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.

  • Celebrating Valerie, Scott and Bryan

    MCZCSeptember 5, 20221 min read

    Close to seventy people showed up for the reception on Saturday September 3 to welcome our new teachers and executive director. Thank you to our reception host Henry Shukman and our party team: Karen, Margie, Vivian, Rachel, Christy, Joe and probably more, sorry for any omissions. Enjoy these photos from the day.... All photos taken by Mark Petrick.

    Read more
  • Rohatsu: In-Person Retreat Registration

    MCZCSeptember 1, 20222 min read

    Use the form below to register and make your payment for Rohatsu 2022. You are receiving this link because you have been approved for on-site attendance. Most of you have arranged with Johanna your lodging or commuting status. Those of you who are staying on-site should select the Shared Cabin Option. Cabins will sleep three people. If we get in a squeeze a cabin may have a fourth person. Commuters, campers and van sleepers should...

    Read more
  • Message from Henry: Kensho

    Henry ShukmanAugust 31, 20222 min read

    Imagine you've been living in a house, using half a dozen rooms. One day it occurs to you -- what if there are more rooms in this house? On the upstairs landing you realize that what you’d always taken to be a wall was in fact simply a dark area. Beyond it, the corridor extends. Indeed, there are more rooms to this house. You start exploring them. The light’s different in some of them, and...

    Read more
  • Introduction to Meditation Weekend: Q&A 1 with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastAugust 30, 20221 min read

    Description: This is Question & Answer session 1 from the Introduction to Meditation Virtual Weekend. Valerie Forstman is the speaker and teacher for this session. And,

    Listen to the talk
  • Introducing Bryan Baldwin, MCZC Executive Director

    MCZCAugust 29, 20222 min read

    Santa Fe resident Bryan Baldwin is joining Mountain Cloud Zen Center as our new Executive Director. Bryan brings more than 25 years of progressive responsibility helping mission-driven organizations become more purposeful, focused, and strategic. He has extensive nonprofit management experience and most recently served as a senior administrator for a large public university in New England and concurrently led its private foundation. The earlier part of his career was spent working in the international diplomatic...

    Read more
  • The Body of Awakening, Valerie Forstman (Video)

    MCZCAugust 29, 20221 min read

    In this talk from her Women in Zen series, Valerie explores the life, practice, and transmission experience of Zongchi, a woman born into the court who became Bodhidharma’s disciple and dharma heir. Zongchi realizes the joy of seeing who she truly is – and the timeless moment of seeing just once. Bodhidharma recognizes Zongchi’s eye as his own flesh. As Dogen puts it, “’You have my flesh” is “the true human body.” Photo/Image by Mark...

    Watch the video
  • Message from Henry, Original Love

    Henry ShukmanAugust 24, 20222 min read

    What’s the Original Face from before we were born, from before our parents were born? That’s an early Zen koan. When we see the “ original face,” our constructions of reality fall apart; they vanish. We are left in boundlessness.  When we have a glimpse of this unconditioned boundlessness, it brings a beautiful and healing sense of belovedness to our troubled hearts. This is Original Love. How do we learn to live, share and be...

    Read more
  • Introduction to Meditation Weekend, Talk One: What is the Shout?

    MC PodcastAugust 23, 20221 min read

    Listen to this talk by Valerie Forstman from the April 2021 Introduction to Meditation Weekend Retreat. A talk at a Zen retreat is traditionally called a teisho which means, Presentation of the Shout. Valerie asks What is the Shout? It's just this, presenting the fact of who we truly are and offering pointers on how to practice. And,

    Listen to the talk
  • Presence, Henry Shukman (Video)

    MCZCAugust 22, 20221 min read

    Your consciousness does not exist separately from what it contains. ~ Henry Shukman Henry explores presence from several different angles, including Internal Family Systems (IFS). The word presence includes some of what mindfulness means, and more. All you have to do is taste it.  Presence is really about coming back to yourself, to your own experience.  I am here. It requires no blistering kensho experience, but presence softens the way we cling to ourselves. Images by Mark Paul Petrick...

    Watch the video
  • Best Teisho Ever, Henry Shukman (Video)

    MCZCAugust 22, 20221 min read

    Enjoy this restful, quiet teisho from Henry. The best teisho you are ever going to hear. Just listen. Photos by Mark Paul Petrick

    Watch the video
  • Message from Henry: Why Meditate?

    Henry ShukmanAugust 17, 20222 min read

    You might ask, why bother with meditation at all?   It’s hard. We have restless minds and emotions that are difficult to tolerate. In general, often in life we try to stay busy so we don’t have to feel these difficult emotions or reckon with our restless minds.  Many of us suffer from overwhelm too – strong, confusing mental states where we’re trying  to manage many aspects of our lives, and feel like we’re swamped,...

    Read more
  • Introductory Day of Zen: Beginner’s Mind with Valerie Forstman

    MC PodcastAugust 16, 20221 min read

    Valerie examines beginner's mind and explores the question"what is Zen?" during our March 2021 one-day Introduction to Meditation retreat. Suzuki Roshi – a Japanese Zen master who brought Zen teaching to America in the mid 20th century – said: Beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. As Zen practitioners we turn this compassion toward ourselves. Valerie describes the four motivations that bring people to Zen meditation.1. Curiosity2. Seeking well-being3. Wanting to develop a practice or...

    Listen to the talk
  • The Two-Fold Truth: Genjokoan, Valerie Forstman

    MCZCAugust 11, 20221 min read

    Showing its back and showing its front, a falling maple leaf. ~ Ryokan, Death Poem Resolving the matter of Life and death is of prime importance. To explore this phrase, which is recited at the close of Zen sesshins, Valerie turns to Dogen's Genjokoan and digs into two truths, conventional and absolute, which are actually one truth. Dogen believes that in Zazenkai, we are practicing realizing, ripening the sweet milk of the long rivers. The...

    Watch the video
  • Message from Henry: Simply Being

    Henry ShukmanAugust 10, 20222 min read

    How often do we allow ourselves to simply “be” during our sitting? All too often, we may be trying to achieve some kind of special state, or get to an imagined mental place that we’ve heard of or read about. It’s so easy to feel we must somehow avoid ourselves, just as we are, in the present moment. But we can release the whole idea that how things are right now is, for some reason,...

    Read more
footer support banner image

Support Mountain Cloud

You can show your gratitude for Mountain Cloud events, retreats, podcasts and other teachings by making a one-time gift, or by becoming a supporting member.

Donate to Mountain Cloud Become a Member