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.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Video – This Very Moment, Valerie Forstman
March 18, 20211 min read
Zen is the heart of the one who asks. Using modern American and ancient Zen poetry Valerie explores the unconditional now - a single tissue of constant change - by looking at grief, the heart, death, emptiness and form. One glimpse of who we truly are, speaks to all of this. Valerie asks how can we get a glimpse into the heart of the matter and surrender to the intimacy of things just as they are?...
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Dharmatalk: Awakening to Love and Compassion
March 16, 20211 min read
"... the very first line of the {Heart} sutra links Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of love, mercy, and compassion, with awakening and liberation ..." "... What does it take to just grow one level bigger? ..." Description: In this talk, which was given on the first day of the Spring 2020 sesshin at Mountain Cloud, we again take up the topic of the Heart Sutra, examining how the five skandhas may cease through a disciplined practice of...
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Video – Everyday is a Good Day, Talk 4 from Full Moon, Clear Mirror Retreat
March 13, 20211 min read
The full moon has a long history of being the clearest expression of awakening. For Dogen the moon represents Zazen, silent sitting, in each moment. As a way of glancing at this moon, Valerie turns to a koan from a turbulent and deadly period in China’s history: Case 6 from the Blue Cliff Record, Every day is a Good Day. This story is addressed to each of us, a living koan that we have been taking up...
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Video – Silent Sitting – Talk 3 from Full Moon, Clear Mirror Retreat
March 12, 20211 min read
Whole heartedly engaging in single minded sitting is naturally undefiled. The true Dharma appears of itself. ~ Dogen Full moon Clear mirror, another name for Zazen.... the still still state of this practice illuminating everything, reflecting each thing just as it is. ~ Valerie Forstman Valerie looks at a central theme: The all-pervading sitting of Shakyamuni Buddha. She explores Case 18 from the Blue Cliff Record, The National Teacher's Tombstone. [embed] See all talks from...
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Video – What is Going On? Bill Bruce
March 11, 20211 min read
Senior student Bill Bruce shares dharma nuggets from his many years of practice and study. Bill looks at the koan, The no gate gateway. Case: "Unmon said, the world here stretches boundless away. Why let the bell sounds tell you when to don your seven-piece robe?" Bill talks about grief, illness and loss and absolute surrender. He focuses on our shared planetary grief about environmental catastrophe. [embed] See many more talks from MCZC our
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Video – The Immensity of Being, Talk 2 from Full Moon, Clear Mirror Retreat
March 7, 20211 min read
Though there is south and north for humans, how can there be a south or north for Buddha nature. ~ Huineng For this second talk of the Full Moon, Clear Mirror Retreat, Valerie turns to the story of Mugai Nyodai (Chiyono), a 13th-century Japanese Buddhist nun credited with becoming the first Zen Buddhist Abbess and female Zen Master. [embed] See all talks from this retreat on our
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Video – Neither Good nor Evil, Talk 1 from the Full Moon, Clear Mirror Retreat
March 5, 20211 min read
This first talk from our February 2021 retreat turns to the Zen origin story about, Huineng, the sixth Chinese Ancestor whose enlightenment was sparked by a passage from the Diamond Sutra. To do this, Valerie explores Case 23 from the Gateless Gate, Think Neither Good nor Evil. See all talks from this retreat on our
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