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.
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The Tao is like a Well
June 23, 20181 min read
The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don’t know who gave birth to it. It is older than God. Text: Mitchell, Stephen. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics), HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Image: Concentric wave by geralt, CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.com
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 3a of 6)
June 21, 20181 min read
"... We live in the vast earth, breathing inside this great mystery, having an immediate experience of co-creation in every moment ..." Description: This is the third in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry begins with a reading from Becoming Animal and David reads a poem from Henry’s collection, Archangel. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being, or inter-breathing, with the animate earth. This generous and fertile...
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The Dharma of Deconstruction, by David Loy, Part 2 of 2
June 16, 20188 min read
For Nagarjuna, shunyata is simply a shorthand way to express the interdependence of all things. Nothing has any “self-existence” or “self-presence” because everything–including all concepts–is dependent upon everything else. Click to read Part 1. Western philosophy’s turn toward examining the role of language in shaping experience, can one find in it, as in Buddhism, an acknowledgment of the possibility of profound spiritual liberation? Well, not quite, but there are some intriguing similarities. Friedrich Nietzsche...
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Teisho: Case 65, Blue Cliff Record: A Non-Buddhist Questions Buddha
June 16, 20181 min read
"... Buddha is showing us who he is by remaining still, showing us the core of our own heart ..." Description: The first part of this talk centers on Case 65, which also appears in the The Gateless Gate. The questions arise: What is a Buddhist? What is a non-Buddhist? What is awakening? In this koan, Buddha is showing us who he is by remaining still, showing us the core of our own heart. The...
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The Dharma of Deconstruction, by David Loy, Part 1 of 2
June 9, 20184 min read
For Nagarjuna, the world as we commonly experience it is a linguistic construct. The fundamental insight of what is known as the “linguistic turn” in twentieth-century Western thought is that language shapes our experience. Some of the most influential modern thinkers challenge our usual assumption that using language is merely a matter of attaching names to things that already exist in the world. In a very important sense, language creates the world as we know...
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Teisho: A Love So Great
June 8, 20181 min read
"... What is this activity? ... the principle of ultimate compassion, of love ..." The bodhisattva doesn’t control themselves, they’re controlled by the needs around them. Description: Henry references several koans from the Book of Equanimity in this talk, which begins with the distinction between a dharma talk and a teisho. This leads us into Case 7, Yakusan Ascends the Rostrum, and Case 67, Wisdom in the Kegon Sutra, and Case 66, Kyûhô’s ‘Head and Tail’....
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Sangha Meeting Minutes: June 2, 2018
June 6, 20189 min read
Thank you to all who attended our June 2 sangha meeting. Attendees are listed at the end of this report. We have three sangha meetings per year. We are now publishing the minutes on our website and will continue to post them on our bulletin board. Opening sit at 10am followed by the approval of the January sangha meeting minutes. Teacher's Report (see below for the complete report written by Henry for...
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Between the Human Animal and the Animate Earth (Part 2b of 6)
May 31, 20182 min read
"... the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature ..." Description: This is the second in a three-part series of spontaneous conversations between Henry and David Abram. Henry and David continue to explore the sacredness of our human inter-being with the rest of nature. David is an ecologist, geo-philosopher, and writer. David describes a geo-philosopher to be someone who reflects under the influence of the earth. He is particularly interested in the ecology of sensory...
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What is Eco-dharma, by David Loy
May 26, 20183 min read
...practicing in nature, clarifying the ecological implications of Buddhism, and using that understanding to engage in the eco-activism... Ecodharma is a relatively new word, and its meaning is by no means fixed. The term combines the teachings of Buddhism and related spiritual traditions (dharma) with ecology or ecological concerns (eco). A bit more specifically, ecodharma can be understood as a new development in contemporary Buddhism, in response to the ecological crisis that now threatens civilization...
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