Mountain Cloud Zen Podcasts

On this first day of Fall, Teshin takes up case 27 of the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon’s Complete Exposure. The Case reads as follows: A monk asked Unmon, “What is it when the tree withers and the leaves fall?” Unmon answered, “Complete exposure of the golden wind”.

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Upon being welcomed home from Germany, Valerie describes briefly what it’s like being thrown immediately into the chaotic activity of moving from her home in Dallas to Santa Fe: “Constant activity… we are moving, all this activity and at the same time, so still.”

While taking a walk with co-teacher John Gaynor in Sonnenhoff, John offers Valerie this rather cerebral quote from Master Ummon, “The manifestation of the great function, knows no laws.” The great function, what is it? Valerie turns to Case 60, Ummon’s Staff from the Blue Cliff Record as a way of exploring this great function.

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In this talk – an offering of gratitude for the life of a beloved sangha member, Valerie turns to Case 41 in the Transmission of Light or Denkoroko. A monk who has put to rest love of worldly attachments asks, “What, master, do you love?” The master’s response is an invitation to us to realize love beyond any measure.

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Scott explores Case 32 from the Gateless Gate, A non-buddhist questions the Buddha. The non-buddhist says, in all earnestness to the Buddha: I do not ask about words, I do not ask about no-words.

The world honored one, just sat still.

The non-buddhist experiences a great opening as he witnesses the Buddha’s stillness and says, The world-honored one on his great benevolence and great mercy has opened the clouds of my delusion and enabled me to enter the way. Bowing, the non-Buddhist took his leave.

The Buddha answered every question in his silence, Who am I? Why are we here? What happens when we die? Why do we suffer? Buddha’s sitting isn’t just answering the question, his sitting is the question. Scott digs into additional gems form this koan. Be sure to watch, listen and absorb.

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In this talk from our Thursday night series, Valerie takes up Case 26 of the Gateless Gate, Hogen’s “Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds.” The setting is in Master Hogen’s teaching room and the issue at hand is our propensity to judgment. What freedom is unleashed when the boundaries we imagine don’t hold up? And what compassion. Hogen points to the blinds, presenting the bright clarity that has been there all along.

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“Your sitting is not for the world, it is the world.”

How can our practice be an offering to the world? asks meditation teacher Shana Smith. The question arose from the Florida Sanbo Zen Sangha as response to Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Like all koans this question lived on in the weeks to follow. A number of koans came to mind as Shana thought about giving a talk to the MCZC community that addressed how our practice can be an offering to the world. Having a performance background, she considered the talk to be a presentation of the shout, a performance of sorts. Instead, however, Shana got quite ill with Covid. A strong NO resounded through her being. The dharma waits for no other time but now, to be ready.

Still wanting to explore this life koan, “How can our practice be an offering to the world?” Shana turned to another well known koan from both the Gateless Gate and the Book of equanimity, Wash your Bowl, for support.

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“Showing their backs then their fronts – falling maple leafs.”  ~ Ryokan

“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 Zazen, we are practicing realizing, “ripening the sweet milk of the long rivers.” The entire Genjokoan essay funnels into this single phrase which perfectly expresses the two fold truth that shows up in every koan.

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“Your consciousness does not exist separately from what it contains”

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.

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Guest Speaker Karin Kempe of the Zen Center of Denver joins our Thursday Night Sit to offer a talk on Dogen’s statement, “Practice is Enlightenment, Enlightenment is Practice.” While this sounds great, it doesn’t always feel easy. We face resistance that comes up over and over again. Karin offers perspective on the Genjokoan and reminds us that the way is already here. It is not contingent on some method of practice, but within us.

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Valerie takes up case 29 of the Denkoroku, the record of the ‘transmission of light’ from Bodhidharma to Eka or Huike, as a way to explore the boundless clarity that is none other than this immediate world. One clarity, void of any separation. Hearing a turning word, Eka awakens to the reality Bodhidharma called “vast and void,” and illumines the way.

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“Love sitting in Zazen, as if putting out a fire on top of your head” ~ Dogen

Valerie Forstman gives the second talk during the April Intro to Meditation weekend. What are you practicing for? We sit in the midst of it all, the pandemic, climate change, suffering and joy… all.

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

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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.

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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. Curiosity
2. Seeking well-being
3. Wanting to develop a practice or commit to a spiritual path.
4. Looking urgently for answers to the question Who am I?

Suffering brings most of us to practice. The sense that things in our life are fundamentally out of kilter creates an urgency to find clarity about our life.

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“Zen is awakening to the dynamic reality of the present moment…..Zen is finding love in all things at all times. ”   ~ Ruben Habito

Valerie explores Zen practice from the mind of compassion and curiosity,  looking at the Buddhist origin story – Shakyamuni’s awakening – and the fruits of practice. Valerie asks, What is Zen? A life long path of awakening and a practice to cultivate present moment awareness on and off the cushion. This talk is the first teisho from our February 2021 Valentine’s weekend Introduction to Zen Retreat.

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“… Zazen has been described as silently not influencing anything …”

Koans can provide helpful perspectives for dealing with the uncertainty of current world events. In this talk, Valerie Forstman discusses Case 20 from the Book of Equanimity, in which Jizo tells his student that not knowing is most intimate. She deeply explores the intimacy revealed through this koan of a world that is so near to us yet so well able to maintain itself that we needn’t do anything to influence it.

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Description: Senior Student Will Brennan gives a dharma talk, offering reflections on Dogen’s Fukanzazengi, Recommending Zazen to all people. Will has recently been appointed as a Sanbo Zen Assistant Teacher and he lead Wednesdays with Will, the first two Wednesday evenings of each month in Mountain Cloud’s Zendo.

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“Anyone who wants to gain enlightenment, do not enter.”

Description: Valerie turns to Love, which knows nothing of rank and order. She looks at a koan from Keizan’s Transmission of Light collection. Keizan is said to have an inscription at the entrance of his zendo (paraphrased), “Anyone who wants to gain enlightenment, do not enter.”

There is nothing to gain, if there is anything like enlightenment, it’s the living dharma right where you are, right now. This koan records the transmission or the awakening experience of the 41st ancestor after Shakyamuni Buddha. Valerie asks, what is transmission? what is there to transmit? You are already that. She explores this koan.

Case Verse: The mind, the moon, the eyes, the blossoms; beautiful light, beautiful color, opening wide beyond kalpas. Who is playing with them?

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“Who would waste the spark from a flint stone?” – Dogen

Description:  Anything could be that spark. Ryoun Roshi says “koans are a message from the oneness world.” They offer an invitation into our deepest curiosity. Valerie explores Case 22 of the Gateless Gate: Kashyapa’s Flagpole, and Ananda’s awakening.

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Description:  This is the Question & Answer companion to Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Zen’s Origin Story, Part 3. Valerie Forstman is the speaker and teacher for this session.

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Description:  Valerie explores Zen’s origin story about the flower, a smile and universal space, case six from the Gateless Gate.

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To be able to hear the dharma is truly rare. To do so we must: Stop and see, sit still and let go.

Description:  This is the Question & Answer companion to Encounter of the Heart Retreat: Stop & See, Part 1. Valerie Forstman is the speaker and teacher for this session. 

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Empty, new and utterly fleeting, arriving now but already done.

Description:  In this first Teisho from the Encounter of the Heart Retreat, January 2021, Valerie Forstman  reminds us that this practice is much bigger than any events, or any circumstances. To be able to hear the dharma is truly rare. To do so we must: Stop and see, sit still and let go.

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