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.

  • Dharmatalk: Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Stop & See Q&A (Part 2 of 6)

    MC PodcastJune 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,

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  • Eight-Fold Path, Part 2: Bill Bruce (Video)

    MCZCJune 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. 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)

    MCZCJune 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)

    MC PodcastJune 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,

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  • Towards Healing, Peggy Sheehan (Video)

    MCZCJune 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...

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  • Message from Henry

    Henry ShukmanJune 8, 20222 min read

    Psychological / Spiritual Healing and Original Love The analogy with physiological healing is fair enough. The psyche reestablishes balance, homeostasis, centeredness, and is less pulled out of balance by emotional reactivity. Episodes of strong negative emotion start to diminish in frequency, intensity and duration (F.I.D.), the center becomes a more common place to reside in. But where the analogy breaks down is that psychological healing may not be so much about eradicating wounds as becoming...

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  • Dharmatalk: Nansen Kills the Cat

    MC PodcastJune 7, 20221 min read

    "... Does Nansen really kill the cat? ..." Description:  Maria Reis Habito gives a teisho on Case 14 from the Gateless Gate, Nansen Kills the Cat. And,

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  • An Offering to the World (Video)

    MCZCJune 5, 20221 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 how...

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  • The Freight of Love (Video)

    MCZCJune 5, 20221 min read

    In this talk from our May Zazenkai, Valerie begins with a poem by Emily Dickenson, That Love is all there is. The talk goes on to explore the life and teaching of Kongshi Daoren, an early 12th c. Chinese woman known for her poetry, writing, and bathhouse teaching. And known for her love. Kongshi’s lifelong calling is to be a nun. Again and again, family and society – filial duty – deny that dream. When...

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  • Dharmatalk: Meet your Life

    MC PodcastMay 31, 20221 min read

    Description: Natalie Goldberg gives an inspiring talk about Zen in action. She describes some of her background experiences in both Zen and writing and how they interact and nourish each other. She talks about taking up writing as her practice, encouraged by her teacher Katagiri Roshi. Natalie reveals three guiding formations from her years with Katagiri Roshi: Continue under all circumstances - keep going. Don't be tossed away. Know what you need and know who...

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  • Dharmatalk: Dosho Port speaks about his new book The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans

    MC PodcastMay 24, 20221 min read

    Description: Dosho Port teaches with the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training and at the Nebraska Zen Center in Omaha, and he has been practicing Zen since 1977. The Record of Empty Hall is his new translation and commentary on a classic collection of koans by Xutang Zhiyu (1185-1269), an important figure in Ch’an/Zen Buddhism. Port illuminates these remarkable koans and their place in contemporary Zen practice, opening new paths into the multiplicity...

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  • Why do we Sit?

    Scott ThorntonMay 24, 20221 min read

    We sit to regulate our system from the nearly constant mental/emotional/judging activity that directly activates our physiological fight/flight response.   We sit to practice being with all our internal machinations without reacting to or acting on them so much.  We sit to find equilibrium, to reset, and to act more skillfully and kindly.  We sit to practice being alive and aware, here and now.  We sit, not to attain our Buddha Nature, but to express...

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  • Message from Henry: Vast

    Henry ShukmanMay 18, 20221 min read

    -- Wherever I turn, it’s always with me. -- What? -- The enormity, the vastness.  Except, not exactly vast. It's a great hollow, a chasm, an openness, a great space so vast no light can illuminate it. Or even touch it. Message from Henry is from our May 16, 2022 newsletter.

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  • Summer Sesshin with Henry and Valerie: In-Person Application

    MCZCMay 17, 20222 min read

    Summer 2022 Retreat: On-site Attendance Application Our Summer 2022 retreat will be a hybrid event streamed live from Mountain Cloud Zen Center. Most attendees will attend virtually but there is space for about 25 people to attend the retreat onsite in our zendo. If you are interested in attending on-site we have limited lodging, camping and van spots, sorry no RV hook-ups. We will also allow selected commuters as space allows. On-Site Attendance Pricing Sesshin...

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