Teachings
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Dharmatalk: Love In Present Moment Experience – Original Love One (1 of 4)
April 13, 20211 min read
"... Love that ... manifests as a deep inner journey into who we really are..." Description: Henry Shukman opens this first talk in our Original Love Retreat by looking at the word Love, one of the most loaded, variously understood and widely used word in the English language. Henry explores a facet of Love that is less about relational love and manifests as a deep inner journey into who we really are. Henry describes this journey...
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Why Koans? Talk Four, Henry Shukman
April 11, 20211 min read
Koans are targeting my sense of me. Aiming directly at the heart of who I think I am. In this fourth and final talk from the Why Koans? retreat, Henry delves more deeply into the meaning and use of koans. He returns to Roso Facing the Wall, talks about the two primary Zen schools, Rinzai and Soto, explaining where Sanbo Zen fits in, and he embraces the grace of simplicity, of simply sitting . Henry says... "A...
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Why Koans? Talk Three, Henry Shukman
April 9, 20211 min read
Each moment of our life is like the koan. We study this piece of life; in the controlled setting we can see more of what it really is. When we let go of all our assumptions and preconceptions we find this piece is much more than we could every have imagined. In this third talk of our Why Koans? March retreat, Henry explores on the benefits of koan study and focuses on Roso Faces the Wall...
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Dharmatalk: Practice-Realization
April 6, 20211 min read
"... taste the indivisible dynamism of the heart of compassion ..." "... The slightest movement is a seismic gesture; the whole earth shaken to the farthest regions ..." Description: In this talk given during the Spring 2020 sesshin at Mountain Cloud, Valerie Forstman delves into Case 54 of the Book of Equanimity. The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is said to have a thousand hands and eyes. When one monk asks another what all these hands and eyes are for, the...
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Why Koans? Talk Two, Henry Shukman
April 4, 20211 min read
...it’s a matter of pointing to the human heart mind and finding that you are this great awakening. Its a matter of seeing your own heart mind, your experience of this moment now. In this second talk from the Why Koans? retreat Henry continues exploring the path of gradual awakening (Mindfulness training) and the path of koan training (sudden awakening). The four foundations of mindfulness are the very foundation of meditation practice. Through this practice, we...
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Why Koans? Talk One, Henry Shukman
April 2, 20211 min read
The sudden awakening sees all distinctions as a partial view - then suddenly a different view shows itself... the gradual way expands the circle of us and them and the sudden path sees that there never was us and them. Watch the first talk from our March Why Koans? retreat, led by Henry Shukman. Henry describes the two paths to awakening, the gradual and the sudden, but focuses on the benefits of the gradual path in this...
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Dharmatalk: Loving Awakening
March 30, 20211 min read
"... clinging to identification with the self ... the sense organs ..." "... Words cannot touch it. No words cannot touch it ..." Description: In this talk given during the 2020 Spring sesshin at Mountain Cloud, we examine the 12 links of dependent origination, which we find held together by our constant clinging to identification with the self. The Heart Sutra, in negating the five skandhas, the sense organs, objects of sensation, and so on, emphatically tells us...
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Video – Dawning of the New Moon: Beginner’s Mind, Valerie Forstman
March 27, 20211 min read
Valerie examines beginner's mind and explores the question"what is Zen?" during our March one-day Introduction to Meditation retreat. Suzuki Roshi - a Japanese Zen master who brought Zen teaching to America in the mid 20th century - said: Beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. As Zen practitioners we turn this compassion toward ourselves. Valerie describes the four motivations that bring people to Zen meditation. 1. Curiosity 2. Seeking well-being 3. Wanting to develop a practice or commit to a spiritual...
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Dharmatalk: Gathering of the Heart
March 23, 20211 min read
"... Joshu is still sitting. I can’t but sit ..." Description: In this talk given on the second day of the Spring 2020 sesshin at Mountain Cloud, Valerie takes up the koan, Joshu's Dog. If we earnestly sit with Mu, whether our practice calls us to roar it from the rooftops or exhale it gently like snow falling, we begin to allow the koan that Dogen called a "sun with stone-melting power" to melt away the crust...
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Video – Meet Your Life, Natalie Goldberg
March 21, 20211 min read
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: 1. Continue under all circumstances - keep going. 2. Don't be tossed away. Know what you need and know who you...
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