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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Returning to Square One: Talk 4 from the Original Love 3 Retreat, Henry Shukman
November 15, 20201 min read
Henry opens the final talk of the Original Love 3 Virtual retreat with: "The more we go into practice the more we are just beginning. We are always in square one". This talk explores the intrinsic beauty of each person as seen through the loving clarity of the Buddha eye. He also and acknowledges the enormous suffering that accompanies the beauty. This talk is about suffering, the causes of suffering and its ultimate end. [embed]...
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The Unadjusted Step, Dharma Talk by Valerie Forstman
November 12, 20201 min read
Valerie offers this post-election talk and acknowledges our deeply divided nation. She introduces the taoist concept of the unadjusted step - stay where you are and don't move, as a way to face this moment. Despite our division, separation doesn't hold well. Valerie also explores the famous koan about Master Baa who is near death - Sun Faced Buddha, Moon Faced Buddha. [embed] Find this and many other talks and discussions on the
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Dharmatalk: A Lineage of Humility
November 10, 20201 min read
"... To be you, fully alive, that’s your greatest offering to the universe ..." Description: A zen practitioner may spend decades studying under a teacher before they themselves can be authorized to teach. When our orientation toward needing outer things to be the way we want them shifts, through having released our grip on our separate sense of self, and having “found the dharma,” one may then be in a position to communicate the reality of...
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What is Mu? Talk 2 from the Original Love 3 Retreat, Valerie Forstman
November 9, 20201 min read
Valerie gives the second talk for the Original Love 3 retreat. She unpacks the primary Zen koan Mu. What is Mu? asks Valerie. She quotes Sanbo Zen Teacher Ruben Habito: “It’s the sharpest sword that cuts through all delusion, and now it’s yours.” Valerie answers, "Every aspect of this question is you, originally You. Drop the figuring and calculus, become intimate with the sound. Whatever arises, Mu has the absolute capacity to handle it." [embed]...
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Dharmatalk: Right Concentration
November 3, 20201 min read
"... start to experience the intrinsically fulfilling wellbeing of the lotus flower ... permeated from its roots throughout the tips of its petals with the same cool water in which it thrives in perfect stillness ..." "... Whatever needs to drop away drops away by itself ..." Description: Final talk in the series on basic Buddhism. The final fold in the Noble Eightfold Path is samadhi. This word sometimes gets translated as concentration, but it really...
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Meeting Mu, Dharma Talk by Henry Shukman
November 2, 20201 min read
Developing mindfulness is like creating a warm loving home inside yourself. In Henry's final talk prior to the election he acknowledges that the eyes of people all over the globe are watching our country. It's important to remember that the purposes of the Mahayana (our Zen Practice) is the reduction of suffering. Whatever outcome this election brings - this purpose goes on. The grand project of the great vehicle carries on. Henry speaks also about...
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Dharmatalk: Bringing the Mind Home
October 29, 20201 min read
"... mindfulness ... is a practice of becoming okay with what we have ..." "... We have to let be, to let go ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. The practice of mindfulness is not about adding something into our already busy lives that’s going to pick us up and make us feel better -- it’s more a matter of becoming okay with what we have, and learning to meet the present moment and appreciate...
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Zen’s Middle Way, Talk 1 from October’s Original Love Retreat
October 27, 20201 min read
How could we ever be anywhere but at square one? .... it's always here - just like this - and we are always equipped to find it. Henry opens this first talk from the Original Love 3 retreat by acknowledging the gap between basic mindful awareness practice and authentic awakening practice. Zen allows for both, it's the middle way that embraces mindful day to day practice with sudden awakening where body and soul fall away....
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Sangha Meeting Notes: October 17, 2020
October 25, 20207 min read
October 17 Sangha Meeting Minutes Financials In May, Damon reported that our initial budget loss of nearly $50,000, caused by the cancellation of many 2020 events, had been reduced to less than $20,000. Since that meeting, members of Mountain Cloud have been endlessly generous. Through donations and tireless efforts put forth by many individuals, the predicted budget loss of 2020 has turned into a surplus of over $30,000. This additional funding will help Mountain Cloud...
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Samadhi, Henry Shukman
October 25, 20201 min read
The Sanbo Zen lineage has traditionally focused on kensho (sudden awakening) experiences which offer a complete, though often brief, shift in how we see reality. To attain this shift, practitioners sit on a cushion and meditate with little instruction. This changed in the 1940s when Zen opened to western seekers and laity. An early introductory document written during this time period listed three aims for Zen, the first of which is samadhi (translated as bringing...
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Dharmatalk: The Process of Letting Go of Everything
October 20, 20201 min read
"... You can only see it when you are it ..." Description: Ongoing series on basic Buddhism. Human beings tend to get constantly captivated by their “default mode network," which can generate a continuous stream of internal commentary. To really be able to be present without an outward task: that is the basic meaning of the kind of mindfulness we are cultivating. Zen is a process for humans to realize their capacity to awaken out of...
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