Teachings
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Poetry by CM Brown
October 10, 20202 min read
Mountain Cloud Zen Center Sitting on the ground. The howl of the coyotes. No thing. No sitting. Zazen At the Zen Center in Sante Fe sit in silence, eating our breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. The shapes of tables, the shapes of eyes and arms, the shapes of the chevrons carved into the backs of the wooden chairs, the shapes of straw, and the shapes of tiny cracks in the adobe walls are still and always listening. After the last of the oatmeal disappears I walk into the kitchen with my empty bowl and place it...
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Bodhidharma’s Vast and Void, Dharma Talk by Hannelore Mueller
October 6, 20201 min read
Guest Speaker Hannelore Mueller opens this beautiful talk recognizing the seriousness and major impact of Covid 19 world wide. We are asked to learn the intimacy of life, sickness and death, and to pay attention to the personal responsibility of our common fate. Hannelore next speaks on the koan, Bodhidharma's Vast and Void. When Bodhidharma arrived in China, Emperor Bu asks him, What is the ultimate meaning of the holy truth? Bodhidharma answers, Vast...
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Dharmatalk: Dharmas within Dharmas
October 6, 20201 min read
"... We observe the unfolding of our awareness like a butterfly ... opening up its wings ..." "... Let the breath show itself to your awareness ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. In our exploration of the Four Noble Truths, we have seen how the Buddha keeps re-slicing the pie, going into the nature of our human experience in yet more and more minute detail. By following his teaching, we learn to contextualize the imaginary scenes that it...
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Dharmatalk: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
September 29, 20201 min read
"... Letting it be as it is, we have to drop the wish that it be otherwise ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. To achieve concentration in practice, one must have established the four foundations of mindfulness. Having ardent alertness, clearly comprehending all that arises within and around the body, its feelings, the mind, and other phenomena, the practitioner overcomes the unwholesome states of mind that pose as hindrances to a fruitful practice. For the introduction to...
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Announcement: Valerie Forstman Roshi joins Mountain Cloud
September 22, 20202 min read
Mountain Cloud is thrilled to announce a milestone in its history. As of Tuesday last, the center opened its doors in a wide welcome to a second "full time" teacher -- Valerie Forstman Roshi. Some of you have already tasted Valerie's remarkable clarity and depth as a dharma teacher, and Henry and she have been colleagues in Sanbo Zen for about a decade, and both have long studied side by side under Yamada Ryoun Roshi, Sanbo's current...
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Dharmatalk: Right Mindfulness
September 22, 20201 min read
"... bringing awareness back to the present moment whenever our minds wander ..." "... Here, a person dwells, contemplating the body in the body ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. The original sanskrit word smrti, which often gets translated as “mindfulness,” also means “remembering to be aware.” Modern culture offers us many ways to distract ourselves when feelings of discomfort or unease arise. By ardently doing our best to stick to the practice, by bringing awareness back...
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Oak Tree in the Garden, Dharma Talk by Carmen Afable (Video)
September 21, 20201 min read
Listen to this personal and powerful talk from Carmen Afable, Sanbo Zen teacher from Manilla. Carmen presents Case 37 from the Mumonkan cannon (The Gateless Gate), The Oak Tree in the Garden. Ryoun Roshi says this koan has a strangle power to remove and delete delusions, concepts and unnecessary attachments. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqDdSfXFNDw&t=2s[/embed] This talk was recorded on September 17, 2020 in our virtual zendo. Find this and many other talks and discussions on the Mountain Cloud You Tube...
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Residing in the Present Moment, Talk 4 of 4 from our August Retreat
September 20, 20201 min read
...become this very moment, Life as it's happening, life as it is. Final talk from the August 2020 Original Love One Retreat. Henry concludes this exploration of original love. More will come in the September and October original Love Retreats. Once the hindrances that stand in the way of how we experience the present moment are resolved, we may reside in present moment experience and perhaps eventually.... become this very moment, Life as it's happening, life as...
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Finding Peace, Talk 3 of 4 from our August Retreat
September 15, 20201 min read
The human body at peace with itself is more precious than the rarest gem. Finding Peace is the third talk from the Original Love One August Retreat. Henry continues the great exploration about how we find peace within ourselves. The human body at peace with itself is more precious than the rarest gem. Henry talks more about the hindrances, mindfulness practices and the Zen practice of just sitting. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpfrDJdFPFg[/embed] Find this and many other talks and discussions on...
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A Precious Path, by Henry Shukman (Video)
September 15, 20201 min read
Henry describes the heartbreak and profound love that goes along with completely letting go. He further talks about finding a spiritual path and begins with a short reading from Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov which includes: Every one of us has sinned against all people.... everyone is really responsible to all people, for all people and for everything...how is it we didn't realize this? When we find a path and follow it, when we get to the end...
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Dharmatalk: Cultivating Meditative Awareness
September 15, 20201 min read
"... In our right effort we are developing the capacity to work on the unwholesome ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Right effort in practice, the sixth fold in the Noble Eightfold Path, consists in working to diminish unwholesome states of mind or being. Likewise, the practitioner should work to cultivate states of mind that promote the arisal of wholesome speech and action. Once they get a taste of the true Dharma, and the delusion of...
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