Brooklyn Zen Center
Brooklyn Zen Center
Episodes
Living What Matters Most, by Laura O’Loughlin (01-30-2016)
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.
Engaged Buddhism: dharma as community practice, by Greg Snyder (10/29/2016)
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.
Making Wisdom Visible: Meeting our Female Ancestors, by Laura O’Loughlin (03/26/2016)
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.
Dharma talk with Greg Snyder (01/26/2019)
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.
Settled Activity in an Unsettling World, by Laura O’Loughlin (06/24/2017)
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.
Dharma talk by Laura O’Loughlin (03/23/2019)
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.
Difficult Conversations on Race, by Yoko Ohashi (02/23/2019)
We are recognizing here with this Hotsuganmon [sutra by Eihei Dogen] that we don’t exist by ourselves We thought that the self existed right here, but actually it feels like that life is connected. That we all are affecting each other every moment, that nothing is perfect or permanent. 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.
Emboldening the Bodhisattva Heart in Demanding Times, by Greg Snyder (01/21/2017)
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.
Emergent Buddha-nature, Emergent Awakening: Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (09/12/2026)
Recorded on September 12, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY Welcoming the sangha back after the August break, Charlie Korin Pokorny, BZC Dharma Teacher, explores awakening through the teachings of 13th-century Sōtō Zen founder Dōgen. Themes include Buddha nature as a dynamic, impermanent process rather than a fixed essence; awakening as "doing" rather than seeing; intimate illumination as befriending one's experience; time as inseparable from existence; and Buddha nature expressed in every act of kindness as an ethic of care. Charlie Sensei also introduces BZC's fall practice period, "Liberating Response: Engaged Practice in Ourselves and in the World." Over 12 weeks, the program explores six topics (location, class, race, gender and sexuality, immigration and indigeneity, and earth justice), alternating between internal and external dimensions. Offerings include Saturday talks, Wednesday evening dharma shares, a one-day sit, three- and five-day sesshins, and a six-week online class on B.R. Ambedkar and Navayana Buddhism. The talk frames the four noble truths as emergent and living, with boundless relationality bringing boundless shared responsibility. 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!
Vigorously Compassionate Self-Scrutiny: Audio Dharma Talk: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (9/26/2026)
Recorded on September 26, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This talk considers what is the relationship between how we investigate and inquire into ourselves, and how we show up with compassion in the world. 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Charlie Korin Pokorny (7/25/2026)
Recorded on July 25, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in 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!
“What Do You Call the World?” – Practicing with the Expanding and Contracting of our Life of Care: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (7/11/2026)
Recorded on July 11, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY Sarah Sensei begins with an invitation to become aware of one’s body, asks those present, “What do you want or need that brought you here?”, and collects individuals’ responses. Sarah’s dharma talk considers the koan “Dizang Planting the Fields” (The Book of Serenity, Case 12), in which Xiushan asks, “What are you doing in the world?”, and Dizang responds, “What do you call the world?” Sarah reflects on the practices of awareness of, and acceptance of responsibility for, our interconnectedness with all that is our world at each moment, including harm that has occurred. She discusses, in particular, her experience as a trans-racially adoptive parent. This podcast includes the question and response portion of the talk, with express permission of the questioner. The asker describes grappling with remorse over experiences in his youth as a student at an Israeli yeshiva in the occupied territories. Sarah’s response acknowledges the pain that arises from holding the complexity of being a human being who is part of this world, and how this pain belongs in our practice as a sangha, so that we might hold it together. 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!
Dhamma of Love and Justice – Practicing with B.R. Ambedkar as Engaged Buddhists Today: by Maitriveer-Nagarjuna (6/27/2026)
Recorded on June 27, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY, during a one-day retreat This dharma talk was given by guest teacher, Maitriveer Nagarjuna. Dhamma teacher and Buddhist scholar, Maitriveer-Nagarjuna (also known as Dr. Santosh Raut) shared a passionate portrait of the Indian social reformer and political leader Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and his approach to engaged Buddhist practice. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, born in the Dalit (“Untouchable”) cast, overcame prejudice and adversity to become a prominent Indian jurist, economist, and political leader. He was a primary author of the Constitution of India. Dr. Ambedkar worked tirelessly for the empowerment of the Dalit caste. On October 14, 1958, in rejection of the caste system, he publicly converted to Buddhism, then led the conversion of 500,000 of his followers gathered there. The Ambedkarite Buddhist movement continues to this day. “The greatest thing that the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world cannot be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of humankind and of the mind of the world.” (Dr. Ambedgar, 1956) Please note that, during Sarah Sensei’s brief introduction of Maitriveer-Nagarjuna, the sound is distorted due to microphone issues. These issues were resolved by the start of his talk, at time mark 00:01:45. Maitriveer-Nagarjuna (Dr. Santosh Raut) hails from Maharashtra, the heartland of the Ambedkarite Buddhist movement. Both a Dhamma teacher and a scholar of Buddhist Aesthetics and Philosophy, he has long been a thought leader and organizer within broader Asian networks of Engaged Buddhism. 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!
Present for Pride — Conversing with All Things and with Each Other: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (6/20/2026)
Recorded on June 20, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY In this dharma talk, Charlie brings up BZC involvement with Pride Month and discusses the practice of conversation – being in conversation with others, with our experience, and with everything – as a basis of liberation from suffering. He suggests elements of accountability to keep in mind so that literal conversations can be mutually liberating and help to build a truly inclusive sangha. 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!
Responsibility and Refuge : Audio Dharma Offering by Guest Teachers, Chodo Robert Campbell and Koshin Paley Ellison, of New York Zen Center (6/6/2026)
Recorded on June 6, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This dharma talk was given by guest teachers, Chodo Robert Campbell and Koshin Paley Ellison, of New York Zen Center. They spoke about how essential the practices of making atonement and taking responsibility are within Soto Zen practice. They addressed the challenge of working skillfully with these practices when questions arise within a community about a disconnection between responsibility and ethics. Zen teacher, bereavement specialist, and grief counselor, Chodo Robert Campbell is a recognized leader for those suffering with the complexities of death, dying, aging, and sobriety. With his husband, Koshin Paley Ellison, he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, integrating contemplative approaches with contemporary medicine. Under his leadership, NYZC developed the Foundations in Contemplative Care and Contemplative Medicine Fellowship, reaching tens of thousands internationally. Chodo is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher and serves on faculty at University of the West, University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine, and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine. Author, Zen teacher, and Jungian psychotherapist, Koshin Paley Ellison is a leader in the contemplative medicine movement. With his husband, Chodo Campbell, he co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, developing the Foundations in Contemplative Care and Contemplative Medicine Fellowship. Author of Untangled and Wholehearted, Koshin is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher who serves on faculty at University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine, the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and University of the West, and is visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at University of Texas Health Science Center. New York Zen Center: https://www.zencare.org/ 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!
Weaving the Web of Connection: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (5/16/2026)
Recorded on May 16, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Please enjoy this dharma talk by BZC teacher Sarah Dōjin Emerson. Sarah explores the teachings of Zen master and author Norma Wong about the wisdom of community and collective leading; and the teachings of Paula Arai on ceremonies of healing. Sarah’s talk includes Norma Wong Roshi's chanting practice of calling in aloha through collective chanting, and shares Wong Roshi's connection between the indigenous Hawaiian meaning of aloha, and her Zen teacher's understanding of aloha as compassion manifested. Sarah reads briefly from Norma Wong’s latest book, Who We Are Becoming Matters. Sarah also mentioned the podcast episode "Reverence for Death," with Prentis Hemphill and Alua Arthur, from the Becoming the People podcast. https://becomingthepeople.buzzsprout.com/1108100/episodes/19167987-reverence-for-death-with-alua-arthur Some information about the authors mentioned: Norma Wong (Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi) is an 86th generation Zen master and a Native Hawaiian and Hakka Chinese life-long resident of Hawai’i. She is the author of the books Who We Are Becoming Matters: The Courage, Wisdom, and Aloha We Need in a Timeplace of Collapse (2026), and When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse (2024). https://www.normawong.com/ Dr. Paula Arai is a Sōtō Zen practitioner, Chair of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies at UC Berkeley, and faculty at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Her focus of study is the practices of Japanese Sōtō Zen laywomen. Her latest book is The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023). https://www.zenhealing.org/
Taking Refuge in Ourselves: Audio Dharma Offering by Guest Teacher, Kaira Jewel Lingo (5/9/2026)
Recorded on May 9, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This dharma offering by guest teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo addresses how grieving abides in the body and how taking refuge in ourselves offers healing and stability. Her offering includes a brief period of paired sharing, a guided meditation practice, a writing practice, a ceremony for holding grief together, and a dharma talk. The audio includes periods of unclear sound and silence. Time stamps are provided below. Kaira Jewel read the poem, “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief,” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. The poem can be found here, on the the poet’s poetry blog: The poet’s website: https://www.wordwoman.com/ Time stamps 5:20 – 9:30: Paired sharing about “something tender or unfinished in your heart” 11:15 – 13:20: “After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief” by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 14:15 – 21:25: Guided meditation practice on finding places of support and grief in the body 21:25 – 25:00: Writing exercise, a sentence or phrase conveying a present grief 25:00 – 32:07: Holding the Grief Together ceremony, with choral harmonic humming and reading of phrases 32:07 – 54:32: Dharma Talk Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and a Vipassana teacher, and a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers Council of Elders. Her work continues the Engaged Buddhism developed by Thich Nhat Hanh, drawing inspiration from her parents’ lives of service and her father’s work with Martin Luther King, Jr. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel now teaches internationally in the Zen and Vipassana traditions, as well as in secular mindfulness contexts. Her teaching focuses on the intersection of racial, climate, and social justice, with particular care for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, as well as activists, artists, educators, families, and youth. Based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring and is faculty in a Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training, and one of the guiding teachers of One Earth Sangha. She is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption, and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation. More information about her teachings and events can be found at www.kairajewel.com 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!
Closing Ancestral Heart and Meeting Loss with Love: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (4/25/2026)
Recorded on April 25, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY This dharma talk by BZC teacher Charlie Korin Pokorny describes the closing ceremony for the Ancestral Heart Monastery, in Millerton, NY, which took place on April 18, 2026, and offers guidance in how Zen practice addresses loss and grieving. 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!
Centering Care: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (4/4/2026)
Recorded on April 4, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Please enjoy this dharma talk by BZC teacher Sarah Dōjin Emerson, which explores allowing the principle of care to guide our interactions in all settings and relationships. Sarah Sensei refers to the following online sources: “Care is a Lifeforce,” episode of the podcast “Becoming the People with Prentis Hemphill,” with guest Ai-jin Poo. https://becomingthepeople.buzzsprout.com/1108100/episodes/18866180-care-is-a-lifeforce-with-ai-jen-poo “Moving Toward the Horizon of Love Together,” episode of the podcast “How to Survive the End of the World,” adrienne maree brown in conversation with Sonya Renee Taylor. https://endoftheworldshow.org/episodes/moving-toward-the-horizon-of-love-together-with-sonya-renee-taylor “Awareness Alone Is Not a Strategy,” post on Adrianna DiFazio's Substack newsletter, “Radical Change.” https://open.substack.com/pub/adrianadifazio/p/awareness-alone-is-not-a-strategy?r=1kh014&utm_medium=ios 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!
Renewal and Reverence: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (3/21/2026)
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!
Receiving Precepts of Radical Relationality: by Charlie Korin Pokorny (03/20/2026)
Recorded on March 20, 2026 during the three-day sesshin in preparation for the Jukai ceremony for receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts, at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. In this first dharma talk of the sesshin, Charlie Korin Pokorny explores Jukai as a ceremony of bearing witness to radical relationality, and of asking how to allow one’s life to become a testament to the reality of non-separation. Charlie reads from and comments on the article, “Witnessing Subjectivity,” by philosopher and scholar Kelly Oliver. The article can be accessed here. 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!
Guided Meditation For Parents and Caregivers and All Beings: Foundational Metta Practice, Step 1 – May I Be Well…by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (2/19/2026)
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!
Dharma-Mini Talk For Parents and Caregivers: Parenting as the Revolution: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (02/19/2026)
Recorded on February 19, 2026 at at the Online Parent/Caregiver Monthly Sangha. A short offering from the Parent Sangha exploring parenting as a path of awakening and social change. This talk is aimed at parents and caregivers, though the insights are relevant to all practitioners. 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!
An Interfaith Dialogue on Engaged Action as Spiritual Practice: Rev. Mira Salwani (3/7/2026)
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.
Bodhisattva Breathing: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (02/28/2026)
Recorded on February 28, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. Referenced in the talk: 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Rev. Grace Song (2/14/2026)
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!
Doing a new thing —learning connection and unlearning separation: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (02/07/2026)
Recorded on February 7, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Resources: • Podcast about collective action in Minnesota: • How to Survive the End of the World: An Emergency Dispatch from Occupied Minneapolis: "Intense, Frightening, Surreal and Inspiring." • Movement Memos: Minneapolis Community Defense is "Riding on the Learning Edge of a Whirlwind" • Norma Wong's new book "Who We Are Becoming Matters" • And the poem played at the end fo the talk in their own voice- "I am about to do a new thing" by ALOK Viad-Menon 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
A Dragon Singing in a Withered Tree: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (01/31/2026)
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!
Why We Say All Beings: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (01/17/2026)
Recorded on January 17, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Resources Referenced in This Talk Article by Liz Bucar "Proof" by Cornelius Eady 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
Zen death poems: Audio Dharma Talk with Sarah Dōjin Emerson and Charlie Korin Pokorny (01/10/2026)
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!
Rohatsu Sesshin Dharma Talk #4: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (12/13/2025)
Recorded on December 13, 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
Rohatsu Sesshin Dharma Talk #3: Charlie Korin Pokorny (12/12/2025)
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!
Rohatsu Sesshin Dharma Talk #2: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (12/11/2025)
Recorded on December 11, 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
Rohatsu Sesshin Dharma Talk #1: Charlie Korin Pokorny (12/10/2025)
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!
Reverend Doyeon Park: Audio Dharma Talk (11/15/2025)
Recorded on November 15, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. We had the honor of welcoming back Won Buddhist Minister, Rev. Doyeon Park, for our Saturday Morning Program. She delivered a talk on the importance of recognizing and nurturing one's innate Buddha nature and its relationship to community. "So rather than wishing for community without challenges, we can learn to see those challenges as part of perfection of the Sangha." "You are blessed. You have this privilege, you have these blessings here, and take it, feel it, and hopefully you will also share it with others." The BZC Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If these teachings have benefited you, 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!
locating ourselves in space and time: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (10/25/2025)
Recorded during Three Day Sesshin on October 25, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
The precepts of thriving: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (10/11/2025)
Recorded on October 11, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Technical Note: Low audio levels at the very beginning and increases to normal levels after 30 seconds Resources Referenced in This Talk https://www.kairajewel.com https://www.normawong.com Joanna Macy, The Milling Exercise 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
Radical Relationality, Reactivity and Responsibility: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (10/06/2025)
Recorded on October 6, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. Technical Note: Low audio levels at the beginning and increases to normal levels after 90 seconds Resources Referenced in This Talk Bodhisattva Precepts Jewel Mirror Samadhi The Dogen story and quote from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi are from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. 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!
Hospicing/”The Best Day of My Life”: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (09/20/2025)
Recorded on September 20, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Resources Referenced in This Talk Hospicing Modernity: Facing Modernity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism by Vanessa Machado de Oliviera Fierce Vulnerability: Healing from Trauma, Emerging Through Collapse by Kazu Haga "Death Doula to a Dying Empire" by Kazu Haga Published on One Earth Sangha "How I Became a Localist" by Deborah Frieze TED Talk In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Time of Uncertainty by Francis Weller No. 92 of 108 by Norma Wong 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!er ‘Giving.’ Thank you for your generosity!
Practice, Precepts and Power: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (09/06/2025)
Recorded on September 6, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. References mentioned in the talk: Abuse, Sex and the Sangha: a Series of Healing Conversations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpxqAk60QqWrlqnlVVWr4IvLyv1GtBw5I Resilient Sangha Project: https://bostonzen.org/resilientsangha/ Buddhist Healthy Boundaries: https://www.buddhisthealthyboundaries.org/ "Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse" by Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg: https://www.lionsroar.com/sexual-ethics-and-healthy-boundaries-in-the-wake-of-teacher-abuse/ Book by Julie Seido Nelson, "Practicing Safe Zen: Navigating the Pitfalls on the Road to Liberation": https://julieanelson.com/2024/11/21/practicing-safe-zen/ 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Sarah Dōjin Emerson & Charlie Korin Pokorny (7/26/2025)
Recorded on July 26, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Rev. Grace Song (7/12/2025)
Recorded on July 12, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. Please note: The first 50 seconds of the dharma talk is not audible due to technical issue. 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Sarah Dōjin Emerson & Charlie Korin Pokorny (6/28/2025)
Recorded on June 28, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. 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!
Audio Dharma Talk: Sarah Dōjin Emerson (06/21/2025)
Recorded on June 21, 2025 during the One Day Sit at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. 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!
Transformative Practice: What Will We Become?: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (06/07/2025)
Recorded on June 7, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple, Brooklyn, NY. 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!
Rev. Chelsea MacMillan and Matthew Menzies: Sacred Activism and Environmental Justice (05/31/2025)
A Dharma Conversation about sacred activism and environmental justice as a Bodhisattva practice with Rev. Chelsea MacMillan and Matthew Menzies Chelsea MacMillan is an interspiritual minister, the Senior Organizer at GreenFaith, and founder of Brooklyn Center for Sacred Activism. Between 2019-2021, she led direct actions and facilitated regenerative culture with Extinction Rebellion. You can find her writing in Order of the Sacred Earth by Matthew Fox, and at revchelseamac.substack.com. Matthew—born in Harlem in ‘93, by way of Belize, Central America—is an indigenous Yucatac Mayan Activist-Organizer. Through his spiritual animist roots, formal training in Soto Zen Buddhism, past experiences working on our local farm market food distribution systems and the NYC Compost Project, to most recently focusing non-violent civil disobedience campaigns with Extinction Rebellion NYC, Matthew finds his life purpose, on lenapehoking: to live for the benefit of all beings, and preserve the Earth’s animals, soils, and waters for the future generations to come.
Audio Dharma Talk: Shingetsu Laura O’Loughlin (04/27/2025)
Recorded on April 27, 2025 at Millerton Zendo, NY. 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!
Willie Mukei Smith: Audio Dharma Talk (05/10/2025)
Recorded on May 10, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple, NY. Guest Speaker, Willie Mukei Smith gave a powerful talk on based on the Bearing Witness to Racism Retreats in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, asking what kind of people of "the way" are we going to be? We are honored to share a recording of his talk on our podcast Willie Mukei Smith is a Senior Student and Novice Zen Priest at The Village Zendo. He leads The People of Color Group at The Village Zendo and is a Member of the Buddhist Council NYC. Mukei is a Board Member of Zen Peacemakers International and leads Bearing Witness to Racism Retreats in Alabama. 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!
Falling to the ground/ getting up from the ground: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (05/03/2025)
Recorded on May 3, 2025 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY. The ground that we’re on, all the time, is one that has wounds in it. There are bodies in it, there are stories in it, there are injuries in it, wherever we’re moving. The ground of our sangha has wounds in it. We’re going along, we think we’re fine, and then we trip, and there’s a gash in the ground. Our country, this country, the ground of this country has wounds in it. Big holes, gaping gashes in it. (…) What if we become all about this? What if we become all about healing of these wounds in our sangha. What if that becomes the lighthouse? What if that becomes the compass? 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!
Fernando Pessoa’s Green Fields: Audio Dharma Talk by Ian Kidō Case (04/06/2025)
"Fields are greener in their description than they are in their actual greenness." - Fernando Pessoa "Yes, we want to clarify the stories that are keeping us separate and maybe causing harm for ourselves and others. That doesn't mean that we don't need stories that support community that keep us in touch with ancestors that help us make meaning of the world. I think Pessoa is talking about the power of our descriptive faculty, our imagination to make meaning of greenfield that we experience. So I want to lift up both of those aspects of stories." "I started thinking about what is the power of community at this moment, when there are so many forces that are driving us to isolation and being siloed. I enter into a situation with my own description of "the field" in a community like this where we share an intention, and I can have that description of the field bounce up and open up to your descriptions of the field. Simultaneously in those moments, I am shown how I create my own world and I can feel like the suffering of my own grasping onto my idea of the field. There's also a relief and wonder in the realization that I'm involved intimately involved in the creation and expression of worlds. And then collectively, I can imagine there's a field of possibility that gets plugged into the context of a community like this. That feels really necessary and powerful at this moment." Texts referred to: Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet. Genjokoan text from Dogen Zenji Recorded at Millerton Zendo in Millerton NY on April 6, 2025. 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!