Library
This library provides a database of articles, some from past issues of New Chan Forum and some available only from the website.
- To select articles by various categories such as topic or author or date click on the menu to the left, and the corresponding articles will be listed below the searchbox.
- Search by keywords, using the search box, and the corresponding articles will be listed below the search box (followed by recently published articles).
Meaningless that makes Sense: Working with Mu
Traditional koan study under a fierce Japanese Roshi is tough. …each session had its own special terror. Novice monks were repeatedly whacked with a kyosaku that looked more like a long baseball...[more]
John's Life
John Crook was born in 1930 in Southampton into a moderately well-to-do family. He was educated at Oakmount School, a preparatory school in Southampton, and at Sherborne School, a boarding school in...[more]
Self Ascending
Searching for the way Gate on gate until A fenced enclosure of the self Spiky membrane of a mutating cell. This single Centre with two nuclei One old and dark, a sort of hell One new and lit,...[more]
Chan and Writing the World
I clamber over the stile, and climb toward the Callow Drove, which runs along the ridge above me. The path follows a farm track across a field. Sheep are grazing on grass still frosted where the...[more]
Ode to 'It'
October days of sunshine, nights of frost,The chestnut leaves fan golden by the gateWith early mists, when all below is lostSave field-tree tops. To us, the sun seems late,Or is it just we rise and...[more]
The Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra
In April 1997, the Western Chan Fellowship held a retreat in Scotland on Holy Island off Arran. St Molaise was a Christian hermit there in the 7th Century. During the retreat, we celebrated his feast...[more]
The Illusion of Separateness
Žarko Andricevic is the Teacher of Dharmaloka – the Chan Buddhist Community, Croatia.[more]
Why Buddhism and the West Need Each Other: The Nonduality of Personal and Social Transformation
Paper given at the conference "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?" by David Loy on 30-Sep-2011, Bristol UK.[more]
Summary Of Conference "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?"
Summary of conference presentations by Hilary Richards[more]
Prison Chaplaincy
Talk by Devin Ashwood delivered 29th October 2011 at the WCF conference: "Western Buddhism: Engaged Buddhism?"[more]
Master Yen Wai of Hong Kong
When I arrived in Hong Kong (1953) on my National Service during the Korean War, I soon set about trying to meet Chinese people. I wanted to follow up my reading of Buddhism carried out during the...[more]
A Day in the Life of Bruce in Sogenji
Last year Bruce Stevenson took himself off to Japan for a period of practice in a Zen monastery. This was not Bruce's first such expedition but it is the first he has written about for us. Let us...[more]
Remembering Iris
I was privileged to be with Iris on two occasions during her final days, when she had gone over to palliative care and was, with cheerful equanimity, waiting to move on... A long dedicated Follower...[more]
Shifu's Legacy
This has been a noteworthy year at Dharma Drum Retreat Center. Since we lost our Shifu in February, one might expect an atmosphere of desolation and loss. Instead, we are enjoying one of the most...[more]
Travelling Verses - Nanjing
Nanjing has been the unhappy site of two terrible massacres: the annihilation of the Taiping rebels in 1864; and the Japanese atrocity of 1937. In the gardens behind Qixia monastery there are...[more]
Mindfulness and 'Mindfulness Training'
What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness can be interpreted in two ways; concentration which is narrow and laser-likeawareness which is more panoramic. These are obviously linked, for with...[more]
Friends of Manjushree Vidyapith School and Orphanage (FMVSO)
Last autumn John Crook organized a 2 week journey to the Buddhist sites of Arunachal Pradesh in the Himalayas of North East India. The remote district of Tawang is situated at 10-12,000 feet in an...[more]
Cardiff is a Nice Place
Evidently inspired by the Ten Koans of Layman John (NCF32) Eddy recalled this finely crafted koan. Enjoy. Tsan!! Eds[more]
Richard Hunn (Upasaka Wen Shu) Passes Away
Many of us will remember Richard personally, perhaps especially from his warm and characterful leadership of a weekend retreat for the Bristol Ch'an Group held at Ross Cuthbert's painting studio some...[more]