New Chan Forum

In 1990 the Bristol Chan Group founded a journal called the 'New Chan Forum'. The Western Chan Fellowship has now taken over responsibility for this publication.

Content varies considerably from issue to issue, but typically includes Dharma talks, reports on their meditation and retreat experiences written by participants, comment on contemporary Zen and Buddhism, pictures, poetry, etc.

Copies of the full text of most issues are available to download from here. For copyright and other reasons some articles may sometimes be removed from the electronic version, and pictures are not included with the older issues, but if you wish you may write to the distributor to buy the paper version.

Published twice or three times a year, back copies, if still in print, are available from our Admin Secretary, price £4.50 each or £12.00 for a subscription of three issues.

Articles, pictures, poems, etc. for consideration for inclusion in future issues of New Chan Forum may be emailed to the WCF editorial at editor@westernchanfellowship.org

Print ISSN: 2047-9514 ,  Online ISSN: 2047-9522

Back Again

It's been a long time since the last issue and we thank all those people who expressed concern for our welfare. Unfortunately, the compilation of the articles and the conversion of those into word- processed documents has had to take second place to other events in our lives. On top of that, we have also converted from Macintosh to PC publishing, which has been far more traumatic than…

Transmitting the Lamp

This is a very special edition of New Chan Forum. Those of you who have received a copy of the Maenllwyd retreat programme for the Corning year will already know that John has been greatly honoured by Master Sheng-yen and is now a lineage holder in the Chan tradition with the Dharma name Ch'uan-Teng Chien-Ti ['Transmitting the Lamp - Seeing the Truth]. On behalf of his…

Mind the Gap

What gap? It was there and now it's gone. Summer holidays. The last issue. An organised retreat. A blank front page, a blank disk, now occupied. Distillations of the spring, early Summer and time gone by.

Before it disappears completely, stop and LOOK! What do you see? What do you feel? Was it exciting, or frightening, as you left one place and arrived at another? What happened in…

Everyday Mind

In reply to a question "If every sentient being is innately a Buddha, how can they be ordinary?", Shifu used an analogy from the sutras, that of gold ore in a mine. Before it has been refined, it is still not in a form we would call gold, even though the essential content of gold is inside. All of us may have the gold content, but it has yet to be refined. What is vexation? Vexation…

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…

Going On...

This small journal of the Bristol Chan Group has reached its fifth number. Already we have established a certain genre which seems to generate interest. We will continue to present articles on aspects of Chan and teachings by Shifu and other modern masters and also scholarly essays on ancient examples. A main concern will be on the development of Lay Zen in this country. Lay Zen…

Continue! Continue!...

We have at last found an excellent room for our weekly meditation evenings in Bristol. It is a peaceful place, the meditation room of a Yoga centre and after our various other rooms we now feel we have a place that is really good for our group to sit in. We welcome you to come out and join us, even on a wintry evening. Group sitting gives an encouragement to personal…

On the Way...

The Bristol Chan Group is now two years old, and perhaps, like a toddler, we are beginning to find our feet, with good times, bad times and the occasional tantrum! At a meeting in the spring of this year views were expressed about the function and running of our group. We recognize four functions of value to the group and these are:-

  • The need for Practice
  • The need for Outward…