Practice Period - Existential Uncertainty
/Shinmon Michael Newton asks: When did a sense of wonder first stir in you? What kinds of questions do you have on the back-burner of your mind?
Dharma Podcast and Teachings
The Mountain Rain Zen Dharma Podcast
features talks by our guiding teachers, Myoshin Kate
McCandless and Shinmon Michael Newton, as well as a
variety of MRZC practice leaders and other guest speakers.
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Teachings Archive
You can browse all past talks by speaker, date, category, and program in our archive found HERE
Practice Period - Vimalakirti’s Silence
/Shinmon Michael Newton suggests that an unanswered question is alive with everything, active and illuminated as thunder. Not knowing is the wisdom of not forcing reality into an answer.
In our world flooded by digital noise, in what way is silence still a disruptive revolutionary power?
Practice Period - Feeding the Hungry Ghosts
/Myoshin Kate McCandless explores the wheel of karma and our human concern about the suffering of those who have died. How are they and what are the karmic consequences of their choices in life? At this time of year, how do communities enact care for those no longer with us? Can you notice when a disparaging thought arises?
Practice Period - Knowing Right from Wrong
/Unmon Jacob offers the second talk in his capacity as shuso. He asks: can we dynamically work between knowing and not knowing in order to support our ethics?
Practice Period - Baizhang and the Fox
/Myoshin Kate McCandless discusses Zen's ambivalence towards the wild fox.
"Do not ignore cause and effect".
Practice Period - Stability and Knowledge
/Shinmon Michael Newton suggests that unknowing or not knowing have always been part of the human condition. Practicing with "I don't know" can strengthen attention, deepen humility and cultivate compassion.
Practice Period Opening Weekend 3/3
/Anchoring in the Koans of Knowing and Not Knowing, Myoshin Kate McCandless asks that we open to curiosity and not cling to our fixed views of each other. All we know is always partial, subject to change, and provisional.
Practice Period Opening Weekend 2/3
/Unmon Jacob Butula, shuso for the Practice Period, offers a Way-Seeking Mind Talk - a traditional talk in Zen Buddhism where a practitioner reflects on their personal life story and the causes and conditions that brought them to Zen practice.
“We don’t know what we don’t know. It is important to create the capacity for the changes that inevitably come.”
