Global Buddhist Community
Practice off the Cushion An Interview with Simon Child, Part 2
The interview is translated into Chinese and published in Issue 490 of Humanity Magazine (June 2024), in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of Master Sheng Yen's passing.
5. What are the distinctive features of the Western Chan Fellowship (WCF)? Who are the main members, and how do you introduce and promote Zen practice to contemporary individuals?
We are a lay organisation with our members, and others who practice with us, coming from a wide range of lifestyles. Most are working to support themselves and their families, and a wide range of occupations and professions are represented. Many are parents, some being stay-at-home parents. Some are not able to work for reasons of long-term health issues, or caring responsibilities for family members, and some are retired either with good health or with age-related disabilities.
There are issues with loneliness. Elderly, especially after the death of one of a couple, may live alone because family units are not as tight in the UK as in some other cultures. It might be that elderly move in with their children, but often not, and if they do it may mean leaving the area where they have lived all their life, separating them from their friends, as families are often dispersed around the UK (or abroad).
Being alone does not necessarily lead to loneliness – some people are happy to live alone so long as they can manage the practicalities of their lives. But certainly many people can find isolation from others very difficult.
Related Interviews:
Practice off the Cushion - An Interview with Simon Child, Part 1
Practice off the Cushion - An Interview with Simon Child, Part 2
Editor's note:
Simon Child succeeded John Crook in presiding over the Western Chan Fellowship (WCF), which now has 15 meditation groups throughout the UK. He is faithful to the Dharma passed down to him by Master Sheng Yen and John, and promotes Chan practice whenever causes and conditions allow.
Simon emphasizes the importance of daily life practice, which he refers to as "23.5 hour Zen" to counter the tendency of some practitioners to regard their daily 30 minutes on their cushion as their total practice. Particularly in the face of contemporary social issues such as loneliness and aging, Simon encourages practitioners to incorporate the method of Chan practice into their daily lives, and more importantly, to give rise to bodhicitta and be aware of how we ourselves react to the people and circumstances around us, as this is fundamental to our practice.
Simon emphasizes the importance of daily life practice, which he refers to as "23.5 hour Zen" to counter the tendency of some practitioners to regard their daily 30 minutes on their cushion as their total practice. Particularly in the face of contemporary social issues such as loneliness and aging, Simon encourages practitioners to incorporate the method of Chan practice into their daily lives, and more importantly, to give rise to bodhicitta and be aware of how we ourselves react to the people and circumstances around us, as this is fundamental to our practice.
5. What are the distinctive features of the Western Chan Fellowship (WCF)? Who are the main members, and how do you introduce and promote Zen practice to contemporary individuals?
John Crook felt a heavy responsibility for the transmission passed to him by Shifu. He had the foresight to create the Western Chan Fellowship (WCF) as a vehicle for sustaining the teachings into the future even beyond John's own lifetime. In 1997, the Western Chan Fellowship (WCF) was created as a formal legal organisation, as a registered charity. This was at the initiative of John Crook and with the support of people who had been practising with John for many years, many of whom had also attended one or more of the retreats led by Shifu in the UK in 1990, 1992, and 1995. The WCF is still very active now nearly 13 years after John's passing in July 2011.
We are a lay organisation with our members, and others who practice with us, coming from a wide range of lifestyles. Most are working to support themselves and their families, and a wide range of occupations and professions are represented. Many are parents, some being stay-at-home parents. Some are not able to work for reasons of long-term health issues, or caring responsibilities for family members, and some are retired either with good health or with age-related disabilities. We have about 100 people who pay an annual subscription to be "members" of the WCF. Our mailing list of people who have registered to receive our newsletters and programmes of events is about 600 people, and in addition we reach more people through our network of local meditation groups and the readers of our website and Facebook pages.
As a Dharma heir of Shifu, I was available to take over as Guiding Teacher of the WCF following John Crook's passing. Subsequently, I have appointed Fiona Nuttall as my first Dharma heir and she also supports the WCF.
WCF holds intensive residential meditation retreats approximately once per month for 10-20 participants. Typically, we will rotate retreats between 7-night Silent Illumination, 7-night Huatou and Gongan retreats, and our 5-night Western Zen Retreat. Occasionally, we may have different type of retreats, or longer retreats such as nine or ten nights. We held some online retreats during lockdown but interest in those has not continued now that we are again able to offer residential retreats.
We recognise that arranging to attend retreat can be difficult for people because of work and family commitments. It takes them away from caring responsibilities, and it also uses some of their limited annual leave from their employment. The cost of retreat attendance, together with the cost of travel to a retreat, can also be difficult for them. As a charitable organisation, we have a support fund (like a scholarship fund) to allow reduced retreat fees for those who need such support.
There are several other Buddhist organisations in the UK, and so it is common that people attending our events for the first time have already been taught meditation of some sort. We also have people attending retreat who have never learned meditation. We advise them it is best to attend the shorter Western Zen Retreat as their first retreat, but we may also accept them on the longer retreats and give them extra support and instruction at the beginning of the retreat.
We also have about 15 meditation groups around different parts of the UK where a local WCF member, trained and approved by WCF to lead groups and instruct in meditation, organises group meditation and discussion, typically once per week for a couple of hours, and sometimes also half-day and day retreats. These groups may also offer Dharma teaching, discussion groups, social and other activities, which vary according to the interests of the members and the skills and knowledge of the leaders.
We emphasise the importance of daily life practice, both because it is important and also because it is available even to people who cannot find opportunity to attend retreats or meditation groups. I call it "23.5 hour Zen" to counter the tendency of some practitioners to regard their daily 30 minutes on their cushion as their total practice.
We publish a magazine, New Chan Forum, twice a year, and back issues are available to download from our website. I think it was originally inspired by the Chan Magazine and the format is similar. Most issues will contain an article by me, either an article written especially for the issue or a transcribed Dharma talk, articles by others on a variety of topics, and often we publish retreat reports, poetry, and other contributions.
The meditation groups are one source of new contacts for us. Newcomers also come via recommendations from their friends. Many find us when Google searches lead them to our website, typically either searches for meditation retreats or searches for keywords that might match articles in New Chan Forum.
We are pleased to attract newcomers, especially younger people, because that is essential in spreading the Dharma and continuing it to future generations, though like many organisations our average age is increasing.
6. The UK established a "Minister for Loneliness" in 2018. How do you view issues related to loneliness and various problems faced by the elderly? How can Chan Buddhism contribute to addressing these challenges
Until you asked this question, I did not know that we have a Minister for Loneliness! I'm not someone who follows politics very closely.
There are issues with loneliness. Elderly, especially after the death of one of a couple, may live alone because family units are not as tight in the UK as in some other cultures. It might be that elderly move in with their children, but often not, and if they do it may mean leaving the area where they have lived all their life, separating them from their friends, as families are often dispersed around the UK (or abroad).It isn't only elderly. People of any age who have illnesses or disabilities, or who have no work or low paid work may be lonely if they are struggling to survive on a low income and are unable to spare money for travel or for socializing.
Being alone does not necessarily lead to loneliness – some people are happy to live alone so long as they can manage the practicalities of their lives. But certainly many people can find isolation from others very difficult.There can be a tendency for Chan practitioners in the West to prioritise their own practice and enlightenment ahead of others, and to some extent to isolate themselves from others. This is natural given the individualism of Westerners, the lack of understanding and support for their practice amongst their family and friends, the lower level of Dharma knowledge in those who have not made the effort to study, and the tendency to need to isolate themselves to support their formal practice (e.g. to create a quiet space in their house to meditate, or to go away on retreat).
This being so, there is the risk that they may not give attention to and support those around them who are lonely or in need of help in some other way. This is one of the reasons that I often encourage them to take their practice into their everyday lives and to notice their responses to those around them, and why I often include mention of Bodhisattva aspiration in my Dharma talks, to try to help them give rise to bodhicitta. But I don't want to paint too negative a picture here. Many of our members are very compassionate and involved in their communities. For some, this may reflect the religion of their upbringing as Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all strongly community focused, and these values are held in our culture though not always as strongly as in Eastern cultures.
7. Finally, is there anything specific you would like to convey to us, especially to the Dharma Drum Sangha?
When I was training with John Crook to lead retreats, I realised that I was not, and could not become, a clone of John. My task was not to turn into John but rather to find skilful approaches to teaching from within my own resources. I would inevitably fall short of John in some areas, but perhaps in finding my own voice and style, I could make up for any such "deficiencies." Hopefully, I have been doing that effectively, remaining true to the Dharma passed down to me by Shifu and John, while presenting it as from myself and not pretending to be or imagining myself to be either Shifu or John.
DDM finds itself in an analogous though not identical situation following the loss of Shifu. It would be natural to seek to recreate or "replace" Shifu, but in reality, Shifu will not return and will not be replaced like-for-like by a clone. All attachments, even attachments to great teachers, must be let go.
DDM can nevertheless honour Shifu's legacy. A great institution such as DDM can continue to present the Dharma in the spirit of Shifu, which for me means to transmit clearly the points he considered important: the usefulness of Buddhadharma to humanity; the importance of study and right understanding of Buddhadharma; the avoidance of superstitious practices; the importance of teaching and supporting deep personal transformation and insight through meditation and other practices; with all this set in a context of cultivation of compassion and harmonisation. If DDM can achieve this, then Shifu would feel that his life's work is continuing beyond his passing.
Related Interviews:
Practice off the Cushion - An Interview with Simon Child, Part 1
Practice off the Cushion - An Interview with Simon Child, Part 2