Other Retreat Reports by past participants

heatwave
only the butterflies
still busy

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

Published: 2022-10-31 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2022 , Silent Illumination Retreat Reports , Anon

Planting a great oak at Shawbottom
and returning each year to say, “I did that”,
that would be something.
The sapling trees were ready in pots,
the spade…

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…

Published: 2019-09-15 Western Chan Fellowship CIO

Categories: 2019 , Chan Retreat Reports , Anon

I arrived not knowing what the retreat was going to be like. I knew we would investigate the question “who am I?” but preferred to find out how once I…

…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…

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,…

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

Thursday

Simon gives another amazing, and uncannily accurate, Dharma…

I was amazed to see how much came up during the communication exercises.

It went on till the last exercise unhindered by my attempt to tie things up…

Koan retreats with the Western Chan Fellowship have become a staple part of my dharma practice over the past few years since I have found a connection…

Retreat Reports: Other Retreats

Retreat Report – Silent Illumination July 2022

Retreat Report, Koan Retreat September 2022, a poem

Chan Brushwork Retreat 2019

Western Zen Retreat April 2019, a participant reports

Shattering the Great Doubt, Crosby Hall, August 2017

Reflections on Chan Taster Week, Derbyshire, February 2017

Silent Illumination February 2015

Thursday

Western Zen Retreat with Hilary and Rebecca, February 2015

Great Doubt

Rephrasing and Asking

Experience

Finely Tuned