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PODCAST

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Silent Thunder Order

A podcast of original teachings and music by Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston Roshi, guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order.

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

00:16:07

129: Turning Points in the Zen Life part 2

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/09/27

In the last segment of UnMind, we touched on the typically fraught turning points in normal life of changing jobs, going through divorce, and becoming empty-nesters when and if the kids finally move out. And if they don’t move back in again. They say you should write what you know, so I am living up to that dictum. In this installment we will touch on the traditional “marks” of dukkha: sickness, aging and death, and then turn to the subject of turning points in zazen itself. It is important that as

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00:14:53

128: Turning Points in the Zen Life

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/09/20

In the last several series of the UnMind podcast, we have been exploring some ways of intentionally bringing Zen practice to bear on various situations and circumstances of daily life in America. By extension these might apply anywhere on the globe today, where revolutionary changes in technology and exploding population growth have taken hold. Again, as Matsuoka Roshi would often say, “Civilization conquers us.” In navigating the deeper waters of Buddhism, this world — including so-called

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00:20:23

127: Karma & Koans

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/09/13

Continuing with the drive-time focus from the last segment is in keeping with the current thrust of UnMind. Each segment consists of a dissertation on issues typical of the USA, and coping with the international scope of global citizenship. Such concerns as over-consumption and the cult of the individual, plus lingering hangovers from 19th- and 20th-century ideas regarding right speech, action and livelihood, the right conduct sided of the Noble Eightfold Path, recur throughout as themes. The halo

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00:16:19

126: Stress and Choice

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/09/06

Continuing with our exploration of how to actualize a thoroughgoing Zen practice in the midst of life in the 21stCentury, we will take a closer look at one of the situations in which many of us find ourselves: the daily commute. Which would have been the furthest thing from the mind of Shakyamuni Buddha, or his descendants in India, China, and Japan — though the denizens of those areas of the globe are now fully immersed in the consequences of overpopulation and modern transportation, just as we are

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00:16:21

125: Zen at Home

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/08/30

ZEN AT WORK, AT HOME, AT PLAYFollowing on the last segment of UnMind, this one is based on questions raised by the same member of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center community. She moved here from India, and later moved out of the Atlanta area. If you are interested having in a regular online dharma dialog with me, as she does, let me know. And If you have questions regarding the integration of everyday life with your Zen practice, please don’t hesitate to send them to me for future podcasts.Last time, we

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00:14:22

124: Zen at Work

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/08/23

ZEN AT WORK, AT HOME, AT PLAYThis segment of UnMind is based on some questions raised by one of the members of ASZC. While she moved out of the Atlanta area, she stays in touch through weekly participation in my Online Dharma Dialog program. As an aside, if you think you may be interested in establishing a dialog about your practice, let me know via email — you can find my address on the ASZC web page.This person was not born in the USA, and so has the compound complications in her daily life of

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00:16:35

123: Zen versus Daily Life part 7

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/08/16

THE WORST-CASE SCENARIOIn one of the recent segments of this podcast, titled “What if This is Hell?” I indulged a “what if” conjecture, speculating that this earthly life may not be some kind of test, as many religions conceive of it — wherein those who pass the test go to their reward in heaven, while those who fail are condemned to an eternity in hell — but that this level of existence, if there are levels, may actually be Hell itself, with a capital “H”. I then explored the implications of that

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00:15:39

122: Zen versus Daily Life part 6

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/08/09

Eric Clapton’s version of the song, “Change the World” — made popular on the soundtrack of the 1996 film “Phenomenon” — is mainly about personal relationships, as are most country-western or rock-and-roll songs. But we can take a larger view of the same idea. What if you could actually change the world, and to a substantial degree? What would you make different? In other words, what is your definition of the problem?As a person trained in design-build processes and the philosophy of design thinking,

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00:17:48

121: Zen versus Daily Life part five

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/08/02

Let’s recall our initial outline of areas of interest we are using to compare and contrast the Zen life with our usual preoccupations. To refresh your memory, they were, and are:— Lifestyle: Monastic versus Householder — Physical: Zazen versus the four Cardinal Postures — Biological: Meditative breathing versus everyday situations— Psychological: Shikantaza versus ordinary attentionIn this segment we will take up the last of the four — attention — the third disposition, after posture and breath, of

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00:16:38

119: Zen versus Daily Life part three

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/07/30

In the introductory segment to this UnMind series, we posited that amongst the many dimensions of everyday life, there are several contrasting pairs and sets of ideas that may be usefully employed to illustrate how our pursuit of a more comprehensive Zen life might be framed, including:— Lifestyle: Monastic versus Householder — Physical: Zazen versus the four Cardinal Postures — Biological: Meditative breathing versus everyday situations— Psychological: Shikantaza versus ordinary attentionOf course,

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00:15:10

120: Zen versus Daily Life part four

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/07/26

Continuing our exploration of what aspects of Zen training we might reasonably incorporate into our daily life activities, we turn to the aspect of breathing. This we listed under the rubric of the biological: meditative breathing versus everyday situations. With an initial caveat to remember that we are not talking about breath control, but finding and following the natural breath in various circumstances.Beginning with how we are instructed to breathe while sitting in zazen, the very fact that we

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00:13:57

118: Zen versus Daily Life part two

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/07/12

Continuing our exploration of the various dimensions of daily life in modern America, and how we might more intentionally, and mindfully, carry over the insights and influences of our Zen practice, “applying“ them in a beneficial manner, I suggested that this process would necessarily involve turning a perceived negative into a positive, converting a confrontational approach to one of collaboration and complementarity. That is, the perceived conflict between those special activities that we

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00:13:34

117: Zen versus Daily Life

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/07/05

I have used the term “versus” for many years, without ever looking it up in the dictionary. It is defined as “against (especially in sports and legal use)”; or “as opposed to; in contrastto.” So when we speak of Zen versus daily life or vice-versa, we imply that somehow the practice of Zen is necessarily set ”against” the other dimensions of life. This issue comes up frequently for experienced practitioners as well as rank newcomers. This segment will broach this subject and outline some of its

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00:18:00

116: Earth vs Hell / Samsara vs Nirvana

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/06/28

Hell to PayHaving sown the wind,we are reaping the whirlwind.Mother Nature’s pissed.WHAT IF THIS IS HELL?The 1995 hit song released by Joan Osborne: “What if God was one of us?” reminded me of another mythical story called “The Rabbi’s Gift.” It is a tale of a rabbi visiting and giving a talk at a Christian monastery fallen on hard times, in which he suggests that one of the few remaining monks may actually be the Messiah in disguise. The monks come to embrace this notion as a distinct possibility,

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00:12:39

115B: (A)theism vs Addiction

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/06/21

(A)theismTheism, okay —But not without its flip sideBoth is and is not.Continuing our discussion of addiction and theism, along with atheism, we will focus more tightly on alcohol, as one addiction amongst many. I contacted an associate we will refer to as Buddy C, who for some years has hosted a Taoist AA recovery group online, focusing on one verse of the Tao te Ching each week. I would join on one afternoon per month to add my two bits on the verse from the perspective of Zen. I interviewed Buddy

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00:12:39

115A: Addiction vs. (A)theism

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/06/14

AddictionAddiction is real —Born of body, mouth, and mind;Not invented here.In this segment of UnMind we return to a subject — if it can be reduced to a mere “subject” — that I explored publicly many years ago, when I gave a series of talks on addiction and Zen under the rubric of “sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll.” Which, at that time, seemed to cover the waterfront of possible addictions. I took the position that, from the point of view of Zen Buddhism — perhaps as distinct from more traditional

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00:12:39

114: Nature: Buddha vs Human

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/06/06

Buddha NatureNot what we think, but —We fall into confusion.Back to the cushion!We left off last time with a discussion of the relative reality of human, versus corporate, entities — which may seem a bit far removed from the concerns of Zen practice. But, as Matsuoka Roshi would often say, “Civilization conquers us!” One of the ways that so-called civilization interferes with our lives on a daily basis, to such a degree that we become inured to it — “death and taxes” being the only sure things in

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00:14:53

113. NATURE: Human vs Buddha

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/05/31

Human NatureIt’s not what we think.We must kill to stay alive —How “humane” is that?One of the many modern cultural memes that Zen challenges — as well as any unbiased reading of history would, for that matter — is the hopeful notion that human nature is necessarily a good thing. We often use the term “humane” with this connotation, as defined by the dictionary:•having orshowingcompassion orbenevolence:regulations ensuring the humane treatment of animals.•inflicting theminimumof

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00:17.20

112. Gravity & Gravitas

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/05/24

Your zazen may leadTo a kind of gravitas —But it’s only Zen.* * *“Gravity,” the John Mayer song that won a Grammy in 2005, begins with the lines:Gravity is working against me And gravity wants to bring me downTruer words, as we say. One of the four fundamental forces, as defined by Google:There are four fundamental forces at work in the universe:the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. They work over different ranges and have different strengths

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00:14.25

111. Analysis & Analogy

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/05/17

You can analyzeAnything into nothing —Apt analogy.* * *In this segment of UnMind we continue exploring the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen praxis. That last 10-dollar word we may take up in future under “Praxis & Practice.” They are not exactly synonymous. But for now I want to focus our attention on analogy, its usage in Zen teachings, and its reliance on the faculty or process of analysis, one of the most powerful tools of the human mind. In his seminal teaching, Genjokoan—Actualizing

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