Dharma Library

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

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Beyond

Calligraphy for the character Chan

beyond words
sometimes too numerous
at other times not enough
beyond time
beyond its dynamics,
divisibility
into what was
into what is.
beyond forgetfulness
beyond the danger
of taking the past for the present
illusion for reality.
beyond the mind
feeding on words, concepts,
beyond imagination
pulsating with images, dreams,
beyond emotion, uncertain, fecund
beyond escape,
beyond departure
beyond everything
there is…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Poetry , Others

Greek Flavoured Chan

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Some years ago, when I was younger and cleverer than I am now, I would have known exactly what to write when invited to contribute an article on Chan.

As it is, I thought to write of counselling and psychotherapy, for there is no doubt that the Buddha dispensed a powerful medicine, strong enough to quench the fever in this world and the next; to examine the nature of what arises, moment by…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1998 , Other Articles , Others

The Goose is Out

Calligraphy for the character Chan

"a man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his life as if he were telling a story" Jean-Paul Sartre

I have always been fascinated by the art of story telling and this short book was my first "taste of Zen" through the medium of the story. It is a compilation of a series…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1997 , Book Reviews , Others

A Eucharist on the Ganges

Iris Tute

During our recent trip to India we spent one whole day in a rowing boat being taken down river to Banares.

We had an early morning start from a sandy beach clutching our picnic boxes and water bottles to sustain us through the day. Blazing sunshine mellowed and warmed the coolness of the morning as we embarked to the amusement of the village onlookers.

The river Ganga or Ganges is for Indians…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1997 , Other Articles , Others

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

Mind in Agriculture

Calligraphy for the character Chan

To work the land or to gain one's living from the land is 99% hard work and, in the history of Man, the shift from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture was perhaps the most important change in our whole structure and way of thinking.

Without agriculture where would the monasteries be? To sustain such a complex there must be a stable local economy or at least a trade route nearby. The very…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: Highlighted , 1996 , Other Articles , Others

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

Why the Cook Bakes the Bread

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Why have I come to this desolate place? Why have I kept pushing myself to find the ultimate 'truth'? Why did I launch myself on this quest, why didn't I just ignore my doubts, close my eyes and enjoy the bliss of uncaring ignorance? Such were my thoughts as I struggled up the muddy path, against a bitterly wet wind, towards the cloud shrouded hills.

My destination was a Dharma retreat, famed for…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1995 , Other Articles , 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

Space In Mind: East-West Psychology and Contemporary Buddhism

Calligraphy for the character Chan

The editors of this book Dr John Crook, Reader in Ethology at Bristol University and Buddhist Scholar and teacher, and Dr David Fontana, Reader in Educational Psychology at Cardiff University, author and therapist, have brought together seventeen essays, most of which are based upon papers presented at a conference on 'Eastern Approaches to Self and Mind' sponsored by the British Psychological…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1993 , Book Reviews , Others

Darkness

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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

Meditation on the Seven-Twelve

Calligraphy for the character Chan

Cars converge on Swindon station,
Strained commuters clamber on,
Briefcase, mala, travel passes,
"Sorry, power unit problems."
I take refuge in the jewels,
Generating Boddicitta,
Through the virtues I, by giving,
"Train departing, Platform one."

Free from hatred and attachment,
"Passengers who've just got on,
Please, your tickets for inspection."
Offer objects of attachment,
Visualise, arrayed before me
All…

Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 1992 , Poetry , Others , Highlighted

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