Dharma Library

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

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Welsh Mandala

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Akshobya

Dark light before dawn
no wind and in the silence
a fox barking on the hill;
suddenly in the candle lit room
the cold landscape unfurls
invisible rocks, burrows of badgers
trolling the turf for bulbs and insects
the starlit dome, dusk before dawn
Blue immensity.

Ratnasambhava

Sunrise, far to the SSE
almost at the point of turning
a midwinter sky lined by the tracery of trees,
northern thrushes…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Poetry , John Crook , For Newcomers

Dangers in Devotion: Buddhist Cults and the Tasks of a Guru

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Paper presented at the conference 'The Psychology of Awakening II' at Dartington Hall, October 1998 (1)

Western Buddhism: Problems and Presentations

In recent years a number of cases of individual corruption in sexual and financial matters have been exposed in Buddhist organisations, usually the result of the behaviour or indiscretions of individuals in leadership roles(2). Ken Jones' recent…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , John Crook

Prerequisites for Chan Practice

Chan master Shengyen

This article is reprinted from Chan Magazine. Fall 1998, p32-35. Based on several lectures by Shih Fu, edited by Dan Stevenson, adapted for NCF by John Crook.

The Chinese term for practising Chan is ts'an-ch'an, which means to investigate, engage, or dig into (ts'an) the heart or living enlightenment of the Chan tradition. It is often said in Chan that the door to Chan is "no door," that the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Sheng Yen , For Newcomers

The Birth of the Western Chan Fellowship

Simon Child headshot

Some years ago in NCF No. 12 John suggested the possibility of establishing an organisation based on the work at and attenders of Maenllwyd. My initial reaction, and I suspect also that of many others, was something like "well, it could be all right, but I don't like the idea of the formalities and organisation and committees etc." It seemed a bit unnecessary as everything seemed to work out fine…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , For Newcomers , Simon Child

Life at Po Lam Chan Monastery, Hong Kong

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Shortly before my fifteenth birthday I parted company with school. At seventeen I took karate lessons and at the end of each lesson we would practise zazen. I enjoyed this so much that I asked for more. The instructor suggested I go find myself a Buddhist group and I was prompt to act upon this advice.

When I was 20 I came across The Secrets of Chinese Meditation, a book by Charles Luk. It…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Others , Highlighted

Immeasurable Sweetness

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Pale light after dawn
Low clouds scudding over green fields
Weathervane - SSW

Nine cars
In the yard
Tathagatas

Welsh hills in June
Misty rain
Wet tents

Sunbeams at dusk
Reaching round the corner of the hill
Only this week the sun so far

Cutting the tall grass
goggle eyed frog leaps for safety
Sorry !

Round the temple chanting
Koonyam poussa koon yam poussa
Outside cuckoos calling

Morning…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Chan Retreat Reports , Anon

Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Not living very close to a local group, I place great store by the books I read on Buddhism. I picked this one up because Surya Das has constructed the book following the Eight-Fold Path, and I'd been meditating on parts of this for a long time.

Inside I found one of the liveliest and most enjoyable books on Buddhism that I have read for a long time. With the aim of providing Westerners with a…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Book Reviews , Others

Intoxication and the Precepts

Calligraphy for the character Chan

At the culmination of retreats led by Shi-Fu the opportunity is usually given to participants to take the Precepts. Retreatants are told that they may take all the precepts, or they may choose to take only some. I think without exception participants unhesitatingly recite their intention to keep all the Precepts until the recitation reaches the Precept that states the intention to "refrain from…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Highlighted , Others

Chan Attitudes

Chan master Shengyen

On the wall of the dining hall in the Chan Center in Elmhurst, New York, hangs a notice summarising the attitude to be adopted by resident and visiting practitioners. These suggestions seem to provide very sensible guidelines for a life of appropriate relatedness with others, not only within but also outside the meditation hall. So we present them here, slightly edited, for your reflection. They…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Poetry , Sheng Yen , Highlighted

Sitting in No-sense

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Eric Rommeluere (b 1960) has practised Zen since 1978. He is the author of a collection of major Zen texts entitled 'Les Fleurs du Vide' (Paris, Grasset 1995), which he translated directly from the Chinese or Japanese. Recently he published 'Guide du Zen' (Paris, Hachette 1997) detailing all the Zen groups currently active worldwide. John Crook met and stayed with Eric in May 1997 at the first…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Others

The Bright Field Ploughed

Calligraphy for the character Chan

'Ploughing the Bright Field' was the title of an exhibition of contemporary Buddhist art, held at the Create Centre, Bristol, in November 1997.

The exhibition attracted around 500 visitors during a fortnight. It showed the work of 20 artists from all over the country. Most were professional artists whose work is either partly or wholly inspired by Buddhist practice. A few were artists whose work…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Others

Shifting Shit

Calligraphy for the character Chan

There seems to be a question: 'Can I be enlightened if I'm not a monk/nun?' Possibly not often for lay people, but can Buddhist teachings and practice improve the quality of our lives - the answer is a resounding 'Yes'.

A lay practitioner is constantly faced with personal obstacles, disagreements, tensions and difficulties which can lead to days and weeks of self analysis or can be ridden over…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Others , For Newcomers

My Father's Hands

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I had always loved my father's hands. They seemed to be the only part of him I could love in safety.

I could love them in secret and in silence and my mother would never know. I could look at them when she was out of the room, cooking in the kitchen, banging the pots and pans as she worked.

She was an angry woman who had been forced to marry my father when she was only twenty years old because…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Others , Highlighted

What has Happened to the Entity that was Me?

Calligraphy for the character Chan

This was my first retreat of any kind and it was very difficult to start with the rigorous Chan approach. However, I felt very privileged to be accepted onto the retreat and I did not want to miss such an incredible opportunity to improve my practice. I undertook the retreat on the basis of intuition; it seemed entirely the right thing to do and the right time to be doing it.

Three years ago Zen…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Chan Retreat Reports , Anon

Hi There

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Who are you?
You pretend to not know.
Of course you know who you are!
It is you, holding the page
reading the marks on this piece of paper.

It is you, reading my mind
with the sound of your voice.

And who am I?
I am you.
Sharing thought.
E V E R Y T H I N G .

You, in manifestation,
are on the frontier
of your/self.

You will see yourself,
out there,
in the world,
doing so many things.

Make them all…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Poetry , Others

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