Timely Wisdom

Eyes Wide Open

What dying can teach us about living

A Benefit for Stone Creek Zen Center
Sunday, November 2, 2025 | 4:00 – 6:30 PM (Doors open at 3:00 PM for tea and socializing)
Glaser Center | 547 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA

If you've been grappling with questions about aging, what truly matters, or how to meet life's uncertainties with an open heart, this special gathering offers a space for reflection, connection, and insight.

Join two of contemporary Buddhism's most trusted voices, Frank Ostaseski and Wendy Johnson, for an afternoon of guided meditation, shared ritual, and teachings grounded in the Five Remembrances.

The Five Remembrances invite us to honor who and what truly matters in this one precious life, to listen from the heart, and to draw on the wisdom of compassionate practice and the life lessons gathered in accompanying the dying. 

We’ll explore how to live awake throughout the stages of life as we and those we love grow older. We’ll learn how to meet changes in our health and relationships, experience loss, and face the inevitability of death with clarity and compassion.

These recollections wake us up to living with eyes wide open as we meet the challenges in our personal lives, and in our world.

Please join us as we come together in community for a very special gathering. All are welcome.

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. 

Tickets

General admission: $75

Supporter: $125
Your additional contribution supports Stone Creek's offerings throughout the year. As a gift, you also will receive a signed copy of Frank's book Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully.

Reduced cost: $35
A limited number of reduced price tickets are available for those for whom the general admission price would be a hardship.

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 tickets to the event, be recognized on our website, in our newsletter, on our printed program and slides at the event.

You can find descriptions of sponsorship levels and benefits on the ticketing page. To learn more, discuss how your support can make an impact, or pay via check, please contact Baladine at baladine@stonecreekzen.org.

Frank Ostaseski
A renowned Buddhist teacher and international speaker, Frank is the co-founder of Zen Hospice Project and founder of the Metta Institute. Author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, his work on end-of-life care and mindful living has been honored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and featured by Oprah Winfrey and PBS. www.fiveinvitations.com

Wendy Johnson
A devoted Zen teacher, gardener, and ecological educator, Wendy co-founded the Green Gulch Farm garden program and is a guiding voice in spiritual ecology. She is the author of Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate and a longtime contributor to Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

About Stone Creek Zen Center 

For almost 30 years, Stone Creek Zen Center has been 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. Head Priest Sessei Meg Levie joined in April 2022, and Stone Creek now is home to a thriving 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

Head Priest Sessei Meg Levie

Founding Teacher Jisho Warner

More about teachers at Stone Creek here.

We look forward to seeing you on November 2!