‘The Buddhist Scriptures tell us that when Gotama was twenty-nine years old, he saw for the first time an Old man, a Sick Man, a
Tag: zen
The Difference Between Gong-an and Ko-an Practice
It is bizarre to consider that as Japan descended into fascism and racism prior to WWII – the distorted, nationalistic Zen Buddhism of that time was popular in the West amongst intellectuals, despite a number of its masters expressing openly hostile attitudes toward the Western people. It is even more bizarre to consider that after WWII – many of these very same masters remained popular as they quietly pushed their formerly racist rhetoric into the background, and applied a more ‘neutral’ policy toward the acquisition of Enlightenment.
Camelford Ch’an Week Retreat (North Cornwall)
Numbers vary dramatically, but as we are not a commercial enterprise, this is of no interest. There is always a strong inner core that keeps the teachings of Master Xu Yun (1840-1959) alive in the UK. We have been asked to Hong Kong and China in recent years, and these are invitations we intend to honour in the near future. Our last Ch’an Week Retreat (in the Sai Kung area) of Hong Kong, attracted over 50 participants in 1999, and we had to abandon the building and sit in the beautiful countryside.
Dharma Realm
The Dharma Realm is the realisation that the entirety of existence is interconnected, and this interconnectedness is premised upon the fact that all things exist (and pass away) with a profound emptiness.
Living in Stillness – Japan’s Minimalist Design and Eastern Zen
(Translated by Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD) A Zen-style room is deliberately simple, and is the product of both strict attentiveness and concentrated insight. Such a state
A Taste of Ch’an Tea
Ch’an Mind is like a Clear Mountain Spring; Tea Contains the Ten Thousand Things Original Chinese Language Article: Bao Guang Temple (宝光寺) (Translated by Adrian