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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Rohatsu 2017… Enter Practice
December 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
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Dogen: Fleeting Dharma
December 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
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Teisho: Introductory Talk #4: Three Fruits of Zen Practice
December 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....
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Introductory Talk #3: Why Meditate? (Part 2)
December 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...
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21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 4
December 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...
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21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 3
November 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...
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Introductory Talk #2: Why Meditate? (Part 1)
November 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...
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21st century Buddhism: Facing Institutionalized Suffering, Part 2
November 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...
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Introductory Talk #1: The Origin of Zen Buddhism
November 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...
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