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.
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Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 30, Daizui’s “Kalpa Fire” (Part 2 of 2)
July 14, 20162 min read
“Zen wants to take away the mind that understands so that we can directly experience our existential situation.” Case 30: Daisui's "Kalpa Fire" A monk asked Daizui, “When the great kalpa fire bursts out, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if IT will also be destroyed or not.” Daizui said, “Destroyed.” The monk said, “If so, will it be gone with the other?” Daizui said, “Gone with the other.” Description: Henry continues exploring Daizui’s...
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Buddhists Must Awaken to the Ecological Crisis, by David Loy, Part 1
July 11, 20164 min read
Is the goal of our practices to escape this world or to harmonize with it? Or something else? Interest in eco-dharma—the ecological implications of Buddhist teachings—is finally growing after years of apparent indifference and little conversation about it in Buddhist sanghas. The environmental crisis has been headline news since at least 1992, when the first President Bush attended the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and famously declared that “the American way of life is...
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Fish Swim and Birds Fly, from Genjokoan
July 8, 20162 min read
Fish swim the water and however much they swim, there is no end to the water. Birds fly the skies, and however much they fly, there is no end to the skies. Yet fish never once leave the waters, birds never forsake the sky. When their need is great, there is great activity. When their need is small, there is small activity. In this way, none ever fails to exert itself to the full, and...
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Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 30, Daizui’s “Kalpa Fire” (Part 1 of 2)
July 7, 20162 min read
“I don’t think you can trust the heart of Zen more directly than through the koans; that is to touch the heart of a human being…. is to touch the heart of all things.” Case 30: Daisui's "Kalpa Fire" A monk asked Daizui, “When the great kalpa fire bursts out, the whole universe will be destroyed. I wonder if IT will also be destroyed or not.” Daizui said, “Destroyed.” The monk said, “If so, will it...
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Collective Bubbles of Delusion, by David R Loy, Part 2 of 2
July 4, 20164 min read
...by truly letting-go of one’s sense of self – the ego-self whose well-being is separate from others’ well-being – the self-interest that sustains the bubble is undermined. Click to read Part 1 of Collective Bubbles of Delusion. In place of the Abrahamic duality between good and evil, Buddhism focuses on ignorance and wisdom – the insight that comes with awakening. Delusion (moha) is one of the “three fires” or “three poisons” (the others are greed...
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Teisho: Reflection on Tea and Dharma
June 30, 20161 min read
“As we do our practice, we are also part of much greater processes...One such process is simply: this dharma finding its way to express itself in a new culture” Description: In this short talk, Henry reflects on dharma practice and tea. Henry compares the varying manifestations of tea drinking and ceremony with the differing types of dharma practice throughout the world. He points to English high tea, Chinese simple tea, and to the formal and beautiful Japanese...
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Collective Bubbles of Delusion, by David R Loy, Part 1 of 2
June 27, 20163 min read
We are good at finding reasons to justify what we believe, but it is much more difficult to examine critically and sincerely our deepest beliefs. What makes human beings unique is also our Achilles heel – the defect that may yet destroy our species, along with most others. Like other animals, we have instincts, but, thanks to our large neo-cortex, we can gain some degree of freedom from them by choosing how to respond to...
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Unborn and Undying, from Genjokoan
June 24, 20162 min read
Once firewood turns to ash, the ash cannot revert to being firewood. But you should not take the view that it is ashes afterward and firewood before. You should realize that although firewood is at a dharma-stage of firewood, and that this is possessed of before and after, the firewood is at the same time independent, completely cut off from before, completely cut off from after. Ashes are the dharma-stage of ashes, which also has a...
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Teisho: Yamada Ryoun Roshi: Joshu’s “Wash Your Bowls,” Case 39, Shoyoroku, Book of Equanimity (Part 4 of 4)
June 23, 20161 min read
Case 39: A monk asked Joshu: “I have just entered this monastery. I beg you, Master, please give me instruction.” Joshu asked, “Have you eaten your rice gruel yet?” The monk answered, “Yes, I have.” Joshu said, “Then wash your bowls.” Description: Yamada Roshi offers his final talk for the 2016 NASZ sesshin on Case 39 from the Shoyoroku, “Joshu’s Wash Your Bowls.” This famous koan is easily misunderstood as either advice for daily living, or as...
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Healing Ecology: Discovering Our Collective Place in the World, by David R Loy, Part 3 of 3
June 18, 20165 min read
When we meditate, for example, we are not transforming ourselves. We are being transformed. Quiet, focused concentration enables something else to work in us and through us, something other than one’s usual ego-self. Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of Discovering our Collective Place in the World. This brings us to the second implication mentioned earlier: our collective response to this collective dukkha is just making things worse. First, let’s remember how things go wrong...
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