Dharma Library

I clamber over the stile, and climb toward the Callow Drove, which runs along the ridge above me. The path follows a farm track across a field. Sheep are grazing on grass still frosted where the winter sun doesn’t reach it. A heavy tractor has left deep grooves, hatched with the marks of coarse tyre treads, in the frozen mud. Leaving the field, the path becomes more rugged as it climbs steeply…

October days of sunshine, nights of frost,
The chestnut leaves fan golden by the gate
With early mists, when all below is lost
Save field-tree tops. To us, the sun seems late,
Or is it just we rise and have a pee
And venture out in still dark air
To taste the day and feel the ground a while,
Before damp sheep begin to stir?
All standing, waves of movement, like the sea,
Then fingers curling round a mug of…

In April 1997, the Western Chan Fellowship held a retreat in Scotland on Holy Island off Arran. St Molaise was a Christian hermit there in the 7th Century. During the retreat, we celebrated his feast day and held a ceremony in St Molaise's cave hermitage in the Saint's honour. This article is based on a talk that was given on the retreat.

The world was deeply shocked by the terrible catastrophe in Japan. We send our condolences to all who have lost loved ones and are still suffering there at this time. When I think of a 30 foot wave striking the Somerset coast, I see the land lost to the sea all the way from Weston super Mare to the Dorset hills, lapping up the valleys below Winterhead Hill and leaving Glastonbury Tor as a lonely…

Žarko Andricevic is the Teacher of Dharmaloka – the Chan Buddhist Community, Croatia.

Our incapability to live in harmony with others, the environment and ourselves is a consequence of deep ignorance of our nature and the nature of existence in general. All human suffering, misery and discontent, be it personal or collective, arises out of a fundamental ignorance that is called avidya…

Paper given at the conference "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?" by David Loy on 30-Sep-2011, Bristol UK.

Within Western Buddhism the importance of social engagement is now generally accepted; certainly many Buddhist individuals and groups are seriously involved in activities such as prison dharma, raising money for impoverished people, and so forth. But almost all such activities involve what…

Summary of conference presentations by Hilary Richards

I would like to bow to you all and to thank everyone for attending. All the speakers have told us how they planned their talks. My plan for summing up was to take some key points from each of the talks and the odd quotation or two, note them down and tell you about them again now. But this plan is not going to work as everything we have heard…

Talk by Ken Jones delivered 30 October 2011 at the WCF conference: "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?"

“Suffering I teach and the way out of suffering.”

Part One of this talk will explain how the origins of social suffering  lie ultimately in  the human condition itself. Part Two will offer a way out of social suffering.

Part One

Delusion

Buddhists regularly remind themselves of their great…

Talk by Devin Ashwood delivered 29th October 2011 at the WCF conference: "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?"

My name is Devin Ashwood and I work as a Buddhist Chaplain in the Prison Service.

I have been asked to talk a little about Buddhist Chaplaincy in Prisons and while I had very little idea of what I would talk about, I agreed. At first, I thought I could say all there was to say in about…

In Chan Comes West, Master Sheng Yen’s five lay Dharma heirs share their stories on the path, including how they came to the practice, their inner struggles along the path, and what receiving Dharma transmission has meant for them. It is hoped that readers will find these stories inspiring and be encouraged to make great vows in their own practice. Here is John Crook’s chapter from that book,…