WCF Books
On this page we list books by Teachers of the WCF, Master Sheng Yen and Dr John Crook. You may order these books by clicking on the links or images below.
A Journey of Learning and Insight
Master Sheng Yen
Things Pertaining to Bodhi
The Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment
Master Sheng Yen
World Crisis and Buddhist Humanism
End Games: Collapse or Renewal of Civilisation
Dr John Crook
Order from Amazon.co.uk
The Koans of Layman John
Dr John Crook
Order from Amazon.co.uk or from Lulu.com
Shattering the Great Doubt
The Chan Practice of Huatou
Master Sheng Yen
The Method of No-Method
The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination
Master Sheng Yen
A comprehensive discussion and instruction on the practice of the method of Silent Illumination.
Footprints in the Snow
The Autobiography of a Chinese Buddhist Monk
Master Sheng Yen
The autobiography of Chan Master Sheng Yen.
Illuminating Silence - Master Sheng Yen
The Practice of Chinese Zen
Introductions and commentaries by John Crook
This comprehensive work provides an introduction to the practice of Chinese Zen (Chan) by a great contemporary Chan master based on talks given during two intensive retreats at the Maenllwyd - the meditation centre of the Western Chan Fellowship in Wales. It provides a basic handbook for all concerned with an effective training in Zen for the West.
In his foreward Stephen Batchelor writes:
The discourses are lucid and direct, drawn widely on the sources of Chinese Buddhism, and speak in a refreshingly modern idiom. Perhaps because the setting was relatively small and intimate, the gentleness, warmth and humour of Master Sheng Yen radiate throughout the text.
Part One provides full details of the unfolding of a Chan retreat with details of schedule, liturgy and all talks by the Master thereby enabling the reader to sit in on the retreat as it developed.
Part Two contains a careful presentation of the meditation method of Silent Illumination (mo chao) which, taken later to Japan, there became the sitting style called "shikantaza" The talks here are based in the original presentations of Master Hongzhi Zhenjue (1090-1157).
Part Three comprises retreat reports written by the editor during his training with Master Sheng Yen and which thus provide the reader with an experience of what it is like to "sit" a training retreat with a Chan master.
John Crook, the Teacher of the Western Chan Fellowship and the first European Dharma Heir of the Master in the Linji and Caodong traditions of Chinese Zen, has constructed the text from the taped English interpretations by Ming Yee Wang of the spoken mandarin. He writes:
I was engaging in an exercise in hermeneutics, an interpretation of the teaching in which my own subjectivity was highly engaged. I thus received the teachings many times over.
John also provides commentarial introductions to each part of the text and an edited autobiography of the master.
You may order online from Amazon.co.uk - click on the image to order. At the time of writing their price is £8.99 plus postage and packing.
Orthodox Chinese Buddhism
A Contemporary Chan Master's Answers to Common Questions
Master Sheng Yen
Originally published in 1965 and addressed to a Chinese audience, this book is now available for the first time in an English translation. It presents Chan Master Sheng Yen's views on Chan from an orthodox perspective.
Attaining the Way
A Guide to the Practice of Chan Buddhism
Master Sheng Yen
Song of Mind
Wisdom from the Zen Classic Xin Ming
Master Sheng Yen
Complete Enlightenment
Zen Comments on the Sutra of Great Enlightenment
Master Sheng Yen
Hoofprint of the Ox
Principles of the Chan Buddhist Path As Taught by a Modern Chinese Master
Master Sheng Yen
There Is No Suffering
A Commentary on the Heart Sutra
Master Sheng Yen
Zen Wisdom
Conversations on Buddhism with Chan Master Shen-Yen
Master Sheng Yen
Subtle Wisdom
Understanding Suffering, Cultivating Compassion Through Chan Buddhism
Master Sheng Yen
The Infinite Mirror
Ts'ao-Tung Chan: Commentaries on Inquiry into Matching Halves and Song of the Precious Mirror Samadhi
Master Sheng Yen
The Infinite Mirror (no picture available)
Dharma Drum
The Life and Heart of Ch'an Practice
Master Sheng Yen
Sword of Wisdom
Lectures and Informal Talks on Ch'an Text "Song of Enlightenment"
Master Sheng Yen
Getting the Buddha Mind
On the Practice of Chan Retreat
Master Sheng Yen
Getting the Buddha Mind (no picture available)
Poetry of Enlightenment
Poems by Ancient Chan Masters
Master Sheng Yen
Faith in Mind
Guide to Ch'an Practice
Master Sheng Yen
Ox-herding at Morgan's Bay
A Commentary on the Ox-Herding Pictures
Master Sheng Yen
Ox-herding at Morgan's Bay (no picture available)
The Yogins of Ladakh
A Pilgrimage Among the Hermits of the Buddhist Himalayas
Dr John Crook
Space in Mind
East-West Psychology and Contemporary Buddhism
Dr John Crook
Catching a Feather on a Fan
Zen Retreat with Master Sheng Yen
Dr John Crook
Most of the text of this book has been incorporated into the later publication Illuminating Silence (which also includes a lot of new material besides that from Catching a Feather on a Fan).
Chan Comes West - FREE
Master Sheng Yen and his Western Dharma Heirs
It contains:
- an article by Master Sheng Yen on his training and transmission and his view of transmission
- articles by each of his five Western Dharma Heirs (John Crook, Simon Child, Max Kalin, Zarko Andricevic and Gilbert Gutierrez) on their experience in Chan
- a full lineage chart
Publication of the book was supported by donors and it was available free of charge.
In the USA the stock was held by the Chan Meditation Center in New York, and they may have copies available.
