Recurrent
December 6 to December 10
Wednesday through Saturday: 8am to 8:30pm EST
Sunday: 6am to 1pm (doors open at 5:30am) EST
Please note: this schedule is extended back to the longer sesshin days we practiced pre-pandemic. If the schedule is prohibitive for you, please reach out to the Tanto.
Partial attendance will be permitted; minimum of three days’ consecutive attendance.
This five-day Sesshin, led by BZC’s dharma teachers Sarah Dōjin Emerson and Charlie Korin Pokorny and Zen priest and entrusted teacher Kidō Ian Case, celebrates Rohatsu, literally “12-8,” the day that practitioners all over the world in the Zen tradition celebrate Shakyamuni Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi Tree. The schedule will include periods of zazen (seated meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation), along with soji, service and dharma talks.
There will be an option to opt-in to for shared catered meals, please email the Tanto if you’re interested in this option. Participants are also welcome to bring their own meals or purchase food in the area (there will be ample breaks around both lunch and dinner).
Equitable Pricing Model (read more here).
If you’re unable to pay at the lowest rate, please use this form to apply for an exemption at least a week before the registration deadline. Registration closes December 3.
If you have any questions or concerns about registration, please contact us at info@brooklynzen.org.
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We rely on donations for all we do, and invite you to support our practice and teachers:
COVID Protocol: We ask that all participants be fully vaccinated and boosted. Masks are optional. Please see the BZC Covid Protocol for more.
Our Location: 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. There are two flights of stairs leading to the center, located on the second floor. The closest subway stop is the F/G at Bergen Street.
Charlie Korin Pokorny grew up in Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. He was ordained as a priest by Reb Anderson in 1999 and received dharma transmission in 2018. He practiced as a resident at Tassajara and Green Gulch Farm and studied koans with Daniel Terragno. Charlie and Sarah served as head priests at Stone Creek Zen Center 2014-2022. He teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley (including courses on Buddhist philosophy, history, meditation and ritual practice). Charlie, Sarah and their children moved to Brooklyn in 2022.
Kidō Ian Case has been a student at Brooklyn Zen Center since its inception in 2005. During this time, he has taken on various administrative and practice roles at the center, including serving for several years as Ino (head of the meditation hall) and as director from 2019 to 2022. He was in residence for 15 months at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in 2015-2016 and was ordained as a priest by Teah Strozer in October 2016. He served as shuso (head student) at BZC for the fall 2019 practice period and received teacher entrustment from Kosen Gregory Snyder in August 2022. Ian holds an MA in Linguistics from the City University of New York and a Masters of Divinity in Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement from Union Theological Seminary. He currently serves as the Tanto (Head of Practice) of Ancestral Heart Temple.
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.
To request a refund for this program you must notify BZC in writing at least 7 days before the beginning of the program. This supports the organizing effort involved in managing registrations and cancellations. ou may request a full refund by emailing info@brooklynzen.org.