsors will receive 2 tickets to the event, be recognized on our website, in our newsletter, on our printed program and at the event.

To learn more, discuss how your support can make an impact, or pay via check, please contact admin@stonecreekzen.org

About Stone Creek Zen Center 

Stone Creek Zen Center is celebrating its 30th year as a place for Zen Buddhist practice in Sonoma County. Founded as a backyard zendo in Sebastopol by Jisho Warner in 1996, Stone Creek now occupies a beautifully renovated building in Graton, under the direction of Head Priest Myogen Kathryn Stark. Stone Creek is home to a thriving and diverse community, hosting a full schedule of meditation, retreats, workshops, and events. 

www.stonecreekzen.org

Unable to attend but would like to donate? Make a gift here: DONATE

Your contribution at any level supports Stone Creek Zen Center to continue to be resource for clarity and compassion and a refuge of peace for people in Sonoma County and beyond. 

Founding Teacher Jisho Warner.

Head Priest Myogen Kathryn Stark

More about teachers at Stone Creek here.

We look forward to seeing you on November 8!