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.

  • Thinking – Nonthinking

    Valerie ForstmanApril 20, 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 One of the most common questions around the practice of silent sitting is what to do with the many thoughts that come up. A famous exchange between the 9th century Chan master, Yaoshan, and a monk speaks to this: The monk asks, "What are you thinking of, sitting there so fixedly?" Yaoshan responds,...

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  • Dharmatalk: Introduction to Meditation Retreat: Invitation to Trust (Part 1 of 2)

    MC PodcastApril 19, 20222 min read

    "When you sit, the whole world is sitting... We really don't have to do anything, just show up". Description: The invitation of Zen practice is to sit with the world, just as it is - keenly critical now, during challenging and distressing world events. At the same time, this practice is larger than any circumstances. Valerie encourages us to entrust ourself to this practice and to the silence which has the capacity to be thoroughly...

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  • Zen Jhanas – Dharma Talk with Stephen Snyder

    MCZCApril 17, 20221 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 one of the roots in Zen lineage. Stephen offers an introduction: what is Jhana practice? How are the lineages entwined?  Featured photo by Mark Paul Petrick Recorded in our virtual zendo on April 7, 2022. Photo by vaazdev on Pixabay.

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  • Gratitude

    Valerie ForstmanApril 14, 20222 min read

    Continuous practice, day after day, is the most appropriate way of expressing gratitude ~ Eihei Dogen With regular practice, meditation is known to calm our nervous systems, enhance present moment awareness, and make us more available to lived experience, the reality of our lives. In time, we become less reactive, more responsive; less quick to judge and more open to not-knowing; less caught up in the scaffolding of who we think we are, the construct...

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  • Message from Henry: Cowpat

    Henry ShukmanApril 13, 20221 min read

    Walking up a steep hillside meadow in Warwickshire. Cows grazing near the beech wood on the other side of the field. In front of me, half of a cowpat  has an oily blue metallic sheen on it. The other half is dull brown. As I step closer, the oily sheen breaks into hundreds of points that lift off and buzz away in sudden little cloud, revealing the same dull brown beneath them. They were flies...

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  • Dharmatalk: Winter Solstice Retreat: Bright Light (Part 4 of 4)

    MC PodcastApril 12, 20222 min read

    Description:  Valerie and Henry explore Unmon's Bright Light, Case 84 from the Blue Cliff Record in this final talk from our 2020 winter solstice retreat. Valerie opens with the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurring during this retreat, as a way to describe Zen practice. “Cutting the two into one... Light and darkness are one... your own great conjunction." Valerie asks "what is your own bright light?" Henry concludes with "ordinary mind is the...

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  • The Eightfold Path: Dharma Talk with Bill Bruce (video)

    MCZCApril 9, 20221 min read

    A more beautiful world our heart knows is possible. Bill Bruce is a long term Zen practitioner and sangha member. Bill opens his dharma talks with a simple story from author Charles Eisenstein about how we all need to work together to change the course of our world. Bill then takes us back to basics and gives a teisho about the first four steps on the Noble Eightfold Path. Bill draws on Thich Nhat Hanh's...

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  • Lotus Blossoms in a World at War: Dharma Talk with Valerie Forstman (video)

    MCZCApril 8, 20221 min read

    Four weeks into the invasion of Ukraine, Valerie takes up case 21 of the Blue Cliff Record, “Chimon’s Lotus,” alongside the poem, “Peace,” by the German SanboZen master, Silvia Ostertag. Chimon’s surprising answer in the case becomes an invitation to taste the peace that pervades all boundaries and to offer our sitting for the peace of the whole world. Photo by Irakli Kvaratskhelia on Unsplash Recorded in our virtual zendo on March 24, 2022. Photo by Irakli Kvaratskhelia on Unsplash...

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  • Practice as Pilgrimage

    Valerie ForstmanApril 7, 20222 min read

    The Way is never apart from you, right where you are. Why should we wander here and there to practice? Eihei Dogen Zen has deep roots in the practice of pilgrimage. From the teachings of the Buddha to the ancient tradition of monks “wandering with the wind” to meet masters and deepen their insight, pilgrimage is a way of engaging, exploring, and embodying who we truly are – the native ground that Yamada Koun Roshi...

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  • Message from Henry Suffering and Awakening

    MCZCApril 6, 20221 min read

    The “conventional” perspective of practice might be that suffering is our problem, and practice can diminish it, and perhaps awakening can abolish it. But from the awakened perspective, suffering is seen differently. From there it looks more like it was a seed, a potential that can germinate, something that can grow and become marvelous. Or else we might say that suffering was a mulch that fertilized the seed, and helped it germinate, so it could...

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  • Dharmatalk: Winter Solstice Retreat: Beginner’s Mind (Part 3 of 4)

    MC PodcastApril 5, 20221 min read

    "... The knot of self has become untied ..." Description:  Henry returns to the basics of practice in this third talk from the 2022 winter solstice retreat picking up on Valerie's theme of trees and photosynthesis. "Pick up your Practice with a lot of hope. Know that your sitting is doing the photosynthesis of the world. Allowing the human to be." Henry quotes from William Shakespeare, physicist David Bohm, writer David Hinton and Bodhidharma "when...

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  • This Blue Sky: Zazenkai and Q&A with Valerie Forstman (videos)

    MCZCApril 2, 20221 min read

    In this talk from our Women in Zen Zazenkai series, Valerie looks into the life and work of Chiyo-ni, the first renowned woman haiku master, reading these evocative verses alongside a recent quote from a Ukrainian mother: “If you can go outside and look at the blue sky, you should do it.” The beauty of nature and clarity of awakening intermingle in a world that is at once heart-breaking and broken all the way open....

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  • Q&A with Henry Shukman and Valerie Forstman (video)

    MCZCApril 1, 20221 min read

    In light of many questions coming in, Henry and Valerie have decided to dedicate this Thursday evening event to answer questions the sangha may have. More Q&A sessions will follow in the coming months. Stay tuned. Here is the first session recorded live on March 10, 2022. Featured photo by Mark Paul Petrick Recorded in our virtual zendo on March 10, 2022. Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

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  • Substance of Practice

    Valerie ForstmanMarch 31, 20222 min read

    Under the shadowless tree all people are in one boat. from Case 18, Blue Cliff Record; case 85, Book of Serenity When National Teacher Nanyang is about to die, his devoted student, Emperor Daizong, asks how to honor him in the years to come. Nanyang responds, “Build a seamless tomb for this old monk.” The emperor has the means to build a magnificent monument. He asks his teacher for a design. The case says, “The...

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