Brooklyn Zen Center

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! 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.” Reverend Mira Salwani serves 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 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!

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 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!

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 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!

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 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!

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 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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Our being in the world –  and our karmic orientations in everything that is happening – is what makes the world around us what it is.

Reflections on Resistance and Pipeline 3: a share by Yoko Ohashi and Koan Anne Brink