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.

  • Second and Third Oxherding Pictures, by Ruben Habito

    MCZCMarch 25, 20164 min read

    The second stage is described as “finding the ox’s traces.” Now one gets a sense of where one may go in pursuing that question and is inspired to go on further. The ox here is a symbol of the true self in the same way that the circle also is the true self. And so now one sees traces, like hoof prints, or perhaps some droppings, that makes one suspect that the ox must be...

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  • Teisho: Mu Koan

    MCZCMarch 24, 20161 min read

    “Clearly I have seen: no person, no Buddha, not one thing. And what is it after all? Nothing special. Just this, just this.” Yamada Koun Roshi Description: Koan A monk asked Joshu, “Does a dog have Buddha nature?”  Joshu answered, “Mu.” Traditionally the first talk during a sesshin is about the great “barrier koan” Mu. That’s what this talk focuses upon. Henry asks, How do we forget the self?  It’s not that the self disappears and...

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  • Message from Henry: Let it Burn

    MCZCMarch 22, 20164 min read

    Do your practice. Whatever it takes, learn to sit in the fire of the Three Treasures. Pick and choose no more. Whole Ox Zen. Let it burn. Last week I talked about “stealing the Dharma:” the student must steal the Dharma from the teacher. How do you do it? You come to dokusan. As some masters advise, any time dokusan is offered, go. Don’t miss a chance. It’s the chief privilege of becoming a student:...

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  • First Oxherding Picture, by Ruben Habito

    MCZCMarch 21, 20162 min read

    The first picture in the classic versions depicts a little child who is supposed to be perplexed, or is searching for something. An inscription in Chinese characters goes, “In the beginning, suddenly emerged from confusion.” Another description found in other versions of this same first picture of a child just beginning to open its eyes and wonder about things is “the awakening of the fact.” Our version, sketched by an artist friend of the Maria...

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  • The Zen Oxherding Pictures: Overview, by Ruben Habito

    MCZCMarch 18, 20164 min read

    We look at the ten oxherding pictures as a mirror that can tell us where we are in our practice. “The Ten Oxherding Pictures” is a set of ten calligraphic works that portray the different stages in the journey to the realization of the truth, or the realization of the true self. I will first give a general introduction, summarizing each of the ten so that we have a broad picture. We look at the...

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  • Teisho: Book of Equanimity Case 28, Gokoku’s “Three Disgraces” Part 2 of 2

    MCZCMarch 17, 20162 min read

    “That’s why we are here--to make our experience of the world fuller… therefore, to be more at peace... to be able to act not harmfully.” Description: Case 28: Book of Equanimity: Gokoku’s "Three Disgraces” Part 2 of 2 A monk asked Gokoku, “How about when a crane perches on a withered pine tree?” Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace when seen from the ground.” The monk asked, “What about when every drop of water is frozen...

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  • Message from Henry: Crazy Wisdom

    MCZCMarch 15, 20162 min read

    The heart of the Buddha is lineage. I recently read the strange and fascinating, The Mahasiddha and his Idiot servant, by “Sir” John Riley Perks, who was personal butler to Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Trungpa showered Perks, an Englishman, with many honors, courtly and military, bestowed by his self-styled Kalapa Court: “Commodore,” “Warrior,” “Major,” “Chamberlain,” “Knight,” etc., Perks was all of them and more. The “crazy wisdom” portrayed in the book has echoes of Carlos Castaneda,...

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  • Developing our Land

    MCZCMarch 14, 20161 min read

    A dedicated group of volunteers has been developing our land. We have a beautiful garden, new walking paths, a lovely gazebo and many flowers around our zendo and other buildings.     Pancho Burke celebrates the gazebo.           Bill Bruce, our facilities manger and hardworking gardener and deck carpenter.             The MCZC vegetable and flower garden, summer 2015.  Many blessing to the volunteers who tended to her...

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

    MCZCMarch 14, 20165 min read

    It is the deluded belief that one is separate from others that permits one to pursue one’s own interests indifferent to what is happening to those others. Click to read Part 1 and Part 2 of The World is made of Stories. One of today’s dominant stories is that we live in a world ruled by impersonal physical laws that are indifferent to us and our fate. Human beings serve no function in the grand...

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  • The World is made of Stories, by David Loy, Part 2 of 3

    MCZCMarch 11, 20166 min read

    Awakening involves realizing that “my” story is part of a much larger story that incorporates others’ stories as well. Our stories do not have sharp edges; they are interdependent.  Click to read part 1 of The World is made of Stories. The central character in the foundational story that we return to over and over is the self, supposedly individual and real yet actually composed of the stories “I” identify with and attempt to live....

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  • Teisho: Case 28, Book of Equanimity: Gokoku’s “Three Disgraces” Part 1 of 2

    MCZCMarch 10, 20162 min read

    “This whole being called me is just a hole.” Description: Case 28: Book of Equanimity: Gokoku’s "Three Disgraces” Part 1 of 2 A monk asked Gokoku, “How about when a crane perches on a withered pine tree?” Gokoku said, “It is a disgrace when seen from the ground.” The monk asked, “What about when every drop of water is frozen at once?” Gokoku said, “It's a disgrace after the sun has risen.” The monk asked, “At...

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  • Message from Henry: Postcard from Esalen

    MCZCMarch 9, 20162 min read

    Early morning on the cliffs. Far below, white foam breaks over rocks, and the dark-grey rocks glisten in early sunlight. From up above, the boulders, the sea-rounded rocks along the shore, look like small wet pebbles you might take up in your hand and throw in a handful over a pond, strafing the surface. The outdoor wooden counters at Esalen are smooth – lovely California wood. All the wood here is smooth. Right now I’m...

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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...

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