Teachers

Chan Master Simon Child, Jing-hong Chuan-fa, is the Guiding Teacher of the Western Chan Fellowship. He is the third Dharma Heir of the late Chan Master Sheng Yen. Simon trained for over thirty years with both Dr John Crook and Master Sheng Yen. He was the Secretary of the Western Chan Fellowship from its founding in 1997 until his appointment as Guiding Teacher in 2011.

Simon is married with two adult sons. His main career was as a GP. He also worked part-time as a Clinical Informatics Advisor for the National Health Service.

Fiona Nuttall, Zhijing Fahong, is the first Dharma Heir of Simon Child. Fiona trained with John Crook and Simon Child from the 1990s. She has been leading retreats for WCF since 2007.

Rebecca Li Zhi-Deng Fa-Chuan is the second Dharma Heir of Simon Child. For many years from 1990s Rebecca interpreted for and trained with Chan Master Shengyen, and from 2001 also trained with with John Crook and Simon Child.

Her book Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times was published in early 2021, and her book Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method (Shambhala Publications) was published in October 2023.

Rebecca founded Chan Dharma Community to support practitioners who want to deepen their practice after attending her retreats. She currently teaches meditation and Dharma classes, gives public lectures and leads Chan retreats in North America and Europe. She leads retreats at Dharma Drum Retreat Center and serves as visiting teacher at Dharma Drum centers in New Jersey, San Francisco, and Vancouver, Zen Mountain Monastery, Great Vow Zen Monastery, San Francisco Zen Center, Newark Center for Meditative Culture, Buddhist Sangha of Bucks County, Rubin Museum, and Yale University Buddhist Sangha. Her teachings have appeared in Buddhist publications in North America such as Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Buddhadharma and Chan Magazine, and Humanity Magazine published by Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan. She is a founding board member of Dharma Drum Retreat Center and where she served on the board from 2004 to 2017. She served on the organizing committee of the 2015 Generation X Dharma Teachers Conference and is one of the founding board members of The GenX Buddhist Teachers Sangha and currently serves on its board as president.
 

Dharma Transmission

Rebecca received Dharma Transmission on 5th June 2016, receiving the Dharma Name 智燈法傳 Zhi-Deng Fa-Chuan, Wisdom Lamp, Dharma Transmitting.

Jake's first retreat was at the Maenllwyd in 1982 led by John Crook, his first Buddhist teacher. He has practiced with a number of other Buddhist teachers mostly in the Chan tradition, especially Master Sheng Yen and Simon Child. He is a past Chair of the Western Chan Fellowship and an experienced Buddhist teacher, having led retreats for over 15 years. He is married with three grown-up children and is a retired clinical psychologist.

Hilary is a retired medical doctor, mother and grandmother. She is past Chair and a founder member of the Western Chan fellowship. Her teachers include Chan Master Sheng Yen, John Crook and Simon Child.

Alysun Jones has been meditating in the Western Chan tradition for over 30 years. John Crook was her first Teacher and continued as her Teacher all his life. She also practised in the Soto Zen and Tibetan traditions.

Alysun has been leading a WCF local meditation group for the last eight years and has also led some online and day retreats. She is a qualified clinical Psychologist, currently working part time in the NHS. In her spare time she loves to grow organic vegetables and fruit, and care for her chickens and bees.

Juliet Hackney has practised meditation since 2004 in a variety of Buddhist traditions. She has practised with WCF since 2009 and led a WCF local group since 2011. She works part time as a GP and is training to become a counsellor.