Teachings

  • Message from Valerie: An Invitation to Serve

    Valerie ForstmanJanuary 25, 20232 min read

    Mountain Cloud sangha members are currently coming together once each month to prepare and serve a delicious meal at the Interfaith Shelter, known as Pete’s Place, here in Santa Fe. For members interested in further engagement with vulnerable segments of our community, we have an opportunity to serve with fellow practitioners in Upaya’s Street Ministry project.  Upaya’s Street Ministry focuses on supporting member’s of Santa Fe’s community who are experiencing homelessness. Volunteers in the Street Ministry not only...

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  • Rohatsu 2022: Day 1, Light Sitting in Light with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastJanuary 3, 20231 min read

    In this talk from the first day of the Rohatsu sesshin, 2022, Valerie offers a tribute to Sr. Elaine MacInnes, Roshi, who died a week ago and whose celebration of life will be December 8. Drawing on the experience Sr. Elaine described as “light sitting in light,” Valerie turns to the koan, Mu – a tiny spark that can ignite an inexhaustible flame, opening our eyes to a world of boundless clarity and infinite love. And,...

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  • Rohatsu 2: What Matters Most? Henry Shukman (Video)

    MCZCJanuary 2, 20231 min read

    Henry asks the question, what matters most? When you reflect on this question, having an open mind is important, seeing beyond ordinary or day to day concerns. Henry asks, what is this experience and what is it to be alive? And... who is having this experience? Watch this exploration of what actually matters and why. https://youtu.be/RQPGTw78aS8

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  • Rohatsu 1: Light Sitting in Light, Valerie Forstman (Video)

    MCZCJanuary 2, 20231 min read

    Light Sitting in Light: the tiny spark of Mu In this talk from the first day of the Rohatsu sesshin, 2022, Valerie offers a tribute to Sr. Elaine MacInnes, Roshi, who died a week ago and whose celebration of life was December 8. Drawing on the experience Sr. Elaine described as “light sitting in light,” Valerie turns to the koan, Mu – a tiny spark that can ignite an inexhaustible flame, opening our eyes to a...

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  • Message from Henry: Koan Exchange

    Henry ShukmanDecember 21, 20221 min read

    If I truly talked about Zen, then there wouldn’t be a single companion at your side. ~ Kyozan Koans are not riddles. They are not talking points for discussion. They are not devices to be used for psychodrama. Nor are they checklists to be knocked off in some deluded idea of progress. They are opportunities to change the way we experience our very lives. They grant us the chance to change our experience from something shallow, two-dimensional, paper-dry,...

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  • Message from Henry: The Great Space

    Henry ShukmanDecember 14, 20222 min read

    At its best Zen leads us out of the hell of self-obsession, by showing us that what we took to be the seat of our self was a chimera, a mirage. At its less than best, it devolves into mindless rote, a home for control freaks, for OCD sufferers who’d prefer not to have a diagnosis. Or it devolves into a mish-mash of pop psychology, self-help, and New Age catchphrases. Or it devolves away from...

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  • Dharmatalk: Zen Jhanas with Stephen Snyder

    MC PodcastDecember 13, 20222 min read

    Guest speaker Stephen Snyder of the Jhana tradition visits Mountain Cloud and offers a teisho on the Buddha’s first and last practice. Jhana practice predates the Buddha by at least 1000 years and is the origin of our Sanbo Zen lineage. Stephen offers an introduction: what is Jhana practice? How are the lineages entwined? And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Thursday Evening EventsDecember 22,  Thursday evening hybrid...

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  • Dharmatalk: Life is Not Suffering with Rick Hanson

    MC PodcastDecember 8, 20221 min read

    It is said that the Buddha teaches only suffering and its end, but what is suffering? Guest speaker Rick Hanson attempts to define this suffering, challenging that suffering is only a small part of everything that exists. Understanding this can help break the pattern of seeing meditation and mindfulness practices as a solution to suffering, rather than a practice worth immersing yourself in. While there is suffering in this world, this world is not all...

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  • Message from Henry: Whole Ox Zen

    Henry ShukmanNovember 30, 20221 min read

    The intention of Zen is not to rescue us from life but to bring us into the midst of our human experience. The closer we get to life, to our core humanity, the closer we get to Manjusri’s great sword. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form: this is no recipe for withdrawal, but rather for total immersion. That’s why in the last three or four ox-herding pictures, that long-sought ox has vanished altogether. He’s not...

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  • Dharmatalk: Towards Healing with Peggy Sheehan

    MC PodcastNovember 29, 20221 min read

    "We don't study koans, we use koans to investigate our life." ~ Maezumi Roshi Guest teacher Peggy Sheehan from Zen Center Denver says that koans have been a life long practice, for her. In this talk she explores Case 3 from the Gateless Gate, Gutei's Finger. Peggy's work as a pediatrician informs her interest in this koan. Babies become interested in their finger from a young age; first simply pointing upward then, then pointing at things...

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  • Message from Henry: Languages

    Henry ShukmanNovember 23, 20221 min read

    We are opening up the possibility of life without language. When language drops away, so does self. Then we find that there are other languages in which things speak. Breath speaks the language of breath. The heater speaks its language. Wind speaks its own language, sight speaks the language of seeing. And so on. So many languages, so many worlds. As Dogen said, “When you sail out in a boat to the middle of an ocean...

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  • Complete Exposure of the Golden Wind: Teshin Matt Sweger

    MCZCNovember 16, 20221 min read

    On this first day of Fall, Teshin takes up case 27 of the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon’s Complete Exposure. The Case reads as follows: A monk asked Unmon, "What is it when the tree withers and the leaves fall?" Unmon answered, "Complete exposure of the golden wind”. https://youtu.be/zWSueaxBwJI Teshin Matt Sweger is the resident teacher at the North Carolina Zen Center. He began his Zen practice in 1993 at the Rochester Zen Center in...

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  • Message from Henry: Mindful Presence

    Henry ShukmanNovember 16, 20223 min read

    Why mindfulness?  Why does it matter?  Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh  framed Buddhist concepts in relevant ways that illuminate questions about mindfulness and presence. Thich Nhat Hanh had three main teachings…. The first is developing the capacity to be aware of the here and now.  This is a mindfulness that has the power to deactivate the harmful impulses we carry toward ourselves and others.  He encouraged his students to expressly love themselves, to speak to...

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  • Dharmatalk: Complete Exposure of the Golden Wind with Matt Sweger

    MC PodcastNovember 15, 20221 min read

    On this first day of Fall, Teshin takes up case 27 of the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon’s Complete Exposure. The Case reads as follows: A monk asked Unmon, "What is it when the tree withers and the leaves fall?" Unmon answered, "Complete exposure of the golden wind”. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Thursday Evening EventsNovember 23, Thanksgiving Day, no eventDecember 1, Maria Habito guest speaker, online...

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  • Amoda Maa with Henry Shukman

    MCZCNovember 13, 20222 min read

    Two Different Paths, One Awakening In this episode, Amoda Maa is in conversation with Zen teacher Henry Shukman. The conversation is facilitated by Kavi who asks questions about the profound awakening experienced by both of these teachers, Henry within the path of Zen and Amoda without any tradition or teacher. Were these experiences the same or different? And what impact did these experiences have on how life was lived since that time? These questions and more...

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