The World of Mister Zen

I have just returned from a quite beautiful week in Wales. Still very much re-entering the space we refer to as 'normal'. It seems anything but. The retreat I attended was called 'Shattering the Great Doubt', also known simply as a Koan Retreat. For those you unfamiliar with the term 'Koan' it is a short story, statement, dialogue or exchange between master and student, that is used as a form of practice in the Rinzai tradition of Zen. We are asked to meditate on , and merge with the koan, observing how it 'triggers' us or prompts and provokes habits, patterns and ways of being. It is something that must be experienced to be truly understood but that is a brief and simplistic overview. I met with 18 other curious souls to investigate and come face to face with ourselves in a rustic, electricity-less farmhouse in the middle of the welsh countryside. The schedule would involve a week of silence, meditation, great food, working for the b

Every now and again life delivers a 'game changing' event. One that challenges us and shakes our very foundations. It is in these transcendental moments we have revealed to us the true value of our practice. We are given a very real and meaningful yardstick for where we are at. It can be all too easy to adopt a philosophy or belief that acts as a pacifier, to retreat into language in order to hide from our true feelings because the feelings are just too much to bear - To simply talk a good game. Our work is not to arrange life so as to avoid feeling pain or sadness but to re-examine our relationship to these valid and inevitable emotions and feelings. We have been taught to run from or distract ourselves from painful emotions instead of embracing them and investigating them, allowing them to appear as they are, giving them space to arise and impart upon us their profound wisdom. To maintain an open heart and willingness to learn takes great practice and