Dharma Library

This library provides a database of articles, some from past issues of New Chan Forum and some available only from the website.

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Chronological List of articles:

Contemplating Earth

Calligraphy for the character Chan

All through the retreat Shifu spoke about compassion. It hit home, as it always has in previous retreats, but at those times, save for a shiver here or a sniffle there, nothing out of the ordinary came of it. Not so on Thursday afternoon. Shifu had us stand for a session of prostrations, but he introduced a method I had never encountered before. Usually he has us contemplate the movement of…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Chan Retreat Reports , Anon

Human Conciousness in the Chan Perspective

Chan master Shengyen

Edited version of a lecture delivered by Master Sheng-yen at Brooklyn College on November 8, 1990. From Chan Newsletter No.84, March 1991, with permission.

Buddhism generally divides human consciousness into False Mind and True Mind. False Mind, sometimes called the illusory mind, refers to the mental activity of ordinary sentient beings. This mind is filled with innumerable vexations that arise…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Sheng Yen

Thus Come, Thus Gone

Chan master Shengyen

A special lecture given by Master Sheng-yen at the Chan Center, New York, on 4th November 1990. First published in Chan Newsletter No. 98, July 93 and reprinted here, slightly edited, with permission.

Chan is "thus come, thus gone." Everything is Chan; this is "thus come." Nothing is Chan; this is "thus gone." Today I want to investigate these words. I think they will give you new insights into…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Sheng Yen , For Newcomers

Everything is as it is - This in Itself is Remarkable

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd


If one is attempting to go into Zen deeply, to understand the relationship between one's mind and the universe, then it becomes important to turn over and over again, going backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, many times over, the same refrain, the same theme. Not with the analytical intellect, nor with the mind of one who seeks explanation, but within the context of zazen, wherein…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , John Crook , For Newcomers

Chan Retreat May 1990

Calligraphy for the character Chan

My stay at Maenllwyd was a gift which I received with gratitude. It has given me deep insights which will always remain. I have sought the truth for many years, joining this group or that, always looking outside myself, out there, beyond. The concentrated watching, the allowing of my mind to express itself are things which I have avoided, the associated feelings being only partially felt and…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Chan Retreat Reports , For Newcomers , Anon

Who is Dragging this Old Corpse Along?

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Several times during my retreat at Maenllwyd I was reminded of the many weeks I have spent alone walking in the High Pyrenees. The aching legs, back neck and shoulders; the relentlessness of the load on my back; the near exhaustion and mental stupor; the gratitude for occasional breaks with their slow recovery of the determination to go on no matter what. The recurrent question in my mind…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Anon , Koan Retreat Reports

First Retreat Experience

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I arrived at the farmhouse a complete innocent. I had not the faintest idea what I was in for and this was just as well or I would never have come at all! My only expectation was that the scenery would be beautiful. 'Experiencing a Buddhist Retreat' was one of the many adventures I'd decided to undertake. I thought 'It may as well be now'. There were intimations that it would be difficult but…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Chan Retreat Reports , Anon

A Moment in Dokusan

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Dokusan:

"I'm frightened!"
"How big do you feel?"
"Oh - small"
"How old are you?"
"Seven".
"Be kind to the little boy inside you. Go and look into his fear."

Back on my cushion, the little boy in me and I talked together.

"Why are you hiding?"
"I'm scared."
"Why?"
"Dad's going to beat me."

And as we talked it through, and I cried with fear, my heart went out to the little boy in my memory. I…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Anon , Koan Retreat Reports

Chan and Daily Life

Chan master Shengyen

A lecture given by Master Sheng-yen at the Washington University, St. Louis Missouri on April 17th, 1990. Presented in edited form with the permission of the Institute of Chung Hwa Buddhist Culture, Elmhurst, New York. Originally printed in Chan Newsletter, May 1990.

You may have the impression that, having written numerous books on the subject, I know a great deal about Buddhism. But throughout…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1990 , Sheng Yen

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