Dharma Library

Some of us keep a Buddha image in the place where we like to meditate. Maybe we also light a candle and incense stick before entering zazen, or do some chanting. Why do we do these things?

Maybe it is simply out of respect for the memory of the Buddha or a habitual gesture of the Sangha to which we belong. Maybe the Buddha represents for us the aspiration that underlies our practice. Yet, we also…

This morning, sitting in the Buddha Room at Winterhead, I glanced out of the window. There in the holly tree flitted a small brown bird, a Phyloscopus warbler arrived from Africa riding on the spring weather coming up from the south. Species of this genus are difficult to identify, all small brownies. There are three of them visiting Britain, the Chiffchaff, the Willow Warbler and the Wood…

When someone has decided to follow the path of the Buddha it is usual for him or her to make a formal commitment to that path by participating in a simple ceremony known as Taking Refuge. We have recently put together a short liturgical text enabling people to Take Refuge through the Western Chan Fellowship. This Teisho seeks to explain what is involved and to provide a source for the presentation…

Kuan yin says, "Yesterday was 2010. Today is 2011. Have you yet made the transition?"

When silence flows from the loom of illumination vastness appears, right hemisphere regaining authority over the left, a moment of complete understanding arising.

For some the word "God" evokes it; for others the stillness of space simply emerges. With the fading of clouds, the sun shines in clarity, warming…

So Christmas has come and gone – and a white Christmas too. Was it splendid as a White Christmas should be? Well - that depends. If you were quietly at home with the kids, it was probably wonderful – the beauty of the scenery, the fun of the children tobogganing but if you were struggling to fly from Heathrow or Gatwick or stuck on the M5 or M25 – then it was pretty well a cold hell. Whatever it…

All of us probably know the story that founded Chan. Even so, lets retell it, briefly.

The Buddha was out walking with a bunch of monks. The monks were arguing about a number of questions such as "Does the Universe have a beginning. Yes or no?", "Does it have an end?", "Do Buddhas live for ever?"

The Buddha took no part in the discussion. Noticing this, Ananda said  to him, "World Honoured one!…

On my way to bed, I turn out the light and notice with surprise another illumination filling the room from my large window. I open it and look outside. A full moon is riding the sky above the pear trees. Its silvery light glistens delicately on the dewy lawn. Late summer yet the air is warm while the moonlight sheds a cooling touch.

I go out onto the lawn. Nothing moves. There is a perfect…

The reach of the human mind becomes more extraordinary the more one contemplates it. Some recent studies have compared the two main ways by which we deal with the knowledge that accumulates in our heads during our lifetime. These two ways have not always been recognised or one has been given priority over the other. In the practice of Zen, these two ways are both employed but to rather differing…

I have just returned from the ceremony of Scattering the Ashes of Dr Sally Masheder at the Cairn above The Maenllwyd. Before the Scattering we held a brief ceremony of chants and prayers chosen in her last days by Sally herself and I gave this short Teisho:

I have been wondering why Sally should have chosen The Maenllwyd as the location for the scattering of her ashes. Perhaps it was because:

St…

Many of us beginners do not really understand the central theme of the Dharma. This is because most of us come into practice for basically therapeutic reasons, seeking freedom from alienation in life or suffering. In fact, the Buddha supplies us with a total worldview upon which to base a personal understanding of the place of our sentient lives in the Universe. This worldview replaces the need…