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: Coming Home

    MCZCSeptember 18, 20182 min read

    The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The journey of a million miles begins by sitting down. The whole drama of the self, which wants this and doesn't want that, and gets anxious and then doesn't like the anxiety and wants to be rid of it – why not take a little step back and touch into an awareness which includes all of that, which holds all our experience in a kind...

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  • When Spring Returns

    MCZCSeptember 15, 20181 min read

    When spring returns to the earth, the myriad things are born. Smashing empty space to pieces, one is free and at ease. One will never again become attached to self or others. Although the Dharma Realm is vast, one can encompass it all. *** Venerable Master Hsuan Hua http://www.cttbusa.org/dharmatalks/chan.asp *** Image and Creation by Rosa Bellino.

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  • Teisho: Ruben Habito: Two Zen Questions – Guest Episode

    MCZCSeptember 13, 20182 min read

    Description: This talk was given by Ruben Habito Roshi, founding teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, TX and Professor of Comparative Religion at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He offers an inspiring introductory talk on Zen, centered on two key questions of a lifetime... Please enjoy this 30 minute talk from a great living Zen master to find out more!. NOTE: The original recording is at a low audio level with some background noise, however Rubne Roshi's...

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  • Message from Henry: Experience

    MCZCSeptember 11, 20182 min read

    ...we’re all barefoot servants, joined in a joyous humility. Right off the bat Zen is about experience. The fact. Reality. The meeting of this moment in its very core. Like getting inside the heart of the atom. Inside the force that makes this moment – with all its contents unified, and with each of its contents individual and unassailable in itself. The praise and awe and reverence that might be given to Shakyamuni or other teachers...

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  • Flower’s Song, Dogen

    MCZCSeptember 8, 20181 min read

    Haru kaze ni Waga koto no ha no Chirinuru o Hana no uta to ya Hito no nagamen. **** Will their gaze fall upon The petals of words I utter, Shaken loose and blown free by the spring breeze, As if only the notes Of a flower's song? **** The Zen Poetry of DOGEN Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace STEVEN HEINE Tuttle Publishing. Boston This talk was given by Zen teacher John Gaynor at The Meditatio Centre on wed 13 September 2017 Click to listen. **** Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino...

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  • Teisho: Happiness

    MCZCSeptember 6, 20181 min read

    Description: In this talk, Henry touches on the various kinds of happiness, or sukha, as articulated by the Buddha, and explores why happiness is a worthwhile subject in light of the questions: Who are we? What are we? Why are we here? Ultimately, Zen practice can guide us into allowing the true experience of unconditional wellbeing. Post & Featured image: Happiness by mohamed_hassan, CCO Public Domain.

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  • Message from Henry: Zen and Vipassana

    MCZCSeptember 4, 20184 min read

    ...that infinite nothing has the power to resolve our lives, and not through a sweeping nihilism but an infinite loving wonder, a marvel at the core of every moment... I enjoy close inspection and investigation of the fabric of experience. When I'm thinking a lot, is there some discomfort in the body for example: perhaps the chest is tight. Is it an emotion? Which one? What initiated it? Was it that thought about a recent conversation?...

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  • The Meaning of it All, by David R Loy

    MCZCSeptember 1, 20186 min read

    ...by not taking this side rather than that, we become receptive to both. By not identifying with either, we can come to identify with everything. ~ David Loy The most important thing that humans create is meaning. Because of our distinctive ways of valuing and intending, it is with us (or, to express it less dualistically: in us, as us) that the cosmos becomes meaningful in a new way. To examine the universe objectively and conclude that...

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  • Teisho: Suffering, Beauty & The Dharma

    MCZCAugust 30, 20181 min read

    Description: Highlighting excerpts from two books, Why Buddhism is True, by Robert Wright and Narcissus and Goldmund, by Hermann Hesse, this talk focuses on three topics: suffering, beauty, and the Dharma. When we expose and examine our pain and the suffering caused by wanting things to be different than they are, it becomes easier to allow and accept it— just as it is. Then, we can truly discover the Dharma, and the experience of beauty is...

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  • Message from Henry: Awakening & Training

    MCZCAugust 28, 20182 min read

    Awakening: the real experience is a one-off, but it never ends. It’s worth following this path because it offers a means, a way, a vehicle and a safe space for letting go of everything. Afterwards it picks us up and shows us how to live and practice endlessly, beyond the letting go. To let go in the thorough way it allows changes things for the better. Not only that, the path toward such a fulcrum-point is strewn...

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  • Teisho: The Christmas Story & Zen

    MCZCAugust 25, 20181 min read

    All things pregnant with a single treasure. "... open the inn door and allow room for now? Attending to the present moment opens the space where the treasure that is intrinsic to our existence is revealed ..." Description: Essentially, the core of all the great traditions teach us about what it is to be human. In this beautiful talk, Henry explores some aspects of the Christmas story with a view from the Zen perspective. There is a star in the sky,...

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  • Butterfly and Flower

    MCZCAugust 25, 20181 min read

    Without a thought, the flower invites the butterfly. Without a thought, the butterfly visits the flower. When the flower blooms, the butterfly comes.   When the butterfly arrives, the flower blooms. I do not know others; others do not know me. Not knowing each other, we act in accord with the Goddess of Spring. —Ryokan Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino

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  • Message from Henry: Mood Management

    MCZCAugust 21, 20182 min read

    Only a hair’s breadth of difference separates heaven and earth. Sometimes with moods we may tend to think that on a scale of 1-100 we are stuck deep down at a 5 or a 7, and that we really need to be up at 95. But perhaps we’re really at 45 or 47 and only need to get up to 51 or 52. Subjectively, we sometimes feel we’re way down deep, but objectively, it could be...

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  • Beauty

    MCZCAugust 18, 20181 min read

    Beauty eludes the seeker... turns up unsought. ***** Zen Forest Sayings of the Masters

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