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PODCAST

in the Cloud

Mountain Cloud Zen Center

Welcome to the Mountain Cloud Zen Center "in the Cloud" podcast. Here, we"ll be sharing our weekly Teisho"s exploring classical Zen Koans, offered by Mountain Cloud teachers, and some guest teachers. Additionally, we"ll be releasing a conversation series, titled Path(less), which will explore the "pathless path" of practice and life. Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud Zen Center through donation and membership, both of which allow us to offer these and other programs. Visit

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

15:06

Path(less): Intro

in the Cloud ·

2026/03/28

Welcome to a new converation series, titled "Path(less)," on the "in the Cloud" podcast. In this introductory episde, host, Grant Goulet, provides a brief orientation to the theme of the series: the pathless path of practice and life. Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member, so we can continue to offer these programs freely. Donations: https://www.mountaincloud.org/donate/ Membership: https://www.mountaincloud.org/about/membership/ Reach out to

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31:59

Teisho: "No Choosing (This is it!)" with Scott Thornton

in the Cloud ·

2026/03/02

In Case 2 of The Blue Cliff Record, Master Joshu instructs us that "The Supreme Way is not difficult; it simply dislikes picking and choosing." How can this actually apply to a human life, especially in such trying times, since we seem to be faced with nothing but choices every day, from the most mundane to the most heart wrenching? Recorded on February 26, 2026 Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member, so we can continue to offer these programs freely

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29:58

Dharma Talk: "The Oak Tree of Life" with Maria Habito

in the Cloud ·

2026/02/23

This talk is in reference to the Biblical "Tree of Life," from which we disconnected when we ate from the "Tree of Knowledge." How does our Zen practice help us to reconnect? Does Joshu's "Oak tree in the garden" give a hint? Recorded on February 19, 2026 Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member, so we can continue to offer these programs freely. Donations: https://www.mountaincloud.org/donate/ Membership: https://www.mountaincloud.org/about/membership/

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37:06

Dharma Talk: "Taking Care of the One Who is Not Ill"...

in the Cloud ·

2026/02/17

Zen practice invites us to sit in the midst of things just as they are without being tossed about by difficulties. As the waves settle, it can happen – in one unguarded moment – that the world suddenly falls open. The long imagined scaffolding of separation falls away. And we discover: right there in the vicissitudes of our lives there is ONE who is completely free and untroubled. Dogen called it "untrammeled." In this talk, Valerie acknowledges the ills of this world then turns to case 94 in the

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40:05

Dharma Talk: "Opening the Floodgates" with Shana Smith

in the Cloud ·

2026/02/10

Shana delves into Case 9 of the Hekiganroku and Case 15c of the Miscellaneous Koans as pointers to navigating the polycrisis. Recorded on February 5th, 2026 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/

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37:43

Dharma Talk: "Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha"...

in the Cloud ·

2026/02/04

This talk begins with the question of how to embody the freedom and ease of Zen's empty hands while being fully attuned to the cries of the world – including the cries of our own hearts. As a prelude to a koan, the talk turns to the great lay disciple of the Buddha, Vimalakirti, who lies ill and says, "I am sick because the whole world is sick." What wholeness has Vimalakirti seen that allows him to say this? Case 3 of the Hekiganroku or Blue Cliff Record offers a response. About to die, Master

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33:50

Dharma Talk: "The 'Such-as-this' Sutra" with Valerie...

in the Cloud ·

2026/01/27

Opening with a reading of Mountain Cloud's Land Acknowledgment, this talk is framed by a tribute to Joanna Macy through poetry that helped to inspire her deep and abiding support for the earth and all forms of life. Within this frame, Valerie turns to a koan about Prajnatara, teacher of Bodhidharma and an ancestor who may well have been a woman. Case 3 of the Shoyoroku or Book of Equanimity presents Prajnatara embodying the way by "always reciting the 'Such-as-this'-sutra" and opening our eyes to

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29:48

Dharma Talk: "Sitting in the Midst of Tragedy" with...

in the Cloud ·

2026/01/27

Scott takes up Case 6 of the Blue Cliff Record, Unmon's "Every Day is a Good Day." Recorded on January 15th, 2026 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/

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35:44

Dharma Talk: "Begin Again: The timeless gift of a new...

in the Cloud ·

2026/01/13

In this first Dharma talk of the new year, Valerie reads from a recently published collection of poetry, Begin Where You Are, then turns to the question, 'Where Are You?' Issuing from our practice, this question is not a matter of geographical location but a pointer to the fundamental reality of who and what we truly are. Centuries ago, Master Tosetsu Etsu famously addressed his monks with this fundamental question: Right in the midst of your seeking and searching, where is your self-nature at this

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34:30

Dharma Talk: "One Treasure – Endlessly Functioning"...

in the Cloud ·

2026/01/09

In the wake of the Rohatsu sesshin at Mountain Cloud and our deep dive into Hakuin's Song of Zazen, Valerie begins this talk with a painting by Hakuin, an image of three blind men crossing a precarious log bridge. What does Hakuin's vision of 'crossing over' say about our practice, about awakening, and about the leap or fall right into the heart of this broken open world? By way of response, Valerie takes up case 62 in the Hekiganroku or Blue Cliff Record, "Unmon's 'One Treasure.'" In the case,

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37:52

Dharma Talk – Illumined; Illumining: The Full Moon of...

in the Cloud ·

2026/01/08

On the occasion of the last full moon of this calendar year, Valerie turns to case 100 in the Blue Cliff Record or Hekiganroku. Speaking directly to our life and practice, Master Haryo (Baling), asks, "What is the sharpest sword? He himself answers, "Each branch of coral reflects the moon." How does that sharpest sword function and what does it have to do with the light of the moon? In the course of her talk, Valerie reflects on a recent sesshin in Germany then makes the turn toward Rohatsu, the

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25:40

Dharma Talk: "The Boundless Way" with Maria Habito

in the Cloud ·

2025/11/25

Maria turns to Mumonkan Case 7, Joshu's "Wash your Bowl", his advice to a newcomer who earnestly asked him for instruction about the way. How does this simple instruction reflect the boundless way that Joshu himself asked his own teacher Nansen about when he first entered the monastery? Recorded on November 20th, 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:

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24:41

Dharma Talk: "Freedom and the Sound of the Bell" with...

in the Cloud ·

2025/11/25

How do we reconcile the wondrous and borderless reality of the essence with the messiness of our everyday lives? Are changing diapers, checking a phone or driving to work really compatible with "vast and void, no holiness?" Carolyn explores this question as it was posed by Unmon in 10th century China (Case 16 of the Mumonkan) "the world is vast and wide like this. Why do we put on our seven-panel robe at the sound of the bell?" Delve in to see how there is no contraction here. Recorded on November

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26:12

Dharma Talk: "Nothing Lacking" with Scott Thornton

in the Cloud ·

2025/11/25

In this talk, Scott takes up Case 10 of the Mumonkon, "Seizei the Poor." Recorded on November 6th, 2025 Donations: https://www.mountaincloud.org/donate/ Become a member: https://www.mountaincloud.org/about/membership/

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52:43

Dharma Talk: "Bring me the Rhinoceros" with Valerie...

in the Cloud ·

2025/11/24

For this talk, Valerie is joined by friend, author, artist, and dharma teacher, Natalie Goldberg. Together, Natalie and Valerie take up case 25 in the Book of Equanimity or Shoyoroku as a way of exploring the dharma that is at the heart of every koan – this world that is at once broken and utterly complete. Please consider supporting Mountain Cloud with a donation or becoming a member so we can continue to provide online programs such as this. Recorded on October 30th, 2025 Donations:

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35:54

Dharma Talk: "How to See in the Dark" with Valerie...

in the Cloud ·

2025/10/29

This talk begins with the question, 'What is it to be human?' When Siddhartha Gautama was 29 years old, he leapt beyond the palace walls of his rarified life in search of an answer to this question. One of Shakyamuni Buddha's earliest teachings points the way towards what he discovered: Stop and see. Stop the conditioned activity of our discursive minds, our habitual ways of framing the world, our fixed concepts about who and what we are. Put down the artifice of that narrow flashlight. Turn off

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49:07

Dharma Talk: “Everywhere You Turn” with Valerie Forstman

in the Cloud ·

2025/10/15

This talk takes up case 34 in the Blue Cliff Record or Hekiganroku, “Kyozan’s ‘Not Wandering,’” as a guide to that exploration. Kyozan (Yangshan) asks a monk, “Where have you come from?” It’s a common question – a fundamental question – that the monks of record repeatedly fail to realize. Here, the monk responds in terms of geography, the distance between here and there, near and far, coming and going. The exchange unfolds with a turning word addressed to the student and to us: Can you wander in

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37:17

Dharma Talk: “Zen Practice: Sweeping the Ground of...

in the Cloud ·

2025/10/15

In this talk, Valerie returns to the basics of Zen practice beginning with a beloved verse by the renowned 8th century Chinese poet, Li Po. The poem is both a practice pointer and an expression of the fundamental reality we can discover along the way as practice unfolds: the essential world that is empty, boundless, and one, while, at the same time, exactly the world of our everyday lives. As a pointer to this one reality, the talk takes up case 21 in the Shoyoroku or Book of Equanimity, “Ungan

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37:48

Dharma Talk: “The humanity of our life in a...

in the Cloud ·

2025/07/29

In this talk, Valerie begins with the poetry of love and loss as a portal to a saying from the eminent 9th century Chan/Zen master Joshu (Zhaozhou) about the timelessness of our everyday lives. The talk explores Joshu’s response to a monk who asks, “During the 24 hours, how is mind put to use?” Joshu offers a response that calls us into the immeasurable dynamism of each present moment. We are creatures inured to time. What happens when, in a moment of zazen, time stands still? Or all time is

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23:46

Dharma Talk: “It’s Alive!” with Scott Thornton

in the Cloud ·

2025/07/22

Scott's talked is based on one of Joshu’s sayings. When asked “What is meditation?” he responded, “Non-meditation.” When asked how that could be, he said, “It’s alive! It’s alive!” Recorded on July 17th, 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/membership/

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471 results

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