Teachings
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Is Zen Buddhist? Dharma Talk by Henry Shukman
August 11, 20201 min read
In this dharma talk, Henry describes the tragic results of racism and exceptionalism in America and offers hope through Zen practice and how Zen relates to Buddhism. [embed]https://youtu.be/jV9UojZE6VY[/embed] Find this and many other talks on the Mountain Cloud You Tube Channel. Recorded on June 4, 2020. Featured image: White stones, public domain photos, Pixabay.com
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Dharmatalk: Gathering in to a Single Point
August 11, 20201 min read
"There isn’t any phenomenon at all that isn’t teaching or preaching the Dharma" Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Buddha taught that in order to cultivate Right Orientation, which is the second step on the Noble Eightfold Path, one must start with an intention toward renunciation, not generating any ill-will, and being a source of harmlessness. By doing so, our sense of humility deepens and we learn to let go of identification with the self. We...
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The Power of Mu, Dharma Talk by Maura Noone
August 5, 20201 min read
Senior Sanbo Zen student and long term MCZC sangha member Maura Noone offered a dharma talk, The Power of Mu, on Thursday evening July 30. Please watch this moving talk about the transformative impact of Mu and Zen practice. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E34akjFbh8&t=3s[/embed] Check out our other videos on the Mountain Cloud YouTube Channel.
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Dharmatalk: Embarking on the Noble Eightfold Path
August 4, 20201 min read
"Right View is not so far away" Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Setting out on the Noble Eightfold Path, we begin with Right View. By developing an awareness of the roots of wholesomeness and unwholesomeness, we may orient ourselves toward proper conduct, skillful practice, and ultimately the cessation of suffering. The modern Zen practitioner may cultivate this sort of understanding by dropping any agenda and engaging in activities purely for the sake of doing them,...
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Dharmatalk: Subitist and Gradualist Awakening
July 28, 20201 min read
"This precious me. My me. This has been an invention" Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Continuing the discussion about the cessation of suffering, we examine two approaches toward awakening, the subitist, or sudden approach, and the gradualist one. Many Zen teachers, especially those using koans, assume the subitist approach. From a more gradualist perspective, we may through dedicated practice learn to reduce the causes of the negative emotional states that can generate stress and lead...
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Ryokan: Temporary Dwelling
July 25, 20201 min read
[caption id="attachment_21250" align="aligncenter" width="516"] Ryokan 1758-1831, self portrait[/caption] Where you have beauty you have ugliness, too. Where you have right you will also have wrong. Knowledge and ignorance are each other’s cause. Delusion and enlightenment produce one another. It’s always been so, It didn’t start now. You get rid of this, then grab hold of that. Don’t you see how stupid it is! If you’re determined to find the innermost truth, Why trouble about the changing face of things? **** Traveling and traveling, I arrived at the mountain of...
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Dharmatalk: The Cessation of Suffering
July 21, 20201 min read
"Unshakable is the liberation of my mind" ~ Shakyamuni Buddha Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. The Third Noble Truth concerns the cessation of suffering. When Buddha gave his first sermon, he was sparing in his description of this Noble Truth in comparison to the three others, teaching that the cessation of suffering, also known as Nirvana, doesn’t cause or lead to anything. It is rather a release of all the causes that have always led to...
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Question Mark ?
July 18, 20201 min read
? A question mark Standing firm, Defending it's ground A question mark That it will never allow itself to become a full stop Not till its questions are answered! But slowly So slowly that it doesn't even notice The question mark is becoming more flexible Slowly, ever so slowly … it is unraveling Its bends and edges get straightened out, The curves become gentler And the question mark becomes A line at first, then the line becomes a dot … Till – one day – The dot disappears all together Leaving empty...
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Dharmatalk: Letting Go of Clinging
July 14, 20201 min read
"Loss brings us to our senses. It actually gives us our life" Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. In continuing the series of talks about the Four Noble Truths, we examine clinging from a traditional and a modern perspective. Craving to always be right, we may cling to fixed viewpoints and become rigid in our attitudes and ideas. Holding on to things, we create stress and tension in our bodies, which we can make it our...
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Lost in the Forest of Mind
July 11, 20201 min read
Lost in the forest of mind running from shadow to shadow looking for the light I never dared to open my eyes to... Running without aim running always till the dreams that at once comforted me become nightmares Lost in the forest of mind with tomorrow as the only hope... finally the shadows hunted me down and tied be to the ground ... still Still... I finally looked up and saw the beauty of your face smiling a smile that I knew was mine. Photo and Poem by Rosa Bellino...
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