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.

  • Message from Henry: Tears from the Awakened Heart

    MCZCAugust 30, 20163 min read

    When we understand that grief is a necessary corollary of loving, Buddha is helping us no longer to think of grief as bad. After years of extremely long hard solo sitting late at night, Soko Morinaga Roshi suddenly came to awakening. Later he wrote: “The one thing I am sure of is that in this instant, the functioning of the heart with which I was born came into play in its purest form.” “Why is...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 5

    MCZCAugust 29, 20168 min read

    The Buddhist notion of “No-Self” (Anatta) is deeply connected to the teaching of interconnectedness, which fits well with this concept of a person as a nexus of relationships. It is however far from clear that Buddhist teaching can be made to fit with the Western enlightenment view that the person is an autonomous being. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of Buddhism in the West. Dharma, Diversity and Race...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 4

    MCZCAugust 26, 20169 min read

    In the West, the question of whether a woman can become enlightened or not is now considered historical, at best. Women have not only carved out their own spaces, both at American universities and Buddhist centers, but have also been in the forefront of helping the efforts of their Asian sisters to gain full monastic ordination... Click to read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of Buddhism in the West. The Dharma is neither...

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  • Teisho: Summer Sesshin: What is life? (Part 1 of 5)

    MCZCAugust 25, 20161 min read

    "The point of practice is not merely to understand, but to experience our lives in new ways.” ~ Kyogen Description: In this first talk from our summer sesshin, Henry offers a fresh perspective on what life actually is. He shows us how koans can lead us from a misguided understanding of life to a startling inclusivity of all life. Henry shares experiences from his recent travels in Guatemala and explores the roots of the word “truth,”...

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  • Message from Henry: Mu ichi motsu

    MCZCAugust 23, 20162 min read

    Misery tends to be simplistic. Well being tends to be open to complexity, pluralism, uncertainty. People naturally interpret the term “emptiness” in the light of what they have experienced. Some say it means there are no boundaries; others that all things exist but without “self-existence”; relatively few go the whole hog and say: mu ichi motsu: “there is not one thing, there is nothing at all.” This variety is likely attributable to what people have...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 3

    MCZCAugust 22, 20168 min read

    Even though the development of Buddhism in the West followed different trajectories in different countries, there are certain common characteristics. One of them is the emphasis on an existential and meditative search for new ways of living. Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Buddhism in the West Buddhism comes to the West Buddhist source texts became known in Europe only in the 19th.century, but enthusiastic reports about Chinese civilization and religions...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 2

    MCZCAugust 19, 201611 min read

    In Buddhist teaching, the notion of an independent, individual self is the root of the illusion and suffering because it gives rise to distinction between self and other, and with that to likes and aversions... it leads us to behave in ways that create suffering for ourselves and for others, in ways that disregard our deep interconnectedness.  Click here to read Part 1 of Buddhism in the West. Indian and Asian Beginnings The canonical stories...

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  • Teisho: What are people for?

    MCZCAugust 18, 20161 min read

    "I have a function, it’s seen in the twinkling of an eye.” ~ Kyogen "... we are not simply aware of the universe, we are the universe becoming aware of itself ..." Description: Having overheard a youth ask the question, Henry picks it up as a theme for this  teisho: what people are people for?  He explores Master Kyogen’s awakening, and the critical meetings with his teacher Isan, and elder dharma brother Kyozan, that followed.  Henry...

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  • Message from Henry: Middle Way

    MCZCAugust 16, 20162 min read

    Far better to throw away both emptiness and all things.  --Mumon Last time I sat with my teacher Joan Rieck Roshi she mentioned a Buddhist teaching: “Don’t be attached to Dharmas, don’t be attached to no-dharmas.” This is a perfect statement of practice - but maybe takes a little unpacking. Our ordinary sense of things, of phenomena as phenomena, is blind to things not being things, to phenomena not being phenomena. Most of us might...

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  • Buddhism in the West, by Maria Reis Habito, Part 1

    MCZCAugust 15, 20166 min read

    Does Buddhist spirituality in the West lead to self-indulgence, rather than self-realization? “I am not religious, but I’m spiritual”. This is a commonly heard statement, especially among younger people, many of whom are disaffected with organized religion, but seek some form of secular spirituality.  For many Westerners who would describe themselves in the above way, the teaching of Buddhism holds great attraction.  Different from the Abrahamic religions, Buddhism is not based on a revelation by God,...

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  • Buddhism for a Post-Axial Age, Review of David Loy’s A New Buddhist Path, Part 4

    MCZCAugust 12, 20166 min read

    This post concludes Ruben Habito's review of A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution and Ethics in the Modern World by David Loy. Click to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. The portrayal of a “Buddhism for a post-Axial” age that David Loy undertakes in this book, which is no other than a path of awakening that traverses the middle way between the two poles of transcendence and immanence, and that also brings these...

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  • Teisho: Lineage (Part 3 of 3)

    MCZCAugust 11, 20161 min read

    "Lineage is simply the continuum of practicing humans.”  Description: Henry In this last teisho in the lineage series Henry explores what practice actually is, for human beings. He shows us that Zen points to who/what we find ourselves to be, once we are less compelled by our relentless and isolating sense of self-identity. When looking at the possibilities of Zen practice, Henry asks, what reality are we talking about? What is it?  Who is it? He...

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  • Message from Henry: Tree Truth

    MCZCAugust 9, 20162 min read

    Sit like a tree, without desires. In conversation recently with a friend who is a linguist and ecologist I learned that the words “true” and “tree” are cognate. Drus is the ancient Greek word for “oak”; dris is Sanskrit for “tree”; “tree” and “Druid” in English are related (a Druid is a “tree-person” or “tree–worshipper”), and tree and true come from one and the same Indo-European root, which shows up across western Eurasia. This offers...

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  • My Real Dwelling, Ikkyū Sōjun

    MCZCAugust 8, 20161 min read

    One short pause between The leaky-road here and The never-leaking Way there: If it rains, let it rain! If it storms, let it storm! **** My real dwelling Has no pillars And no roof either So rain cannot soak it And wind cannot blow it down! Two poems by the famous poet and zen master 一休 宗純 Ikkyū Sōjun” (1394–1481) Ikkyu 一休 is a dharma name he was given by his master Kaso meaning “one...

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