In this talk, Maria sheds light on how listening to the voice of a bird or the sound of rain can bring us fully back home to our true nature. In this context, Maria takes the experience of Fr. Shigeto Oshida as a spring board for Koan No. 46 in the Blue Cliff Record: Kyôsei’s “Voice of the raindrops.”

Recorded on February 7th, 2025

_______

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/memembership/

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

On this first day of the Lunar New Year with the world in turmoil, Valerie turns to case 22 of the Blue Cliff Record, “Seppo’s ‘Poisonous Snake.’” What life-giving poison is the koan presenting? What happens if you encounter the snake? The turning word in Seppo’s own awakening story offers a pointer: If you want to expound a great teaching, it must flow forth from your own breast to cover heaven and earth. The dharma treasure is right in our midst – intimate, excluding nothing, and born right now.

Recorded on January 30th, 2025

This talk begins with a look at Zen’s parable of the second arrow. What does the story say to us now when we may find ourselves despairing about despair? In response, Valerie turns to the teaching of two root masters who lived during a particularly precarious time in China. Asked “What is the essential meaning of Chan?” Baso (Mazu) replied, “What is the meaning of this moment?” Baso’s counterpart, Sekito (Shitou), taught, “What meets the eye is the Way.” How might these teachings illumine the way as we practice and live in the midst? Recorded on January 23rd, 2025.

Carolyn discusses Mumonkan case 11: Jôshû Examines the Hermits as an invitation to examine and trust our own discernment.

Welcome in the new year with this Teisho offered by Mountain Cloud’s Guiding Teacher, Valerie Forstman.

To see what Mountain Cloud has planned for the upcoming year, visit www.mountaincloud.org/newyear/

During the season of Rohatsu, Solstice, Christmas and Hanukkha, Maria takes up the psalm of Isaiah: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” This psalm becomes a starting point to reflect on how darkness and light feed our practice of seeing our true nature.

At this time when many of us may be feeling daunted and uncertain, we gather in the zendo to tap into our shared deeper nature that meditation can open up, drawing sustenance and new perspectives from it.

In this talk, Henry explores breakthrough experiences — sudden shifts in how we understand and experience this life. They can show up in many forms, and in many areas, both personal and collective. Zen’s history is full of stories of sudden awakenings — moments when practitioners found they had broken out of familiar ways of perceiving and understanding their lives, into new ways of experiencing time, space, a profound sense of belonging, and of participating in the life of this world and all its beings.

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

David Hinton has published numerous books of poetry and essays, and many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy—all informed by an abiding interest in deep ecological thinking. This widely-acclaimed work has earned Hinton a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships from NEA and NEH, and both of the major awards given for poetry translation in the United States: the Landon Translation Award (Academy of American Poets) and the PEN American Translation Award. Most recently, Hinton received a lifetime achievement award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

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

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