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.

  • 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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  • The Problem with Karma, by David Loy

    MCZCSeptember 11, 20166 min read

    ...we experience karmic consequences not just for what we have done but also for what we have become, and what we intentionally do is what makes us what we are. What are we going to do about karma? It’s no use pretending that karma hasn’t become a problem for contemporary Buddhism. In many ways Buddhist teachings seem very modern in their emphasis on impermanence and interdependence (evolution, ecology), insubstantiality (physics), the deceptions of language (philosophy),...

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  • Do you wish to know Buddha?

    MCZCSeptember 9, 20161 min read

    When your mind ceases to bustle about, you will in no way differ from Buddha. Do you wish to know Buddha? He is none other than the one behind your face, listening to my sermon. “It is difficult for students to have faith in this, so they busy themselves with external matters. They may gain something, but it will only be words. In the end, they will fail to grasp the vital point of the...

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  • Teisho: Summer Sesshin: Why sit with Mu? (Part 3 of 5)

    MCZCSeptember 8, 20161 min read

    "Our ‘sensorium’ composes the totality of our world; to believe there is anything else is an error, according to Buddha.” "... sitting with mu is 'a set up to bring about the most remarkable short-circuit' ...” ~ Henry Shukman Description: Henry opens this third talk from the summer sesshin by reading a short sutra by Buddha, “I will teach you the All.”  This sutra prepares the way for Henry’s upcoming teaching about the five skandhas. He...

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  • Message from Henry: Not Live, Not Dead

    MCZCSeptember 6, 20163 min read

    This whole world is nothing but a speck of moonlight reflected in one little dewdrop.  -Dogen Most of us come into Zen training with a problem. We’re unhappy. We don’t know why we’re here. We experience pain. And injustice. And loss. We suffer. We get sick. Then we die. Sure, we can try and shore up some buffers against this but they will inevitably be stripped away like chaff. No matter if like Alexander the...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 7 Conclusion

    MCZCSeptember 5, 20168 min read

    The ultimate goal is to completely break through and let go of the self-centeredness or “I-dolatry”, which prevents people from relating to others in wise and compassionate ways.  Click to read the previous parts of Buddhism in the West: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4,  Part 5 and Part 6. From the beginning, all beings are Buddha... This opening line of Hakuin`s Ekaku`s (1686-1769) “Song of Zazen”, which forms part of the list of chants...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 6

    MCZCSeptember 2, 20166 min read

    ...many people in the West today are on an inner emigration into Asian culture; that they take over Buddhist ways of thinking without knowing either their own or the other culture well enough. --Franz Johannes Litsch Click to read the previous parts of Buddhism in the West: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. Some Psycho-spice of Self-acceptance While many Buddhists in the West are seriously devoted to their practice, Buddhism...

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  • Teisho: Summer Sesshin: Exploring Dharma and Mu (Part 2 of 5)

    MCZCSeptember 1, 20161 min read

    "Dharma is not simply philosophy or understanding….we ourselves are utterly implicit, included within it.” "Zen practice is a means to take apart our conditioned ways of existing, taking apart the machine to see what is really there." ~ Henry Shukman Description: Henry begins this second summer sesshin talk by describing our practice as “getting under the hood…of our habitual ways of seeing, experiencing and acting.”  Zen practice is a means to take apart our conditioned ways of...

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