Path(less): Will & Lucie Brennan

The Egyptian Nobel Prize-winning author, Naguib Mahfouz, famously wrote, "Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease." More than a few Zen koans begin with a master asking a newly arrived monk, "Where have you come from?" The question is not a matter of geography or of coordinates on a map. "Where have you come from?" is an invitation to discover and embody our own true home – not a place but the fundamental reality that includes all our coming and going while being subject to none of it. Home. Here. Nothing outside it. In this talk, Valerie explores the native ground of "home" by turning to case 15 in the Mumonkan or Gateless Gate, "Tozan's Sixty Blows." The monk, Tozan, arrives and Unmon's teaching begins: "Where have you come from?" Their exchange brings Tozan to great doubt and beyond – to the ground of awakening that stretches out in all directions.   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/

Such a fun chat with Jason Fried, Co-founder and CEO of 37signals--the company behind Basecamp and HEY. Jason's also the author of the excellent (and prescient) books Rework and Remote. Jason joined me via Zoom from his home-office in California. If you're enjoying these conversations, please consider supporting Mountain Cloud through donation and membership. Your contribution is a meaningful way for us to continue offering these programs freely. Donation Membership Reach out to [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

David Robert Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is a prolific author, whose articles appear regularly in the pages of major journals such as Tikkun and Buddhist magazines including Tricycle, Lion's Roar, and Buddhadharma, as well as in a variety of scholarly journals. Many of his writings, as well as audio and video talks and interviews, are available on the web. He is on the advisory boards of Buddhist Global Relief, the Clear View Project, Zen Peacemakers, and the Ernest Becker Foundation. David is one of the founding members of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. Please visit the website at rockymountainecodharmaretreat.org for more information. 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/

This talk begins with an exploration of the first grave precept in Mahayana Buddhism, not-killing. Valerie then turns to case 14 in the Mumonkan or Gateless Gate, the next koan in the collection. This famous case, "Nansen Kills the Cat," is often described as a difficult koan, opaque to understanding and troubling to our sensibilities. Would a Zen master actually slay a cat in an all-out effort to awaken his monks? What are we to make of the startling image of Nansen holding up an innocent creature in one hand, a knife in the other, and addressing us: "Say a word and I will spare the cat." Faced with the matter of life and death in the hands of a great master, what would you say?   The koan unfolds with Joshu, Nansen's student of 40 years, hearing what happened and offering his response. We smile as he walks through the koan and leaves us with questions: What is the cat? What is cut through and what, possibly, spared? What is the turning word in a story that asks us to drop everything and enter in?   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/

For this episode, we're reaching back in time with Will & Lucie Brennan, two of the original founders and builders of Mountain Cloud. So fun to take a trip down memory lane with them. I hope you enjoy hearing the 'origin stories'. If you're enjoying these conversations, please consider supporting Mountain Cloud through donation and membership. Your contribution is a meaningful way for us to continue offering these programs freely. Donation Membership Reach out to [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

Freshly returned from the annual Sanbo Zen teacher training in Germany and a sesshin she led there, Valerie reflects on these experiences and on the many gifts of practice. How do we find our way on this path of practice exactly where we are, lacking nothing, and, at the same time, called ever more deeply into the freedom and compassion that is our native ground? The talk offers a tribute to Patty Underbrink, a longtime practitioner who died on Sunday, three years to the day she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Patty was deaf and fluent in American Sign Language. In celebration of Patty's life and her tireless encouragement to others, the talk turns to case 89 in the Book of Equanimity, with its question: "What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes for?" Let our practice be a portal and a response. 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 [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

Such a delight to chat with Vanessa Zuisei Goddard. Zuisei has a fascinating pathless path. She joined me online, from her home in Panama City. You, too, can join Zuisei online, with the Ocean Mind Sangha. If you're enjoying these conversations, please consider supporting Mountain Cloud through donation and membership. Your contribution is a meaningful way for us to continue offering these programs freely. Donation Membership Reach out to [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

Shana reflects upon the recent Kenshukai in Germany, and examines Case 86 of the Blue Cliff Record, "Unmon's Bright Light." 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 [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

We're back with another episode of Path(less)! Today with the lovely Daisy Lin. We had a great time chatting about a whole host of interesting topics. Please enjoy! If you're enjoying these conversations, please consider supporting Mountain Cloud through donation and membership. Your contribution is a meaningful way for us to continue offering these programs freely. Donation Membership Reach out to [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.

As our 30 Days of Dogen course comes to an end, Valerie invites a return to Dogen's seminal awakening: Body and mind fallen away. What geography of awakening does Dogen's experience lay bare for us and can it be anywhere but here? Looking into this, the talk turns to case 27 in the Blue Cliff Record, "Unmon's 'Complete Exposure.'"  The koan asks, 'When everything falls away, what then?' Our practice itself offers a response. Fallen away, fallen away and simultaneously falling headlong into the heart of this beautiful, broken world. 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 [email protected] with any comments or suggestions.