Teachings

You can find all of our weekly Dharma talks for free right here on this page, as well as on our YouTube channel and podcast. Live talks take place every Thursday from 5:30–7:00pm MT, both in-person and on Zoom (sit.mountaincloud.org — password: mountain22). Members receive access to some special archival materials.

  • Teisho: Zen’s Core

    MCZCJanuary 7, 20161 min read

    Description: In this illuminating teisho,  Henry explores the core of Zen training, using stories about Master Hyakujo and Winston Churchill, along with quotes from Muso Soseki  and Master Sheng-Yen, to elucidate Zen’s fundamental root. Post Image: Morning Dew Drops, by David Saddler, CC BY 2.0. Featured Image Credit: Zen Garden, by Rennette Stowe, CC BY 2.0.

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  • Message from Henry: Rice Cake

    MCZCJanuary 6, 20165 min read

    A monk asked Unmon: What is meant by the pronouncement "to go beyond the Buddha and ancestors"? Unmon answered: Country rice cake (kobyo).  --Hekiganroku, Case 77 Finding peace – after all, what could be better? To taste a peace beyond conditions, that pertains to all existence, eternal, infinite, filling the universe, and to discover that we ourselves are not separate from it – what balm for the human heart. A degree of belovedness, ease, rest,...

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  • Teisho: Importance of Courage

    MCZCJanuary 1, 20162 min read

    Description: In this eloquent teisho, Henry talks about the necessity of courage in Zen practice.  When we sit, we divest ourselves of our habitual views, which block us from seeing clearly what’s going on within. During meditation practice, a multitude of feelings and thoughts may spin through our minds. Feelings of fear, sadness, anxiety, etc. bubble up to our surface awareness. Facing these often troubling feelings, requires courage—defined as an “attitude of acceptance” toward fear.  Once...

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  • Blue Mountain

    MCZCJanuary 1, 20161 min read

    Tozan, a famous Zen master, said: "The blue mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other. The white cloud is always the white cloud. The blue mountain is always the blue mountain." Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino, used with her permission.

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  • Teisho: Case 19 Book of Equanimity, Unmon’s Mt Sumeru, Part 3 of 3

    MCZCDecember 31, 20151 min read

    Description: Henry finishes his discussion of Unmon’s Mt Sumeru. In addition to cutting through our thought streams, Unmon’s powerful short phrase teachings also “ride the waves and sail the swells.” Henry describes how Unmon’s words go along with each student, reaching directly into the student’s understanding. Henry reads from Dogen and talks about the need to fully meet life—metaphorically, both at the peak of the mountain and in the depth of the ocean. Post Image: Sunset Ride,...

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  • Message from Henry: Two Practice Tips

    MCZCDecember 29, 20153 min read

    Don’t be stingy. Our practice is a prayer for all beings: let’s be generous with it. 1. GENERAL This past week I happened to hear something several times, and I think it’s worth clarifying this point. Sometimes people ask whether, if they are doing some activity mindfully, with a deeper, clearer awareness than normal, doesn’t it “count” as meditation time. It may be work, or sport, or some other pastime. I’m sorry once again to...

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  • David R. Loy: Why We Love War

    MCZCDecember 28, 20157 min read

    ...the most important struggle is a spiritual one between ignorance and delusion, on the one side, and liberating wisdom on the other. And seeing the world primarily as a war between good and evil is one of our more dangerous delusions. War is hell, and today more than ever. Although high-tech weapons make it a videogame for some, those same weapons make it unbelievably destructive for many more. Whatever valor was once associated with hand-to-hand...

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  • When a Man is in a Boat at Sea

    MCZCDecember 25, 20151 min read

    When a man is in a boat at sea and looks back at the shoreline, it may seem to him as though the shore is moving. But when he fixes his gaze closely on the boat, he realizes it is the boat that is moving. In like manner,when a person tries to discern and affirm things with a confused notion or his body and mind, he makes the mistake of thinking his own mind, his...

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  • Teisho: Case 19 Book of Equanimity, Unmon’s Mt. Sumeru, Part 2 of 3

    MCZCDecember 24, 20151 min read

    Description: Henry continues his discussion of Unmon’s koan on Mt Sumeru. We learn more about Master Unmon, also known as Cloud Gate, founder of one of the five houses of zen. Unmon was famous for teaching with short phrases such as “Mt. Sumeru.” His phrases have the capacity to cut through our familiar thought streams, severing assumptions and conceptualizations while also covering the “whole of heaven and earth.” To illustrate this intriguing koan, Henry correlates the...

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  • Message from Henry: Saying Yes

    MCZCDecember 23, 20157 min read

    The peace we experience ever more clearly in this process of transformation is the peace of resting in our fundamental nature...It is there in our vulnerability to the suffering of others and in our “yes” to the work of transforming society. [caption id="attachment_3851" align="aligncenter" width="610"] A Syrian refugee girl looks out from behind the fence at Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border April 10, 2012.[/caption] This week we are blessed to...

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  • The Last Leaves

    MCZCDecember 21, 20151 min read

    The last leaves dance their final dance against the grey winter sky It will be Xmas in few days and the trees in the garden will soon stand bare in the December light Yet in the corner tacked behind the compost bin the first tender cherry blossoms are blooming opening their hearts to the world Trusting that deep down in the darkest days of winter all is well all is well all is well... Photos...

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  • Full Autumn Moon at Il Convento

    MCZCDecember 18, 20151 min read

    It is dark outside and the barking of a dog echoes over the sleeping village In the distance the mountain covered chestnuts are shedding their leaves There has been great bounty this year and honey and flour are abundant Above all in the clear sky the full autumn moon stares down untouched by human life   Alone I stand in the convento's courtyard my frozen breath raising to the sky I climb the stairs to...

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  • Teisho: Case 19 Book of Equanimity, Unmon’s Mt. Sumeru, Part 1 of 3

    MCZCDecember 17, 20151 min read

    Description: In this teisho, Henry begins an exploration of the compact koan, Unmon’s Mt. Sumeru: A monk asked Unmon, "Not a single thought arises: is there any fault or not?" Unmon said, "Mt. Sumeru!"   Henry probes the dangers of quietism, the hazards of self-assessment in meditation practice, and Unmon’s startling singular response, “Mt Sumeru" — which means center of the universe. We begin to learn about Unmon’s famous and powerfully effective one-word teachings. Post and Featured Image...

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  • Message from Henry: Subject and Object

    MCZCDecember 15, 20155 min read

    To reach the treasures of meditation practice and training, we all have to pass through a thicket of thorns. I used to think growing up meant becoming an adult. We spend the first nine or ten months in our mother’s womb. If we’re lucky, we spend the next seventeen years or so in the womb of an immediate family which is a supportive enough environment for us to grow and develop. Then we leave and...

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