Dharma Offering

Saturday Morning Program with Duncan Ryuken Williams

October 18, 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 (seated meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), service, and a special dharma talk by guest teacher, Duncan Ryuken Williams at 11:20 AM ET.

Rev. Williams, author of American Sutra and scholar of Buddhism in America, will be in New York as part of The Ireichō: Book of Names tour—a pilgrimage project honoring those incarcerated in America’s WWII concentration camps. Learn more about the tour at ireizo.org/tour.

The dharma talk will also be live-streamed. For security reasons, we do not post zoom links publicly. Please sign up to “This Week at BZC” to receive the log in information.

 

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

09:00 AM — Doors open
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 — Dharma talk with Duncan Ryuken Williams
12:20 PM — Soji (temple cleaning practice)
12:40 PM — Tea (informal tea time)

Instructor

Duncan Ryuken Williams is currently the Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. Previously, he held the Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, served as the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D., and received Dharma transmission in 2024 at Kotakuji Temple in Nagano, Japan. Williams’ latest book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (Harvard University Press) is the winner of the 2022 Grawemeyer Religion Award and a LA Times bestseller. Williams is also the author of The Other Side of Zen (Princeton) and editor of seven volumes including Hapa Japan (Kaya), Issei Buddhism in the Americas (Illinois), American Buddhism (Routledge), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard). He serves on the boards of the Yonex Corporation, a Japanese sports equipment company, as well as the Irei Project, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Asian Pacific American Religion Research Initiative. He has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post and served as a consultant for TV shows such as AMC’s “The Terror: Infamy”, Amazon’s “The Man in the High Castle”, and FX’s “Shogun”.

 


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.

 


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Donations

BZC relies on donations to sustain its spaces, teachers, and staff. Make a gift on our website, via PayPal through paypal@brooklynzen.org or Venmo. You can also support a dharma teacher or practice leader here. Or, consider becoming a Member to support us year-round!

 


COVID Protocol

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


 

Instructor

Duncan Ryuken Williams is currently the Alton Brooks Professor of Religion and the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California. Previously, he held the Ito Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at UC Berkeley and served as the Director of Berkeley’s Center for Japanese Studies. He has also been ordained since 1993 as a Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, served as the Buddhist chaplain at Harvard University where he received his Ph.D., and received Dharma transmission in 2024 at Kotakuji Temple in Nagano, Japan. Williams’ latest book, American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War (Harvard University Press) is the winner of the 2022 Grawemeyer Religion Award and a LA Times bestseller. Williams is also the author of The Other Side of Zen (Princeton) and editor of seven volumes including Hapa Japan (Kaya), Issei Buddhism in the Americas (Illinois), American Buddhism (Routledge), and Buddhism and Ecology (Harvard). He serves on the boards of the Yonex Corporation, a Japanese sports equipment company, as well as the Irei Project, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Asian Pacific American Religion Research Initiative. He has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post and served as a consultant for TV shows such as AMC’s “The Terror: Infamy”, Amazon’s “The Man in the High Castle”, and FX’s “Shogun”.

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 with Duncan Ryuken Williams
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