Brooklyn Zen Center

Recorded on October 17, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY

Charlie Sensei continues with a teaching based on BZC's Fall Ango (practice period), "Liberating Response: Engaged Practice in Ourselves and in the World."

References: Website of People's Institute for Survival And Beyond: https://pisab.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!

Recorded on October 3, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY.

Rev. Doyeon Park, a minister of the Manhattan Won Buddhist Temple and Buddhist spiritual life advisor at Columbia and NYU, explores the complex nature of compassion in her Dharma talk at Brooklyn Zen Center drawing from personal experiences as a student and as a minister. True compassion, she explains, comes from the Latin for “to suffer together” and from the Buddhist concept of Karuna, the wish for all beings to be free from suffering, which is rooted in our interconnection. She describes a three-stage practice: first releasing ill will, then developing a neutral understanding of others’ conditions, and finally wishing genuine well-being even for difficult people. She concludes that “fierce compassion,” meaning strong words or action when needed, must be guided by wisdom and honest reflection on one’s intentions.

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 on October 10, 2026, at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY

This talk considers the PISAB principle of Learning from History and its connection to Zen practice—specifically, the discipline of studying ourselves. Sarah Sensei explores ways we can engage with both our personal histories and the collective narratives that shape our lives, our places, and our social conditioning. Through this investigation, we can work toward liberating ourselves from inherited patterns of suffering.

Mentioned in this talk: New York Narratives, the website for Asad Dandia’s radical history walking tours of NYC.

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 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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!