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 the webmaster, Andy Scott, 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.
John Suigen Kenworthy received Dharma Transmission (Shiho) from Keizan Roshi on 31st March 2021. Suigen Sensei is Roshi’s second successor after Shinro Sensei who received transmission in December 2020. Roshi conducted the ceremony at the Lakes Zendo with the assistance online of Hank Yoshin Sensei from the Netherlands. There was also meticulous support from Stephan […]
About 40 years ago, a teacher in the Transcendental Meditation or TM organization introduced me to a meditation technique. She gave me a mantra. It cost a fiver, not cheap for the time, however after a week, it felt like I’d had my money’s worth! Instructions were to use the mantra for 20 minutes twice […]
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 […]
I was not sure about writing anything about this. Then whilst watching the Falcon and the Winter Soldier I got a real surprise. The Falcon had just reluctantly taken the mantle of being the new Captain America. He was wracked with self doubt. He was not sure he could live up to the ideal. He […]
I’m not sure I can explain well in words why I chose to receive jukai or tokudo because I don’t think I knew why I was doing it. I just felt that I would. There was a pull to do both that I didn’t understand but which felt important to honour. There was a jukai […]
When I told my mum I was receiving Jukai, she said, “You always were a joiner”. At the time, I felt hurt, although I knew on one level she was right. I’ve always been looking for tribes of like-minded people following some path, sharing an understanding of the world, working together for a common cause. […]
A speechmaker, Carl W. Buehner, once wrote (in the context of speeches) that, “They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel”. Since we last met years before, I had forgotten Sharon’s name until I read Shinro Sensei’s obituary in the last newsletter and saw her photo. But […]
Sharon Rinshō Ive died suddenly and unexpectedly on 24 March 2021 in Gravesend, Kent. Sharon had practised Zen for many years, beginning in Kanzeon Sangha, with Genpo Merzel Roshi, who gave her jukai and whose US centre she visited a number of times. Sharon participated in sesshin led by Tenshin Fletcher Roshi and Kaizen Scott […]
I began Zen practice in 1983. I’d become interested in “spirituality” after abandoning a steady job to join a band of scruffy folkies touring Europe in 1979. I think I was looking for something to lean on in a time of insecurity. I read Krishnamurti, Gurdjieff and lots of other mumbo jumbo but felt strongly […]
When asked to write a little about my experiences of Zen practice I had to think long and hard. I have practised for so many years now the memory banks have got a little dusty! I’ve decided, as I write, just to let thoughts and feelings flow, mixing highs and lows as they arise. I […]