Teachings

  • Message from Valerie: An Invitation to Serve

    Valerie ForstmanJanuary 25, 20232 min read

    Mountain Cloud sangha members are currently coming together once each month to prepare and serve a delicious meal at the Interfaith Shelter, known as Pete’s Place, here in Santa Fe. For members interested in further engagement with vulnerable segments of our community, we have an opportunity to serve with fellow practitioners in Upaya’s Street Ministry project.  Upaya’s Street Ministry focuses on supporting member’s of Santa Fe’s community who are experiencing homelessness. Volunteers in the Street Ministry not only...

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  • Dharmatalk (Guest): Ruben Habito: Zen Tribute to Mary Oliver (Part 2 of 2)

    MCZCFebruary 28, 20191 min read

    "... all my life I was a bride married to amazement ..."  ~Mary Oliver Description: This is the second part of a talk given by Ruben Habito, founding teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, TX. It is an appreciation of the poet, Mary Oliver, who died on January 17, 2019. Ruben Roshi elaborates on her invitation to pay attention and how this allows our life to unfold in joy and ease and in natural service...

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  • Message from Henry: Deep Dependable Peace

    MCZCFebruary 26, 20191 min read

    Imagine how this world might be, if more people knew a deep dependable peace in their core. Whatever suffering you have faced in the course of practice - for example on your last retreat - remember the hard times, don’t gloss over them in your mind. Instead cherish them. Embrace yourself for having suffered through difficulties in that way. Open your heart in self-compassion. Let those times help you to understand that others suffer too,...

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  • Dharmatalk (Guest): Ruben Habito: Zen Tribute to Mary Oliver (Part 1 of 2)

    MCZCFebruary 21, 20191 min read

    "My work is loving the world."  ~Mary Oliver Description: This talk was given by Ruben Habito, founding teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, TX. It is an appreciation of the poet, Mary Oliver, who died on January 17, 2019. Her words have a deep resonance with the world that we experience when practicing Zen. Ruben Roshi beautifully relates them to the three fruits of Zen—pay attention, be astonished and love the world. NOTE: The original recording...

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  • Message from Henry: Love Always Wins

    MCZCFebruary 19, 20192 min read

    In the end, love always wins. Gandhi said: When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it --always. In the end, love always wins. It can’t fail to. It predates life and death. That’s why sometimes on their death beds, along with inevitable regrets, people...

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 79, Book of Equanimity: Chôsa Takes a Step (Part 2)

    MCZCFebruary 14, 20191 min read

    "... To awaken is not enough; we have to get down from the pole to be acting as servants of the Dharma, out of love and service for all beings ..."   Description: What would it be to have no story? The great masters lived detached from all stories, and the koans share the freedom this gave them. This talk continues the discussion of Case 79 from last week, and introduces the  poetic verse that accompanies the Case. What...

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  • Message from Henry: Dealing with Stewing – more…

    MCZCFebruary 12, 20192 min read

    We simply become cognizant of these phenomena and let them be. For example, it could be your neighbor is fidgety. Or a window blind keeps stirring and knocking against the sill. Or there’s a shadow that won’t stop moving within your field of vision - from some leaves on a branch outside, perhaps. Or somebody’s breathing noisily. Because of that external “irritant” you can’t settle into your breath practice. The frustration quotient is rising and because of...

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 79, Book of Equanimity: Chôsa Takes a Step (Part 1)

    MCZCFebruary 7, 20191 min read

    "... A sweetly sorrowful joy is a hallmark of our practice deepening ..."   Description: This talk begins with a bit of the history of the evolution of meditation practice in the West. This unfolds into an exploration of Case 79, where Master Chôsa comments on Master E. Master E has not fully broken through and manifested his body throughout the ten directions -- in other words, discovered his true identity as one, empty, infinite reality, showing up...

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  • Message from Henry: Don’t Stew….and don’t check out

    MCZCFebruary 5, 20192 min read

    When we find ourselves stewing on the cushion, caught in “proliferations” of difficult, negative thoughts and feelings, it can be tempting to stew all the harder, ruminating on all the imagined wrongs in life, feeling more and more uncomfortable, and disappointed or frustrated in ourselves, or in our neighbors, or our nearest and dearest. Or perhaps in our practice itself. Wasn’t it meant to help? Isn’t it supposed to deliver peace and joy and all...

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  • Sangha Meeting Minutes: January 26, 2019

    MCZCFebruary 1, 201914 min read

    Thank you to all who attended our January 26 sangha meeting. Attendees are listed at the end of this report. We have three sangha meetings per year. Minutes are published on our website and will continue to be posted on our bulletin board. Brief Meditation: Led by Henry Approval October sangha meeting minutes:  Moved and approved by attending members. Ratification of 2019 Board and Recognition of out-going board members Two outgoing board members, Kathryn and Abigail were acknowledged and...

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 78, Book of Equanimity: Unmon’s “Rice Cake”

    MCZCJanuary 31, 20191 min read

    "... Everything is a treasure ..." Description: Koans are anecdotes from the lives of enlightened masters. The focus of this talk is a koan that conveys the mind of Master Unmon. In Case 78, a monk asks Unmon what it means to “go beyond Buddha and the ancestors” -- a quote that the monk has read. Unmon responds simply: “Rice cake.” The talk explores the meaning of the monk’s question, and the dynamic power of Unmon’s curt...

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  • Message from Henry: No Preference

    MCZCJanuary 29, 20192 min read

    What if we just don’t have to live up to anything? Can you feel the gentle tide of well-being, of ease, of contentment, that then starts to flow in, like warm water over dry sand - a force we had forgotten even existed, and here it comes. And all the beached hulls and hulks that had forgotten they were built to float rediscover their long-lost buoyancy…. ***** Fuketsu said: “If you pick up a speck of dust,...

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 77, Book of Equanimity: Kyozan: As His Profession Requires

    MCZCJanuary 24, 20191 min read

    "... Infinite love is the whole story ..." Description: What is a koan? This talk begins by addressing this question. Koans aid us in the investigation of what it is to be alive. This unfolds into a discussion of Case 77 and what it offers to us. There is a dance happening between Kyôzan and the monk and they are both aware that it is all empty. Post & Featured image: Love by johnhain, Pixabay License.

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  • Message from Henry: The Force of Awakening

    MCZCJanuary 22, 20192 min read

    ...we can awaken to the fact that all aspects of our experience, and our responses and reactions to experience, are empty, hollow and insubstantial... Once our practice has passed a certain point, it's as if nothing can withstand the force of the present moment, of the Dharma, of now. It's as Tahui said: the Dharma is a hot stove, and all phenomena are snowflakes that vanish when they come near it. *** To be Buddhist is to be...

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  • Dharmatalk: Case 76, Book of Equanimity: Shuzan’s Three Verses

    MCZCJanuary 17, 20191 min read

    "... Your you-ness is what is utterly beloved, from beginningless beginning ..."   Description: This talk begins with a discussion of the five hindrances: desire; aversion; sloth and torpor; restlessness and worry; doubt. It goes on to explain how our task is not so much to get rid of them as to be aware of them. This leads into an examination of Case 76, where Master Shuzan is telling it like it is—practice has nothing to do with...

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