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.

  • Don’t-Know Mind

    MCZCMay 9, 20201 min read

    But when you allow each thought to be met with “Is it true?” life will show itself to you. Eventually, you find yourself ending every thought with a question mark, not with a period. You’re able to rest in the never-ending enlightenment of the don’t-know mind. ~ Byron Katie A mind at Home with Itself Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino

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  • Message from Henry: Just Zen

    MCZCMay 6, 20202 min read

    ... there is no mind to put on walking. There is only walking.  But how could nonbeing be blissful? You don't know, but it is. This is what the famous "just" of Zen means. Zen often says: Just sit. Just walk. Just eat. But "just walking" doesn't mean: keep your mind only on walking and  don't think about anything else. It means: there is no mind to put on walking. There is only walking. There...

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  • Dharmatalk: Shimmering Particles

    MCZCMay 5, 20201 min read

    "The ‘story of me’ fell away utterly and completely." ~ Francis Bennett   Description: This encouraging talk begins with excerpts from the book I Am That I Am by Francis Bennett. Zen practice allows us to join a level of experience where we are never separate from anything. This experience that can arise from deep absorption is beautifully conveyed in this talk, pointing to the value of concentration practice. There are references to Case 99, Unmon’s...

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  • Welcoming

    MCZCMay 2, 20201 min read

    … in welcoming, you are completely open, open to perception. In welcoming, you are waiting, completely directionless. …Your real nature is welcoming. from Living Truth – Jean Klein Photo by Rosa Bellino

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  • Message from Henry: Uncertainty

    MCZCApril 29, 20202 min read

    Henry was recently interviewed for the Albuquerque Journal North by Monica Gagnier. This weeks message is Henry's response to her final question. The full article was published on Sunday April 19. Question: Do you think the coronavirus will bring more people to a spiritual way of life, whatever that may be? Henry: I surely hope that everything we experience will collectively bring us to wiser, kinder ways of living, not just individually, but as a whole society....

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 99, Book of Equanimity: Unmon’s “Bowl and Pail”

    MCZCApril 28, 20201 min read

    "You can’t see the Way; you can discover that you are the Way" Description: In Case 99, a monk asks Master Unmon, “What is the dust-dust samadhi?” This term, also translated as moment-by-moment samadhi, is explored at various levels in this talk. Unmon’s response to the monk is simple and beautiful, conveying a world where there is no separation. Post & Featured image: Natural green background with selective focus by Krivosheevv, purchased from depositphotos, for use...

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  • Sharing One Breath

    MCZCApril 25, 20201 min read

        Kono iki ya                                       Ah this breath Mae wa dare no ka                        Whose breath was it before? Hitotsu no ki                                    One Spirit.   Text and photo by Rosa Bellino

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  • Message from Henry: The Big Matter of Thinking in Meditation

    MCZCApril 22, 20203 min read

    Most of us identify thoroughly with our thoughts... I know who I am through the way I think. Thoughts are not a problem, not an issue. They come and go. No problem. Meditation is not about “not thinking.” However, it can be powerfully helpful to get clearer about what thoughts actually are, and how we usually relate to them. Most of us identify thoroughly with our thoughts. We own them, they are ours, and in...

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  • Dharmatalk: Spreading the Love

    MCZCApril 21, 20201 min read

    "... The Way is always waiting to show itself in every single moment ..." [caption id="attachment_18780" align="aligncenter" width="940"] Great Wall of China in Jinshanling, Hebei Province, China[/caption] Description: Beginning with some reflections on the book American Veda, this talk unfolds into a discussion of the Zen poem “Shin Jin Mei,” written by Sosan. The first line reads “The Great Way is not difficult for those who do not pick and choose.” Practice allows us to...

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  • Why I Wrote a Book about Why I Stopped Writing Books, Part 2 of 2, by Henry Shukman

    MCZCApril 18, 20208 min read

    ... a resolving of the conundrum I had felt life to be...The nub...in my ribcage that had been with me as long as I could remember, which I identified as the source of the writing, full of angst and hope, yearning and pain... had gone. Click to read Part 1 - if you missed it. Often I felt my body hadn’t been made for this world at all. I was born into burning skin, a...

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  • Message from Henry: Promises of Practice

    MCZCApril 15, 20201 min read

    The promise of Zen koan practice is that it is actually possible for each of us to have some taste of the boundless nature of every moment -- of this moment now. It’s not guaranteed -- but at least we know that we don’t have to be strange, unusual, still less “special” or weird people for this to happen. It’s also possible to then bring the boundless love that wells up from that “sourceless source”...

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  • Dharmatalk (Guest): Ruben Habito: Zen Eye on Good Friday

    MCZCApril 14, 20201 min read

    "... And suddenly the darkness turned into a bright and luminous light ..." Description: In this brief Zen talk on Easter weekend 2020, Ruben Roshi walks us through a famous Zen koan from the "Gateless Gate", transposing the characters to the Montepulciano region of Italy, and brings us to the wordless "wine of astonishment" that awakening allows us all to drink. Listen and be inspired! Post & Featured image: Bright lights in darkness — Photo by I_g0rZh, purchased...

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  • Why I Wrote a Book about Why I Stopped Writing Books, Part 1 of 2, by Henry Shukman

    MCZCApril 11, 20208 min read

    I realized there was another way of being human...the land itself could be your home. We were earth-born creatures. Why shouldn’t one be at home anywhere on earth? Not many people know that I ever wrote books, and even fewer would know or care that I stopped writing them. Fewer still would be interested to know that in spite of stopping, I decided to un-stop long enough to write one more about why I had stopped—which...

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  • Message from Henry: The Training

    MCZCApril 7, 20202 min read

    ...the training knows better than we do. Occasionally I experience a little worry about what I as a deluded former poet and writer with a long struggle in his meditation practice could possibly have to offer as a guide in practice. But then I remember there is a kind of answer: the training I have been through. Something that is definitely not personal to me. And the wisdom inherent in that training, which my teachers...

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