This year we are offering a new Sangha Summer Reading program! We will be reading Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists by author Chenxing Han. The Sangha will gather in person at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn to discuss Be the Refuge on the evening of Wednesday, September 13, with Chenxing joining us by zoom. Please save the date! More details coming soon. About the book “A must-read for modern sanghas—Asian American Buddhists in their own words, on their own terms. More than two thirds of U.S. Buddhists are Asian American. But you’d never guess this from mainstre ..read more

On Sunday, June 11th, sixteen people  in our community will be receiving Soto Zen precepts in a lay ordination ceremony called Jukai. This ceremony is the culmination of an engaged month-long period of study and practice with the bodhisattva precepts. This is an ethical orientation, a ritual embodiment of teacher-student lineage going back to the Buddha, and a commitment to a particular spiritual community. As part of their training, ordinands have been sewing the rakusu, the small Buddha robe worn around the necks of lay practitioners and priests. Here are some images and words shared by ..read more

The dharma talk offered by Kosen Gregory Snyder at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn on May 6th is now available on the BZC Audio Dharma Podcast. Into the Scars of the Burning: Audio Dharma Talk by Kosen Gregory Snyder (2023/05/06) The BZC Audio Dharma Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. A $10 suggested donation per dharma talk is recommended. You can donate to BZC here. Thank you for your generosity ..read more

Dear Sangha, When we acquired the land that is now Ancestral Heart Temple, part of what we inherited was a mature fruit orchard that had been planted about fifteen or twenty years ago by the family who built the current house. Originally there was a mix of apples, pears, and peaches; however, over the intervening decades mostly only the apple trees and a thriving Asian pear have survived. Tending to orchards requires learning a different set of knowledge and skills than growing vegetables, and for the first year that I lived here I felt completely overwhelmed by it all and left the orchard to ..read more

The dharma talk offered by Charlie Korin Pokorny at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn on April 29th is now available on the BZC Audio Dharma Podcast. Liberative Confession and Repentance: Audio Dharma Talk by Charlie Korin Pokorny (2023/04/29) The BZC Audio Dharma Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. A $10 suggested donation per dharma talk is recommended. You can donate to BZC here. Thank you for your generosity ..read more

The dharma talk offered by Chimyo Simone Atkinson at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn on April 22nd is now available on the BZC Audio Dharma Podcast. Best Effort: Audio Dharma Talk by Chimyo Atkinson (2023/04/22) The BZC Audio Dharma Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. A $10 suggested donation per dharma talk is recommended. You can donate to BZC here. Thank you for your generosity ..read more

Each month, we’ll be sharing photographs of life at Sōshinji, Ancestral Heart Zen Temple. All Brooklyn Zen Center members are warmly invited to come practice here, and to experience Zen monastic training. Please email ahdirector@brooklynzen.org for more information. Garden Planting Month has officially begun! On April 5, we held a garden opening ceremony, chanting Dogen’s fascicle Dharma Blossoms turn Dharma Blossoms. (From left to right: Wesley, Don, Ian, Kaishin, Erin, and Bianca) Erin planting potatoes! This is the first time we’ve tried planting potatoes. We’ll see how they grow… Gerardo ..read more

The dharma talk offered by Kidō Ian Case at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn on April 15th is now available on the BZC Audio Dharma Podcast. The Essential Art of Zazen: Audio Dharma Talk by Kidō Ian Case (2023/04/15) The BZC Audio Dharma Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. A $10 suggested donation per dharma talk is recommended. You can donate to BZC here. Thank you for your generosity ..read more

Dear Sangha, Just before sitting down to write this, I moved all of the tomato and pepper seedlings outdoors for the first time. It’s still early this year, but we are having a week of very warm weather right now, so they will be happier out in the real sunshine than under the cramped grow lights in my room. We also planted the peas and onions this week, and I’m excited about the arrival of a few new fruit trees to inaugurate a second orchard that I’m planting down the hill by the garden. In other words, spring has arrived and is not going to wait for our Garden Planting Month schedule to begi ..read more

The dharma talk offered by Kosen Greg Snyder at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn on April 1th is now available on the BZC Audio Dharma Podcast. Love First: Audio Dharma Talk by Kosen Greg Snyder (2023/04/01) The BZC Audio Dharma Podcast is offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. A $10 suggested donation per dharma talk is recommended. You can donate to BZC here. Thank you for your generosity ..read more