Bristol Chan Group

Flyers for Weekend retreats and Sitting days:
pdf
MS-Word

Bookings Policy

Reading list

Western Chan Fellowship (WCF)

WCF Retreat Programme

Personal Retreats
at Winterhead
Hill Farm

Chan Meditation Center (NY)

Chan Meditation Center (Taiwan)

Network of Buddhist Organisations

Dharma words at the time of great tragedy (9/11 but suitable also for more recent events)

Bristol Chan Group

Dharma Advisor: The Venerable Chan Master Dr. Sheng-yen
Teacher: Dr John Crook (Ch'uan Teng Chien Ti)
Visiting nun: Venerable Jin-Ho, from Dharma Drum Mountain, Taiwan

Welcome to the Bristol Chan Group. We are a small loosely-defined group formed about twenty years ago to practise Chan meditation. ('About the group'). As you'd expect from our name, we are based in Bristol. Chan is the Chinese forerunner of Japanese Zen and we draw on the wisdom and meditation techniques of both traditions.

We welcome anybody to our meetings who is interested in meditation, whether or not they have meditated before. For details of our weekly meditation evenings and other events please go to 'Meetings' .
'An evening with the Chan Group' describes what we do during these meditation evenings.

We are affiliated to the Western Chan Fellowship , through which we have links with other Chan groups, throughout the UK and Europe and with the Chan Meditation Center of the Institute of Chung Hwa Buddhist Culture in New York and Dharma Drum Mountain Chan Centre in Taiwan. The WCF runs a programme of 5 and 7 day intensive retreats in a variety of styles at the Maenllywd, a retreat centre in central Wales. See WCF Retreat Programme

We are very pleased to have The Ven. Jin-Ho in our group, a nun from Dharma Drum Mountain who is studying in Bristol. She runs a meditation evening every Saturday at the University of Bristol Chaplaincy at No.1 Woodland Road and weekend one-day retreats. Please see the separate pages about this : Saturdays : Weekend Retreats

Personal retreats under the guidance of John Crook may be undertaken at Winterhead Hill Farm near Shipham in the Mendips, about 45 minutes to drive from Bristol. Follow the link (WHF) or phone 01934 842231 for details.

We actively encourage newcomers to the Bristol Chan Group. If you would like to find out more about it, please telephone :-
Sally and Mike Masheder (0117 924 8819)
Or email : enquiries@bristolchan.co.uk (Please mention 'Bristol Chan' in the 'Subject' of your email and please put your message in line rather than as an attachment. This avoids it being deleted as a possible virus carrier or being treated as unwanted spam.)

Latest News (1st January 2009 - details for AGM weekend - see flyer, linked below)

John Crook will give two Dharma talks at our Wednesday evenings, 14th and 21st January. The intriguing title for these talks is 'Non-meditation and the art of mindfulness'. These will be at the usual place at the usual time: The Coach House at 7:30pm. Please try to arrive in good time.
The Bristol Chan Group is to be the host for The Western Chan Fellowship's AGM on Sunday, February 1st. The day before this (Jan 31st), Jin-Ho, the visiting nun from Dharma Drum Mountain will give us a day retreat. Note that these events will be at a hall in Winscombe, a village south of Bristol. The Saturday evening will be devoted to a Sangha event in the form of an Indian supper in the hall. Please see the flyer in pdf or MS-Word for booking details.
Alysun Jones is continuing to run a Dharma Discussion Group. The next set of meetings will NOT be at her house in Winscombe but at Winterhead Hill Farm, the home of John Crook and the centre for Personal Retreats. There will be three meetings in this new series on Sunday afternoons between about 2:30pm and 4:30pm, exploring the writings of Dogen. The dates are :
Sunday 9th November : Rules for Zazen and Guidelines for Studying the Way
Sunday 7th December : Genjo Koan
Sunday 11th January : Genjo Koan
Please contact Alysun (01934 842017) if you are interested in joining the group. She will then give you directions should you need them. These details are also available on the flyer for the Sitting Day above:
Flyer is available as pdf or in MS-Word.
Watch this space for details of Jin-Ho's Saturday Group for next term.
We are also planning a conference for next autumn with provisional details : Long weekend 30th Oct to 1st Nov 2009 ;Title :'Living and Loving - Positive Perspectives on the Precepts' ; Aim : to explore the role Buddhist and Buddhistic teachings in the 21st century global society.

Events in the recent past:
On Saturday 1st November when we joined up with the Glastonbury group for a walk in their neighbourhood. The event was well attended and we had an enjoyable walk and an excellent tea at Ned's house afterwards.
Our recent sitting retreat day on Saturday 8th November was given by Revd. Myfanwy of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, with the theme of Serene Refection Meditation. Various circumstances conspired to mean that it was not as well supported as previous sitting days. Nevertheless those unable to attend missed a most interesting and useful day. Our thanks to The Revd. Myfanwy.

Please note the change in domain name to bristolchan.co.uk . Please change any reference to bristol-chan.co.uk in any bookmark file or in any email address books. The old domain name will continue in parallel until it expires in November 2008 and maybe beyond. Later: it has been renewed and therefore continues for the time being.

Comments, reports of difficulties with this site and helpful suggestions to webmaster@bristolchan.co.uk please.

Last update on 1st January 2009