In response to American needs for speed Charles Berner in the fifties created an interesting form of retreat which he styled the “Enlightenment Intensive.”　Within this practice individuals sit together in couples.　One asks the other a brief “koan” or “hua t’ou”, typically “Tell me who you are?” The recipient puts this to him/herself as “Who am I?” and has five minutes to make some response that does not necessarily have to be verbal.　The questioner remains silent or merely repeats the question.　After five minutes a bell sounds and the roles are reversed.　Each partner thus has a sequence of five minutes alternating with the other for some thirty to forty minutes.　There is then a short break until the participants reassemble to work with another individual in the same manner and with the same question.　This process runs throughout the day with only short breaks for food, maybe a walk or a brief sitting session.

　　 Typically individuals begin by describing aspects of their roles in life.　This gradually changes to comments such as “When I hear the news I often want to cry.” The responses refer increasingly to

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emotion until someone expresses that feeling directly by weeping, laughing, being sad or angry.　Clearly this is a direct statement of being at that moment.　Emotion may or may not be expressed but it is deeply felt and the sharing of life’s problems engenders an increasing trust in the group.　Sometimes things are shared that have never before seen the light of day.　Eventually a silence falls as people run out of anything to add.　Some may then realise that everything they have said is who they are.　“I’m me” may be a response which, if fully realised, leads to a letting go into an experience of wholeness that may be entirely fresh opening onto previously unsuspected freedoms.　Such moments may amount to the discovery of the “One mind” in an orthodox retreat.　Berner styled such moments as “enlightenment experiences” and their significance for the practitioner is undoubted.　Yet they may only rarely amount to “No mind” since the intentionality in this process is so strong.

　　 In exploring ways to present Zen, I trained with Jeff Love in Berner’s process and later developed it as the Western Zen Retreat in which the format of the event resembles a Buddhist retreat but the Communication Exercise, as it is called, becomes a prime method of practice.　After giving such retreats over some twenty years I can say that on average about 25% of participants have some insight into “One mind,” 70% find the experience of common humanity deeply revealing and may undertake profound changes in their life styles, a few find the practice disturbing but usually manage to complete it with a sense of an achievement and surprise in so doing.

　　 The Western Zen Retreat is now used as an introductory retreat by the Western Chan Fellowship.　It provides an intensive introduction to the self confrontation that all Zen training demands and we like beginners to start by participating in this process.　The secret of the method lies in the progressive emptying out through sharing of worries, thoughts, concerns until even self concern is confronted.　Letting go happens automatically if the process is

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followed with openness but there are many cul-de-sac and emotional blockages on the way.

　　 The process has clear links to psychotherapy which is not surprising as Berner based it in a joint consideration of the dokusan and the Western co-counseling method.　I have seen intense personal blockage, shyness and neurotic preoccupations dramatically shifted in individuals who have attended several such events.　It follows that the relation between the theory underpinning Zen retreat and psychotherapy is a matter of great interest in the post-Freudian West (Crook 1990, 1997, In press. Crook and Fontana 1989 Pickering 1997) and may become of wider interest as the globalisation of Western values continues to spread.

Interdependence and the Ecological Crisis

　　In bringing Chan to Europe Master Sheng-yen offers an ancient, less contentious, thread soundly based in Dharma and meditative experience and with unimpeachable authority.　The prime features of his presentation are: complete anchorage in Buddhism while accepting the natural influence of Chinese culture on the tradition, especially Taoism; a balanced position with respect to the “subitism” of Koan work and the “gradualism” of Silent Illumination; a progressive set of meditation practices graded to suit practitioners of all degrees of experience; a strict retreat structure with formal interviews and traditional rituals but with an emphasis on relaxed effort, tolerance of diverse abilities and humour; and last but by no means least, instruction on meditative practice related to and informed by examination of the main themes in the Dharma, anattan, anicca, pratiitya samutpaada, the Heart Suutra, Maadhyamaka, the psychological basis in Tathaagatagarbha, the significance of Hui-neng’s teaching, and the recorded sayings of great Chan masters including both Hung-Chi and Ta-hui.　His public analyses of texts are often particularly illuminating.　In this Chan package many of the implicit problems in European Zen are very fully addressed.