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.

  • 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...

    Listen to the talk
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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....

    Read more
  • 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...

    Listen to the talk
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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...

    Listen to the talk
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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...

    Watch the video
  • 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...

    Listen to the talk
  • 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...

    Read more
  • 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,...

    Listen to the talk
  • 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...

    Read more
footer support banner image

Support Mountain Cloud

You can show your gratitude for Mountain Cloud events, retreats, podcasts and other teachings by making a one-time gift, or by becoming a supporting member.

Donate to Mountain Cloud Become a Member