Western Zen Retreat Reports
At the end of each of our retreats participants are asked, if they wish to do so, to submit a written retreat report. We are grateful to retreat participants for writing so honestly about their experiences on retreat. This gives us valuable help in understanding the retreat process. These reports also provide some insight into the difficulties and benefits of attending a retreat. We publish some of these accounts anonymously in New Chan Forum.
This pages lists reports submitted by participants of Western Zen Retreats. Other pages list reports from participants of Chan Retreats and Other Retreats.
The retreat reports are quite varied, most being in prose but some in poetry, some reporting on good experiences and some on the difficulties. Some comment on the retreat process and meditation experience, whereas others comment on the novelty of finding oneself in the unusual environment of a silent retreat, or on the self-confrontation which can occur on retreat.
- A Western Zen Retreat
- A Western Zen Interview
- A Western Zen Retreat March 1995
- In Touch with Gentleness
- People Talking in a Big Space
- A Ting of the Bell
- Going On Into The Snow Alone
- Pine Tree in the Sky
- Why Are You Here?
- On Trying to Say I'm Me
- Seven Years Later
- Not so Silly After All
- Finding the Fullness of Myself
- Opening the Heart
- Fixing the Separator
- Silence, Koans, Gongs and Incense
- Keep Practicing
- Seeing the Wonder
- Everything in its Place
- For Non-beginners and Beginners Alike
© Western Chan Fellowship, UK, 2005. May not be quoted for commercial purposes. Anyone wishing to quote for non-commercial purposes may seek permission from the WCF Secretary.