Retreat

Creating Zen Healing Rituals Together

Recurrent

Location
Boundless Mind Temple
326 Clinton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
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Description

We warmly invite you to join us for a special retreat — and welcome Dr. Paula Arai back in person — over a weekend of healing, creativity, and community rooted in Zen practice.

Building on the 10 Principles of Healing explored in the online Healing Rituals in Zen* class, we will come together in person for a weekend retreat in Brooklyn to explore traditions of healing rituals in Zen practice, and create and innovate rituals to respond to the healing needs of our communities in our present lives and circumstances.

Over the course of the weekend, we will move fluidly between stillness and creativity, silence and conversation, individual reflection and communal making — exploring what it means to both receive and offer healing through ritual. The retreat includes:

  • Friday evening, 6–8pm: Gathering as a community, sharing intentions, and orienting ourselves to the healing we are seeking — personal, communal, and beyond
  • Saturday, 9am–4pm: A full day of practice moving through sitting meditation, chanting, sutra copying, sewing, and artmaking — each a doorway into presence and connection — closing with an optional opportunity to join BZC Sangha members in the Brooklyn Pride Parade as a living form of community healing
  • Sunday morning, 9am–12pm: A collective ritual created together by the group, including offerings and the planting of a Bodhi Tree as a living symbol of our shared intention

*Attending the online class is not required to register for the in-person retreat, but attending both is recommended for those who are able.

Registration

Registration deadline — June 10, 11:59 PM ET
Financial assistance deadline — June 8, 11:59 PM ET

Pricing
$140–$330 (sliding scale)
  • Refer to our Equitable Pricing Model here to determine your rate.
  • No one will be turned away due to financial constraints. If you’re unable to pay at the lowest rate, please use this form to apply for financial assistance by the deadline.

Questions? If you have any questions or concerns about registration, please contact us at info@brooklynzen.org.

Image: Paula Arai, Mother of Compassion, watercolor, 2021.

Instructor

Paula Arai was raised in Detroit by a Japanese mother and did Zen training in Japan. She obtained her Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University in 1993 and is now the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is the author of Bringing Zen Home: The Healing Heart of Japanese Women’s Rituals, Women Living Zen: Japanese Soto Buddhist Nuns, and Painting Enlightenment: Healing Visions of the Heart Sutra.

Sarah Dōjin Emerson’s formal practice in Soto Zen began in 1996. She lived and trained at Tassajara Zen Mountain center and other sites of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1997-2007. She received Dharma Transmission from Abbott Konjin Gaelyn Godwin of the Houston Zen Center in 2015. She has a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies, and has worked in the fields of mental health and pastoral care with children and adults. She experiences Bodhisattva Zen practice as deeply supportive to inquiring into, challenging and transforming systems of oppression, particularly racial inequities and the harm they cause within convert Buddhist sanghas, and in U.S. society generally. Sarah has also worked for many years in grief support- clinically, ritually and in community- specializing in child loss. She lives with her partner, Charlie Pokorny (who is also a Soto Zen Buddhist priest), their children (who are her most profound and constant teachers) and numerous pets in Brooklyn, NY.

 


Location Details

Boundless Mind Temple is located in the Parish House of Christ Church Cobble Hill, next to 326 Clinton Street. Enter the driveway on Clinton, go past the scaffolding, and through the double doors.

 


Stay Connected with BZC!

  • Subscribe to our mailing list for monthly newsletters and weekly agendas here.
  • Join the BZC Community Listserv for news and updates on offerings. Request to join the listserv here.

 


Donations

BZC relies on donations to sustain its spaces, teachers, and staff. Learn more about supporting us here.

 


Health & Wellness Policy

Our health and wellness policy for all visitors has been updated for our current post-pandemic times while still prioritizing community care.

Please see BZC’s Updated Health & Wellness Policy for more information.

Fee
$140–$330
Questions?
info@brooklynzen.org

To request a refund for this program you must notify BZC in writing at least 2 days before the beginning of the program. This supports the organizing effort involved in managing registrations and cancellations.

We are in an historical building which is not wheelchair accessible. There are two flights of stairs leading to the center, located on the second floor. Chairs, benches, and extra support cushions are available. If you have any additional questions about accessibility, please contact us at info@brooklynzen.org.
Creating Zen Healing Rituals Together
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