New Chan Forum

Once again we bring you a varied and interesting selection of articles: the first of two articles by Simon Child on koan investigation (a process of self exploration launched with ‘great doubt’), a description of how two Buddhists use their practice to deal with chronic physical pain and a review of a welcome book celebrating women in Buddhism.

This issue of New Chan Forum coincides with two…

We start this issue of New Chan Forum with an important call to action by our Teacher Simon Child, a call to examine our heritage and current identity, and work for an effective future.

Our literary heritage is introduced in articles on the core sutras of the Buddha’s teachings and the Dao De Jing, a foundation text of Daoism and Chan.

The down-to-earth nature of Chan in daily life is a theme of…

Simplicity seems to have emerged as the underlying theme of this issue of New Chan Forum. The first three articles in this issue of New Chan Forum consider the “ordinariness” of Chan practice. How can we simply be with, and investigate, what arises in our meditation? How can we open to and accept the enlightenment experience offered to us by each passing second of ordinary life? And what are the…

An essential task for us is to express Buddhism in a Western form within its lay practice context. This task forms the themes of this issue which comes in our new format. To provide an important pointer on our Western Buddhist lay practice we are very pleased to present a transcription of a talk given by Simon Child on the approach required to establish our own way to practise. Pat Simmons…

The Flower Garland Sutra has given us the wonderful image of Indra's Net. This is a symbol of the infinitely repeating mutual relations existing in the universe – a symbol of the interconnectedness and interpenetration of all things. As an editor it sometimes seems that nothing is going to connect and an issue will be made up of an collection of unrelated articles. At first this current NCF seemed…

As we move forward, New Chan Forum is changing slowly in the way in which it presents itself. When the NCF began the Internet was only in its beginning phases and the Fellowship used the Forum as a context for discussion about ourselves and news of members and local activities. These matters are now ably dealt with digitally on the website and this publication can now focus on its other aims of…

It is with a great sense of honour that I take up the role of editor of the New Chan Forum but with an equally great sense of sadness and loss that I do this following John’s death. This issue is therefore a memorial for John and his life.

Included are some contributions that were made at his funeral, some remembrances and memories. But for us to truly appreciate John’s contribution he needs to…

The Long Walk

The articles that fell together haphazardly here and came together in a natural composition seem to emphasise complexity; the irredeemable complexity of the human mind, the self, our world and the Universe. We struggle towards some kind of clarity through the dense fog of history, our contradictory ideas, our worried philosophising and our refusal to accept the simplicity of this…