Retreat Reports: Silent Illumination Retreat

We publish selections from retreat reports written after Western Chan Fellowship retreats, to illustrate the range of experiences people go through as they investigate themselves in silent meditation. These reports are printed anonymously and may be lightly edited.

A cup of tea

heatwave
only the butterflies
still busy

I am a chatterer, verbalising everything in my head all the time, keeping a running commentary going and…

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Extracts from a report on the Silent Illumination retreat of February 2015.

Thursday

Simon gives another amazing, and uncannily accurate, Dharma…

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Silent Illumination retreat report

I arrived to the retreat ill. Nothing really serious, just a sore throat and runny nose, but still I was a bit…

Read more of Rephrasing and Asking

Published: 2013-10-25 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2013 , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports , Anon

Calligraphy for the character Chan

A Silent Illumination retreat report

Similar to my last retreats I shifted pretty fast into the retreat modus, where thoughts are kept in the…

Read more of Experience

Published: 2013-10-25 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2013 , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports , Anon

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The following is a practitioner's report of a silent illumination retreat led by Simon Child from November 20-27, 2010. As is the custom, the…

Read more of Seeing the Mountain

Published: 2012-09-15 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2010 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I’m not quite sure why it has taken me until now to write this report, nor why I have decided this moment to do it. Maybe it will become clear as I…

Read more of Clarity and Confusion

Published: 2011-12-15 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2011 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The context for attending this retreat feels important. It was the first retreat I had sat as a participant for 2 years - I had acted as Guestmaster…

Read more of Seeing the Wonder

Published: 2006-04-15 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2006 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Twenty-four of us talked about ourselves, why we had come and our hopes for the coming week. 'Coming home' was a theme for many. My struggles on three…

Read more of So Much More Fun

Published: 1999-06-30 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1999 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Calligraphy for the character Chan

This was the first occasion I had been at the Maenllwyd and from the start it had a magical feel to it - like entering a different time and space.…

Calligraphy for the character Chan

On the first evening John told us that he was going to teach silent illumination. This is a method that I have felt affinity for, and have begun to…

Read more of All Things are Teachers

Published: 1994-06-30 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1994 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I cannot write in hindsight, yet three days after the Retreat ending I am still in it, with a deep sense of calm and sitting sessions that pass…

Read more of The Little Nun

Published: 1993-04-30 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1993 , Anon , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports

It felt such a privilege to be attending the retreat with Shifu. I couldn't make the effort to go to New York, but he had come here! And yet a retreat…

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