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: Why are we Here?

    MCZCDecember 1, 20161 min read

    "... Zen is not so much a teaching methodology as a learning methodology ..." Description: The second talk from the October Introductory Sesshin argues that Zen is not so much a teaching methodology as a learning methodology that allows us to explore and appreciate reality ever more intimately and gratefully. In a way, Zen has nothing to teach.  Which poses the central question: Why are we here?   At the practical level, many of us come...

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  • Message from Henry: Paying the Toll

    MCZCNovember 29, 20162 min read

    Humility is the one gateway. Without humility there can be no spiritual peace. Acknowledging our ancestors, accepting a lineage, stooping under the lintel of a house of archetypal forebears, submitting to the guidance of a teacher, imperfect though they may be, who has also in their time submitted to a teacher before them -- this all has its spiritual, psychological and doubtless neurological rationale. Of all the qualities that help us in practice, I wonder...

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  • Straightforward Mind is the Dojo

    MCZCNovember 26, 20162 min read

      直心是道場 Jikishin Kore Dojo “Straightforward mind is the Dojo"   Dojo literally means the “place - jo 場 - of the Way - do 道”, also sometimes translated as the “Bodhimandala”. An early reference to the ‘Straightforward / direct mind is found in the Platform Sutra by the sixth Patriarch Hui-neng... The Master instructed the assembly: “… the Single Conduct Samadhi is the constant practice of maintaining a direct, straightforward mind in all places,...

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  • Teisho: Three Treasures and Three Fruits

    MCZCNovember 24, 20161 min read

    Description: This first talk from the October Introductory Sesshin explores some basic underpinnings of Zen practice, introducing the Three Treasures - Buddha, Dharma, Sangha - and describing how they naturally lead us to the three “fruits of practice”: Joriki — mindful awareness, which can be further broken down into concentration, clarity and equanimity Kensho — awakening Actualization or personalization — living out awakening in ordinary daily life Buddha’s aim was to uncover what it is to...

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  • Message from Henry: Dharma

    MCZCNovember 22, 20161 min read

    ...the Dharma is actually not a teaching system. It’s a learning system. The word “Dharma” means “law” or “natural law,” but it also means “teaching.” In a Buddhist context it most commonly refers to the body of teachings of the Buddha, as well as other later teachings in the many traditions of Buddhism. Sometimes it also refers to the fundamental “law” of all things arising, changing and passing away. Thus it also refers to each...

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  • Birth and Death 5

    MCZCNovember 21, 20161 min read

    There is a simple way to become a buddha... When you refrain from unwholesome actions, are not attached to birth and death, and are compassionate toward all sentient beings, respectful to seniors and kind to juniors, not excluding or desiring anything, with no designing thoughts or worries, you will be called a buddha. Do not seek anything else.   Translated by Arnold Kotler and Kazuaki Tanahasi From Moon in a Dewdrop, Writings of Zen Master...

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  • Jizo

    MCZCNovember 19, 20161 min read

      Jizo Scroll by Seki Yasuju (1919-)     Born in Tokyo, Seki Yasuju is a sculptor and a Japanese style painter. He studied under Sawada Masahiro and Fuin Hoshi. Jizo – also known as Kṣitigarbha (in Sanskrit), is a bodhisattva that helps people in hell – s/he is seen a protector, in particular, of children and women.             Photo and creation by Rosa Bellino

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  • Teisho: Case 38, Book of Equanimity: Rinzai’s True Person

    MCZCNovember 17, 20162 min read

    "... Whatever you imagine, whatever you taste, touch, smell, see, hear -- that is nothing but Rinzai’s one true person of no rank ..." ~ Henry Shukman Rinzai instructed his assembly and said, "There is one true person of no rank, always coming out and going in through the gates of your face. Beginners who have not yet witnessed that, Look! Look!"  Then a monk came out and asked, "What is the one true person of...

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  • Message from Henry: Great Vehicle

    MCZCNovember 16, 20162 min read

    Lineage: it throws open the doors, and takes us out of the cul-de-sac of self-assessed practice. Mahayana Buddhism is precisely a call to action. The more yogic-influenced early Buddhism is arguably still a little more self-inflected: the ideal being liberation from the wheel of rebirth, or samsara, so you don’t have to be born again, rather than a dynamic call to help samsara, or the many suffering beings. Samsara may be an illusion anyway, but...

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  • Birth and Death 4

    MCZCNovember 14, 20161 min read

    This birth and death is the life of buddha. If you try to exclude it you will lose the life of buddha.  If you cling to it, trying to remain in it, you will also lose the life of buddha, and what remains will be the mere form of buddha. Only when you don't dislike birth and death or long for them, do you enter buddha's mind. However, do not analyze or speak about it....

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  • For whom do the blossoms bloom in the spring?

    MCZCNovember 11, 20162 min read

    This Japanese Tea Ceremony scroll – is attributed to Keishu Masanori (Rinzai - Zuiho-ji -Daitoku-ji) and it reads: 百花春至為誰開 Hyakka Haruitatte Taga Tameni Hiraku “For whom do the blossoms bloom in the spring?”         This the 4th line of a verse that appears in the Hekiganroku (Blue Cliff Record) – Case 5: Seppo's Grain of Rice The complete verse reads: A cow head sinks, a horse head turns up. In Sôkei's mirror...

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  • Teisho: Some Travel Excursions

    MCZCNovember 10, 20161 min read

    "... Zen training is about: letting go of all understanding, all good and bad, and right and wrong, so we can receive the boundless wonder of now, just as it is..." Description: Henry talks about his August trip to Germany where he leads 3 sesshins each year at Sonnenhof with a long-term Sanbo Zen group. Henry describes the Sonnenhof center and we learn about some masters in our lineage including the flawed yet great Yasutani Roshi....

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  • Message from Henry: “Selfless”

    MCZCNovember 8, 20162 min read

    To study the self is to forget the self; to forget the self is to drop the body and mind of self and other... -Dogen There are different meanings of “selflessness.” In common parlance we call someone selfless who acts on behalf of others, thinking little about themselves. If their behavior, in thought, word and deed, shows that their primary concern is for others, not themselves, they are “selfless.” Secondly, in meditative Dharma training there...

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  • Birth and Death 3

    MCZCNovember 7, 20161 min read

    It is a mistake to suppose that birth turns into death. Birth is a phase that is an entire period of itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, in buddha-dharma, birth is understood as no-birth. Death is a phase that is an entire period of itself, with its own past and future. For this reason, in buddha-dharma, death is understood as no-death. In birth there is nothing but birth and in death there is...

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