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The Late Chan Master John Crook

27th November 1930 - 15th July 2011

Chan Master Dr John Crook Dsc, Chuan-deng Jing-di, died suddenly at his home on 15th July 2011. Many condolence messages have been received, and some obituaries have been published. We link and publish a selection of these below, and may update this page and add more later.

Obituaries and Tributes Published

Here are some obituaries of John Crook which have been published.

If you know of others, please email details to: WCF Secretary

Condolence Messages

Many condolence messages have been received: by post; by email; by telephone; and in person. Here we reproduce just a selection of these:

Thank you very much for your message about John Crook. This is a great sadness to all who knew this luminous mind, and he will be remembered with gratitude in our prayers here.

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

"no words, just heart. A friend is gone in this life, his face is my own, softy, softy, silence."

"I am deeply touched and shocked by John's death, as it was so sudden and unexpected. Please receive my deep condolences for the great loss of your teacher and friend. It is also a great loss for all of us who knew John and who where inspired by his work and teaching."

"John will be sadly missed by all of us, perhaps most of all by those of his friends who had the good fortune to work with him."

"I was deeply saddened to hear of John's sudden death and I hope his enquiring mind and work continues in this realm and the next."

Thank you for advising me of our senior Dharma brother's passing. He has left a legacy of present and future practitioners. So one can not really say he passed on, other than to mean what he set into motion with the wonderous Bodhi heart. This will be passed on through the generations. Best wishes on the continued success of WCF."

"This is very sad news. John gifted me with so much and it is beyond expression in a brief note, save to say that it is of  vital importance to me on a daily basis."

"I guess John would not want us to be sad for him but it is incredibly difficult not to be."

"John has entered the pure sphere and it is up to us to continue his legacy and Shifu's."

"I don't feel as if John has gone away - just opening to the place where there is no coming or going in us all."

'You cant come to the end of suffering unless you come to the end of the world, but you cant come to the end of the world by travelling..'"

"Thank you, John, for what you have done for me and others! How can I express my gratitude and pay back? Will keep you in my heart and work on what you have taught..."

"This is very sad news. John will be deeply missed by all of us."

"We have just heard that our Dharma brother John has passed away recently. It is a great loss in the Chan family.We will miss him dearly. Please pass along our sincere condolences and prayers to the group and family.Please let us know if you need anything from us here in Canada."

"After the shock and sadness I have been remembering John this morning with nothing but gratitude. What a truly wonderful gift and inspiration he, his life and work have been to us and so many others."

"I wish to send my condolences to all at Western Chan Fellowship. There are no words to express the sense of loss, but then John used to teach also through silence. The best I can do to honour John's memory is to follow the teaching and continue practising."

"I have been reading John's "The Yogins of Ladakh" with much gratitude. I had planned on writing to John this evening to ask when he might lead a trek into that wonderful region, and attending a Mahamudra retreat lead by John. So sad to hear of his unexpected sudden death. He was so especially instrumental in my personal development."

"A torrent of memories of a man who changed the course of the life of so many people, including my own."

"John was a significant figure in Western Buddhism, with a penetrating intelligence, a lively sense of humour, and a deep and practical understanding of Buddhism."

"Please, accept my sorrow. 
Words can not describe how I feel. 
Please, accept my condolences."

"A lot of people in Poland are very sad because of John, even those who were not his personal disciples. He loved people and people love him. He will be still alive in our practice and in everything he has taught us. His death is for me a great obligation to preserve his teaching."

"I have a deep sense of appreciation for John's teachings and for the remarkable work he carried out in transmitting the Dharma to the west. I sincerely hope that the Western Chan Fellowship continues to flourish."

"sad news indeed about John's passing. He will be deeply missed - as teacher and friend. Heartfelt condolences to you and the WCF sangha. May we do our best to nurture and embody the Dharma seeds he has sown."

"Please accept my condolences on the death of Chan Master John Crook. I would like to have met him, but have only known him by repute. He will be missed by all whose lives were blessed by his influence. Sad though the news, I very much appreciate your having informed me. I shall treasure his memory."

"John will be missed so much by the local community as well as the world wide sangha. The contribution he made to bringing the Dharma and Zen/Chan to the UK is immeasurable and his passing is a huge loss."

"I realize what a constant background presence John has been in my life, going right back to university days in the early 70s, when he was a tutor in the Bristol psychology department. John ran encounter groups that my friends went to, but I was too chicken to go. Like for so many others, John was the one who introduced me to practice. My first ever retreat was at Maenllwyd years ago and there has been a continuous awareness of John's leading presence. He always comes to mind, when we drive by Winterhead Hill Farm on our way walking or to visit family in Cheddar. I will miss knowing he is there. There will be a huge gap locally as well as on the world Zen map. Thinking of John's family and the whole WCF and sending love."

"I write to offer yourself and all Western Chan Fellowship members my heartfelt condolences on the passing of John Crook. I lived most of my life in Hong Kong and only took up UK residence since 2001. While in HK, I met John on several occasions and gained a high opinion of him. He clearly had a good knowledge and understanding of BuddhaDhamma and visited many remarkable places in China.  His age was similar to my own. I experienced a lot of hostility from Christian Groups I met when on leave in UK, so I can imagine how difficult it must have been for him at times during the 1970 and 1980 's. We all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to John for establishing the Western Chan Fellowship in this country. May he realise Nibbana."

"We celebrate the life of John."

"He spoke with such clarity, good sense and dignity. To be comfortable in both the scientific establishment, and an ancient religious tradition, seeing no conflict between them, is a very precious thing. There is much I would have liked to ask him. I consider myself very privileged just to have met him, and have him as an example."

"My thoughts and prayers are with you and the fellowship both for the loss but also for the great teachings given by John Crook."

 

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The articles on this website have been submitted by various authors and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the Western Chan Fellowship.