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.

  • Rohatsu 2017… Enter Practice

    MCZCDecember 20, 20171 min read

    Perhaps with the disenchantment of old formal religious institutions many of us are left with a reflex toward the sacred, the numinous, the ineffable, without having an immediate frame of reference by which to interpret what the impulse is, or what to do with it. Enter Practice.    ~ Henry Shukman

    Read more
  • Message from Henry: Leaking Samadhi and Non-leaking

    MCZCDecember 19, 20171 min read

    ...the person has disappeared, and joined the great single existence... Leaking samadhi is valuable. It’s a quantitative shift in experience and perspective. Non-leaking samadhi is a qualitative shift. In the former there is still a self, still a world of forms, still a person doing practice intent on various objectives in their practice. We have to work on this side, this level, all of us. It can get very, very thin though, so both world...

    Read more
  • Dogen: Fleeting Dharma

    MCZCDecember 16, 20171 min read

    Everyone admires A graceful horse Galloping past the streaming sunlight, But few realize that this fleeting image Is itself the way of Dharma. ~ Dogen Text from The Zen Poetry of Dogen: Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace, by Steve Heine Image: Wild Horses by skeeze,  CC0 Public Domain from Pixabay.com

    Read more
  • Teisho: Introductory Talk #4: Three Fruits of Zen Practice

    MCZCDecember 14, 20171 min read

    Description: This talk explores the three fruits of Zen practice. The first is concentration. The second is kensho, “seeing reality” or “seeing true nature.” The third is embodying this experience in everyday life. Concentration, or con-centration, is the process of continuously coming back to the present moment, where our lives are happening, in the center of our being. Kensho is a moment when everything falls away and we glimpse our “true nature,” as Zen calls it....

    Listen to the talk
  • Message from Henry: Relaxation

    MCZCDecember 12, 20172 min read

    Practice: part about improving, and part about changing our attitude to imperfections.  Relaxation methods can be very helpful. But they tend to exert their effect only as long as we do them. Stop them, and we may cease being relaxed. On the other hand, to rest in present moment awareness, just as things are, with no need to adjust how we are, or how things are, is to taste a more durable kind of peace....

    Read more
  • Message from Henry: Crash Course

    MCZCDecember 5, 20171 min read

    Practice is a lifelong craft...it is the craft of living itself. I recently heard about "Forty Years of Zen" -- an outfit that promises a crash course in Zen training that they claim will give you the effects of forty years of practice in exchange for just five days of training (and a modest $15,000). "There is no such thing as a crash course for a lifelong craft," says Guardian sports journalist Bryan Armen Graham,...

    Read more
  • Introductory Talk #3: Why Meditate? (Part 2)

    MCZCDecember 2, 20172 min read

    "... our existence where nothing is separate from anything else ...” Description: This talk explores why it’s worth practicing meditation, in a broader context. Henry points to four main areas of human healing and exploration where mindfulness meditation, or present moment awareness practices, have great benefit. The first area is personal psychology. Over time, as we practice, the things that trigger us and stir up our individual psychology, i.e, our neuroses or internal challenges, tend to...

    Listen to the talk
  • 21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 4

    MCZCDecember 2, 20173 min read

    To be a bodhisattva today means not just helping other people to wake up individually, but also working with others to address the socialized dukkha. Work hard to help to heal the earth. In this finally installment of Matthias Luckwaldt’s interview with David Loy, David discusses the new bodhisattva and buddhist ethics. If you missed them, click here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. In your book A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the...

    Read more
  • Message from Henry: Our Humanist Practice

    MCZCNovember 28, 20173 min read

    "...our notion of a human being shifts, broadens, changes ... the distinction between secular and sacred becomes pointless." Contemporary Western Buddhism appears to be settling mostly on an atheistic secular approach. The mindfulness movement, and the modern reformed Buddhist movement of vipassana, both regard Buddhist practice as a therapeutic retraining of an individual's psychology. Modern Zen is down with that too. That kind of approach has been designated as “ordinary Zen” since the 7th century,...

    Read more
  • 21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 3

    MCZCNovember 25, 20174 min read

    ...we have a problem that the Buddha didn’t face, and this is institutionalized dukkha. Our economic system is institutionalized greed.  In this installment of Matthias Luckwaldt's interview with David Loy, David answers questions about the poisons, precepts and the Eightfold Path.  If you missed them, click here for Part 1 and Part 2. When we talk about Buddhist ethics we usually look at the Three Poisons, the Five Precepts, and the Noble Eightfold Path. Do you feel that those...

    Read more
  • Introductory Talk #2: Why Meditate? (Part 1)

    MCZCNovember 24, 20171 min read

    "... There is nothing but the present moment ... there is nowhere but here and now ...”   Description: As we cultivate present-moment awareness, we are training ourselves to really experience what we are experiencing right now. There is nothing but the present moment. If we are thinking about the past or the future, we are doing it now. Through meditation we develop three skills: concentration; clarity; equanimity. Concentration is the ability to come back to an...

    Listen to the talk
  • Message from Henry: Breath and Space

    MCZCNovember 21, 20172 min read

    In the end, there is only one journey.  All beings, all things, are making one and the same journey. Try this: focus on breath. That is, turn the inner gaze down into the belly and either experience the sensations there as the breaths come and go, or else become aware of the space in which the breaths arise and fall – a kind of interior hall. Then shift the gaze to somewhere in the distance,...

    Read more
  • 21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 2

    MCZCNovember 18, 20174 min read

    We are in a world where is enormous amount of suffering and it comes not just from our individual karma but the way society is structured. We are  posting sections of an interview Matthias Luckwaldt had with David Loy. In this part, David talks about karma and ethics and has some strong words about institutionalized suffering and delusion. If you missed it, click here for Part 1. Luckwaldt: What should a Western Buddhist student definitely know...

    Read more
  • Introductory Talk #1: The Origin of Zen Buddhism

    MCZCNovember 17, 20172 min read

    "... Zen Buddhism is focused primarily on meditative practice—“it’s about the sitting.” ...” Description: This talk begins with the story of the Buddha, which means, “awakened one.” He began his life as a prince, Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni), and became Buddha after six and a half years of practice. After encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse and, finally, a spiritual seeker, the young prince became determined to resolve the problem of suffering. Once immersed in...

    Listen to the talk
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