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.

  • In Search of the Sacred, by David Loy, Part 4 of 4

    MCZCJuly 15, 20176 min read

    Enlightenment, we might well say, is the means by which the self-organizing cosmos wakes up. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series by David Loy. The American cosmologist Brian Swimme spoke in an interview of what he saw as the “greatest discovery of the scientific enterprise: you take hydrogen gas, and you leave it alone, and it turns into rosebushes, giraffes, and humans. . . . If humans are spiritual, then...

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Day 5, Case 14 of The Book of Equanimity

    MCZCJuly 13, 20171 min read

    "Coming to what has grown up in the nursery of the mighty tree of Buddha’s awakening…to a refuge of practice…we are being taught how to live as helpful humans." Description: This talk continues the arc of Tokusan’s life by looking at the last koan in his biography, Case 14 of the Shôyôroku (Book of Equanimity), “Attendant Kaku Offers Tea.” At this point, Tokusan has “mellowed beyond all mellowing—unbound, consciousness gone.” The monk in the koan does...

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  • Message from Henry: Let go into Stillness

    MCZCJuly 11, 20171 min read

    We are caught in the space between a great receiving and a great offering. Sometimes it seems astonishing that anyone can ever let go in the thorough way Zen supports and encourages. How on earth does it happen? It is so hard to let go of our world and all we believe our life to be. Other times it seems perfectly natural, in some ways the most natural thing in the world…. ****** We are...

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  • In Search of the Sacred, by David Loy, Part 3 of 4

    MCZCJuly 8, 20174 min read

    What if we try to understand the physical universe according to a biological model—that is, as alive? Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. For the Protestant reformers, secular life was a preparation for our ultimate destiny: this world is a means to a higher end. However, as the sacred pole—God, the guarantor that life is meaningful and salvation possible—faded away, the original religious reason for that distinction (eternal life in heaven) was lost....

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Day 4, Case 13 of The Gateless Gate

    MCZCJuly 6, 20172 min read

    "All we really have to do is get out of the way and the beautiful energy of the practice will just take over." "... we learn to let go and let it do the work ..." Description: This teisho is the fourth of the Spring 2017 sesshin. Henry begins by discussing how the practice of sesshin gets much better over time—”we learn to let go and let it do the work.” Having a difficult time can be...

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  • Message from Henry: Koan Study

    MCZCJuly 4, 20173 min read

    ...koans hold us to a certain “standard” of training and practice...They hold out the possibility of really transformative practice for human beings. Koans are not riddles, not “dreams” as I recently read one teacher say, and not enigmas. They simply establish the teaching of Zen. They show with clarity and wakefulness, and sometimes force, the reality that the old Zen masters had awakened to. They could not be clearer. They could not be less dream-like....

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  • In Search of the Sacred, by David Loy, Part 2 of 4

    MCZCJuly 1, 20174 min read

    Desacralization occurred because God came to be understood as dwelling far above this corrupted world and also deep inside the human heart. But where God all but ceased to dwell was in the everyday world of our social lives. Read Part 1 of In Search of the Sacred. The result of this hugely complex historical process (which I of course have had to greatly simplify here) is that religion became privatized. God was booted upstairs,...

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Day 3, Case 4 of The Blue Cliff Record

    MCZCJune 29, 20172 min read

    "The alchemy of slow-cooking—that’s also zen…" “When the mind is quiet, we notice so much more…the things we encounter are the teachings.” Description: This teisho is the third of the Spring 2017 sesshin. Henry begins by discussing how we all start to simmer down, as sesshin progresses. “When the mind is quiet, we notice so much more…the things we encounter are the teachings.” Snowflakes, bridge, flower, floor, dog. Henry picks up on the story of Tokusan...

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  • Message from Henry: Priorities

    MCZCJune 27, 20172 min read

    ...it’s unreasonable to chase things that are inherently unsatisfactory and expect to be satisfied.   Master Sheng Yen says we must be patient with our practice. We also should be realistic with ourselves. If we are expecting to feel much better just by doing the practice, without changing our priorities at all, we are likely to stay disturbed by things that are likely to disturb us -- in other words, things that are driven by...

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  • In Search of the Sacred, by David Loy, Part 1 of 4

    MCZCJune 24, 20174 min read

    The idea of a secular world was originally one half of a duality—and it remains haunted by the loss of its other half. Modernity developed out of the separation that ensued when that other half gradually disappeared into the clouds. Today Buddhism faces what is likely its greatest challenge ever, as it makes its way into a modern world completely different from anything it has encountered before. In sharp contrast to the traditional Asian cultures...

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  • Teisho: Sesshin Day 2, Case 28 of The Gateless Gate

    MCZCJune 22, 20172 min read

    "We know we are really practicing because we are OK even when it’s difficult…" "... who was ripe, was freed of the vine. Body and mind gone ..." Description: This teisho is the second of the Spring 2017 sesshin. Henry encourages everyone to stay with their practice, as the sesshin continues and we learn to mind less. He discusses the adaptation process at the start of each sesshin and says, “I personally do not know of another...

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  • June Work Retreat Photos

    MCZCJune 22, 20171 min read

    Enjoy these pictures from our work retreat June 4-10. Thank you so much to the participants:  Christy, Tor, Chris, Bill, Maura, Hans, Lucas, Sherry, Duncan, Connie, Neal, Sandy and Gudrun. Apologies if I missed anyone. [caption id="attachment_7135" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Work crew and adobes[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_7147" align="alignleft" width="300"] An energized crew[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7145" align="alignright" width="300"] Connie and Maura[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7136" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Brick village[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_7137" align="aligncenter" width="768"] MCZC Carpenter Bill[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_7138"...

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  • Message from Henry: Most Profound Opportunity

    MCZCJune 20, 20172 min read

    Perhaps the further we go, the more of a student we become, and the more teachers we have… until there is nothing that is not our teacher. Last week I wrote about not getting tossed away from our practice by things we don't like that arise in the course of it. After it was posted someone sent me a far better and briefer statement: “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you ever...

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  • What is a Koan?

    MCZCJune 17, 20172 min read

    The koan is a little nugget of something an awakened master did during his time. ~ Henry Shukman Henry Shukman, answers the question: What is a koan? The text is taken from a 2-minute video clip from an upcoming full length feature film on a conversation between Henry Shukman and Chris Hebard about Zen and more. The word koan actually means "a public case" which has a legal background, like an established legal precedent. The world transferred over to the spiritual realm...

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