Brooklyn Zen Center

Sarah Dōjin Emerson’s talk, entitled “Renewal and Reverence,” recorded on March 21, 2026, during the three-day sesshin in preparation for the Jukai ceremony, at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn. In this second and final dharma talk of the sesshin, Sarah-sensei explores engaging Zen practice tenderly, for the sake of love, as a training in reverence. Sarah shares a quotation from an interview with Toni Morrison, which includes the words, “Sometimes you don’t survive whole, you just survive in part. But the grandeur of life is that attempt. It’s not about that solution. It is about being as fearless as one can, and behaving as beautifully as one can, under completely impossible circumstances. It’s that, that makes it elegant. Good is just more interesting, more complex, more demanding.” Morrison’s complete response can be found here: https://youtu.be/5xvJYrSsXPA?si=ITUp9BRYhtpkOiXS The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on February 19, 2026 at at the Online Parent/Caregiver Monthly Sangha. Over the next few months, the Parent Sangha will be exploring together the traditional cultivation of lovingkindness, or Metta, through the lens of parenting. This guided meditation is the grounding and foundational practice for this cultivation. While this practice uses the lens of caregiving, it's a practice anyone can do. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on March 7, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Please enjoy this interfaith dialogue on engaged action as spiritual practice with guest teacher, Reverend Mira Salwani of The Riverside Church, and Sarah Dojin Emerson. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity! In this recording, Rev. Mira Salwani speaks about “what it means to find home in the midst of chaos,” by “leaning into discomfort as a means to survival.” She explores the value of “extending home and belonging and safety to someone else … and to ourselves.” About Reverend Mira Salwani Rev Salwani erves as the Minister of Justice, Advocacy & Change at The Riverside Church. She is a daughter of immigrants, a pastor, a preacher, an educator and a public theologian. Mira received her Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary where she earned an award for Excellence in Public Theology and a Community Life Award. During her time in seminary, Mira served as the Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Peace Fellowship Church, working in partnership with congregants, community organizers and activists to end gun violence in Washington, DC. Mira has also served on the launch team of Resurrection City, a Queer and Black led church plant; as the former Community Pastor at Forefront Church NYC and most recently as the Minister for Spiritual Development and Care at Middle Collegiate Church. Her decolonized approach to justice and advocacy have been informed by her lived experience as a “third culture kid” of Philippine and Indian heritage in her birthplace of Hong Kong, and her extensive experience doing ministry in multicultural communities from Australia to the United States. Her journey as a mother of three girls has fueled her desire to bring about social change for their futures and to bring to realization God’s kin-dom here on earth for all to experience.

Recorded on February 14, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Please enjoy this dharma talk by guest teacher, Won Buddhist Kyomunim, Rev Grace Song which includes an excerpt of a letter from James Baldwin to his nephew and ends with a guided meditation. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on January 31, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on January 10, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. In this talk, Sarah Dōjin Emerson and Charlie Korin Pokorny explore the Zen tradition of writing death poems in the new year. They share historical examples from Zen masters as well as contemporary poems, inviting us to engage with impermanence and clarify what matters most in our lives. We invite you to write and share your own death poem with the sangha. Click here for details on how to submit. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on December 12, 2025 during Rohatsu Sesshin—an intensive multi-day Zen meditation retreat commemorating the Buddha's enlightenment—at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

Recorded on December 10, 2025 during Rohatsu Sesshin—an intensive multi-day Zen meditation retreat commemorating the Buddha's enlightenment—at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited your life, please consider supporting the program with a donation (suggested $2-7/episode, or whatever feels right for you!). You can donate to Brooklyn Zen Center at brooklynzen.org under ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!

On Wednesday night we had our full moon ceremony. It’s a way for us to feel ourselves as energetic bodies, connecting to something beyond our individuality. In this full moon ceremony we renounce our karma, we confess our karma and we wish for ourselves to live in alignment with the precepts, with a way of being with each other that offers a chance for us to be healing influences in the world, as opposed to harming influences. Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

We are a conversation. Each one of us is a conversation – a conversation between all kinds of ways of conditioning, trying to talk its way into wise ways of being in the world. […] Healing happens in conversation. If we are trying to get people to do what we do, there’s no conversation. Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.