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.

  • Beyond McMindfulness, by David Loy and Ron Purser, Part 1

    MCZCOctober 10, 20164 min read

    ...the rush to secularize and commodify mindfulness into a marketable technique may be leading to an unfortunate denaturing of this ancient practice. Suddenly mindfulness meditation has become mainstream, making its way into schools, corporations, prisons, and government agencies including the U.S. military. Millions of people are receiving tangible benefits from their mindfulness practice: less stress, better concentration, perhaps a little more empathy. Needless to say, this is an important development to be welcomed — but...

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  • The Path

    MCZCOctober 7, 20161 min read

    The best of the paths is the Eightfold [Path];           The best of the truths is the Four [Noble Truths]. The best of qualities is dispassion;        And the best among god's and humans             Is the one with eyes to see. This is the path        For purifying one's vision; there is no other. Follow it,        You'll bewilder...

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  • Teisho: Obedience

    MCZCOctober 6, 20162 min read

    “I am busy not influencing anything."  ~ Master Mumon Description: Henry looks at the concept of obedience and how it applies to Zen and to the Sanbo Zen lineage. Henry explores the term obeisance as used in Case 35 from the Book of Equanimity, Rakuho’s Obeisance. He provides some reflections on obedience, humility, letting be, and putting what is above our sense of our self. He also explores the difference between a pressured kind of zen...

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  • Message from Henry: What is Emptiness?

    MCZCOctober 4, 20162 min read

    Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming all suffering and distress. What is emptiness? Yamada Koun Roshi calls it “a most solemn reality.” Yet it is not a phenomenon, but an experience. We don’t know it the way we know all other phenomena. Rather, it’s a different way of experiencing all phenomena. We “see” that the whole plethora of phenomena, the entire “sensorium” of our experience, is “hollow, empty, insubstantial,” as...

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  • A Zen Reflection on Pope Francis’ Visit to the US, by Joan Rieck

    MCZCSeptember 30, 20167 min read

    ...we are one family, living in one home with responsibility for each other and for our planet.   Written by Sanbo Zen teacher Joan Rieck for the October 2015 newsletter of Sonnenhof, our center for Zen and contemplation in the Black Forest, Germany.  Dear Friends, This past week, Pope Francis visited the United States and inspired millions of us with his humble demeanor and stirring words. He spoke movingly of the great challenges facing the...

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  • Teisho: Grief, Anger and Delusion: What are we doing when we sit?

    MCZCSeptember 29, 20161 min read

    “There is not a  hair’s-breadth of difference between oneself and others in the limitless universe;  heaven, earth and I are of the same root.” ~ Henry Shukman Description: Henry opens this compelling talk with his deep concern about rising political turmoil, with neo-fascism and racism affecting the UK and other western nations.  Henry talks about action in the face of turbulent times and explores how sitting is a powerful form of direct action.  Meditation creates a space...

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  • Message from Henry: Is there something wrong with me?

    MCZCSeptember 27, 20163 min read

    ...it is nothing more than an insubstantial voice in the mind, a chimera, surrounded by limitless freedom and space. Here is a common issue that comes up in meditation: our minds are agitated or unsettled, we find ourselves repeatedly taken away from our practice by thoughts, frequently distracted. Sooner or later judgements start to sneak in: this is a bad sit, I’m doing this really poorly, etc. Often it can transmute into: I should be...

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  • The Dharma of the Rings, by David R Loy

    MCZCSeptember 23, 20167 min read

    What is the Ring? Its magnetic-like attraction is a profound symbol for the karma of power. Can The Lord of the Rings be understood as a new Buddhist myth - a spiritual teaching that speaks to our situation today? Tolkien’s Middle-earth may not seem very susceptible to a Buddhist reading, given its uncompromising dualism between good and evil, and apparent endorsement of violence against evil. It’s clear that the only good orc is a dead...

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  • Teisho: Summer Sesshin: Experience not intellect (Part 5 of 5)

    MCZCSeptember 22, 20161 min read

    “In practice, we meet in a different kind of way; silently, not looking at one and other, but experiencing one another with a different kind of intimacy ...” ~ Henry Shukman Description: In this final talk of our summer sesshin, Henry wraps up what he has been communicating during this week of silence. He stresses that Zen is not about understanding, which is why Zen has been passed on through living flesh and blood teachers. This kind...

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  • Messge from Henry: Where are we going?

    MCZCSeptember 20, 20163 min read

    Existence itself is still a great mystery. When we sit we let that mystery express itself.. When we gather for a retreat we take our places in the zendo, a bit like passengers on a vessel. The question naturally might arise: where are we going? One “Zen” answer might be: nowhere, we already arrived, the journey is over, there never was a journey, etc. But on the other hand, what if we are going somewhere?...

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  • The Three Poisons, Institutionalized, by David R Loy

    MCZCSeptember 19, 20167 min read

    ...our present economic system institutionalizes greed, our militarism institutionalizes ill will, and the corporate media institutionalize delusion. The Buddha didn’t say much about evil, but he spoke often about what are sometimes called the three roots of evil, also known as the “three poisons”: greed, ill will, and delusion. His understanding of karma emphasized the role of these intentions: when what we do is motivated by greed, ill will, or delusion, dukkha “suffering” results. Today...

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  • The “Lack” of Money, by David Loy

    MCZCSeptember 16, 20167 min read

    Money ends up becoming “frozen desire” - not desire for anything in particular, but desire in general. What is money? We use it every day, so we must understand how it works... or do we? Perhaps our familiarity keeps us from appreciating just how strange money actually is - and how it uses us. What is a dollar bill? A piece of paper. You can’t eat it, ride in it, or sleep on it. The...

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  • Teisho: Summer Sesshin: The Five Skandhas (Part 4 of 5)

    MCZCSeptember 15, 20161 min read

    "We don’t know what’s good in the long run, but separation is an illusion. Anything that reinforces that illusion is misguided and will lead to more suffering ...” ~ Henry Shukman Description: In this fourth teisho of the summer sesshin, Henry explores how our conditioned ways of perceiving experience lead to delusion and separation. He details the five skandhas: form, sensation, perception, mental reaction, consciousness, and talks specifically about Buddha’s teachings on the skandhas. He then explores how...

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  • Message from Henry: “Madiba”

    MCZCSeptember 13, 20163 min read

    That diamond brought into the African light after its years buried deep in confinement says: Forgiveness. Nothing else. The Nelson Mandela Orchid Mandela forgave everyone. He even forgave all the white people who had treated Africans so cruelly for so long. Our zendo is mostly Caucasian. I wish it were more mixed in every demographic sense, and hope it will be, but for now we are as we are and we need to remember the...

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