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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  • Message from Henry: Momentum

    Henry ShukmanNovember 9, 20221 min read

    Notice the feeling of momentum that pushes and pulls you through your day, your week, your year. You can sense this pull in the body, perhaps in the chest or solar plexus. Can you be aware of that pull and let it be?  Being aware of this energy from a slightly more spacious place, you can learn to hold it with peripheral vision.  You become more aware of the sounds, scents and sights around you. The...

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  • Dharmatalk: Each is All, All is One with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastNovember 8, 20221 min read

    Upon being welcomed home from Germany, Valerie describes briefly what it's like being thrown immediately into the chaotic activity of moving from her home in Dallas to Santa Fe: "Constant activity... we are moving, all this activity and at the same time, so still." While taking a walk with co-teacher John Gaynor in Sonnenhoff, John offers Valerie this rather cerebral quote from Master Ummon, "The manifestation of the great function, knows no laws." The great function,...

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  • Meditative Story Podcasts

    MCZCNovember 5, 20223 min read

    A conversation and reading with Henry Shukman and Meditative Story host Rohan Gunatillake Meditative Story is a first-of-its-kind podcast listening experience that combines the emotional pull of immersive storytelling with the immediate, science-backed benefits of mindfulness practice. Meditative Story is a WaitWhat original series — created by the team who built and led TED’s media organization, and supported by its members. The Format Invention of the Meditative StoryIn each episode of Meditative Story, a different storyteller uses...

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  • Message from Henry: Origins of Mindfulness

    Henry ShukmanNovember 2, 20223 min read

    Mindfulness meditation comes directly out of Buddhism. Meditation, prior to Buddhism, was about connecting with something super-human or divine.  Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, immersive meditation practice allowed him to understand the origins of suffering and the way to end suffering. In the process, he completely bypassed the supernatural. Siddhartha went through a profound shift that gave him profound insight into human mental health and offered liberation from suffering.  He came up with three key components… Understand how...

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  • Dharmatalk: Coming Home, I am Already That with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastNovember 1, 20221 min read

    In this talk – an offering of gratitude for the life of a beloved sangha member, Valerie turns to Case 41 in the Transmission of Light or Denkoroko. A monk who has put to rest love of worldly attachments asks, “What, master, do you love?” The master’s response is an invitation to us to realize love beyond any measure. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Thursday Evening...

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  • Message from Henry: Mindfulness and Self-Regulation

    Henry ShukmanOctober 26, 20222 min read

    All spiritual traditions, in one way or another, seek ways to calm the heart and mind, usually by seeking a supernatural power. Mindfulness, coming from the Buddhist tradition, did away with the supernatural savior. Mindfulness meditation is completely human. We use our own human capacity to become aware of each moment.    Perhaps we feel overwhelmed by inner turbulence, we struggle trying to change it or make it go away. But that doesn’t work. With mindfulness...

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  • Dharmatalk: The World Honored One, Just Sat Still with Scott Thornton

    MC PodcastOctober 25, 20221 min read

    Scott explores Case 32 from the Gateless Gate, A non-buddhist questions the Buddha. The non-buddhist says, in all earnestness to the Buddha: I do not ask about words, I do not ask about no-words. The world honored one, just sat still. The non-buddhist experiences a great opening as he witnesses the Buddha’s stillness and says, The world-honored one on his great benevolence and great mercy has opened the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter...

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  • Coming Home – I am Already That

    MCZCOctober 23, 20221 min read

    In this talk – an offering of gratitude for the life of a beloved sangha member, Valerie turns to Case 41 in the Transmission of Light or Denkoroko. A monk who has put to rest love of worldly attachments asks, “What, master, do you love?” The master’s response is an invitation to us to realize love beyond any measure. https://youtu.be/oiUaRTCXW4A Photo by Mark Paul Petrick

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  • Message from Henry: Honoring Intentions

    Henry ShukmanOctober 19, 20222 min read

    I want to respect and honor the different intentions many of us have for our practice. Sure, for some it may be about full-on enlightenment. For others, a bit of that maybe, on the side, or later, for dessert as it were, but for now the main course we're after is calming this nervous system dwn, and tasting some inner quiet. But probably hardly any of us would not say we hope for some peace, some...

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  • Dharmatalk: Endless Depth of Field with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastOctober 18, 20221 min read

    In this talk from our Thursday night series, Valerie takes up Case 26 of the Gateless Gate, Hogen’s “Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds.” The setting is in Master Hogen’s teaching room and the issue at hand is our propensity to judgment. What freedom is unleashed when the boundaries we imagine don’t hold up? And what compassion. Hogen points to the blinds, presenting the bright clarity that has been there all along. And, here's a link...

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  • The World Honored One Just Sat Still, Scott Thornton

    MCZCOctober 16, 20221 min read

    Scott explores Case 32 from the Gateless Gate, A non-buddhist questions the Buddha. The non-buddhist says, in all earnestness to the Buddha: I do not ask about words, I do not ask about no-words. The world honored one, just sat still. The non-buddhist experiences a great opening as he witnesses the Buddha’s stillness and says, The world-honored one on his great benevolence and great mercy has opened the clouds of my delusion and enabled me...

    Watch the video
  • Endless Depth of Field, Valerie Forstman

    MCZCOctober 16, 20221 min read

    Gain and Loss in a World with no Boundaries In this talk from our Thursday night series, Valerie Forstman takes up Case 26 of the Gateless Gate or Mumonkan, Hogen’s “Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds.” The setting is in Master Hogen’s teaching room and the issue at hand is our propensity to judgment. What freedom is unleashed when the boundaries we imagine don’t hold up? And what compassion. Hogen points to the blinds, presenting the...

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  • Message from Henry: Original Nature

    Henry ShukmanOctober 12, 20221 min read

    This practice we're doing is ancient. But what it's really about at its heart is not ancient. It’s right here. Right now. Always. It's something that we don't seem to normally recognize. Yet, it’s real, even the most real thing we’ll ever have or know. But it's actually not a thing. It's not like all other things we can know. But nor is it nothing! The old traditions of wisdom and meditation have all known about it. Zen...

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  • Dharmatalk: An Offering to the World with Shana Smith

    MC PodcastOctober 11, 20222 min read

    "Your sitting is not for the world, it is the world." How can our practice be an offering to the world? asks meditation teacher Shana Smith. The question arose from the Florida Sanbo Zen Sangha as response to Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Like all koans this question lived on in the weeks to follow. A number of koans came to mind as Shana thought about giving a talk to the MCZC community that addressed...

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