Teachings
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Joshu’s Dog: Summer Sesshin Talk One with Valerie Forstman
July 16, 20221 min read
Koans are the intimate family history of Zen. ~ Yamada Koun Roshi In line with this retreat's theme, Intimacy with all things, What koans can teach us, Valerie offers a talk on Joshu's Dog. This root koan (the Mu koan) is traditionally offered as the opening teisho during a Zen Sesshin. A monk asked Joshu in all earnestness, "Does a dog have Buddha nature, or not?" Joshu said, "Mu." Valerie explores this barest of koans, in-exhaustible, infinitely dynamic...
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Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: The Invitation (Part 5 of 6)
July 12, 20221 min read
"Who would waste the spark from a flint stone?" - Dogen Description: Anything could be that spark. Ryoun Roshi says "koans are a message from the oneness world." They offer an invitation into our deepest curiosity. Valerie explores Case 22 of the Gateless Gate: Kashyapa's Flagpole, and Ananda's awakening. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: 30 Days of Zen, July 1-31Zazenkai - Day of Zen, Saturday July 16,...
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Message from Valerie: Choiceless Awareness
July 6, 20222 min read
When you practice just sitting and continuously give up all thoughts and views, the way becomes more and more intimate. ~ Eihei Dogen The earliest known Ch’an or Zen text, the Shinjinmei or Affirming Faith in Mind,’begins with the line, “The great Way is not difficult; it simply dislikes choosing.” The ‘great Way’ is zazen, or what Dogen called ‘practice-realization.’ It is the root practice of silent sitting - at once focused and dynamic - with its three basic...
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Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Zen’s Origin Story Q&A (Part 4 of 6)
July 5, 20221 min read
Description: This is the Question & Answer companion to Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Zen's Origin Story, Part 3. Valerie Forstman is the speaker and teacher for this session. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: 30 Days of Zen, July 1-31Q&A with Henry Shukman July 11 @ 5:00 pm – July 11 @ 7:00 pmZazenkai - Day of Zen, Saturday July 16, led by Valerie ForstmanOriginal Love,...
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Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Zen’s Origin Story (Part 3 of 6)
June 28, 20221 min read
Description: Valerie explores Zen's origin story about the flower, a smile and universal space, case six from the Gateless Gate. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: 30 Days of Zen, July 1-31Q&A with Henry Shukman July 11 @ 5:00 pm – July 11 @ 7:00 pmZazenkai - Day of Zen, Saturday July 16, led by Valerie ForstmanOriginal Love, Deep Clear Lake: 6 Sundays beginning July 31,10am – 12pm...
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The Wisdom Podcast: Radical Simplicity
June 27, 20221 min read
This episode of the Wisdom Podcast, recorded live as a Wisdom Dharma Chat, features poet, writer, and Sanbo Zen teacher Henry Shukman. Henry is Guiding Teacher at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, studying primarily with Joan Rieck Roshi, John Gaynor, Ruben Habito Roshi, and continuing his training under Yamada Ryo’un Roshi. He also trained in mindfulness practice with Shinzen Young, and has published nine books to date, including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Henry and host Daniel Aitken discuss: his path to Zen, starting...
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Message from Valerie: Stilling
June 22, 20222 min read
Zazen ... A path of love that calls us home from the very first step, the first breath, even the first distraction. There’s an old English term for what birds do when they spread their wings, catch the wind current, and glide. It’s called stilling. Birds can glide for miles without moving a muscle, their wingspan riding the stream of undulating air; lifting them, carrying them along; now and then a feather fluttering, wafted by the wind,...
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Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Stop & See Q&A (Part 2 of 6)
June 21, 20221 min read
To be able to hear the dharma is truly rare. To do so we must: Stop and see, sit still and let go. Description: This is the Question & Answer companion to Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Stop & See, Part 1. Valerie Forstman is the speaker and teacher for this session. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: 30 Days of Zen, July 1-31Q&A with Henry Shukman July 11...
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Eight-Fold Path, Part 2: Bill Bruce (Video)
June 19, 20221 min read
Senior Zen Student Bill Bruce gives the second part of his talk on the Eightfold Path. He begins with Right Livelihood which he calls a life of service. Then, the final three steps of the path - right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration - fold into a unified theme that creates balance and the middle way. https://youtu.be/FnvjQRtQsUM Watch Part 1 of Bill's Talk on the Eight-Fold Path.
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Each is All, All is One: Valerie Forstman (Video)
June 17, 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...
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Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Stop & See (Part 1 of 6)
June 14, 20221 min read
Empty, new and utterly fleeting, arriving now but already done. Description: In this first Teisho from the Encounter of the Heart Retreat, January 2021, Valerie Forstman reminds us that this practice is much bigger than any events, or any circumstances. To be able to hear the dharma is truly rare. To do so we must: Stop and see, sit still and let go. And, here's a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our...
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Towards Healing, Peggy Sheehan (Video)
June 13, 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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