Dharma Library

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

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Obituary: Barry Palmer

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Among the many who have come to the Maenllwyd over the years we count a number of social work professionals of the highest distinction. What brings them to the heart of Wales often seems mysterious. It is as if in these caring professions there is no adequate sharing among the professionals themselves. In a sort of loneliness they have to seek elsewhere and it is to the hills that they come. Barry…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Obituaries , Others

Why are you Here?

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I felt an immense sense of fear and trepidation when I sent my cheque in for my first WZR. Previous to this my record at sitting was about 12 minutes, during which I would usually get terribly restless and my ankles would hurt due to the amount of sport I have played. On the other side I had spent years devouring books on Buddhism and quite a few other `isms' too. My father had always been…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Western Zen Retreat Reports , Anon

On the Path of Dharma: Bill Pickard's letters to Eric Johns 1984-1987

Calligraphy for the character Chan

In NCF 18 Eric Johns described how he set out to discover the Buddha Way by visiting Bill Pickard at Mousehole in Cornwall where there was a small group living under his instruction in Soto Zen. During the subsequent years of Eric's training as a monk (Sik Hin Lic) in Hong Kong, Korea and Japan, Bill sustained a flow of letters to him, acting very much as an older spiritual counsellor to a young…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: Highlighted , 1999 , Other Articles , Others

Language and Freedom: Meaning in Zen. Review by John Crook

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

What is the place of Zen in contemporary thought, the relation of Buddhist metaphysics to philosophy and the value of ancient texts to thinking people today? These and related questions form the subject matter of this intelligent, subtle and provoking book. Dale S. Wright, Professor of Religious Studies, Occidental College, Los Angeles, provides a thought provoking read especially for those of us…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , John Crook , Book Reviews

Visiting Tibet: From Dharamsala to Lhasa (1962-1998)

Didi Crook with Tibetan Refugee Boys

Being in my mid-sixties, I am no longer young. I often reflect on my past life, the people I have met, and the experiences I have had. So far, I feel I have had a lucky and happy life. A child in World War II, I was alerted early on to the fact that humanity can be evil and cruel, just as it is also kind and loving. I used to have childish dreams of going to Hitler and asking him to change his…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Other Articles , Others

From a Meditator's Practice

Calligraphy for the character Chan

John Senior has sent us two short contributions arising from his practice. The first is "an attempt to extract the essence of the Diamond Sutra in a form which I can read back to myself before meditation. I find its reference to familiar things like gifts, teachings, happiness, particles of dust and the universe give it perhaps more richness than the profound but often abstract Heart Sutra." The…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: Highlighted , 1999 , Other Articles , Others

Well There We are Then

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Mahamudra Retreat February 1999, my Retreat Report

My practice at home had been going well. I had read 'The Yogins of Ladakh' shortly after it was published and had enjoyed it very much. I particularly found Tipun's Notebook revealing. Often I have found the words we use not useful for me in working out where I am in terms of practice (a karmic problem). But somehow the Notebook approached the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Other Retreat Reports , Anon

Pine Tree in the Sky

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I arrived at Maenllwyd, in the deepest despair I have ever known - the 'dark night of my soul'. Having been to an Introductory Chan Retreat a few months previously, I had some dim awareness that this was a place where I could safely be, that is, be allowed to be, in that dark night.

And indeed, I was in a place, and with people, who accepted my existence well before I could.

I had spoken to…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Western Zen Retreat Reports , Anon

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 , Other Articles , 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: For Newcomers , 1998 , Other Articles , Sheng Yen

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: Highlighted , 1998 , Other Articles , Others

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

Pamela Hopkinson (now Butler)

Book review by Pamela Hopkinson

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…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Book Reviews , Others

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