Dharma Library

We’ve been reciting the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra as part of the Morning Service. It’s not an easy text to understand so we may end up reciting words blindly without really knowing what we’re reciting. Sometimes – and I don’t think I’ve done it for a while – I talk through the Heart Sutra to give you an idea of what’s in there. We can begin with the title: what it’s about, where it comes from. 

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An important component of Chan Buddhist practice is the practice of the Precepts. For lay practitioners the five lay precepts are the basis. There are several other formulations such as eight precepts, ten precepts, Bodhisattva precepts, and the monastic precepts which are counted in the hundreds. I shall leave those for another day and focus here on the basic five lay precepts of: not killing;…

Simon reflects on impermanence and non-self in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I felt a dilemma when our editor Pat Simmons asked me to write an article for this issue of New Chan Forum. Should I write about how our lives and practice are affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic – clearly a major topic – or should I write on a more traditional teaching theme? How could I consider not…

Today we have a blue sky, with a few little clouds. Yesterday we had plenty of clouds but not so much blue sky. Weather changes. Clouds slide around in the sky. Of course the sky is always blue, but we can’t always see the blue because of the clouds. How do we understand the cloud? A fluffy object floating in the sky; if we know what it’s made of we think of it as water drops. Sometimes it sinks…

John Crook used to like to say that the essence of Chan is self-confrontation. I’ve already spoken about Dogen’s saying, “to study the Buddha way is to study the self ”. And on the first evening here a few of you mentioned you came here to understand who you are. Why this emphasis on self, who we are, confronting ourselves. What’s the use of it?

I’ve spoken about how your koans bite back on you,…

This is the first of two articles edited from retreat talks by Simon Child introducing koan-practice and explaining how to penetrate koans. The second article, in issue 52 of New Chan Forum, will be called The Shattering of the Great Doubt.

Why is it that you practise?

Why is it that you practise? It’s a relatively unusual activity amongst humanity for people to be doing this so it’s a fair…

An introduction for those new to meditation and for those who wish to develop their meditation further.

What is Meditation?

We are used to the concepts of training the body in a skill or for fitness or dexterity, and of training the mind in factual knowledge or in a mental skill such as arithmetic. Meditation is many things but it is none of these. Meditation is a training of the mind to be…

A Dharma talk from a 10-day intensive Silent Illumination retreat at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, May 23 to June 1, 2014

Common misunderstandings

Yesterday everybody had an interview. One of the purposes of interview is to respond to your questions. Perhaps we also need to respond to the questions you didn’t think of asking because you thought you knew (but you were wrong.) We [the…

A talk given at a weekend retreat 28th April 2013

Bodhidharma’s no dependence¹

Bodhidharma, the 28th Patriarch in India, lived around a thousand years after the Buddha. He brought Chan to China, establishing the Chan tradition and becoming known as the First Patriarch of Chan. He was not the first to bring Buddhism to China; Buddhism was already there, as represented in the famous story of…

Article commissioned by Medytacja magazine (Poland) issue 4 2013.

There have been several well-publicised scandals involving unethical behaviour by Zen masters. This is not a uniquely Zen problem, nor a uniquely Buddhist problem – there have also been similar problems involving other religions, for example with Christian priests – but I'm going to talk about it from the Zen perspective since that…

This article is based on the Teacher’s Address to the AGM of the Western Chan Fellowship on 23rd March 2013.

The Buddha's Life

As we all know, the Buddha was born as a prince and to encourage him to remain in the palace and become the next king his father ensured that he lived a life full of luxuries and indulgences. But he became very concerned about the issue of human suffering and he left the…

Article commissioned by Medytacja magazine (Poland) issue 1 2013. 

Anyone who has ever tried any meditation will understand what I mean when I say that our minds are often noisy and dull. ‘Noisy’ because we experience the ‘voices’ of our thoughts filling our minds with words and images. ‘Dull’ because we see only a part of our present circumstances and environment, the part which preoccupies us,…

Article commissioned by Medytacja magazine (Poland), issue 1 2013. 

In his public talks and writings the Dalai Lama often expresses the view that people should stay within their own tradition. If you are someone who is exploring different traditions and practices then you may be surprised and perhaps disappointed by this advice – why shouldn’t you change tradition if that is what you decide to…

This is an edited version of a talk given as part of the Distinguished Buddhist Practitioner Lecture series at Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford California USA May 3rd 2012. It is based an earlier version of the talk given at the Chan Meditation Center in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, USA in October, 2008.

I am going to explore some of the issues which arise in teaching Buddhist practice…

One day many years ago, in a short break on a retreat, I was standing outside the Chan Hall in the sun. I noticed a beetle stuck on its back, trying to roll over. I squatted down, flicked it over the right way up, and moved on. Later that day, in interview, John asked me, “How is your beetle?” I hadn’t known that he had observed me, and it seemed such an insignificant act not worthy of comment,…