Dharma Library

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

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Meditation and its Background

Sitting Buddha statue

Meditation itself cannot be replaced by any words that can be said about it. But before setting off on a journey, it is worth having a look at a map.

Meditation means investigating the mind: observing it and its phenomena directly and non-verbally. Meditation means listening to the silence of the mind. It is the exploration of a realm beyond everyday din. However, it is not easy to keep our…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2017 , Anna Jedynak

The Interview in Practice

Eddy Street

In Chan practice everyone's experience of retreat and its processes are different. No two people sit exactly the same retreat and no two people follow the same personal path over the course of their Buddhist practice. On retreat, however, the group requires instruction and teachings that bring the Dharma to life so talks and lectures are designed for all practitioners in a general way. But because…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: Highlighted , 2017 , Other Articles , Eddy Street

Baizhang and Work Practice

Eddy Street

A feature of most Buddhist retreats and certainly an important part of our retreats is work practice. It is so natural an element of what we do that we do not think about the way the practice originated, and we certainly do not think about the Chan Master who instigated the practice as, originally, it was not a part of the activity of Buddhist monastics.

At the time of Buddha and in the Indian…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2017 , Other Articles , Eddy Street

Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The first day was just awful really. Sitting there, facing myself. It was like torture. No distraction, no ‘phone a friend’, no reading, no internet, no work, no walking the dog, no watching tv. Just sitting there, having to face what emerges in my mind. I found it unbearable. I really did think I could not bear to stay and started thinking about how I could just leave. I was cold; it didn’t…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2017 , Anon , Chan Retreat Reports

Western Zen Retreat 2016 Report

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I am not sure where or when the journey to Maenllwyd began, but it had its roots long before the day of our arrival for a Western Zen retreat in February. It was a relief to arrive on that darkened Welsh hillside, and somewhat surreal to enter the gas-lit farmhouse and find a small crowd of other retreatants, talking, laughing, drinking tea – all of whom had also made their own journeys there on…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2016 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

The Great Doubt

Simon Child headshot

This is the first of two articles edited from retreat talks by Simon Child introducing koan-practice and explaining how to penetrate koans. The second article, in issue 52 of New Chan Forum, will be called The Shattering of the Great Doubt.

Why is it that you practise?

Why is it that you practise? It’s a relatively unusual activity amongst humanity for people to be doing this so it’s a fair…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2015 , Dharma Talks , Simon Child

Introduction to Meditation

Drawing of sitting meditator

An introduction for those new to meditation and for those who wish to develop their meditation further.

What is Meditation?

We are used to the concepts of training the body in a skill or for fitness or dexterity, and of training the mind in factual knowledge or in a mental skill such as arithmetic. Meditation is many things but it is none of these. Meditation is a training of the mind to be…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: For Newcomers , Highlighted , 2015 , Other Articles , Simon Child

Silent Illumination February 2015

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Extracts from a report on the Silent Illumination retreat of February 2015.

Thursday

Simon gives another amazing, and uncannily accurate, Dharma talk. It is a huge relief to hear about compassion in Chan. Simon says, “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re all on a solitary retreat” – that would explain it! If this is a solitary retreat, albeit with supportive conditions, no wonder I’ve been…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2015 , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports , Anon

Western Zen Retreat with Hilary and Rebecca, February 2015

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I was amazed to see how much came up during the communication exercises.

It went on till the last exercise unhindered by my attempt to tie things up and put a nice bit of wrapping paper around them.

It can be summarized in 'Who am I when nothing is happening?' because I really do not know who I am when I am not continually adding to my sense of self by putting a few more compliments in my nice…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2015 , Western Zen Retreat Reports , Anon

Being With

Simon Child headshot

A Dharma talk from a 10-day intensive Silent Illumination retreat at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, May 23 to June 1, 2014

Common misunderstandings

Yesterday everybody had an interview. One of the purposes of interview is to respond to your questions. Perhaps we also need to respond to the questions you didn’t think of asking because you thought you knew (but you were wrong.) We [the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2015 , Dharma Talks , Simon Child

Connected Practice For Wesak: An Experiment For Lay Chan Practitioners

Hilary Richards

The sangha is important for Buddhist practice. It is the third Jewel of Refuge. However, it is not always possible for people physically to come together either for short meditation sessions or for longer periods on retreat. In order to address this and as part of the invitation to develop new ideas and experiments in Chan, the Western Chan Fellowship offered a “virtual” sangha event to allow…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2014 , Other Articles , Hilary Richards

Finding a Way to Practise

Simon Child headshot

A talk given at a weekend retreat 28th April 2013

Bodhidharma’s no dependence1

Bodhidharma, the 28th Patriarch in India, lived around a thousand years after the Buddha. He brought Chan to China, establishing the Chan tradition and becoming known as the First Patriarch of Chan. He was not the first to bring Buddhism to China; Buddhism was already there, as represented in the famous story of…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2014 , Dharma Talks , Simon Child

Glimpsing myself

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I had never been on any kind of retreat before I arrived at the Western Zen retreat at Maenllwyd in November. It was something I had been building up to for quite some time. I knew I was searching for a path, and I was increasingly convinced that this may help me to begin walking it. But I didn’t know what to expect from my time. Some 15 years before, I had done a brief Buddhist meditation course,…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2013 , Western Zen Retreat Reports

Unethical Zen Masters

Cover image of Medytacja magazine No 4 2013

Article commissioned by Medytacja magazine (Poland) issue 4 2013.

There have been several well-publicised scandals involving unethical behaviour by Zen masters. This is not a uniquely Zen problem, nor a uniquely Buddhist problem – there have also been similar problems involving other religions, for example with Christian priests – but I'm going to talk about it from the Zen perspective since that…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: For Newcomers , 2013 , Other Articles , Simon Child

The Middle Way

Simon Child headshot

This article is based on the Teacher’s Address to the AGM of the Western Chan Fellowship on 23rd March 2013.

The Buddha's Life

As we all know, the Buddha was born as a prince and to encourage him to remain in the palace and become the next king his father ensured that he lived a life full of luxuries and indulgences. But he became very concerned about the issue of human suffering and he left the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2013 , Dharma Talks , Simon Child

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