Dharma Talk: The Benevolence of Awakening with Valerie Forstman
Apr 17, 2025
37:34
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Non-Dual Essential State
The essential state is pure and clear, yet mountains, rivers, and earth arise simultaneously within it. - This shows the non-dual, empty nature where form and emptiness coexist without separation.
insights INSIGHT
Benevolence in Practice Retreats
Benevolence pervades even in silent, snow-covered nature during deep practice retreats. - This benevolence absorbs concerns and dissolves troubling questions momentarily arising in practice.
insights INSIGHT
Mind as Mountains and Rivers
On Dogen's line, our mind is indistinguishable from mountains, rivers, and earth itself. - This realization affirms that our true self is the entire borderless, natural world around us.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In this early spring talk, Valerie turns to the way of awakening, discovered and explored as this world – in the midst – just as it is. Not-two.
The talk weaves together a cross-section of experiences of homecoming with case 100 of the Book of Equanimity (Shoyoroku). In the case, Master Kaku of Roya receives the student’s question and responds in kind: “The essential state is pure and clear; how are mountains, rivers, and the great earth produced at once?”
How, indeed. Can we enter the wonder and embody it to the full?
Recorded on April 10th, 2025
Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member so we can continue to provide online programs such as this.
Mountain Cloud Zen Podcasts