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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  • Message from Henry: A Titanic Shift?

    MCZCOctober 23, 20182 min read

    Could we be on the brink of a titanic shift, a Promethean change in humanity of vast implications? Various luminaries, visionaries and oddballs, cult-leaders and gurus, have talked of this kind of thing, but is it now actually appearing beyond doubt? What has been called the “human condition” for centuries is actually beginning to change. The inevitability of suffering, of old age and even of mortality, not to mention of selfishness, cruelty, ignorance – even ten...

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  • A Work of HeArt

    MCZCOctober 20, 20181 min read

      I would like my work to be the poetry of silence.   Each work, whatever form it takes, is a 'trace' of a journey within,  of an inner alchemy, a quest for identity,  a drawing, a calligraphy,  that reveals who we are at that particular moment,  like a mark on the canvas called life.    The brush dances on the paper,  the words sing in the ear, each movement, unrepeatable,  captures and is captive to a rhythm -  a ballet in time and space of an odyssey which,  at...

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  • Teisho: Many Doors

    MCZCOctober 18, 20181 min read

    "... The door of every house leads to Chang’an .... every aspect of our experience is a door to oneness, to emptiness ..." Description: This talk begins with a reading from Bodhisattva of Compassion: The Mystical Tradition of Kuan Yin by John Blofeld, which highlights various perspectives on practice. Every sect of Buddhism, every phenomenon and every aspect of our experience is a door to oneness, to emptiness. Henry discusses the current cross-fertilization between different traditions and...

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  • Message from Henry: Meet Each Moment

    MCZCOctober 16, 20182 min read

    As one master said: When I sit, I sit; when I walk, I walk. There is no day that is properly exempt from practice. Practice is not a special segregated activity, but rather a way of meeting each moment more fully, directly and responsively. Therefore it isn’t ever something to postpone. Whatever is arising is asking to be met, to the best of our ability. And the formal practicing we do at designated times in designated...

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  • Meeting Crisis with Zen & Practice, Video Clip with Henry Shukman

    MCZCOctober 13, 20182 min read

    Zen was born in a time of Crisis … This practice is, in itself, taking a stand against forces of divisiveness. It appears that a “crisis of unity” is unfolding in our times as national populism seems to be rising around the world. So it seems apropos to consider how Zen– a tradition that “… is always immediately situational {and} has no overarching ontology or philosophy …” might address this matter. In Stillness Speaks’ upcoming documentary, Zen Awakening: Finding Peace in Troubled...

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  • Teisho: Learning to Be

    MCZCOctober 11, 20181 min read

    "... The present moment is shot through with rays of the infinite ..." Description: In this talk, Henry reviews the basics of mindfulness, beginning with Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which apply to the entirety of experience and demonstrate that the roots of mindfulness run deep in Zen. These foundations can be seen as the basis of  the practice of shikantaza, or just sitting. The diligent practice of mindfulness can lead to a state of deep samadhi...

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  • Message from Henry: Creative Principle

    MCZCOctober 9, 20181 min read

    Infinite creative energy has infinite parts at its disposal. It creates things with them, they endure then come apart like sandcastles. An order – a thing – is created, then allowed to disperse again. So marvelous, so free. We too are among the many things it makes, as are all the trillion parts of us. But we somehow get fixated on one narrow band of "becoming," of order and existing. And that causes our suffering and...

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  • Teisho: Case 72, Book of Equanimity: Chûyû’s “Monkey”

    MCZCOctober 4, 20181 min read

    "... a six-windowed room represents our life, or our experience of the world through the six senses ..." Description: This talk begins with a reading from The Lost Books of the Odyssey, which aptly describes what a koan is. Agamemnon has commissioned his wisest counselors to write a book that will explain the whole world. Dissatisfied with the result, he then asks them to bring him a single word that contains everything. In the koan discussed tonight, young...

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  • Message from Henry: Purpose in Practice

    MCZCOctober 2, 20182 min read

    ...where we taste and sense - beneath the troubles of life - a great well-being... One fairly recent message about the purpose or utility of practice may have come across as baffling. Obviously, few people are going to take up a practice without a reason. And yet, here is a dialogue from the Zen records: A monk asked Rinzai: What purpose did Bodhidharma have in bringing Zen to China? Rinzai: If he had had a purpose he couldn't...

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  • One Bright Pearl: Conversation on Zen with Henry Shukman and Chris Hebard

    MCZCSeptember 28, 20181 min read

    In One Bright Pearl, Henry and Chris Hebard take us on an intimate journey about Zen. This wide ranging conversation explores many core questions, including... What does awakened mean?  What is happiness?  What causes our suffering? What is Zen?  Is Zen a religion?  What is practice? and why do we practice?  How do we meet personal or social crisis from a zen perspective? What differentiates me from everything else?   Settle back and enjoy this 77 minute video with Henry and Chris. https://youtu.be/cnbJ_Z9WwOs One...

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  • Teisho: One Love

    MCZCSeptember 27, 20181 min read

    "... It is possible to see through our lives to a great wonder that is without form but is infinitely loving and deeply personal ..." Description: This talk was given the day after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Henry had planned on presenting a koan but, instead, decided to tell us a story about an experience he had while at Esalen in Big Sur, California. It is possible to see through our lives to a great wonder that...

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  • Message from Henry: 4 x 4 All-Terrain Practice

    MCZCSeptember 25, 20182 min read

    The dharma we are encountering... precisely is the contents of our life, warts and all... Occasionally we hit difficult times in our practice and may be tempted to think the practice surely can't apply to or “fit in” with these rough times. I remember one phase early in my own training when I was caught in a complicated, painful situation. I assumed I would have to forego training for a while, until I had sorted things out...

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  • Unfiltered Perception

    MCZCSeptember 22, 20181 min read

    Once perception occurs unfiltered,  stripped of the habitual veil of automatic preconception,  it is inherently fulfilling. ~ Henry Shukman **** Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino. Text from The Unfamiliar Familiar, originally published in Tricycle Magazine, Fall 2014

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  • Teisho: Case 71, Book of Equanimity: Suigan’s “Eyebrows”

    MCZCSeptember 20, 20181 min read

    "... Zen does not impart anything to us, but rather allows us to let go of everything ..." Koans are able to untie things we didn’t know were tied and to open things we didn’t know were closed. Description: This talk begins with a discussion of the power of koans to work on us -- “they are little love bombs.” These stories provide us with a glimpse into the world of the great masters, showing us how they moved and spoke...

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