Welcome to Cloud Dragon

Invocation of the Lunar Dharma
Cloud Dragon : The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works was created to make the groundbreaking teachings of Joan Sutherland, Roshi widely available. Her work is a fresh imagining of the koan tradition, rooted in its original understanding of all of life as a process of awakening. Endarkenment is as essential as enlightenment to awakening, and much of her work is an exploration of the power held in the radiance of the dark.
Since her retirement in 2014, Cloud Dragon is the place to access Joan Sutherland's writings, videos, and the audio archive of her talks and readings, as well as a growing body of transcripts of those talks. For ongoing practice there’s The Open Source network of communities, led by her dharma heirs. See the window below, Places to Go, for more information.
Announcements
Joan's new book on koans, Through Forests of Every Color, is coming out on Summer Solstice 2022 from Shambhala Publications. "A clearer path or a better guide would be hard to find," says Red Pine. Stay tuned for pre-order discounts. And audio book, read by the author, is also in the works.Gates, our miscellaneous koan collection is now available free of charge as a PDF in the old Acequias & Gates format.

Zen ... Koans ... Awakening ... Endarkenment ... Where to begin?
Here are links to a few of Joan Sutherland's essays and audio recordings that introduce the philosophy and practices that are essential to our Way.
The Radiance of the Dark from The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works on Vimeo.
A short video evoking Joan's vision embracing endarkenment as well as enlightenment.More Videos

This site is a transit point for Joan's work in progress, journal entries, fragments, bright shards, finger exercises, field notes, marginalia — what leads up to, and what gets left out of, her published writing.
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The Open Source, communities and teachers in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California