Teachings

  • Message from Valerie: An Invitation to Serve

    Valerie ForstmanJanuary 25, 20232 min read

    Mountain Cloud sangha members are currently coming together once each month to prepare and serve a delicious meal at the Interfaith Shelter, known as Pete’s Place, here in Santa Fe. For members interested in further engagement with vulnerable segments of our community, we have an opportunity to serve with fellow practitioners in Upaya’s Street Ministry project.  Upaya’s Street Ministry focuses on supporting member’s of Santa Fe’s community who are experiencing homelessness. Volunteers in the Street Ministry not only...

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  • Interview by Sweeping Zen with David Loy, Part 2

    MCZCApril 22, 20164 min read

    ...every time Buddhism has spread to a different culture it hasn’t just imposed itself but has also been changed, sometimes radically. Sweeping Zen: Your works have been described by many of your colleagues as helping to reshape our Western understanding of Buddhist teachings, sometimes marking a departure from the so-called Asian party line. Is this something that you’ve intentionally set out to do? David Loy: Yes, very much so. Arnold Toynbee is reputed to have said (though...

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  • Teisho: Bodhidharma’s Zen Part 2 of 2

    MCZCApril 21, 20161 min read

    Description: Henry continues his exploration of Bodhidharma’s core teaching, Outline of Practice, the Two Gates.  He opens the teisho with an inspiring quote from the novel Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams that captures an essence of what we seek in Zen practice. Then we learn that our tradition of facing the wall comes from Bodhidharma, (the tradition says he faced a cave wall for 9 years) whose teachings are a powerful blend of meditation and Taoism...

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  • Message from Henry: Reflections

    MCZCApril 20, 20163 min read

    Life uses us and does not care how we feel about it. I recently re-watched the movie E.T. with one of our sons. Early on, there’s a scene where the main (human) character, a boy called Eliot, has been scattering M&M’s to try to lure the extra-terrestrial out of hiding, though he hasn’t yet met ET. Finally ET appears, and Eliot is paralysed with fear as he approaches. ET extends his arm, and Eliot shrinks back...

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  • Interview by Sweeping Zen with David Loy, Part 1

    MCZCApril 18, 20167 min read

    Yes, all form is empty, but emptiness is always taking form. Sweeping Zen: This question gets asked a lot, but, how did you first get started with Zen practice? David Loy: In 1971 I was living in Hawaii, sometimes hanging out with a friend in Waikiki who heard about a zendo near the University called Koko An. We went there one evening and after the sitting learned that the following weekend there would be a seven day...

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  • Bodhi Tree

    MCZCApril 15, 20161 min read

    The body is the Bodhi tree, The mind is like a clear mirror. At all times we must strive to polish it, And must not let the dust collect. Shenxiu, according to Huineng, the sixth Patriarch of Zen Bodhi originally has no tree The mirror also has no stand. Buddha nature is always clear and pure; Where is the room for dust? -Huineng   Poem taken from Zen Poems, Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets, 1999 Image: Past, by Hartwig HKD, CC BY-ND 2.0, from Flickr.com...

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  • Teisho: Bodhidharma’s Zen Part 1 of 2

    MCZCApril 14, 20161 min read

    Description: In this talk, Henry explores the origins of zen as it moved from India, to China and finally Japan.  This penetrating teisho grounds us in Bodhidharma’s view of zen which is rooted in four simple but profound characteristics: a special mind to mind transmission outside scripture; not relying on words and letters; directly pointing to the human mind; and becoming Buddha. Henry discusses Bodhidharma’s Outline of Practice, or the “Two Gates” to entry which are...

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  • Message from Henry: Practice is a Mirror

    MCZCApril 13, 20163 min read

    That’s practice: an empty mirror... like a mirror it simply reflects what comes in front of it. The zendo in Sonnenhof Zen Center in Germany is called “Empty Mirror Zendo.” That’s practice: an empty mirror. Meaning, that like a mirror it simply reflects what comes in front of it. It has no qualities itself. So if you feel you don’t like practice, that’s not exactly right. Rather, “not liking” is what is appearing in the mirror of practice. *...

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  • Vanishing

    MCZCApril 11, 20161 min read

    To what Shall I compare the world? It is like the wake Vanishing behind a boat that has rowed away at dawn. Sami Manzei   Poem taken from Zen Poems, Everyman's Library Pocket Poets, 1999 Image: Dawn Rowers, by Ed Dunens, CC-by-2.0, from Flickr.com

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  • Mountain Cloud Photo Gallery

    MCZCApril 8, 20161 min read

    Enjoy these images of our zendo.  Photos taken by Cherie Manifest, used with her permission.       On the stone a name is inscribed. What is the name?             Stop the sound of the distant bell.               Emptiness             Wisdom, compassion, equanimity         All people have their own place of birth in Karma. What is your place of birth in Karma?         Past, present future: unattainable, Yet clear as the noteless sky. Late at night the stool's cold as iron, But the moonlit window smells of plum.  Hakuin         Yield to the willow All passions, all desires...

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  • Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 21, Ungan Sweeps the Ground

    MCZCApril 7, 20162 min read

    Description: Case 21, Book of Equanimity: Ungan Sweeps the Ground When Ungan was sweeping the ground, Dôgo said, "You are working hard, aren’t you.” Ungan said, "You should know there is one who does not work hard." Dôgo said, “Is that so? You mean there is a second moon?" Ungan raised his bamboo broom and said, “What number moon is this?" Dôgo was silent. Gensha said, "That is precisely the second moon." Unmon said, "The man-servant greets the maid-servant...

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  • Message from Henry: A Little Word

    MCZCApril 5, 20163 min read

    Zen is not a palliative. Zen is not a contentment device. It is not a path to bliss, or to some Lotus-land in the distant West. It is a path to life itself. Zen is a small word, and has been visiting our language for less than a century, which is a short time. Yet it has already had to live through the kind of abuse and misuse you’d think would take much longer to accrue....

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  • Ninth and Tenth Oxherding Pictures, by Ruben Habito

    MCZCApril 4, 20164 min read

    The ninth stage is described as a return to the source. Now, after having forgotten both my “self” and the “world” (that is, what is thought to be “outside of myself,” what emerges? There’s a bamboo shoot. There is a plum blossom. There is a rock beside a gently flowing stream. Beyond that we don’t see anything. This is just the realization of the way things are, as they are, in their naturalness. It is...

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  • Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Oxherding Pictures, by Ruben Habito

    MCZCApril 1, 20162 min read

      The sixth stage is riding the ox home. We are now able to feel that we are on our way home. We can ride the ox and it doesn’t try to jump and throw us away like a bucking bronco anymore. It is now fully one with us, and we are comfortable riding the ox. But still, there is more to come.           The seventh stage is about forgetting the ox, leaving the child to simply sit...

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  • Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 20, Jizo’s “Most Intimate”

    MCZCMarch 31, 20162 min read

    “Real spirituality is about going beyond who we think we are”  Description: Case 20, Book of Equanimity: Jizô's "Most Intimate" Jizô asked Hôgen, "Where are you going, senior monk?" Hôgen said, "I am on pilgrimage, following the wind." Jizô said, "What are you on pilgrimage for?" Hôgen said, "I don't know." Jizô said, "Not knowing is most intimate." Hôgen suddenly attained great enlightenment. Henry explores “Not knowing is most intimate.” There are two kinds not-knowing in Zen:  first is extinguishing, the...

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