Welcome in the new year with this Teisho offered by Mountain Cloud's Guiding Teacher, Valerie Forstman.

To see what Mountain Cloud has planned for the upcoming year, visit www.mountaincloud.org/newyear/

During the season of Rohatsu, Solstice, Christmas and Hanukkha, Maria takes up the psalm of Isaiah: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” This psalm becomes a starting point to reflect on how darkness and light feed our practice of seeing our true nature.

At this time when many of us may be feeling daunted and uncertain, we gather in the zendo to tap into our shared deeper nature that meditation can open up, drawing sustenance and new perspectives from it.

In this talk, Henry explores breakthrough experiences — sudden shifts in how we understand and experience this life. They can show up in many forms, and in many areas, both personal and collective. Zen’s history is full of stories of sudden awakenings — moments when practitioners found they had broken out of familiar ways of perceiving and understanding their lives, into new ways of experiencing time, space, a profound sense of belonging, and of participating in the life of this world and all its beings.

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