Dharma Library

A large collection of articles, from past issues of New Chan Forum and more besides.

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What is Silent Illumination?

Cover of Medytacja magazine, #1 2013

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,…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , For Newcomers , Simon Child

The Accidental Buddhist

Cover of Medytacja magazine, #1 2013

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…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , For Newcomers , Simon Child

Hearing Photos: an Exploration by Eddy Street and Rob Stratton

Man jumped from a bridge to swim in the river

Rob has managed to earn a living in photography as a 'professional' while Eddy has the interest of an 'amateur'. They frequently discuss their shared involvement in this activity.

How extraordinary! How extraordinary!
The insentient express the way! How mysterious!
If you listen with the ears it is incomprehensible
If you hear sounds with the eyes it is truly knowledgeable.
Dongshan

By Way of…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Eddy Street

Who?

Ken Jones headshot

I turn up the flame 
from the snaking wick 
coiled in my flammable heart

Although he is my lifelong friend I’m in two minds about him. Sometimes I don’t recognise him at all, with his ugly old face. Or I don’t like the way he can behave.

Perched on the wing mirror 
robin preens himself 
and shits

Then I play at being top dog and growl at him. But when he’s being helpful and kind, now there’s a man…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Ken Jones

Meaningless that makes Sense: Working with Mu

George Marsh


Traditional koan study under a fierce Japanese Roshi is tough.

…each session had its own special terror. Novice monks were repeatedly whacked with a kyosaku that looked more like a long baseball bat. Monitors patrolled the room menacingly, taunting and poking with the stick to see if your attention would wander from Mu. But zendo drama paled in comparison to meeting Mu in the dokusan room. “What…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , George Marsh

Finely Tuned

Calligraphy for the character Chan

As I write this, two days after my return, I am fine tuned. My heart is brilliant, clear and unobstructed. Someone throws a ball for a dog, which charges across the park, a furry blur of mad energy with scampering legs, and I laugh out loud. The sky has a glow which takes your breath away. I respond to these things with delight and amusement. I hear about the school massacre and weep without…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Anon , Koan Retreat Reports

Consolations: Preparations for Dying

Alysun Jones

David Childs (1946 - 2011): A Tribute

And so, full of his life, came
not to the falls, the whirlpool or the cliff
but to the brim
and held a moment above it
seeing everything.
 

From ‘Notes’ by David Childs (2010)

How do we, or indeed, do we, prepare, or think about our own deaths, as Buddhists? Having a life threatening illness may trigger thoughts about dying. But we all face death at some point.…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Others

Letting go of this, letting go of that: what then?

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I arrived at my first Western Zen retreat with no expectations and was looking forward to spending five days meditating in the beautiful Welsh countryside. When I arrived I felt immediately at home in the old converted farmhouse and the fact that there was no electricity supply only added to the atmosphere.

I had been on many retreats previously but this was my first retreat combining both…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

Not a Bad Starting Point!

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The WZR was my first retreat with the WCF. Before that I had been practicing Zen in the Soto tradition for about eight years. I participated in about half a dozen sesshins with Roshis from Japan, and sitting one period of forty minutes daily at home.

What brought me to the WCF were two things: firstly at his age Roshi had became too fragile to come to Europe to hold sesshins; secondly and more…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

30 Years Later

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The retreat gave me a space and context to deal with a situation that seemed overwhelming and allowed me to feel grief and sadness freely, without any preconditions or parameters but just simply for what they were. It helped me to reconnect with my feelings and allow them to flow through me or out of me. The support of the group and everybody working together on their inner world within the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

Until Next Time...

Calligraphy for the character Chan

As I neared Maenllwyd I could see where I needed to get to as I recognised it from the pictures but I wasn’t sure which way to go. One way had a closed gate and appeared to go further away from where I wanted to be, and the other way was an open gate and appeared to head more in the direction of where I was trying to get to. I decided to take the route which seemed to go towards where I wanted to…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

Chinese Zen Comes West: Finding New Expressions While Preserving Authenticity

Simon Child headshot

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…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Simon Child

How to do Everyday Buddhism

Ken Jones headshot

Below I have tried to explain my understanding of ”Everyday Buddhism” in a concise paper designed to assist the reader, step by step, to learn what is involved in its practice.  For more, please see my website, www.kenjoneszen.com.

This manual incorporates the essentials learnt from over ten years of leading retreats. It is aimed at any reader  who would like to experience the practice at first…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Ken Jones

The Buddhist Legacy of John Crook

Simon Child headshot

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,…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Simon Child

Hidden Assumptions, Fixed Views

Simon Child headshot

The following Dharma Talk is from a Silent Illumination Retreat, November 2010 at Dharma Drum Retreat Center. It was transcribed by Catherine Burns and edited by Eddy Street. Published in Chan Magazine Spring 2012.

Perception and Sensation 

At each morning service and evening service we chant The Heart Sutra together. In one part it says: 

Form is precisely emptiness 
and emptiness precisely…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2012 , Simon Child

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