Dharma Library

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

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No Mind - Mind Only

Simon Child headshot

We are presenting here an important article sent us by Dr Simon Child. Based in his personal practice of meditation it clarifies a way of looking at the Buddhist concept of rebirth which is often a stumbling block for many a Westerner. In conversation, Shifu once commented that for a Buddhist the idea of rebirth might be taken as myth but that to be a Buddhist, a concern with the continuity of…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Simon Child , For Newcomers

On an Empty Hill - Not a Retreat Report

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Walking across the hillside the fresh spring sunlight warmed the skin, the distant fir woods glistened and a pair of buzzards were playing in the sky.

"Funny!" he said to himself, "I am not here."

There were the feet, two of them, his feet, steadily pacing through the grasses; looking down he could see his coat collar and the binoculars hanging from their strap. Lifting his hand he observed the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Other Retreat Reports , Anon

A "Ting" of the Bell

Calligraphy for the character Chan

We arrived after an incredibly long journey from the north with scattered brain experiences and a chip shop repast. Was this my last meal as a normal human being? The farmhouse seemed a ridiculously long way from the road. And those gates! We seemed tobe travelling deeper and deeper into the mountain but perhaps I was entering more deeply into myself. Voices, torchlight. I recognised John…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Western Zen Retreat Reports , For Newcomers , Anon

Willkommen im Chinesischen Zen: Eine Einführung in die Chan Praxis

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Chinesisches Zen

Chinesisches Zen oder Chan, wie es in China heißt - ist eine Lebensweise, welche geistige Klarheit, Mitgefühl mit allen fühlenden Wesen, und eine Art von Weisheit ermutigt, die aus der Überschreitung der Anliegen des Selbst hervorgeht. Diese kurze Einführung heißt alle willkommen, die versuchen, neue Zugänge zu persönlicher Erfahrung zu entwickeln, und schlägt auch einen Weg der…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook

Welcome to Chinese Zen: An Introduction to Chan Practice

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd


Chinese Zen, or Chan as it is called in China, is a way of life that encourages clarity of mind, compassion to all sentient beings and a wisdom that comes from going beyond the concerns of self. This short introduction welcomes those seeking to develop fresh approaches to personal experience and suggests a way of practice.

Buddhism

Buddhism originated in India some 2500 years ago as a result of…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook , For Newcomers

Paying Attention

dr-susan-blackmore

The question of lay Zen may appear difficult but it has a blindingly simple answer.

Pay attention!

Paying Attention is part of every practice that I know of, whether watching the breath, repeating the Buddha's name or practising bare awareness or mindfulness. My own practice is little more than just paying attention, greatly illuminated, especially in the early years, by John's magic…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Susan Blackmore , For Newcomers

A Fellowship of Western Chan Practitioners?

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd


The time seems ripe to put a suggestion to the readers of New Chan Forum that has been germinating for some time. Practitioners have often remarked that they would like some form of community based on their experience of retreats at the Maenllwyd with which they could feel closer identification. There are indeed now many people who have come and continue to come to the Maenllwyd regularly for that…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook

The Place of the Dharma in Our Time

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

To appreciate the role that the Buddha Dharma may come to play in Western culture we need to have an understanding of the way our lives are framed by the world that both shapes us and within which we play a part. So momentous have been the changes in recent years that our suppositions about who and why we are need a constant updating. To appreciate such a history one has to stand back from it and…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook

Black Slugs - One Here - One There

Calligraphy for the character Chan

This was the first occasion I had been at the Maenllwyd and from the start it had a magical feel to it - like entering a different time and space. Coming up the track to the house and its surroundings was just like entering a live jewel. At this time of year the place was brimful of bird sound, lambs, insects and wind in the trees. All these and the environment were, as I was to discover, to take…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Silent Illumination

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The following poem was written by Martin Tebbs during the Chan retreat with Master Sheng Yen at Maenllwyd in June 1995. The last line refers the woolly socks given to Shifu by two Polish students who attended the retreat (Eds.)

 

 Today everything is different,
  Everything the same.
 
  How is it different?
  In a cloudless sky the swallows glide
  effortlessly, leaving no trace;
  Young lambs call and…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Poetry , Others

Sonata

Calligraphy for the character Chan 
 They said not a word
  The visitor, the host
   and the white chrysanthemum.
 
  The Old Pond
  A frog jumped in 
  Plop!
   What?
 
  ...the listener who listens in the snow,
  and nothing himself
  Beholds nothing that is not there,
   and nothing that is.
 
  What is?
 
  What th'?  What that?What? What th'?
   s,is,is,is,is,is,is,is,is
  And I am. And I am that.
  Neither and both
  and that.
 
  But
  What is it?
 …

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Poetry , Others

Words of a Guru

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd


Roger Housden was taking a tour party down the river Ganges. Half way they stopped in Lucknow and Roger took the participants to visit one of the truly insightful gurus of modern India, a man of no-nonsense clarity. All but one of his party stayed on. Even the Ganges was forgotten. Poonja is a Hindu without a label. Whether derived from Sankaracharya or the Buddha or both his thought is direct,…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook

Maturity

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Previous Western Zen Retreats have been enormously powerful and emotional experiences and I brought with me all sorts of expectations.

My koan was "What is life?" The aspect of my life that came up over and over again was to do with my work, specifically the job I am doing now, which involves four hours travelling a day and is turning out more and more to be not what I want to do.

Last summer on…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Western Zen Retreat Reports , Anon

The Zen of Social Action

Ken Jones headshot

1. The Privatisation of the Dharma

Buddhism comes to Westerners as a monkish other worldly religion of meditation embedded in a culture of monasticism. It brings with it all the assumptions of a traditional hierarchical culture where society and nature were perceived as an unchanging back drop to the human condition. Public virtues enjoined upon 'householders' (and even rulers), charitable…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Ken Jones

Why the Cook Bakes the Bread

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Why have I come to this desolate place? Why have I kept pushing myself to find the ultimate 'truth'? Why did I launch myself on this quest, why didn't I just ignore my doubts, close my eyes and enjoy the bliss of uncaring ignorance? Such were my thoughts as I struggled up the muddy path, against a bitterly wet wind, towards the cloud shrouded hills.

My destination was a Dharma retreat, famed for…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Others

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