Retreat Reports: Silent Illumination Retreat
We publish selections from retreat reports written following Western Chan Fellowship retreats, to illustrate the range of experiences people go through as they investigate themselves in silent meditation. This page features reports written following attendance at one of our Silent Illumination retreats, also called ‘Illuminating the Mind’. These reports are printed anonymously and may be lightly edited.
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Shattering the Great Doubt, Crosby Hall, August 2017
Anonymous |Read more of: Shattering the Great Doubt, Crosby Hall, August 2017…Day two. Koan day. I eventually plumped for one that, rather arrogantly, I believed I could answer. Hah! Silliness. We sat, the Koan playing in my mind as I searched for an answer. After a few sessions, Simon brought in a communication exercise whereby each retreatant sits with another and takes it in turns to answer a question on their Koan. I was coupled with the most open and honest individual…
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Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017
Anonymous |Read more of: Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017The 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…
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