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.

  • Sangha Meeting Minutes from January 29, 2022

    MCZCFebruary 6, 202212 min read

    January 29, 2022 Sangha Meeting Minutes The meeting was held on zoom. 58 attendees were present. Agenda approved by those present Minutes from the October 30, 2021 sangha meeting were also approved. Teacher’s Reports Written versions of Henry and Valerie’s reports are at the end of these minutes. Financial Report,  Presented by Johanna Sindelar Mountain Cloud ended 2021 in strong financial postion. Looking at the financial report from 2021, we saw a total income of...

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  • Zen’s True Blindness: Dharma Talk with Valerie Forstman (video)

    MCZCFebruary 5, 20221 min read

    In this talk from January 6, 2022, Valerie welcomes the new year and acknowledges the occasion by taking up ‘Unmon’s Bright Light,’ Blue Cliff Record case 86, together with readings from Jacques Lusseyran’s memoir, ‘And There Was Light.’ Recorded in our virtual zendo on January 6, 2022 Photo by Risto Kokkonen on Unsplash

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  • The Heart’s Wide Clarity, Valerie Forstman

    MCZCFebruary 2, 20222 min read

    In the heart’s wide clarity, all things gather, but the heart is never overcrowded. ~ Ross Bolleter, composer and Zen teacher Zen practice is an invitation to sit in silence and discover the heart’s wide clarity. This discovery may come gradually, calming our nervous systems, melting our sense of boundedness, easing us towards more wellbeing and more agency in our lives. Or, within the context of a settled practice, there may come a sudden shift...

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  • Message from Henry: Appearances

    MCZCFebruary 2, 20222 min read

    . Life is nothing more than an illusion. It's like a poor actor who struts and worries for his hour on the stage and then is never heard from again. All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players ~ Shakespeare When we see that this life is a kind of charade, that we are all actors on a stage; that this world, this life, and all its beings, are “appearances”...

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  • Discount Retreat Registration

    MCZCFebruary 1, 20220 min read

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  • Dharmatalk: The Oak Tree in the Garden

    MCZCFebruary 1, 20221 min read

    "... has a strange power to remove and delete delusions, concepts and unnecessary attachments ..." Description: Listen to this personal and powerful talk from Carmen Afable, Sanbo Zen teacher from Manilla. Carmen presents Case 37 from the Mumonkan cannon (The Gateless Gate), The Oak Tree in the Garden. Ryoun Roshi says this koan "has a strange power to remove and delete delusions, concepts and unnecessary attachments." And,

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  • Retreat Registration Reduced Fee

    MCZCFebruary 1, 20220 min read

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  • Meditation Tip from Valerie, Present Moment Awareness

    MCZCJanuary 29, 20221 min read

    If you wish to attain suchness, practice suchness immediately. ~ Eihei Dogen, Fukanzazengi Another translation of this famous line from Dogen reads, “If you want to realize suchness, practice suchness without delay.” Suchness is what we are, just as we are. Without delay means now, this very moment. Whatever we may seek in cultivating a daily practice of zazen, it is nowhere but here. Whatever draws us to the exploration of silent sitting, the only time it...

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  • Sitting Nowhere, Leaving no Traces

    MCZCJanuary 28, 20227 min read

    By Roshi Nancy Mujo Baker, 2000 I am one of those who find Japanese architecture and interior design extraordinarily beautiful.  This has been true for a long time. In the very early days of my practice Japanese style surroundings seemed to be a necessary part of zazen, even if in a big old landmark house in Riverdale, New York. It wasn’t a monastery in Japan, but ZCNY did its best to imitate one. This worked...

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  • Radiating Love: Wednesdays with Will Brennan (video)

    MCZCJanuary 28, 20221 min read

    In his Wednesday December 15 talk, Will talks about a couple of aspects of the journey of coming home. He refers to and quotes from Norman Fischer's book about Homer's Odyssey, Sailing Home. There are no maps for this journey... it takes effort, courage, fun, effort and intimacy. Will embellishes his talk from his many years of life with Zen practice. Recorded in our zendo on December 15, 2021 Photo by Sarah Cassady on Unsplash

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  • Meditation Tip from Valerie, Three Fruits

    MCZCJanuary 27, 20222 min read

    For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace Zen is a path of practice that invites us to experience and embody ever deeper authenticity. Over time, silent sitting acts as a solvent for our assumed views, the grid of judgments and measures we set up and defend.  As it unfolds, softening our hearts and opening us to the moment at hand, this path...

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  • Message from Henry: Small Note

    MCZCJanuary 26, 20222 min read

    When we really wake up, we see that the whole project of spirituality was just another painful game of the ego. Awakening, delusion, practice, koans, meditation, teachers, students, et cetera – to wake up is to see through the whole business. To see through it all, is to see that it never really happened. It only happened in some old strange dream. Then, now, we are actually alive. We really know this world. We might...

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  • Dharmatalk: Beginners Mind & Four Levels of Practice

    MCZCJanuary 25, 20221 min read

    "... The beauty of Zen is its simplicity. The challenge of Zen also is its simplicity ..." Description: This Sunday morning talk by Henry Shukman starts with a guided meditation on beginner’s mind. No matter how far along we may be in our practice, we may maintain a beginner’s mind by welcoming every moment as fresh and new, here and then gone, like a wave rolling onto the shore. This is followed by a discussion...

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  • Sitting Alone in an Indivisible World: Rohatsu Talk Six, Valerie Forstman (Video)

    MCZCJanuary 24, 20221 min read

    This final talk from the Rohatsu sesshin asks the question from case 26 of the Blue Cliff Record or Hekiganroku, “What is a matter of extraordinary wonder?” Master Hyakujo answers intimately. How will we respond?

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