Dharma Drink: the hangout for Buddhists (& like minded)

Dear Dharma Drink friends,

Join us as we head to the Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn to sit in Zazen on a Sunday morning.

Each Sunday from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, the temple offers a program that includes liturgy, zazen (Zen meditation), and a talk by a teacher or a senior student. The Sunday morning program will introduce you to the practice of Zen. Those joining this meditation for the first time will receive beginning instruction in zazen.

Meetup details:
Date: 6/15/2025 (Sunday)
Time: 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Fire Lotus Temple (500 State Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217)

Note: Please arrive no later than 9:15 am. The meditation bell will ring sharp at 9:25 am and Zazen will begin. In order to not disturb those who are in Zazen, please make sure you arrive no later than 9:15 am. You are encouraged to arrive as early as 8:30 am to the temple.

From the Temple’s website:
“What to expect at the Sunday morning program?

All first-time attendees are welcome and encouraged to attend as participants in every aspect of the morning. Part of the power of experiencing practice and training at the Temple is in being open to not knowing, being a beginner, learning through observation, and trusting your own experience.

We’re often asked why we don’t explain more, or why we don’t have a little booklet or brochure that breaks down all the details of the form. To experience Zen training is to experience your own mind—in all of its particularity and vastness. Leaving room for you to have your own experience—and all of the questions that may arise from it—is a key part of how we train at the Temple and how practitioners have trained in Zen monasteries for centuries.

That said, we realize that a person’s capacity to feel safe and open to new experiences is shaped by their life experiences, their social identities (race, class, gender, gender identity, physical ability and so on), and other influences. To that end, we’d like to give you some sense of what to expect when you come to the Temple for the Sunday Morning program. You are welcome to contact us with any questions.

The morning program begins when the main bell begins to sound outside the meditation hall, at 9:25, to let the sangha, or community, know that service is about to begin. You are welcome to arrive before then to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea, or to help us with caretaking (silent work practice) to prepare for the morning program.

If you have a coat or bag, we encourage you to leave it in the coat room on the second floor. Before entering the zendo, or meditation hall, leave your shoes on the shoe rack. If you have mobility issues or difficulty standing for long periods of time, you’re welcome to use a chair. Students serve as monitors in the front and back of the zendo and are there to assist you.

After the chanting service, those who are joining us for the first time proceed upstairs to the Buddha Hall, a smaller meditation hall, to receive beginning instruction in zazen from a senior student.
After that, newcomers join the rest of the sangha in the zendo for another period of zazen, followed by kinhin, or walking meditation, and then one of the teachers or senior students offers a talk. We ask that everyone sit in a formal zazen posture during the talk—seated on the floor cross-legged or kneeling, or sitting in a chair.

Following the talk, we head upstairs for conversation and refreshments. This is a good time to connect with the teachers, monastics, residents and formal training students to ask questions or find out more about the Temple’s programs.”

Hope you will join us.

Dear Dharma Drink friends,
Join us on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park for a day of healing, connection, and celebration. This unique experience blends yoga, meditation, live music, and spiritual conversations, bringing together seekers, artists, and thought leaders for an unforgettable journey of self-discovery and community.

This is a whole-day event. You can leave anytime you want.

Meetup details:
Date: 6/21/2025 (Saturday)
Time: 9:00 am (come early!) - 5:30 pm
Location: Rumsey Playfield, Central Park (5th Ave and 69th Street)

Meet 9-9:15am: Corner of 5th Ave & 69th St so we can practice together.

Let's embark on another Dharma exploration and discuss The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (Zen/Chan foundational text) We will take our time to discuss this book and meet once every two to three weeks.

We're actually using two different books but covering the same sections of the sutra and their commentary.
Book 1 is by late Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (Bk1-VMHH)
Book 2 is by Red Pine (Bk2-RdPn)

READING:
- Bk1-VMHH Finish Chapter 1
- Bk2-RdPn through Section 12
Readings may change a bit...

DESCRIPTION
Master Hui Neng of Tang Dynasty China (7th century) expounded the doctrine of no-thought and sudden enlightenment through meditation. This book covers such topics as ignorance and enlightenment, different levels of consciousness and ultimate reality.

Hui Neng was the sixth Buddhist patriarch in China. He was a successor in the line of Bodhidharma, the first Chinese patriarch and 28th Indian patriarch from Shakyamuni Buddha.

The commentary in the book was provided by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, a former instructor at Nan Hua Monastery near Canton, China, the Bodhimanda of the Sixth Patriarch.

WHERE TO GET THE BK1-VMHH (Venerable Master Hsuan Hua):

Dear Dharma Drink friends,

Some of you might nostalgically remember the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room that used to exist in the Rubin Museum of Art. And as many of you know, the Rubin Museum closed last October after 20 years of being opened to the public. While the museum space is closed, Rubin Museum management made sure that they would find a home for the rich Tibetan Buddhist Shrine room that existed in the Rubin. And they did. The Shrine room is now transferred and located in the Brooklyn Museum. So let us go visit that, maybe explore other parts of the Brooklyn Museum, and go for early dinner after the visit.

Meetup details:

Date: 6/22/2025 (Sunday)
Museum Time: 3 pm to 5 pm (Brooklyn Museum)
Dinner Time: 5:30 pm to 7 pm (Dao Palate)

Museum Location: Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn)
Dinner Location: Dao Palate (329 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn)

“A lamplit sanctuary amid the bustle of Brooklyn—and a refuge in uncertain times—the Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room is a place to learn, reflect, and seek inspiration. The installation presents more than 100 artworks and ritual objects as they would be displayed in an elaborate household shrine, where devotees make offerings, pray, and meditate. Scroll paintings (thangkas), sculptures, furniture, and musical instruments dating from the 12th to 20th century are carefully arranged according to Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Chanted prayers by monks and nuns reflect the ritual practices and remind visitors that Buddhist rituals engage all the senses.

More than one million people experienced the Shrine Room when it was exhibited in its original location, the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in Manhattan, from 2013 to 2024. To ensure New York City residents and visitors can continue to enjoy this space, it has been given a new home at the Brooklyn Museum. The immersive installation will welcome guests within the Arts of Asia galleries for six years. A virtual exploration of the Shrine Room will allow visitors worldwide to enjoy this evocative sanctuary from home.”

See you all there!