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Weaving the Web of Connection: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (5/16/2026)

Sarah Dōjin Emerson
Brooklyn Zen Center
Weaving the Web of Connection: Audio Dharma Talk by Sarah Dōjin Emerson (5/16/2026)
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Recorded on May 16, 2026 at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, NY.

Please enjoy this dharma talk by BZC teacher Sarah Dōjin Emerson. Sarah explores the teachings of Zen master and author Norma Wong about the wisdom of community and collective leading; and the teachings of Paula Arai on ceremonies of healing. Sarah’s talk includes Norma Wong Roshi’s chanting practice of calling in aloha through collective chanting, and shares Wong Roshi’s connection between the indigenous Hawaiian meaning of aloha, and her Zen teacher’s understanding of aloha as compassion manifested.  Sarah reads briefly from Norma Wong’s latest book, Who We Are Becoming Matters.

Sarah also mentioned the podcast episode “Reverence for Death,” with Prentis Hemphill and Alua Arthur, from the Becoming the People podcast. https://becomingthepeople.buzzsprout.com/1108100/episodes/19167987-reverence-for-death-with-alua-arthur

Some information about the authors mentioned:

Norma Wong (Norma Ryūkō Kawelokū Wong Roshi) is an 86th generation Zen master and a Native Hawaiian and Hakka Chinese life-long resident of Hawai’i. She is the author of the books Who We Are Becoming Matters: The Courage, Wisdom, and Aloha We Need in a Timeplace of Collapse (2026), and When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse (2024). https://www.normawong.com/

Dr. Paula Arai is a Sōtō Zen practitioner, Chair of Women and Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies at UC Berkeley, and faculty at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Her focus of study is the practices of Japanese Sōtō Zen laywomen. Her latest book is The Little Book of Zen Healing: Japanese Rituals for Beauty, Harmony, and Love (2023). https://www.zenhealing.org/