"EMPTY WORDS"

Newsletter of the Glastonbury Chan Group

Issue 6 - February 2008

Welcome to the sixth issue of our Newsletter.

I recently attended the annual Leaders’ Retreat at the Maenllwyd (the Western Chan Fellowship’s retreat centre in the Welsh hills). This was an opportunity for practice, for discussion and sharing amongst the leaders of the growing number of local Chan groups and the Fellowship’s teachers, and for further training in the knowledge and skills needed to serve as a meditation instructor and group leader. As always, the experience was rich, challenging…and not a little humbling!

Chan in the West is developing its own flavour. Most of all this is characterised by the fact that the vast majority of Western practitioners are lay people, in contrast to the traditional Eastern pattern where most would have been monastics. This presents its own unique challenges and opportunities. Over the years, one particular problem that has been noted is the so-called “yo-yo effect”: that is, a practitioner will go on an intensive retreat, gain possibly considerable insight, and come back to everyday life refreshed and “shifted”. However, this effect tends not to last: without the supportive, disciplined and focussed environment of the retreat, everyday vexations quickly regain the ascendancy and before long the unfortunate practitioner feels she or he is back to square one. Result? A booking for another retreat, and the whole cycle repeats itself.

Of course, this does not imply that retreats are unbeneficial. On the contrary, they are an essential part of any Chan/Zen practitioner’s training. But it has become increasingly obvious that more support and focus is needed for practice during everyday life. This is where the practice of Mindfulness (or “Bare Awareness”) comes in. I hope that over the next few months, the Glastonbury Chan Group can explore this practice, as well as other ways of helping and supporting each other in the application of the Dharma in our moment-to-moment existence. After all, it is in the midst of our daily mundane lives that our problems and sufferings arise, and thus it is here where wisdom and compassion are most needed.

Gassho
Ned Reiter [Guo Ji]

Zen for Sale

We now have meditation cushions (zafus) and mats (zabutans) for the group for when we have retreats at venues that have none. The fabric and sewing has been fairly traded from an Indian tailor and the zafus are stuffed with kapok, a soft natural fibre. There are spares so if you would like to buy a zafu or zabuton, they are £9 for a zafu and £13 for a zabuton. Our group makes £5 for every set sold (£22 for the set).

Shasta Abbey (Soto Zen training centre, affiliated to Throssel Hole Abbey) has released its own translation of Dogen’s Shobogenzo as a free pdf file for download.
www.shastaabbey.org/shobogenzo1.htm
1144 pages in total.
Available in one big file or in individual chapters.

Coming Events

Sun 3 Feb: Dancing Mountains Zen Retreat in Chagford, contact Devin:
07875 155464

Sun 10 Feb: Glastonbury Chan day retreat – Contact Ned 0n 01458 833663 or email: reiter@clara.co.uk

Sun 9 Mar Dancing Mountains Zen Retreat in Glastonbury, contact
Devin: 07875 155464

Friday 14th March – 8:00 pm. “14 History Less”: a film by Terry Flaxton (a regular at our group). Showing at the PHOENIX project, 1King Street
Glastonbury BA6 9JX (tel: 01458 830 522) 8pm

March 25th - 30th: 5 day Chan Retreat at the Maenllwyd (the Western Chan Fellowship’s retreat centre in mid-Wales). Leader: Jake Lyne. Details from Ned or website : www.westernchanfellowship.org/retreats.html

Saturday April 12th South West Chan Groups Day Retreat at Leusdon Memorial Hall, Dartmoor, Devon from 10am til 6pm. Walk on Dartmoor the following day (accommodation can be arranged). The day will be led by Jake Lyne of the Western Chan Fellowship.
Contact Ned on 01458 833663 or reiter@clara.co.uk

Sat - Sun 26th-27th April: Dancing Mountains Zen Weekend Retreat in
Glastonbury, contact Devin: 07875 155464

May 31st - June 6th The Liberative Path of Emotional Awareness – with Ken Jones. Venue: the Maenllwyd
www.westernchanfellowship.org/retreats.html