Dharma Library

A large collection of articles, from past issues of New Chan Forum and more besides.

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The Fenceless Gate

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

for Hughie

High in the hills of Wales
somewhere above Ceredigion
a fenceless gate swings in the wind.

Bold spirit are you?
A rugged glance, good boots or a 4 by 4
and you're away.

among sheep and ravens
cloudwise among crags
bogs and sudden mist

a falling white out
lost in the desert
chilly too.

Coming down a valley no one ever saw before
the dead still sing in the Inn.
Finding a way home not so easy…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Poetry , John Crook , Highlighted

Visiting Mother

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Copper whispers blowing in the wind,
beech leaves chase the rough grasses down the field.
At ninety two, I ask myself,
will she see another spring?
She rests there, quiet, her busy conversation gone,
anxieties softened now in forgetfulness of age.
Beside her in the garden, dozing off,
I see her smiling in a ray of autumn sun.
She set my character in grooves
so like her own, wakeful mornings worrying;
skille…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1997 , Poetry , John Crook

Comet Above The Yard

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

Up at the Maenllwyd -
funny how the days roll by.
I don't seem to be doing anything,
cleaning and writing and cooking
and sitting and walking
sleeping and waking.

Where does it all go?

The time so clear
nobody here
hours - hours
or merely minutes?
Today it is warm;
yesterday cold;
the wind changes,
clouds keep going -
in different directions.

Tonight a comet hangs over the yard
tail streaming in far off sunshine.
D…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1997 , Poetry , John Crook , Highlighted

Indian Pilgrimage 1996

Mount Kailash

The "Grand Tour of Buddhist India", a major contribution to our pilgrimage programme, visited nearly all the major sites of Buddhist history and archaeology in India: Elephanta, Kanheri, Bhaja, Karla, Nasik, Ajanta, Ellora, Sanchi, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Rajgriha, Kusinagara and Lumbini, just over the border in Nepal. Along the way we wrote notes and poetry some of which we record here. Julia has…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1996 , Poetry , Other Articles , John Crook , Others

Welsh Winter: Maenllwyd

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd 

                          Grey stone mountain
                          rain
                          and the gathering fogs
                          Drip drip the gutters
                          and the gurgling stream.
                          Two ravens out of the mirk
                          strut about warily
                          not seeing the face behind the window,
                    …

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1996 , Poetry , John Crook , Highlighted

Silent Illumination

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The following poem was written by Martin Tebbs during the Chan retreat with Master Sheng Yen at Maenllwyd in June 1995. The last line refers the woolly socks given to Shifu by two Polish students who attended the retreat (Eds.)

Today everything is different,
Everything the same.
 
How is it different?
In a cloudless sky the swallows glide
effortlessly, leaving no trace;
Young lambs call and call.
  
How…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Poetry , Others

Sonata

Calligraphy for the character Chan

They said not a word
The visitor, the host
and the white chrysanthemum.
 
The Old Pond
A frog jumped in 
Plop!
What?
 
...the listener who listens in the snow,
and nothing himself
Beholds nothing that is not there,
and nothing that is.
 
What is?
 
What th'?  What that?What? What th'?
s,is,is,is,is,is,is,is,is
And I am. And I am that.
Neither and both
and that.
 
But
What is it?
  
What is
is, and I am
This.
What is
is and I…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Poetry , Others

Ode to Hypocrisy

Calligraphy for the character Chan

I always tried to be so good
And do the things that Buddha would
But now I find it's come to pass
That no good things were made to last.

So now I stand upon this hill
Submit myself to thine own will
And in the merry month of May
The beast I feared has come to play.

I've given up the strength to fight
No longer yearn for love or light
For now it's hell's gates that open to receive me
And it's the Antichrist…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1994 , Poetry , Others

The Tree

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Oh, resolute pine 
how you have stolen my heart!
Majestic and proud as a warrior ever-watchful,
behind Maenllwyd.

It is clear there is nowhere to go:
night follows day
for the time-worn shepherd
alone with the hills.

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1994 , Poetry , Others

Ystrad Haiku

Ken Jones headshot

(from a seven day solitary retreat on the Ystrad Estate in Radnorshire)

Surrounded by sprouts 
stone cottage 
labouring poor

Sleep so deep 
I forget the names 
of lovers long ago

Small birds sing their evensong 
how sharp the incense!

Smoke drifts 
from my neighbour's chimney 
morning rain

Birdsong and rain 
incense and solitude 
day follows day

Young flames leap 
in pale sunlight 
it's Sunday morning!

Hanging up…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1994 , Poetry , Ken Jones

Words of Encouragement to Disciples

Chan master Shengyen

Believe in the Buddha, learn the Dharma, respect the Sangha;
Triple gem is the bright lamp of ten thousand generations.
Uplift the quality of mankind;
Establish the pure land in the human world.
First, understand grace and the repayment of grace;
To benefit others is to benefit oneself.
To make one's best effort is the highest virtue;
Don't create difference between one another or argue for more or less.
…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1994 , Poetry , Sheng Yen

Dad

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

1.

You carry me on your shoulders 
through the dark 
and explain to me 
the stars. 
The owl in the old oak 
calls in the night.
You chuckle, joyful 
in that mysterious bird. 
One day you received a stuffed fox 
and, to everyone's horror,
set it up in the hall. 
You wanted to put tiny 
light bulbs in its eyes and make it see.
Later the owl came 
to sit above the grandfather clock 
striking the hours 
with its…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , John Crook , Poetry

In Chinese Mode: Thinking of a Friend

John Crook sitting in front of the altar at Maenllwyd

This poem, parts of which were written at various times in the 1960's and revised now in 1993, is dedicated to Yiu Yan Nang, JP, now (1993) Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Hong Kong.

Reading a book of Chinese translations
I remember my Chinese friend,
bamboo breezes drift though my study,
moonlight on the terraced temple shines again.
Climbing to those high places
sometimes you picked flowers
and in the…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1993 , John Crook , Poetry , Highlighted

Darkness

Calligraphy for the character Chan

It's a dark night
The trees stretch their limbs in the breeze.
The air is cool and the nostrils flare.
Suddenly, the clouds part
And there stands the moon, bright and serene.

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1992 , Poetry , Others

Taliesin, At The Court Of Maenllwyd

Calligraphy for the character Chan

A poem in old Welsh style

I am chief doctor unto six thousand,
My country of origin was the Land of Angles.
Ruth and Hilda called me Roger.
I was the question set Sir Gwain;
I am the father of three doctors;
I am the husband of their mother;
I am the voter much misled;
I am a debtor, yet a householder;
I am little Gwion's hurt child;
I am a sleeket cowering timorous beasty;
I am a dense thicket of thorne;
I…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1992 , Poetry , Others , Highlighted

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