August 5, 2025
A fall preview on the practice of balance, from BZC Dharma Teacher and Zen Priest Sarah Dōjin Emerson
Here at the beginning of August, I want to begin by encouraging all of us to sink deeply into the quiet and rest that the month off of programming in the city and the gentler pace for the Sangha in Millerton might offer. Given the challenges both in the collective and in our community, a discipline of including restoration and rest is needed now more than ever.
And at the same time, we want to look forward to what’s coming beginning in September by lifting up the energetic theme that fall and the Autumnal equinox brings- which is of balance. At BZC right now there are many balances to honor: a need to go slow with a desire to come together and engage; the need to tend to the past, with desires to move forward; how some students are needing a break, while others are moving into new levels of commitment to the practice and the Sangha, new roles and new practice possibilities. Complexities of needs are always true in any community, and they are vividly so for our Sangha right now after what has been a very challenging year.
Practice focus
In part because a lot of re-balancing, transformation, innovation and change is underway in the community, this fall we want to also offer the stabilizing and balancing support of the foundational and traditional teachings of 16 Bodhisattva Precepts and the Sila, or Ethics, fold of the eightfold path. While we won’t have a formal practice period this fall, we will offer the opportunity for a practice focus, with weekly reflections on the precepts and the possibility to join small groups; as well as taking up the theme of Buddhist ethics in Dharma Talks, weekly Dharma shares and a series of online community conversations.
Retreats and special programs
Another balance we want to offer is between quiet and activity. This fall there will be a three-day sesshin (meditation retreat) at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn October 17-19, and a five day Rohatsu sesshin December 10-14; as well bringing back some Saturday half-days, or zazen mornings, that offer a chance for us to sink in together in quiet. These quiet meditation-focused opportunities will be balanced with offerings to the wider community: a class on Zen! History, Teachings and Practices; a retreat for Environmental activists; visits by guest teachers, (including Rev Jiryu Rutchman-Byler who edited a new book of Suzuki Roshi’s teachings); engaged practice groups; and a Sangha Retreat Day on November 1st at Boundless Mind (save-the date; details to come, but we’re hoping to include movement, art, community discussion and possibly also a talent show in the evening).
Moving forward with nourishment
This is a lot of activity and possibility! And our effort in community will be to engage all of this, plus our work, relationships, community commitments, responding to the poly-crisis of our country and our planet, with grace, intention and pacing. Taking one step at a time, and going slowly enough to attend to and honor what we have the capacity for and what we don’t. Understanding our life on the Bodhisattva path as the effort of lifetimes, while also responding to the particular urgencies of right now. And lifting one another up in our efforts to find the place of balance, over and over, between diving into the rapids and resting on the shore, between activity that inspires, and the quiet and stillness that nourishes and restores.