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.

  • Awakening the Heart Retreat, Talk Two: Descent, Valerie Forstman

    MCZCJuly 4, 20211 min read

    Valerie explores the miscellaneous koan, In the sea of Ise, ten thousand feet down, lies a single stone. I wish to pick up that stone without wetting my hands... Valerie asks, how do we get to the bottom of this immersive silent sea which is so completely unknown? There are clues in the space of the unconditioned, in the fact of not knowing. Zen calls it true blindness, and deep stillness. How do we make...

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  • Awakening the Heart Retreat, Talk One: It’s the Curve, Henry Shukman

    MCZCJuly 3, 20211 min read

    To be kind, you must swerve regularly from the path. Henry's talk is on the miscellaneous koan: "In order to be worthy as a Zen student, I must go straight on a narrow mountain road with 99 curves." It's not the straight road that counts, it's the curves. If we aim to be calm and peaceful as practitioners, that aim is the ordinary, misguided and often mindless straight road. Whatever intervenes during practice is the...

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  • Message from Henry: Kensho

    MCZCJune 30, 20212 min read

    There are three ways we could look at it, especially at how veridical it is. Kensho is an intense experience a human being can undergo which radically adjusts their way of experiencing themselves and their environment. In particular it undercuts their allegiance to their ordinary separate sense of self. It often has lasting positive effects on psychology and personality. Kensho is the above, but also offers veridical insights into the nature of consciousness. It reveals...

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  • On-Site sits in our Zendo – Details and Schedule Here

    MCZCJune 29, 20211 min read

    Mountain Cloud's zendo is open for in person daily sits. Please read the details and schedule below. All times are Mountain Time. These sits are open to the public. Donations are always gratefully accepted. If you can, arrive about 5 minutes prior to the start of the sit. To learn about basic zendo protocols or forms, look at this page. Finally, be sure to read our COVID-19 Protocols. Monday7:00-8:00am  Meditation5:30-6:30pm  Meditation Tuesday7:00-8:00am  Meditation5:30-6:30pm  Meditation Wednesday7:00-8:00am  Meditation5:30–6:30pm  Wisdom Wednesdays:...

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  • Dharmatalk: Unknown Territory: Original Love – Support (3 of 3)

    MCZCJune 29, 20211 min read

    "... the value of going into unknown territory ..." Description: In this final talk from our Original Love 2  (Support) retreat, Henry opens by exploring the value of going into unknown territory and having our preset ideas destabilized. Henry also talks about the critical, supportive work that occurs for many Zen practitioners who don't experience kensho. It's important to "wake up, grow up and clean up." (Ken Wilbur). Henry then turns to the theme of...

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  • Guru Viking: Interview with Henry Snukman

    MCZCJune 28, 20211 min read

    Henry was recently interviewed by Steve James on the ‘The Guru Viking Podcast’ which specializes in in-depth interviews with remarkable figures in the world of spirituality and self development. In this interview Henry discusses his upbringing in Oxford, as the son of a don and a graduate of the illustrious Dragon School, and how in poetry he found the liberating aspect of literary life. Henry reveals his first awakening experience, the breakdown that occurred thereafter, and...

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  • Message from Henry: Walking Through Grasses

    MCZCJune 23, 20212 min read

    Walking slowly through grasses - a bit sick, weak, under-fed, with a sore belly - I saw two little birds, then a third. They were hopping, fluttering among the grass. Stopping to reach up and peck at the seeds that overhung from some of the grass stalks, hanging in downy seed-tassels. One paused, switched sides around its stalk, let out two high-pitched, sweet-sounding alerts. I guess because I was coming. Then paused again. Another one...

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  • Dharmatalk: Support: Original Love – Support (2 of 3)

    MCZCJune 22, 20211 min read

    "... Support comes in varying forms ..." Description: In this second original love retreat Henry focuses on a simple message: There is help. Henry asks us to hear and receive this message of help. Support comes in varying forms, some obvious, some less apparent. Henry explores these in this talk. And, here's

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  • Facing the Wall: Dharma Talk with Valerie Forstman (Video)

    MCZCJune 21, 20211 min read

    The dharma compels us to hear the cries of the world as our very own cries, and respond in-kind. Valerie turns to the first encounter between Bodhidharma and Eka (who became the second ancestor), in case 41 from the Gateless Gate: Bodhidharma Puts the Mind to Rest. As she explores the essence of this case, Valerie reads a poem by Henry and a few words from a Zen teacher suffering from Covid who says amidst...

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  • Message from Henry: Simply Love

    MCZCJune 16, 20211 min read

    The mature human heart learns to live with heartbreak without shutting it down. It’s really so simple. It all begins with love. If we just love, life is simple. How do we get to love? That’s really what practice is for. If it’s not for that, it should at least be preparatory for it. Mindfulness, non-dual awareness, absorption, consciousness as all, radical acceptance, working with hindrances and afflictions -- all these many faces and categories,...

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  • Dharmatalk: Greater Good: Original Love – Support (1 of 3)

    MCZCJune 15, 20211 min read

    "... The focus of this talk ... is about finding Trust ..." Description: How do we find our authentic heart and how do we know what it's called to do for the greater good? The focus of this talk and this Original Love retreat is about finding Trust, a type of trust that reveals deep support intrinsically available to us at all times. Henry briefly contrasts Jiriki - self power, our own strength, that we develop...

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  • Hyakujo’s Fox: Dharma Talk with Henry Shukman (Video)

    MCZCJune 14, 20211 min read

    Henry concludes a sequence of talks on Case 2 from the Gateless Gate, Hyakujô and the Fox. The law of cause and effect cannot be obscured. Enlightenment is not "checking out." It's not an escape hatch. In fact it is about becoming more immersed in this life. Enlightenment involves entering this moment more and more intimately.. Eventually we understand that awakening is boundless, empty and one (using Yamada Koun's definition of kensho). [embed] Image by...

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  • Unmon’s Medicine and Disease, Valerie Forstman (Video)

    MCZCJune 12, 20211 min read

    Moved by Lewis Richmond's May 27 talk about illness, Valerie turns to a koan that addresses illness and the heart of the matter: Case 87 from the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon's Medicine and Disease. The implications of this case are vast, no holes, no place to fall, boundless seamlessness, one equanimity. Cannot fall in and cannot fall out The case: Unmon instructing the assembly said: Medicine and disease cure each other; the whole earth is...

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  • Message from Henry: Just This

    MCZCJune 9, 20211 min read

    If you just get one taste of this - some call it the Dharma, or Buddha-nature, or no-name - just one brush with the hem of Kumarajiva’s garment, a swish of the wind of Buddha’s robe, or one little tear-drop fallen from Kwan Yin’s eyelid into your heart, then all the rest of your life becomes a side-show, a series of side-shows.  This is what it’s really all been about. This. And perhaps everything that...

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