Message from Valerie: Continuous Practice
Valerie’s Messages
On the great road of buddha ancestors there is always unsurpassable practice, continuous and sustained. It forms the circle of the way and is never cut off. Between aspiration, practice,
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Covering the Earth
The earth is covered with nourishing moisture, penetrating a thousand and soaking ten thousand. Eihei Dogen, New Year Blossoms On this first day of spring, the mountains surrounding Mountain Cloud
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Practice-Awakening
Something is happening at Mountain Cloud. Practice. Or, as Dogen put it, practice-awakening. On Sunday morning, springing forward in daylight savings time, we gathered in the zendo and online for
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Sangha as Treasure
Sitting at my desk, the Jemez mountains shimmering in the distance call to mind the sangha treasure: the community of practitioners – at Mountain Cloud and in the cloud –
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Spreading Seeds
Setting up the zendo for the Intro Class this past Sunday, a longtime member asked if she could help. We spoke of the wind, blowing with an intensity unlike anywhere
Continue reading
Dwelling nowhere – pointing the way, Valerie Forstman (Video)
Come, come, whoever you are,wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, it doesn’t matter.Ours is not a caravan of despair.Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times.Come, come again, come.
Watch Video
Message from Valerie: Beneficial Action
Foolish people think that if they help others first, their own benefit will be lost, but this is not so. Beneficial action is an act of oneness, benefiting self and
Continue reading
Nursing the Ill in an Indivisible World, Valerie Forstman (Video)
In this talk, Valerie begins with an imperative from the masters – ancient and alive – to see and be the catastrophes of the world. Can there be any real
Watch Video
Message from Valerie: Freedom and Support in the Forms of Zen
Every week in the Intro Class we talk about posture, breathing, and stilling the mind – the three basic components of zazen. It’s a repetition that never grows old, an
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Alive!
The ‘Recorded Sayings of Joshu’ include an exchange where a monk – possibly a newcomer to practice, asks Joshu or Chao-chou, “What is meditation?” (The question could be translated, “What
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Suffering and Beauty
How is it possible to reconcile suffering and beauty? In his first sermon after awakening, the Buddha said: “Within this fathom-long body is found all of the teachings, is found
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: An Invitation to Serve
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.
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Empty Hands
With empty hands, I take hold of the plow. Yesterday’s Sunday morning zazen at Mountain Cloud was another sign of life – the perimeter of the zendo full, with sitting
Continue reading
Message from Valerie: Homecoming
Last month Mountain Cloud joined with Zen practitioners all around the world in celebrating the Buddha’s awakening with a Rohatsu sesshin. Rohatsu translates as “eighth day of the twelfth month,”
Continue reading