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  1. Western Chan Fellowship
  2. Resources
  3. Retreat Reports
  4. Other Chan Retreat

Retreat Reports: Other Chan Retreats

We have not always designated a retreat as being for one specific practice alone. The following reports relate to retreats designated simply as “Chan”, and which may have included teaching and practice of general Buddhist meditation as well as of Silent Illumination, Koan (Gongan) or Huatou practice.

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  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    Online Retreat Report

    Anonymous | 2021-05-05

    Covid 19 restrictions have meant that WCF’s normal retreat programme has had to be abandoned. Instead we have developed a format for online day and week retreats, which are proving to be very valuable. 

    WCF’s first online retreat – and I loved it! 

    I found the whole process of bringing the retreat out into my ‘market place’, into my living room, was really wonderful. And I enjoyed the experience…

    Read more of: Online Retreat Report
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    Chan Brushwork Retreat 2019

    Anonymous | 2019-09-15

    The image that comes to mind when I try to sum up the retreat is of a triple: a three-legged stool, a tripod, a triptych. This represents what were for me the three components of the retreat: the huatou, the brushwork, and the sitting. Each locked into the other.

    I can’t remember the exact words of the huatou but in essence Joshu asks Nansen how to pursue The Way. Nansen tells him that making…

    Read more of: Chan Brushwork Retreat 2019
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017

    Anonymous | 2017-03-01

    The first day was just awful really. Sitting there, facing myself. It was like torture. No distraction, no ‘phone a friend’, no reading, no internet, no work, no walking the dog, no watching tv. Just sitting there, having to face what emerges in my mind. I found it unbearable. I really did think I could not bear to stay and started thinking about how I could just leave. I was cold; it didn’t…

    Read more of: Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017
  • portraits of Chan Masters Shengyen and John Crook

    Working with a Master

    John Crook | 1999-09-01

    What is it like for a lay practitioner to work with a master over a period of time? A single retreat provides an introductory experience but what if one persists through a series of such events? This would indeed be a requirement if the aim was to train in Chan. Training takes time but does it take one anywhere?

    To assist those for whom this question may be relevant, I attempt to answer it…

    Read more of: Working with a Master
  • Person sitting on stone block overlooking landscape

    Immeasurable Sweetness

    Anonymous | 1998-09-01

    Pale light after dawn
    Low clouds scudding over green fields
    Weathervane - SSW

    Nine cars
    In the yard
    Tathagatas

    Welsh hills in June
    Misty rain
    Wet tents

    Sunbeams at dusk
    Reaching round the corner of the hill
    Only this week the sun so far

    Cutting the tall grass
    goggle eyed frog leaps for safety
    Sorry !

    Round the temple chanting
    Koonyam poussa koon yam poussa
    Outside cuckoos calling

    Morning mantra
    Steadies
    M…

    Read more of: Immeasurable Sweetness
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    What has Happened to the Entity that was Me?

    Anonymous | 1998-06-30

    This was my first retreat of any kind and it was very difficult to start with the rigorous Chan approach. However, I felt very privileged to be accepted onto the retreat and I did not want to miss such an incredible opportunity to improve my practice. I undertook the retreat on the basis of intuition; it seemed entirely the right thing to do and the right time to be doing it.

    Three years ago Zen…

    Read more of: What has Happened to the Entity that was Me?
  • Person sitting on stone block overlooking landscape

    No Success, No Failure

    Anonymous | 1994-12-12

    I came to the New York retreat unsure of what to expect. Earlier retreats at Maenllwyd had afforded powerful experiences and insight into dilemmas. In the back of my mind however I began to feel that in some way I was beginning to second guess the retreat process and was becoming too familiar with John's centre in Wales. I wanted to embark on a retreat with no idea of where I might come out at the…

    Read more of: No Success, No Failure
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    A Nameless Dread

    Anonymous | 1994-06-30

    I arrived at the retreat in poor shape. I was tired and stressed and, although there were no major problems in my life, the general wear and tear had taken its toll. I always expect the first days of a retreat to be difficult but this time they were exceptionally so. During a previous retreat I had developed a severe middle-ear infection which had required a course of anti-biotics. I had had an…

    Read more of: A Nameless Dread
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    Making Friends With The Universe

    Anonymous | 1993-04-30

    I began my second Chan retreat at the Maenllwyd with the method of counting the breath but soon, stimulated by the phrases" Nothing to do. Nowhere to go", I changed to pure breath observation, a relief in its simplicity.

    Quite early on I became aware of how my whole body liked to turn very slowly and deliberately around to my left like a spring gradually winding itself up. It was as though I was…

    Read more of: Making Friends With The Universe
  • Person sitting cross-legged overlookinglandscape

    So Wonderful

    Anonymous | 1993-04-30

    How different my life would have been had I never attended retreats at Maenllwyd I cannot say, but without a doubt my life has changed phenomenally over the last four years. Until then, when I had the good fortune to come on my first Western Zen Retreat, I had been motivated almost entirely by fear and self- doubt. I had a deep rooted sense of worthlessness, critical of self and others. I was…

    Read more of: So Wonderful
  • Person sitting on stone block overlooking landscape

    Wind and Silence

    Anonymous | 1993-04-30

    A Chan Retreat begins for me when leaving home; making the journey as relaxed as possible; taking my time. In the preceding months I'd felt the need for a period of concentrated practice, and was willing and determined to let go of the 'daily round' and make good use of this rare opportunity. I was greeted in the yard by John, whose warm welcome and gesture to park the car sealed my 'arrival'.

    As…

    Read more of: Wind and Silence
  • Person sitting on stone block overlooking landscape

    Mind In Flow

    Anonymous | 1992-04-30

    I have just returned home, and it seems sensible to write the report before the memories of the retreat begin to slip away. Yet even by writing about it, the events seem so strange and wonderful that words alone cannot express the sheer depth and vast space that has at times punctuated the practise; the clarity of perception, the long silences that can only be likened to the desert, not a silence…

    Read more of: Mind In Flow
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  • Dharma Library
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©Western Chan Fellowship CIO 2023. May not be quoted for commercial purposes. Anyone wishing to quote for non-commercial purposes may seek permission from the WCF Secretary.

The articles on this website have been submitted by various authors and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the Western Chan Fellowship.

Permalink: https://w-c-f.org/Q773

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May 24th
Investigating Koans
Residential Retreat
7 Nights
June 8th
Kent Chan Day Retreat
Day Retreat
 
June 28th
Mid-Summer Silent Meditation Retreat
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5 Nights
July 18th
Silent Illumination Retreat
Residential Retreat
9 Nights
August 23rd
Western Zen Retreat
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September 7th
Kent Chan Day Retreat
Day Retreat
 
September 26th
Weekend Chan Retreat
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October 4th
Investigating Koans
Residential Retreat
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November 15th
Silent Illumination Retreat
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November 29th
Western Zen Retreat
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December 7th
Kent Chan Day Retreat
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