This is where we invite you, the Sangha members, to contribute your short articles on your experiences, ideas
or readings that you feel will interest others. Send these direct to Sarah Kokai Thwaites, or via the contact page. Posts will be linked and publicised in general mailings, Facebook and Twitter. Comments may
be made on the StoneWater Zen Facebook page or via Sarah Thwaites if you don't use social media.
Long ago, when the World-Honoured One was at Mount Grdhrakuta to give a talk, he held up a flower for the assemblage. At this, all remained silent. The Venerable Kasho alone broke into a smile. The World-Honoured One said: “I have the all-pervading True Dharma, incomparable Nirvana, exquisite teaching of formless form. It does not […]
My practice is the act of being lost and coming back. It’s a constant journey of drifting in and out of awareness, caught in my own body, mind and ego. I am lost in the swirl of my thoughts, emotions, cravings and distractions, believing in the reality of what I see, feel and think. But […]
The car radio on the way to the station after sesshin on this early April morning is playing Smokey Robinson’s “The Tracks of My Tears.” A tender tune, strangely attuned to where I find myself after one of the most intense sesshins in 30 years of practice. A vale of tears, a place where hope, […]
Richard wrote this on sesshin last summer and dedicates it to all sangha members especially Colin, the summer Shuso I’m sitting here in silence And waiting for the bell To relieve my suffering body From this self-inflicted hell Of pain and angst and heartache I’ve dredged up on the way. I’m struggling to work it […]
I’ve heard Roshi mention a few times the ‘vertical’ nature of our practice—from teacher to student, a bloodline travelling through many generations. For practitioners acquainted with ‘secular’ expressions of the Dharma (as I was when I left traditional practice for a time after studying for ten years with my teacher, Genpo Roshi), this avowedly religious […]
It was while I was a resident at Yokoji Zen Mountain Center that I completed the Blue Cliff Record (J: Hekiganroku), the classic koan collection compiled by Setchō Jusen (980–1052). I decided it might be useful to collate my numerous scribbled notes, phrases and poetic allegories into some cohesive order. With time and study, I […]
It was a great pleasure to be present and participate when Keizan Rōshi gave Denkai and Denbō to Dan Kōjin Bushin Gallagher on 30 October 2024. When thinking about the preparations for Dharma Transmission, I began to reflect on our lineage and the ceremony’s general significance for a talk during the sesshin. What follows is […]
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 […]
Awakenings is a non-fiction hands-on look at the human condition, the causes of suffering, what can be done about them and how to take up help in the pursuit of its resolve. “I wrote the book as a response to the increased suffering I see around me in my life caused by the isolation experienced […]