Mountain Cloud Zen Podcasts

This week’s talk was offered by Mountain Cloud’s Guiding Teacher, Valerie Forstman. It was recorded on October 31st at the Zendo in Sante Fe. Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member so we can continue to provide online programs such as this. Donations: https://www.mountaincloud.org/donate/ Become a member: https://www.mountaincloud.org/about/membership/ Check out our website: https://www.mountaincloud.org/ All are welcome to join us for sitting and dharma talks. Use this link to join us: https://sit.mountaincloud.org

Kali dives into the multifaceted journey of practice, highlighting the importance of recognizing our shadow sides. She emphasizes how avoiding difficult emotions can amplify our suffering. Through kind awareness, we hold ourselves accountable without blame, fostering a space for healing. The discussion blends personal stories and transformative ideas about vulnerability, resilience, and growth. By embracing uncertainty with curiosity, we can uncover wonder even in life's turbulent moments.

Dwelling no-where, mind comes forth~ from the Diamond Sutra Heart mind directs us to the fundamental point of who and what we are. In Chinese there is one term for Heart Mind. No hyphen necessary, simply one. Contemporary Sanbo Zen teacher Migaku Sato wrote a poem with this line: In nothing at all-ness, there is endlessly everything. Out of nothing, here we are practicing, says Valerie or That thou art, says Ruben Habito. To further open, Valerie looks at goneness and oneness in Case18 from the Blue Cliff Record, The National Teacher’s Gravestone. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Mountain Cloud Summer Sesshin, hybrid eventJune 26 – July 2: Details and registration, click here Thursday Evening Event May 25th with Guest Speaker Diana ClarkMeditation: 5:30pm MTDharma talk: 6:00pm MTClick here for details Original Love 2023: Click here for full detailsClouds, River’s Lakes and Seas Weekend Workshop is coming up this weekend, May 27-28Register here.

Valerie explores the clarity and simplicity of Master Hogen who came to be known as the dharma eye of deep clarity. Focusing on Case 51 from Book of Equanimity, Valerie illuminates mind and consciousness through Hogan’s clarity. If you want to study buddha-dharma, everything you see is buddha dharma, a door, a window and the exquisite beauty of the boat is on the river. For Hogan there is no difference between phenomena (worldly dharma) and essential reality (Buddhist dharma). Everything is put to rest. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Mountain Cloud Summer Sesshin, hybrid eventJune 26 – July 2: Details and registration, click here Thursday Evening Event May 11th with Maria Reis HabitoMeditation: 5:30pm MTDharma talk: 6:00pm MTClick Here for Details Original Love 2023: Click here for full details

Something puts our feet on this path, starting from the ordinary dualistic world. Gradually, as we practice and practice, in some unguarded moment, everything falls away, and it’s just this. Heaven and Earth: without any space for a conjunction. Then we practice, practice, practice…. and return to the ordinary world, but it’s upside down. This great return is a bridge, a crossing over. Continuing with Joshu from the previous day’s talk on Mu, Valerie looks at Case 52 from the Blue Cliff Record, about a log bridge that is actually a stone bridge once you are able to really see it. Keep in mind that every koan is nothing but Mu and about you. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Mountain Cloud Summer Sesshin, hybrid eventJune 26 – July 2: Details and registration, click here Thursday Evening Event May 11 with Maria HabitoMeditation: 5:30pm MTDharma talk: 6:00pm MT Original Love: Clouds, Rivers, Lakes and Sea, with Henry ShukmanApril 30 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pmClick Here for Details Original Love 2023: Click here for full details

Crossing over to the other shore is the heart of our practice and the heart of Buddha’s teaching. Eventually we realize that we were always on the shore, here and now, in the moment at hand. In this first talk of our Spring sesshin, Valerie looks at the famous koan: Does a dog have Buddha Nature? the traditional first teisho in a Zen sesshin. Valerie mentions a choral chant version of the Heart Sutra from Plum Village. Here is a link if you are interested. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Mountain Cloud Summer Sesshin, hybrid eventJune 26 – July 2: Details and registration, click here Original Love: Clouds, Rivers, Lakes and Sea, with Henry ShukmanApril 30 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pmClick Here for Details Original Love 2023: Click here for full details

“Abiding no-where mind comes forth.” Maria Habito returns to Mountain Cloud’s zoom zendo and talks about the Diamond Sutra. When we enter deep silence, the diamond cuts through every notion we carry. It can show us intimate awareness of no self, no other, no sentient beings and no time. In this talk, Maria focuses on Living Beings, which refers to those who are not yet enlightened. However many species of living beings there are, Bodhisattvas lead all these species/beings to liberation. However once all these many beings are liberated, we must not think that a single being is liberated. Maria untangles this contradiction. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Spring Online RetreatThursday-Sunday, March 23-26 Four-day online retreat led by Valerie Forstman Original Love 2023: Click here for full details

For this final Rohatsu talk, Henry looks at three questions. What are we doing here, just sitting with each other? What is awakening? and What then? We are living “it” every moment. And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Spring Online RetreatThursday-Sunday, March 23-26 Four-day online retreat led by Valerie Forstman Original Love 2023: Click here for full details

In this talk from day 5 of the Rohatsu sesshin, Valerie picks up on the previous day’s talk by Henry where he presents the title and first line of the Heart Sutra. Turning to the figure of Kannon, Kanzeon, or Avalokiteshvara, bodhisattva of great compassion, Valerie asks, “What is compassion?” In response, she lifts up the phrase, “Just compassion,” then turns to a koan that addresses the heart of the matter: who we truly are. The deep Sea of Ise – the sea of the world – calls to us, as does a single stone lying on its floor, a stone that cannot get wet and can never get dry; a single stone with one name inscribed on it. The koan asks, “How will you pick up that stone without wetting your hands?” And once you have it in the palm of your hand, what is the name? And, here’s a link to our YouTube video of this talk. Also, check out our Upcoming Events: Spring Online RetreatThursday-Sunday, March 23-26 Four-day online retreat led by Valerie Forstman Original Love 2023: Click here for full details Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Henry Shukman, an expert in Mahayana Buddhism and the Heart Sutra, explores the practice of Zen Buddhism and the significance of the Heart Sutra. He discusses the importance of being present, patience in meditation, enhanced perception, the concept of the other shore, and the role of confusion and doubt in spiritual practice.