May 4, 2026

What a joy to welcome Dr. Paula Arai back to Brooklyn Zen Center.
During her first visit, in the fall of 2024, she introduced us to sutra copying, zen campfire singing, enlightened painting, storytelling that affirms women’s contributions to Buddhist history, the ritual mastery of nuns in Japan, and the daily spiritual creativity possible in the practice of “domestic zen.” She offered us new ways of being together and new ways to understand healing—as individuals and in community.
I was inspired, and leapt at the chance to keep studying with her, enrolling at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and taking a further deep dive into ritual practice across Buddhist traditions.
A few things I’ve learned from Dr. Arai:
Ritual takes root in the body-heart-mind and enlivens us most when it is tailored to our unique circumstances.
Ritual has been de-emphasized and undervalued in some Western convert Buddhist contexts; part of reckoning with colonial and patriarchal histories is to re-engage diverse modes of practice.
Ritual is not the exclusive domain of priests or experts — it is something all of us do, and can do, in our own lives and together.
It was a class assignment from Dr. Arai that turned into the Community Mala I brought to BZC on Sangha Day last fall. I had been sitting with questions that feel urgent right now, for our sangha and for the world: how do we hold grief together? How do we help each other find and trust what is already within us? With a deep bow to the traditional Hyakumanben practice documented in Dr. Arai’s book Bringing Zen Home, I strung a mala of 216 beads (108 x2!) and brought them to BZC with the hope that we could chant and move and be held, bead by bead, connecting to buddhanature and each other. Like sangha itself, Community Mala is an unfolding process — still becoming, always becoming, for any of us who gather in the circle.
Dr. Paula Arai returns to Brooklyn Zen Center this spring. First for a four-part online series, Healing Rituals in Zen (Thursdays, May 7–28), and then for an in-person retreat, Creating Zen Healing Rituals Together (June 12–14). Join us!
Healing Rituals in Zen — Online Series
Thursdays, May 7, 14, 21 & 28 | 7:00–8:30pm ET
Sliding scale $150–$240
Registration closes May 5
Register here→
Creating Zen Healing Rituals Together — In-Person Retreat
June 12–14 | Boundless Mind Temple
Sliding scale $140–$330
Registration closes June 8
Register here→
Sara Lamm is a sangha member at Brooklyn Zen Center. She is a meditation facilitator and documentary filmmaker interested in creative response and practical healing. Her work is shaped by Buddhist study, time spent with midwives, hospice volunteering, and the “domestic dharma” of family life.