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: Ruben Habito: The Oak Tree in the Garden – Guest Episode

    MCZCNovember 29, 20182 min read

      "...  it is here, right here and now, that the gateway to the infinite, ... is found ..." ~ Ruben Habito Description: Ruben Roshi likens koans to a GPS for our practice, as he addresses this famous koan with Chan Master Zhaozhou, otherwise known to us as Zen Master Joshu -- "What did Bodhidharma bring from India?" the monk asks. What is the point of Zen? What is the point of our life? Why are we here?...

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  • Message from Henry: Doubt

    MCZCNovember 27, 20182 min read

    The opposite of doubt is faith. Some markers of it would be: gratitude to the sangha, humility before the practice. Try not to let the demon doubt come between you and your practice. For incalculable eons, according to the old scriptures, we have labored in darkness, unable to find the way and be liberated. Now that we have tasted the ancient road of humanity, we naturally wonder about it – can it be real, when it's...

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  • Dharmatalk: Sesshin Talk 5 (of 5):The Story of Master Hogen

    MCZCNovember 22, 20181 min read

    "... Is this rock inside your mind or outside your mind? ..."  Description: In this fifth talk from the Spring 2018 sesshin, Henry shares a few stories of Master Hôgen’s life to encourage us as we practice. Hôgen, and every great master, was once just like us—searching for clarity about their life. Upon hearing the words, “Not knowing is most intimate,” Hôgen’s life was transformed. Post & Featured image: Rocks by StockSnap, CCO Public Domain....

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  • Message from Henry: Essential Unnecessary Work

    MCZCNovember 20, 20181 min read

    Zazen...that place where nothing needs to be done... The great majority of our practice in the early years will not touch on awakening. It will be the daily, hourly, momentary commitment to try to be more aware of the present moment, to see our unhelpful tendencies, to feel the energies that drive our lives, and so on. Only once we taste awakening itself do we see how unnecessary all this "work" has been. Yet at the same...

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  • Dharmatalk: Sesshin Talk 4 (of 5): Case 74, Book of Equanimity: Hogen’s “Form and Name”

    MCZCNovember 15, 20181 min read

    "... The force that through the green fuse drives the flower ..." ~ Dylan Thomas  Description: This is the fourth tesisho from the Spring 2018 sesshin. In Case 74, Master Hôgen says, “Form arises from what has no substance yet; name comes from what has no name yet.” We can discover the world that Hôgen is presenting with these words - a reality where we see through everything, where self and world are gone, and all aspects...

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  • Message from Henry: No Knowing

    MCZCNovember 13, 20182 min read

    The groundless ground springs forth. There is "breakthrough practice" and self-study "present moment experience" practice. Tending the garden of now. Or knocking through the walls of the house, tearing it down. It would be nice to think both kinds of practice lead to the same place, to some mythic land of redemption. Heaven, nirvana, enlightenment. And it's true that there is only one place, one time – here and now – so in that sense they can...

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Talk 3 (of 5): Case 73, Book of Equanimity: Sôzan’s Filial Fulfillment

    MCZCNovember 8, 20181 min read

    "... a continuous letting-go of everything ..." Description: This teisho is the third talk from the Spring 2018 sesshin. Master Sôzan, along with Master Tôzan, founded the Soto sect of Zen. Case 73 inspires a discussion of the lineage of practice and how this relates to “fulfilling filial piety,” which can result in a kind of rebirth. Our birth parents give us our physiological face and, with training and practice - and a continuous letting-go of everything -...

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  • Message from Henry: The Opportunity of Suffering

    MCZCNovember 6, 20182 min read

    ...our very suffering is our greatest opportunity and teaching. We may or may not be theistic by temperament or upbringing, but may still believe in the intrinsic benevolence of creation – of the universe existing, and of our place in it as conscious beings. Yes there is all the beauty and love and generosity and kindness intrinsic in this world – the endless service being offered at every turn. Even our own exhalalations, for example, adjust the...

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  • Science and Practice Notes

    MCZCNovember 3, 20181 min read

    Western science begins in a kind of humility, with an assumption that we don't know. Practice is similar or comparable. It begins with humility also – not in a self-blaming way, but in an acceptance that when it comes to our suffering, we ourselves are likely the problem. ~ Henry Shukman   Image: Water Lily by Couleur, CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.com

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Talk 2 (of 5): Gimme the Enlightenment! (Part 2)

    MCZCNovember 1, 20181 min read

    [caption id="attachment_9829" align="aligncenter" width="937"] Walking Meditation[/caption]   Description: This teisho is the second talk from the Spring 2018 sesshin. This talk focuses on Bodhidharma’s second gate to the Zen path, entry by principle (or “fact”), as expressed by the first koan, Mu. Henry reads various passages, including a wonderful description of walking meditation by Natalie Goldberg, with the intention of giving us a taste of Mu. What is Mu trying to show us? We can only discover...

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  • Message from Henry: Deep Dive

    MCZCOctober 30, 20182 min read

    Everything goes back to front. Another analogy for practice: there was a 1950s movie about attempts to break the sound barrier. The pilots would climb exceptionally high in their jets then aim at the ground. They would dive as fast as they could. Alas, as they got close to the sound barrier, they kept crashing. It was one pilot who, when he found himself hurtling toward the ground at around the speed of sound, and unable to...

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  • Sangha Meeting Minutes: October 20 2018

    MCZCOctober 27, 201811 min read

      Thank you to all who attended our October 20 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 post them on our bulletin board. Opening sit at 10am followed by the approval of the June sangha meeting minutes. Teacher's Report (see below for the complete report written by Henry for the meeting) Financial Report Johanna presented the current budget, sourced...

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  • Nothing to Understand

    MCZCOctober 27, 20181 min read

    There's nothing to understand. Do you understand a caress or a flower? I'm just. If you try to understand your mind as if it was a puzzle to solve, or try to understand which direction your life is going to be able to direct it to the best you are wasting energy and breath. Life happens and you with it. You will never arrive at the end of psychological dilemmas, it itself is a dilemma. In leaving it as its importance dissolves, the scenario...

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Talk 1 (of 5): Gimme the Enlightenment! (Part 1)

    MCZCOctober 25, 20181 min read

    "... {just} keenly watch our experience ..." Description: This teisho is the first talk from the Spring 2018 sesshin. Over the course of these talks, Henry will touch on two sources of Zen practice, Taoism and Buddhism, and how they affect how we practice. Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk considered to be the founder of Zen, articulated two gates, or entries, to the Zen path. These are: entry by practice and entry by principle. This talk focuses on...

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