Dharma Offering

Saturday Morning Program: Remembrance Ceremony

November 1, 2025

9:00 AM - 12:40 PM

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

Join us for our in-person Saturday morning program at Boundless Mind Temple in Brooklyn, which will include zazen instruction, seated and walking meditation, service and a special Remembrance Ceremony at 11:20 AM.

Remembrance Ceremony
In this season when many traditions honor the connection between the living and the dead, this week, instead of a Dharma Talk, we will have a community ceremony honoring those who have died.  Everyone attending is welcome to bring photos or objects that represent loved ones who have died to create an altar together and share in the ringing of 108 bells to honor the dead.  We will offer chanting and prayers of well being both for those who have died and for those who are grieving losses both recent and historical.

The Ceremony—which will include a guided meditation by Sarah Dōjin Emerson—will also be live-streamed. For security reasons, we do not post zoom links publicly. Please sign up to the “This Week at BZC” mailing list to receive the log in information.

You are welcome to come to all or just part of the program schedule:

08:45 AM — Doors open
09:00 AM — Zazen instruction
09:25 AM — Han (wooden board calling people to meditation)
09:40 AM — Zazen (seated meditation)
10:10 AM — Kinhin (walking meditation)
10:20 AM — Zazen
10:50 AM — Service (ceremonial chanting, bowing and incense offering)
11:20 AM — Remembrance Ceremony
12:20 PM — Soji (temple cleaning practice) and book signing
12:40 PM — Tea (informal tea time)

 


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Donations

We depend on the generosity of our community to continue our work. You can donate to BZC here or via Paypal at paypal@brooklynzen.org. If you’d like to support a specific dharma teacher or practice leader, you can do so here.

 

COVID Protocol

We ask that all participants be fully vaccinated and boosted. Masks are optional. Please see the BZC Covid Protocol for more information.

 

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. 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.

 


 

Instructors

Charlie Korin Pokorny (he/they) grew up in Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. Charlie received a masters in religious studies, focusing on Zen, from Stanford in 1994. He has been teaching graduate courses at the Institute of Buddhist Studies since 2011, including classes on Buddhist thought, history and practice, with a focus on traditions of East Asia and especially Zen. Charlie 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. Together with his wife, Sarah Dōjin Emerson, they served as head priests at Stone Creek Zen Center 2014-2022. They were then invited to become teachers at the Brooklyn Zen Center and moved with their children to Brooklyn in 2022.

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.

Fee
Free
Questions?
info@brooklynzen.org
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.
Saturday Morning Program: Remembrance Ceremony
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