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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  • The World is Made of Stories, by David Loy, Part 1 of 3

    MCZCMarch 7, 20163 min read

    Believing we've moved beyond religious myth, we mistake our culture's newest story for the world itself. The American poet Muriel Rukeyser famously wrote that “the universe is made of stories, not of atoms.” We are not just animals that use language: we are storytelling creatures, for telling stories is a fundamental activity of all people in all cultures. The Canadian cognitive neuroscientist Merlin Donald expresses this well: Language is basically for telling stories. . . ....

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  • The Zen Teacher as Midwife, by Ruben Habito, Part 2 of 2

    MCZCMarch 4, 20163 min read

    ..the task of the Zen teacher is to help the practitioner be tamed by the Breath... Click for Part 1 of The Zen Teacher as Midwife. Zen spirituality can be described simply as the art of living in attunement with the Breath, and it is the Breath itself that will be the most reliable guide in the entire journey. Ultimately... the task of the Zen teacher is to help the practitioner be tamed by the Breath, to be...

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  • Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 27, Hôgen Points to the Bamboo Blinds

    MCZCMarch 3, 20162 min read

    “A monk asked, What is the ultimate teaching of all Buddhas? Hogen answered, “You have it too.” Description: Case 27: Hôgen Points to the Bamboo Blinds Hôgen pointed to the bamboo blinds with his hand. At that moment, two monks who were there went over to the blinds together and rolled them up. Hôgen said, "One has gained, one has lost." Henry explores this penetrating koan. Gain and loss are amongst the most deeply ingrained concepts and assumptions that...

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  • Message from Henry: Grief and Loss

    MCZCMarch 1, 20163 min read

    ...our life is not really ours, and never was. It isn’t even right to call it a gift. It’s loan, of a trillion things, not one of which we consider ourselves to be... What if grief is not something we work through and get over, but part of living? And loss is part of living. Impermanence is not temporary or intemittent. It’s with us all the time. Therefore to grieve is to be alive. We have...

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  • The Zen Teacher as Midwife, by Ruben Habito, Part 1 of 2

    MCZCFebruary 29, 20166 min read

    The midwife is by no means the source of that life, but is simply one who sees to it that the way is cleared and the conditions made favorable for the new life to come through and see the light. In Zen practice, one cannot emphasize enough the vital role of the Zen teacher who has charted the paths of this arduous journey to the core of one’s being and is familiar with the terrain. There...

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  • Recovery of Our Shadow, by Ruben Habito, Part 4 of 4

    MCZCFebruary 26, 20163 min read

    That thou art. Click to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of Recovery of our Shadow The practice of seated meditation in Zen, where we place ourselves fully in the here and now as we follow our breathing, enables us to become more and more transparent to ourselves and thus cut through our ego-centered consciousness to listen to the deeper realms of our being. There, as our practice ripens and becomes more and more transparent...

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  • Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 26, Kyozan Points to the Snow Lion

    MCZCFebruary 25, 20161 min read

    “In every realm of suffering there is a Buddha; flowers fall amid our longings; weeds spring up amid our antipathies…” Description: Case 26:  Kyôzan Points to Snow Kyôzan pointed to the snow lion and said, "Is there anything that goes beyond this color?" Unmon said, "I would have pushed it over for him at once." Setchô commented, "He only knows how to knock it over, but he doesn't know how to help it up." Henry unpacks this startling koan to...

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  • Message from Henry: Lively and Brisk

    MCZCFebruary 23, 20162 min read

    The process is not in our hands. We just have to show up.   Recently I came across a well-known western teacher commenting on something his own old master, Koun Roshi, had said, namely that two qualities of a Zen master are to be “lively and brisk.” Old master Engo said something similar, that the masters are like dragons and tigers, and like “falcons with the wind behind them.” But sadly, this western teacher went on to criticize Koun,...

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  • Recovery of our Shadow, by Ruben Habito, Part 3 of 4

    MCZCFebruary 22, 20164 min read

        The recognition of and reconciliation with our shadow is a crucial element in our healing.       Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Recovery of our Shadow. This ego-centered consciousness functions not only on the individual level, but likewise on the corporate level, as we identify ourselves with a larger entity such as a nation-state, a financial corporation, an ethnic group, a neighborhood gang. Such a corporate ego-centered consciousness takes on the attitude of “we versus...

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  • Recovery of Our Shadow by Rubin Habito, Part 2 of 4

    MCZCFebruary 19, 20164 min read

    As long as we live our lives with the I, me, mine at the center as the controlling factor in our lives, then we fall into that trap of tending to idealize ourselves and seeing only the good, the beautiful, the bright side of our being that the “I” wants to identify with. Click here to read Recovery of Our Shadow, Part 1. The bipolar nature of our existence as presented by depth psychology is dramatically portrayed...

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  • Message from Henry: Inspiration

    MCZCFebruary 17, 20162 min read

    Sometimes we get inspired by slogans, maxims, ideas. They may come from all kinds of sources, Buddhism or Sufism or cough sweet wrappers. In our practice, helpful ideas can lead to “concept-led samadhi,” which can surely be a positive spur both in life and practice. Overall, though, Zen would seem to prefer the inspiration not of ideas, but of the rustle of a plastic sheet in wind, or the sound of the freeway in the distance,...

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  • Recovery of Our Shadow, by Ruben Habito, Part 1 of 4

    MCZCFebruary 15, 20162 min read

    A dimension of our existence that depth psychologists have called to our attention is that of our shadow. This refers to that “dark” side of our being buried in our unconscious that we would rather not see, that aspect which we would describe as negative, destructive, violent, chaotic, evil. As we look around and within ourselves, we can see an interplay of opposites that make up our concrete existence in this world bound in time and...

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  • Rediscovering the Breath, by Ruben Habito, Part 2 of 2

    MCZCFebruary 12, 20163 min read

    ...familiarization with the breath is what we experience as we go on in our practice: the connection between our zazen and the rest of our daily life... Excerpted from Healing Breath (Orbis Books) Click here to Read Part 1 of Rediscovering the Breath by Ruben Habito. In seated meditation, with one’s back straight, one is enjoined to breathe naturally but deeply, intentionally and slowly, so that the breathing is centered on the lower diaphragm. One thus becomes aware...

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  • Teisho: Hakuin Zenji’s Song of Zazen, Rohatsu Part 5 of 5

    MCZCFebruary 11, 20161 min read

    Description: Henry closes his Rohatsu series on Hakuin’s Song of Zazen with “l'esprit d'escalier” ("staircase wit”), a French term for thinking of the right repartee just too late, as one is leaving the party.  We learn more about Hakuin’s life and death. Hakuin’s fear, and also his pride, made it difficult for him to settle into really being himself, and seeing through into his intrinsic life and nature. Henry directly equates Haiku’s willingness to face suffering...

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