John Crook

John Hurrell Crook (born 27 November 1930) is a British ethologist, sociologist and student of Chán (Chinese Zen) Buddhism. He is a dharma heir of Chan Master Sheng-yen, having received dharma transmission in 1993 in the lineages of Linji and Caodong Chan. In 1977 he led an expedition to Zanskar. He was a reader in ethology in the psychology department at Bristol University studying the social organization of animals.

He originally encountered Chan/Zen in Hong Kong whilst undergoing National Service in the British Army during the Korean War.

Crook subsequently trained with many Chan, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhist teachers. In 1975 he established a retreat centre at Maenllwyd in Wales where he continues to lead intensive Chan retreats.

Crook established a new style of retreat, referred to as the Western Zen Retreat. This takes a traditional Chan/Zen retreat structure but incorporates other techniques, in particular a 'communication exercise', to assist the Western educated mind to go beyond thinking and cultivate Chan experience.

He also leads Mahamudra retreats, having received instruction and permission to teach this practice from his Tibetan teachers.

Another of Crook's innovations has been a new approach to koan practice, taking some of the lessons from the Western Zen Retreat to find new ways to assist Western minds to practice with traditional "gongan" ( _ja. koan) and "huatou" (Japanese: "wato").

From the community of practitioners who attended retreats with Crook there grew an organisation called the Western Chan Fellowship, which was founded in 1996 and registered as a UK charity in 1997.

Writings

John H. Crook (2001) Himalayan Buddhist Villages: Environment, Resources, Society and Religious Life in Zagskar, Ladakh. (With Henry Osmaston) Motilal Banarasidas Publ. ISBN 8120812018

External links

* [http://westernchanfellowship.org Western Chan Fellowship website]