New Chan Forum 6

Practising Mind

The Bristol Chan Group is moving from strength to strength. Our weekly meditation evenings at the Iyengar Yoga Centre in Bristol are well attended. Group sitting is an important adjunct to personal practice and we warmly invite you to come along. John has inspired us with his talks on the Heart Sutra. We publish an edited version of his initial lecture in this issue.

This small journal of The Bristol Chan Group is beginning to gather a distinct readership and to attract thoughtful criticism and comment. Discussions about Zen and Christianity have been provoked by the articles in our last edition. Some of us hope to meet at the House of Prayer in Westbury on Trym to continue the dialogue. Buddhists, Christians and 'those who are not quite sure' attend our group which is enriched by the differing ideas and experience. As Linda Fisher says in her letter inside, "The bonus will be discovering that, understood with a pure heart, all Spiritual teachings spring from one source."

The weekend retreats at the Mendip Painting Centre, Rickford continue to be popular. In October John led a weekend which included a talk with slides of his recent extraordinary journey to the sacred Mount Kailash in Tibet. We publish the talk he gave us during this retreat, "Death and the Sky." Many of the group have connections with the 'caring professions' and this essay will have particular meaning for those so involved. So too, the Dharma View from Shifu entitled "Chan and Psychoanalysis".

The retreat reports make extraordinary reading. Each retreat experience is unique but a common thread of honesty, discovery, wonder and ordinariness runs through them. We are grateful to the authors.

Details of retreats at the Maenllwyd in Wales and at Rickford are published at the end of this newsletter. We are particularly pleased to welcome Martine Batchelor from Sharpham House, who will be leading a weekend at Rickford next year.

• New Chan Forum issue 6