Dharma Library

1994 

I attend my first Western Zen Buddhist retreat at Maenllwyd. The small Welsh farmhouse stands on a hillside at the end of a rough track below a narrow wooded valley, which leads up to a bare horizon. It just sits there, with no electricity, amidst the fields of sheep, aloof and barely visible from the straggly village some way below. The eastern horizon offers wide skies for the sunrise and…

Right speech, part of the Noble Eightfold Path, is defined as speaking without lying, verbal aggression, intriguing, slandering or idle chatter. In recent times, a Swedish psychologist Marshall Rosenberg has developed a way of speaking more effectively and honestly, called nonviolent communication (NVC). It not only promotes ways of practising right speech, but also supports meditation practice. 

(Given at a Western Zen Retreat in 1988) 

We have been doing a meditation called searching the heart in which we have been allowing the experiences of our lives as they are remembered to rise within us – to tell us their story and bring us their feelings. In this way we have been reviewing and uncovering and allowing to emerge that which we are. Maybe we have also been seeing that, when that…

Founding Teacher of the Western Chan Fellowship 

On 17 July 2021, ten years after the death of John Hurrell Crook at the age of 80, the Western Chan Fellowship held a Zoom gathering to remember and celebrate this remarkable man and teacher. The following is an adaptation of a talk written by Simon Child for that gathering. 

John had such a full and diverse life that it’s not possible for me to…

Rushing off to begin a solitary retreat last month, I suddenly remembered that I wanted to check something in the liturgy so, in a hurry (yes, I know!!), I grabbed the first copy I could find and set off to my hut. Only later, once I’d settled down, did I take a look and realise that it was a very old copy indeed. To my surprise, there, on the front cover (see overleaf), is some writing in John’s…

What is the Satipatthana Sutta? Taken from the early Pali canon it seems, at first, a straightforward teaching of the Buddha, but as I read articles and listened to online talks it opened out into something with an endless depth and opportunity for a lifetime of study. A nuanced, ever growing exploration of the human condition showcasing the Buddha’s skilful teaching. I have become mildly obsessed…

For a few moments I believe I’ve forgotten what day it is. The pandemic has removed an element of usual time for me as my accustomed props and punctuations of the week have become redundant and my old map for time spent has become obsolete. Global and local are now not so separated as ‘remote’ acquires a new meaning and I can spend time, described as real, with distant friends. I idle away at bits…

So, what might the Buddha have said nearly 2500 years ago as a means to resolve conflict, disputes and arguments? The solution to that question is perhaps even more relevant today, with a perceived increase in polarisation amongst groups as well as in our interpersonal relationships. 

Well, there is an account in a lesser known Sutta within the Pali Canon which may provide pointers. In the Kosamb…

Fanfares
celestial choirs
no
a soft ‘aha’
paradigm shifted 

eating my breakfast
cat on my lap
if I need to add to it
I have not grasped it 

I have misunderstood
we zen practitioners
need to
get over
our selves [sic]

just sit …
too simple …
we are desperate
to add to it … 

Don’t 

Drop attempts at explanation.
Drop teachings.
Sit.
Live life.
Nothing extra.
Nothing missing.
Nothing lasts.

Gratitude.

Our retreat teacher in her introductory remarks emphasized the importance of silence: both cultivating our own inner silence and maintaining silence in our interactions with others. Silence meant no conversations, but it didn’t mean that we couldn’t ask someone to pass the butter at lunch time. It did mean, however, that we should draw ourselves away from social contact with our fellow…