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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

00:16.40

110. Student vs Teacher

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/05/10

Not symmetricalBut then nothing really is —Only in our mind* * *In this segment of UnMind we continue where we left off, discussing the all-important mentoring relationship of teachers to students, and students to teachers, particularly the asymmetrical relationship in Zen training. The success of any mentorship depends almost entirely, 100% plus, on the sincerity and intensity of the student, more so than the teacher, as illustrated by the anecdote about my friend and fellow student at ID+IIT, JJ,

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00:19.45

109. Teacher vs Student

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/05/03

Asymmetrical.Of necessity it is —But need not stay so.* * *Welcome back to UnMind, the podcast in which we tap into Design Thinking to inform our approach to Zen practice and daily life in modern times, especially in America. After the last series posted at midsummer last year — five episodes in which we summarized thirty-two prior segments on the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen — we decided to take a much-needed hiatus to reconsider the overall direction of the podcast itself. The prior

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00:12:18

108. Three Jewels Design III

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/04/26

Designing SanghaSangha is the fruitOf all of our endeavors —If harmonious.* * *angha is also an operative dynamic of our world. Community already exists; it is just not always very harmonious. Why would Buddha have established the original Order of monks and nuns, when he had a perfectly serviceable community in the form of the Shakya clan, and enjoyed a position of high honor and privilege within it? Why do we seek out groups of like-minded folks, often turning away from the family and friends we

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00:14:50

107. Three Jewels Design II

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/04/19

Designing DharmaDharma was the pointOf 2500 years —And forever more* * *Matsuoka Roshi would often say that most people go through life with something missing; they don’t know what it is, but they definitely know it’s missing. Finally, he said, they come to Zen to find it. Zazen is, of course, not the only way to penetrate the truths of existence, but as Sensei claimed, any method that works — yoga, prayer, philosophy, martial arts, chanting, etc. — “will have something of Zen in it.” He would often

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00:15:59

106. Three Jewels Design I

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2023/04/12

Designing BuddhaBuddha was the firstTo define design intent —It hasn’t changed much.* * *In the next three segments of UnMind Podcast we will consider the Three Treasures of Buddhism — Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha — from the perspective of design thinking. That is, the method of Zen as consisting of Buddha practice: time on the cushion; Dharma study: researching and interpreting the teachings of the lineage masters; and Sangha service: the place and importance of community. We will devote one podcast

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00:15:29

105. Design & Zen Summary V

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/08/24

It’s not personal.But it manifests that way —Universally.* * *As promised in the last segment, we will finish this series of five by taking up the remaining pair of combinations — the intersection of the Personal from the Four Spheres, with the Cessation of suffering from the Four Noble Truths, which involves the Eightfold Path previously touched upon. Personal Cessation is the only kind there can be, it seems. Even the Natural Cessation of physical death is not considered the end of suffering in

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00:16:53

104. Design & Zen Summary IV

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/08/17

All are on the Path,Though many do not know it.This Path is no path.* * *The focus of this segment, the intersection of the Social Sphere and the Path to Cessation, sounds dangerously close to “sociopath,” a term that is becoming more and more familiar in the era of extreme divisiveness in the cultural and political landscape, not only in the USA but around the globe. What more appropriate designation for the president living in luxury in Russia, who finds it desirable to be constantly bombing and

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00:13:56

103. Design & Zen Summary III

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/08/10

Not unnatural,Suffering is only change.It’s not personal.* * *Continuing where we left off last time, in this segment we will look at the intersection of the Natural sphere with Buddhism’s Origin of suffering. The graphic illustrating correlations between the Four Spheres — Universal, Natural, Social, and Personal; and the Existence, Origin, Cessation, and Eightfold Path to cessation of suffering — is included again for your convenience and reference.In the Repentance verse of Soto Zen liturgy we

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00:15:36

102. Design & Zen Summary II

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/08/03

Yes, universal!Existence unlimitedto our perception* * *In the last session we concluded the introduction to this summary of the intersection of Design Thinking and Zen by linking Buddha’s Four Noble Truths to my Four Spheres of Influence and Endeavor as encountered in daily life. The semantic model shown illustrates correlations between the Four Spheres — Universal, Natural, Social, and Personal — and the Existence, Origin, Cessation, and Eightfold Path to cessation, of suffering. We will explore

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00:12:10

101. Design & Zen Summary I

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/07/27

Both solve a problem —though of differing import.Zen’s is the broadest.* * *In the last session of live dharma dialog online at the Zen center — transcribed as the last podcast in the series on the most recent spate of mass shootings — the last participant worried that meditation would not help children in the classroom, owing to the complexity of the many personal and social issues they are confronting. Not least, the elephant in every public American classroom these days, the threat of yet another

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00:10:54

100. Death & Disaster, Dialog & Dharma IV

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/07/20

Final solution —What if there isn’t any?Back to the cushion.* * *We concluded the last segment on perhaps an overly pessimistic note, that engaging the current spate of daily atrocities through the established political process may never result in any of your preferred outcomes. But Zen encourages us to approach life like the superior player plays the game of Go. The inferior player gets bogged down in territorial fights in one corner of the board, and may win that battle, but meanwhile the opponent

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00:16:39

99. Death & Disaster, Dialog & Dharma III

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/07/13

Be realistic —Give up your designs on life.It has its own plan.* * *In the last segment we addressed the first few questions that arose from the Zen community regarding the most recent mass shootings in the context of buddhadharma and daily life practice, concluding with the point that Zen Buddhism is not overly optimistic on these issues, but certainly not pessimistic, either, as generally regarded by the uninitiated, owing to its emphasis on confronting suffering rather than trying to avoid it

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00:13:29

98. Death & Disaster, Dialog & Dharma II

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/07/06

Inevitable —Yet so unnecessary!Enough suffering.* * *As mentioned in the first segment of this series, one Sunday at the Zen center we conducted a dialog on the recent school shootings and general dystopian state of affairs, as a kind of “dharma combat,” an open and frank discussion of how Zen practice does or does not address the ongoing chaos of modern life in America. In this and the two following segments we will close out this discussion, largely quoting the question-and-answer dynamic that

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00:15:56

97. Death & Disaster, Dialog & Dharma I

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/06/29

The final lesson.Cannot postpone forever;learned now or never.* * *Each fifth Sunday, of which there are four per year (unless there is yet another anomaly I do not understand about the common calendar), we hold our version of what is called “dharma combat,” or hossen in Japanese. This exercise is based upon our understanding of how the ancestors of Zen structured their public discourse. Public, that is, in the sense that all members of a temple or monastery were invited to join the dialog. Whether

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00:17:51

96. People, God & Design Intent

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/06/22

Whose idea was this?It certainly wasn’t mine —Perhaps it is yours?* * *The thread running through this series is the underlying connection, the various links, between Design thinking and Zen, and how they differ from conventional thinking and religion. In considering the topics of the times, such as the spate of school shootings and other mass murders recurring on a daily basis now, it may seem to be stretching this idea to its breaking point. But just consider: What part of these events is not the

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00:11:41

95. Design Thinking & Zen Sitting

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/06/15

How to think Design?Nothing is sep’rate in it —Nothing excluded!* * *During the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, like most other people I gained some wait and lost some of my vim and vigor. This is owing to the natural ravages of aging, sickness and death as taught by Buddha, I know, but I want to warn you that your Design thinking can lead you astray if you let it, in the sense that you begin over-thinking your daily practice, and fall prey to a common misunderstanding of Zen. This goes back to

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00:16:45

94. Designing a Zen Worldview

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/06/08

How to design Zen?No need to redesign it —It is already!* * *In this segment we will continue to explore the underlying or implied question of Buddhism: What is your worldview, exactly and in detail? And: How can you mount challenges to it? Again, there are multiple dimensions, or spheres of influence, to our world, namely the personal, social, natural, and universal. Also again, the influence we can have on these various spheres is a case of diminishing returns, as we move from the inmost personal

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00:17:57

93. Bucky, Me & Zen

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/06/01

Perfectly nat’ral,A sitting tetrahedron —Equilibrium!* * *We will continue our discussion of the influence of Design thinking on worldview, returning to one of my most influential mentors. I want to share more of my familiarity with R. Buckminster Fuller, who is perhaps the most underappreciated proponent of Design with a capital “D.” Some of the points I make will be redundant, but Fuller’s teaching, like Zen’s, bears repetition. They sink in gradually if at all.Design itself, as a worldview,

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00:23:22

92. Design Intent, Comedy & Tragedy

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/05/25

It is laugh or cry —the tragedy of humansin hormonal rage.* * *This is one I did not want to have to write. But owing to the resurgence of mass shootings — emerging to fill the gap, now that the COVID pandemic has cut us some slack — I feel I would be remiss to continue along the lines of treating less controversial dimensions of design thinking, Zen, and the reality we face. Perhaps because I have recently re-watched some old videos of George Carlin and Richard Pryor, I am subject to irresistible

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Geodesics & Zen

91. Geodesics & Zen

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/05/18

Falling through a curve —Sum total of all forces…Zen’s “total function”!* * *In this segment we will return our attention back to the more personal sphere of meditation practice. Beyond any consideration of what unlikely intersections we may find between Design thinking and the complex ethical and political issues of our times — other than personal solutions that may help mitigate the worst consequences of the seemingly incompetent or malicious intentions on the part of the powers that be— the

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