Author Archives: General

Jeremy Ryōkan Woodcock Sensei – Finding Ourselves in Deep Waters: Buddhism. Psychotherapy and the Contemporary World

Jeremy Ryōkan Woodcock Sensei, one of our teachers within Stonewater Zen Sangha, has a new book out. It is published by Mud Pie Books, a small specialist Buddhist publisher in Oxford in the UK, and also available on Amazon: https://mudpiebooks.com/books-authors/finding-ourselves-in-deep-waters/ “This book offers a transformative set of metaphors that invite the curious general reader, psychotherapists […]

Ed Howard – Contemplation Within Activity

In August 2000, I completed a short retreat at the Eiheiji monastery. At the time, I was caught between two paths. One was to remain in Japan, where I’d been teaching English for five years, and follow a monastic route. The other was to return to the UK and fulfil a promise I had made […]

Buddha Sees Everything

We have been contacted by Ciska Shizuka Matthes, who started her Zen pracrice with Genpo Roshi’s Kanzeon Sangha in the 1990s, about a book she has recently published about her Zen training in Japen. We are sharing the information here in case of interest to you. She says “Last year, I published the translation of […]

Interview with Roshi in the Liverpool Echo

This week Roshi has been featured in the Liverpool Echo with this interview. The founder of one of Liverpool’s most fabled bars is sending a message of acceptance, kindness and compassion in an ever polarised world. David Scott, who founded the original Everyman Bistro with business partner Paddy Byrne, runs the Stonewater Zen Centre, which […]

Visiting speaker / book reading Liverpool zendo – 20th March

On Wednesday 20th March there will be a change to the regular schedule. After one period of meditation, Alan Lessik, an author and Zen student in the Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Soto Zen linage, will be reading from his new Zen novel, Make the Dark Night Shine. Inspired by his Aunt Nina Uchida´s family story, Make […]

Rough Surface, Hazy Mirror – Tetsugen

Here we have another piece on the question of “If you have received Jukai or Shukke Tokudo, how did you experience that commitment at the time and how do you experience it now?”. The author is Tetsugen, a long time sangha member and monk. I received the precepts after my first retreat. I felt I […]

In Memory – Maurice Shokatsu George

In January we lost Maurice Shokatsu George who passed away peacefully after a short illness. He was 89 years old but very much younger in energy and attitude than his age suggests. A colourful and well-loved member of the Sangha and a frequent attender at the Liverpool Centre and retreats over the years, Maurice was […]

In Memory – Henrike Jishin Reef

Henrike Jishin Reef, who was known to many in the Stonewater Zen sangha and who helped Roshi in the early days of the establishment of StoneWater Zen, sadly died on the 7th December 2020. Please click here to read a tribute to her written by Jim Yugen Lakey on the Yokoji-Zen Mountain Center blog.