Joe, Just checked out the Western Chan Fellowship and was pleased to see they have a centre in Cardiff where I'm currently living. I'm thinking of contacting them to see if it's ok to sit with them occasionally
Speaking of which, I think 'Maenllwyd' might be near Machynllyth which is a bit further north than Llanelli and Ystrad Mynach. Not sure about the 10 Directions, but I'd love to see you ask directions in Wales.. I've never visited the Mind Moon Circle Zen Centre. I know they're in Sydney, but Perth -- beautiful Perth -- is on the other side of the continent. I do know of John Tarrant, of course because as an Aussie export he is to the Zen world what AC/DC and Nicole Kidman are to the entertainment world. In fact, if you like deserts, you should definitely visit there one day. Plenty of room for all One of us ; ) G'day! Mike --- On Sun, 17/6/12, Joe <[email protected]> wrote: From: Joe <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Zen] Dragon Year To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, 17 June, 2012, 3:40 Oh, yes, Mike, I know that. Maybe Simon has moved his practice center. He "used-to-be" from Wales!, I mean he is from there. I think that soon after he received Dharma Transmission from Master Sheng Yen, he and his family may have moved. In any case, his website, very long established about 20 years, "Western Chan Fellowship" could clear up his whereabouts. OK, I thought there may have been another "Lancashire" of some kind, perhaps in Wales. Guess not? But the address I gave is in fact the current address of his center. There are stories of "famous" 7-day, 10-day, and 14-day Ch'an retreats sat at Simon's place in Wales, with Master Sheng Yen teaching. Dr. John Crook wrote a book about one of them which took place in 1989, his CATCHING A FEATHER ON A FAN. The title of the book itself is a practical hint on a method of practice. The name of the place is/was... well... frankly, unpronounceable by me! And, not knowing the sounds, the spelling has also escaped me, alas. OK... they call it "...the Maenllwyd". Familiar? I recall reading about Ross Bolleter many times, one of the Diamond Sangha Teaching Circle of teachers, as was our Tucson Roshi, Pat Hawk. Pat Hawk always spoke very highly about Ross. I have not met Ross. Never been to Australia. We know John Tarrant Roshi, from tasmania, now based in California, and have sat a number of sesshin with him in Tucson when for a while Pat Hawk was indisposed and recuperating for about one year. Also John's sweetheart and co-teacher, Joan Sutherland Roshi (a Californian). I remember a beautiful journal from Susan Murphy's center called MIND MOON CIRCLE which used to come to our house when Carol and I served as the Librarians of the book collection at Zen Desert Sangha in Tucson. We once even had the whole library at our house, when ZDS was "between zendos", and we were a floating-sangha, before we bought a "permanent" building. Nice writing and nice teaching and art in MIND MOON CIRCLE. I treasured it. I liked, too, that the seasonal topics in the journal, cover-photo or drawings, etc., were of course just opposite those we were enjoying (or undergoing) in our northern hemisphere desert. It tended to even things out for us! with Cheers!, --Joe > mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote: > > Joe, > > Athough the name rings a bell, I don't know Simon personally. You do know > that Lancashire (where he lives) is in England and that Wales is a seperate > country, don't you? [snip]
