The Webmaster's Blog

23rd November 2009

Goodbye!

With the launch of "Latest News", this blog and the Directors' Blog have been superceded, so this is the last entry that will appear here.  Sorry if you liked following the Webmaster's Blog, but I hope you will find the Latest News blog just as interesting and even more informative.
 
The webmaster is not going away - I am now living in London Zen Centre with one of our new teachers as my abbot and a great group of other residents practicing here every day.  So see you on Lastest News, elsewhere on the KUSZE website, at various retreats and Sangha Weekends around Europe, and here in London — come and visit us!

#64: Posted by Peter Voke at 10:31 on 23/11/09

 

8th October 2009

Busy Autumn

There is a new picture gallery on the site, recording the Inka ceremonies at Warsaw ZC for Bogusia Malinowska and Oleg Šuk - now JDPSN.  New biographies of both are on the site, with those for all the other teachers.  And both are soon leading retreats, Bogusia PSN in London this weekend with Zen Master Wu Bong, and Oleg PSN in Brno at the end of the month.

Many other retreats have recently been booked up through the Retreat Booking System, which is working pretty well.  Go to Events and Retreats to see the kido at Won Kwang Sa and coming retreats in Vilnius, Košice, St Petersburg, Łódź, Berlin, Muenchen, Praha and Paris.  There are also already bookings for Russia and Spain in 2010.

#63: Posted by Peter Voke at 9:58 on 8/10/09

 

16th July 2009

Quiet Summer

I came to Won Kwang Sa six weeks ago for part of the 100-day Kwan Seum Bosal kido, and tomorrow will move on to Warsaw to join the Kyol Che.  This is the quiet part of the summer, with only the two long retreats happening, plus the regular two-week retreat in the country in Lithuania, which starts on Saturday.  There are no other retreats in August, so far as I know.

Aside from that, the only recent trip has been to Vienna for a YMJJ with Muchak JDPSN last weekend.  Some photos are on Picasa already, like the one on the right.  Follow the link for the Vienna YMJJ pictures on picasa.

#62: Posted by Peter Voke at 13:36 on 16/7/09

 

28th May 2009

Words and Pictures

Barbora from Litomyšl in the north of Moravia has sent in a translation of a Dharma talk by Mukyong JDPSN direct from German into Czech — something of a first, I think.  This article is the one by Mukyong PSN in the "Go Straight" project, so a vital step in building a complete Czech version of the book.

I also got sent some links to pictures on picasaweb by Henryk, abbot of Opole ZC, of their recent retreat and precepts ceremony.  As the pictures are not suitable for turning into a KUSZE picture gallery, but they are available on picasa, the best thing I can do is give you links to the two galleries there.  Enjoy!

#61: Posted by Peter Voke at 12:40 on 28/5/09

 

20th May 2009

Retreat Booking System

At the Sangha Weekend in Berlin last month, a new way of booking teachers to lead retreats was approved by the Teachers' Meeting.  Shortly afterwards I emailed all the abbots of groups who hold such retreats, telling them how to log in and use the system.  Over the past four weeks quite a few groups have tried it out successfully, booking retreats in Krakow, Brussels, Dresden and Munich as well as a workshop here in Moravia. 

Here are the teachers for the retreats in ..............

Krakow .............. Brussels .............. Dresden .............. Munich.

If you are responsible for booking a teacher for a future retreat and you are not sure how to do it, contact me to find out: webmaster kwanumeurope org 

#60: Posted by Peter Voke at 12:37 on 20/5/09

 

14th April 2009

The "Go Straight" Book Project

Some months back I mentioned a project to make a book of Dharma Talks by teachers in our school, called "Go Straight" (see the November 11 entry below, or the link on the right).   This project has progressed to the point where there is now a final draft in English, containing all thirty of the talks we are planning to include, two of which have translated from German and Polish. 

Not only that: there are only three left to be translated into Slovak, and about fourteen left for Czech and Hebrew, while French is not far behind.  So it is possible we will be able to publish this book soon in four or five languages.  Initially it will come out as a CD, with pdfs and linked mp3 audio of the talks, available for quite a few of them.  Anyone who has been involved in translation, or would like to, now is a good time to get in on the final action and finish "Go Straight" for your language.

#59: Posted by Peter Voke at 18:18 on 14/4/09

 

8th April 2009

Ji Jang Bosal

JW Harrington, 1958 - 2009. 

Ji Jang Bosal, Ji Jang Bosal.

You were a friend to everyone in the Kwan Um School of Zen worldwide, and to me.  All our love and best wishes as you travel on, earlier than we expected or wanted.  We will be seeing you around. 

#58: Posted by Peter Voke at 17:38 on 8/4/09

 

7th April 2009

Spring Update

Lovely spring weather here in Brno.  I just got back from Won Kwang Sa, after a week of Kyol Che and a Sangha Weekend which included a precepts ceremony.  So there is a new picture gallery on the site already, mostly of pictures of the thirteen Dharma talks, plus some of the Sangha Weekend.

Quite a few retreats have been announced and posted in the past few weeks, including ones in London in a couple of weeks' time, in Prague and Opole the weekend of 22 May, in Brussels and Dresden in June.

#57: Posted by Peter Voke at 12:16 on 7/4/09

 

21st February 2009

Translating and Postponing

A wonderful Dharma talk given by Zen Master Bon Shim during the Kyol Che in Warsaw last summer was transcribed into Polish a few months ago.  It was then translated into English by Joanna Sadowska of WZC and came out just as good as I hoped it would (and remembered, from hearing it interpreted at the time.)  It has the wonderful title in English: "What there is is really enough" — I have no idea if it sounds as good in Polish, or now in Czech.  Yes, today I got the Czech translation from Jiří Lněnička who lives here with me in Brno ZC.  The Czechs who have read it agree that it is some of the clearest Zen teaching ever — so follow a link on the right to read, and learn, and resonate.

Things have been quiet here for the past month, with unusually persistent snow for Brno.  Few retreats were announced, but more than one was postponed: the retreat that was supposed to happen here today with Bon Shim SSN was postponed for three weeks, so it would have clashed with the retreat in Bratislava with Bon Yo SSN, but that was also postponed and now clashes with the retreat in Prague with Muchal JDPSN!  Bon Shim could not come here today as she is leading a YMJJ in St Petersburg, which got posted earlier in the week, at the last minute.

#56: Posted by Peter Voke at 20:16 on 21/2/09

 

15th January 2009

Spring News

With snow falling here in sub-zero temperatures, and the threat of running out of gas for heating, it is nice to be posting announcements of coming retreats up to April.  The weekend of the 16th April the Prague group are inviting Muchak JDPSN from Berlin to lead a retreat, while Zen Master Bon Yo will be coming to Bratislava in March and in February Zen Master Bon Shim is going to Palma de Mallorca.

At the end of January, our other new Dharma Master, Jo Potter JDPSN, is visiting Kaunas, at the same time as Muchak JDPSN is leading a retreat in Berlin and Bon Shim SSN is in Łódz.  All through this period, of course, the Winter Kyol Che at Won Kwang Sa is carrying on, led by Chong An Sunim JDPS and other guest teachers.

#55: Posted by Peter Voke at 17:13 on 15/1/09

 

21st December 2008

Residence Opportunities

A few days ago I received an email from London ZC pointing out the present possibility for a resident Zen student in London.  You can use the Dharma room (low price) or have your own room and pay a bit more — and you get plenty of practice, regular retreats with Zen Masters, and good Zen-friends in one of the most exciting cities in Europe.

Pictures of the London ZC. Left, Dharma Room.  Right, bedroom.   
 
 
 
London is not the only center with opportunities for resident Zen students.  Recently Berlin, Warsaw and Paris have all had places available, the latter with the chance of working in/for the Centre Zen Parisien and "Maison Zen", their attached guest house.  On the other hand, to my certain knowledge Prague ZC, Brno ZC and Brussels ZC are all fully occupied and doing fine.  If you want to live here in Brno you will have to join the queue, as from January 2009 we have three residents living in a Zen Center intended for two!  (Don't worry, we are great friends.)

#54: Posted by Peter Voke at 11:38 on 21/12/08

 

11th December 2008

Off to Slovakia

In an hour or so I leave for the short trip to Bratislava where they are having a retreat this weekend.  This is a first for me as I have been wanting to get to Slovakia for ages but have just passed through many times without stopping.  The Bratislava group have decided to move the retreat to the ZC in the city rather than having it in "Bat Cottage" in the deep dark little Carpath woods — a shame!  (Maybe next time, they say.)  There is also a YMJJ in Dresden this weekend — best wishes.

Chong An Sunim might be forgiven for thinking I am following him around — Vienna three weeks ago, here in Brno last weekend, and now Bratislava, but it isn't true.  The New Year YMJJ at Wong Kwang Sa, for instance, sounds very attractive but I shall be in Wales with my daughter that night.  So I shall miss the tea ceremony, chanting and walking in the mountains after midnight.

#53: Posted by Peter Voke at 16:10 on 11/12/08

 

28th November 2008

Even More Busy

Jonas from Kaunas emailed me this morning to say there is a YMJJ this weekend in Vilnius — a last minute announcement.  It has been posted, though with short notice few people may go from outside Lithuania.  But best wishes to the sanghas in Vilnius, Opole, Łódz, Warsaw and Paris, all of whom are starting retreats this weekend.

Here in Brno it is a quiet weekend, after a trip to Vienna last week.  This led to an unexpected discovery — the Vienna website lost its host and wanted to host with us, like London and Brussels.  So now they have a new website with all the same information they had on their old one but in one of the KUSZE variant styles.

Also new is an additional picture gallery, using beautiful pictures of the Zen wedding of Ondras Pribyla and Verka Kollarova last August.  This has been put up mainly because I loved the photos, and it looks quite amazing in Cooliris.  Pay a visit and enjoy.  (And download Cooliris if you don't have it yet.) 

Progress on the new book project "Go Straight" is rather slow, but some contributions have started to trickle in for Spanish and Hebrew.  We are still trying to sort out transcriptions and translations of good Dharma talks by Bon Shim SSN, Bon Yo SSN, and the European Dharma Masters — some are already available, others still to be decided.  Watch this space.

#52: Posted by Peter Voke at 19:53 on 28/11/08

 

20th November 2008

Busy Time

This seems to be a very busy time of year on the retreat circuit.  I shall be off to Vienna in an hour for a three-day YMJJ with Chong An Sunim JDPS starting tomorrow, but there is also a retreat in Berlin and a kido in Warsaw this weekend.  Next week there are YMJJs in Opole, Paris and Łódz (the latter to be immediately followed by a week-long YMJJ in Warsaw) and the weekend after that we are having a YMJJ here in Brno.  Bratislava and Dresden hold their retreats a week later — so there is no shortage of things to do around this part of Europe for the next month. 

Yesterday I noticed that the RSS feed of the KUSZE site was not working properly, since we changed host a few weeks ago.  The problem has been diagnosed and corrected, in case anyone likes to use the RSS feed to keep up with changes and news on the KUSZE site.  If you already have our RSS feed installed on your browser, it should link to the right pages now.  If you would like to try it, follow the link to the RSS page and select the language you prefer — it's available in any of our twelve languages.

#51: Posted by Peter Voke at 14:37 on 20/11/08

 

11th November 2008

Go Straight - Translate!

You may be aware of the Article Translation Matrix on the KUSZE website, which was set up to encourage and assist anyone willing to help translate the many articles we have in English into any of the eleven other site languages.  If you visit the matrix page, you will immediately get some idea of how successful it has been in enabling and promoting translations — and how much more there is to do, potentially.

In the hope of inspiring more translations of the best Dharma talks and articles and to give translators a focus and objective, I have put together an outline plan for a book of Dharma talks, called "Go Straight".  There is a matrix page specially for this project, which also answers questions about it, and a discussion has started on the Virtual Sangha  in the Translators group.  The matrix (image, right) reveals that French, Czech and Slovak have almost finished everything needed for their version of the book.  If you would like to join in — even to complete one short translation — the project is open to anyone able and willing to help.

#50: Posted by Peter Voke at 11:23 on 11/11/08

 

31st October 2008

Cool Picture Galleries

The picture galleries on the KUSZE website have been upgraded and simplified over the past few days.  And, to make them more accessible, the link to the picture galleries has been promoted from its rather obscure position on the Events and Retreats page to the main menu on the right hand side of every page on the site.  This should make it easier for all those of you who looked for our picture galleries sometime in the past and could not find them!

The picture galleries now have a black background and use the popular free application Cooliris to view them.  (You can still use a simple built-in slidehow as an alternative.)  Cooliris is a free must-have plug-in/add-on available for Firefox, MSIE or Safari.  The KUSZE picture galleries look great displayed with Cooliris: links to a few of them are on the right, including one for the Czech Sangha Weekend two weeks ago in Litoměřice.

#49: Posted by Peter Voke at 14:03 on 31/10/08

 

16th October 2008

Migration: Webspace and Real Space

If you noticed any odd behavior of the website in the last few days, it was because the whole site has migrated to a new host computer in Denmark (from the old one in Switzerland).  This move went remarkably smoothly and nearly everyone should have noticed no interruption in service at all on kwanumeurope.org, and a just a few hours offline for kwanumzen.eu, our alternative URL.  If you want to check which host the site you are looking at is running on, go to the credits page.  But if you are reading this, you are certainly accessing the Webmaster's Blog on the new host!

The primary reason for the move is to enable the KUSZE Abbot and Directors to run php mailing lists — more on that in due course when they are up and running.

In real space, I shall be off to the Czech Sangha's autumn gathering in Litoměřice tomorrow, and so missing the YMJJ in Košice, unfortunately, as a result.  An email appeared a couple days ago in Polish saying there is also an "instant" YMJJ in Łódz this weekend, but whether that is really true I cannot say, as their website seems to say something different.  On the other hand, there will definitely be a YMJJ in Kraków the following weekend with Bon Shim SSN, as Stefan let me know about that one reasonably well in advance.

#48: Posted by Peter Voke at 10:56 on 16/10/08

 

3rd October 2008

A Transmission Ceremony, and after

The highlight of the second day of the Whole World is a Single Flower conference was the transmission ceremony for Mu Shim Sunim JDPS, of Mu Sang Sa temple in Korea, who becomes Zen Master Dae Jin.  The dharma room at Warsaw Zen Center was packed from wall to wall for this event, which included singing by the choir of Hwa Gye Sa temple who had come from Korea to participate.

The few pictures I was able to get of the ceremony have been made up into a small picture gallery — see the link on the right.  If anyone has more pictures, please send them to me so I can include them along with these 18 from Jonathan Bowra.

It is hard to believe that this event was only twelve days ago.  Since then I have been with the conference tour through Europe, to Auschwitz, Krakow, and Prague.  Then I visited Munich for the weekend while they went on to Esztergom and Wong Kwang Sa, then returned to Prague and moved down to Brno Zen Center three days ago.  I shall be living here for the next year as HDT, I hope, helping the group to thrive and grow.  Several new retreats have been posted in the last few days, as groups start to get their autumn programs firmed up; these include the initial announcement of the winter Kyol Che, again at Won Kwang Sa during the first three months of 2009. 

#47: Posted by Peter Voke at 19:29 on 3/10/08

 

21st September 2008

The Single Flower Opens

The Whole World is a Single Flower conference 2008 finally came true yesterday, after so many people's organization and planning.

With large contingents of visitors from Hong Kong and Korea, the international flavor was very strong, as usual at these conferences.  The talks, like the one by Zen Master Dae Bong shown, had to be translated into both Polish and Korean by two interpreters.  There were lighter interludes of fun, like the song by an impromptu group of the Warsaw sangha.  When I have gathered more photos, a gallery of the conference will appear, of course, since The Whole World is a Single Flower conference only comes to Europe once every nine years.

#46: Posted by Peter Voke at 16:15 on 21/9/08

 

15th September 2008

Autumn Ending

About a week ago the hot days of late summer abruptly ended and the temperature dropped far enough for us to turn on the heating here at Falenica.  It is hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago we were working outside and walking in brilliant sunshine.  These pictures were taken when the temperature was about 20 degrees higher than now!  (Click on any boxed image to see it full size.) 

The end of the Kyol Che is only a few days away but the feeling is slightly different from usual as the Whole World is a Single Flower conference starts here on Friday immediately afterwards.  We do not have as many people here for the last week of the retreat as we feared — 25 instead of 40 or more — but come the weekend we will have over a hundred arriving for a transmission ceremony as well as the rest of the triennial conference.  So, plenty of news coming up here on the blog, soon, I expect.

#45: Posted by Peter Voke at 16:58 on 15/9/08

 

5th September 2008

An Unfortunate Clash

A couple of days ago the Zen group of Košice, Slovakia, contacted me about their next retreat with Zen Master Bon Yo over the weekend of 17/18/19 October.  I have always wanted to attend a retreat in Slovakia, either in Bratislava or Košice, and so it is once more very unfortunate that this retreat is the same weekend the Czech Sangha are holding their autumn Sangha gathering, which is at Litoměřice this year, with Zen Master Bon Shim.  I've committed to going to this weekend, so Košice is out this time round.  I'm probably not the only person from the Czech Republic who would have gone to Košice for the YMJJ, were it not for the clash with Litoměřice.

To avoid your retreat clashing with another one that people may also want to attend, always keep an eye on our Events and Retreats pages, where retreats are posted up to four months in advance.  And as soon as you decide when to have a retreat, let me know and I will post it (even if it says "Details to be decided later" for a while).

#44: Posted by Peter Voke at 8:57 on 5/9/08

 

28th August 2008

Moktak Masters

The Kyol Che in Falenica has entered a strong and quiet phase, as we are just three weeks from the end.  Our second moktak master is leaving on Saturday and tomorrow evening the third will take over.  Both of the moktak masters so far have been from Israel: Avichai on the left and Tom on the right (with me and DSSN).

#43: Posted by Peter Voke at 17:45 on 28/8/08

 

20th August 2008

London and Oslo

Life continues outside the Kyol Che here in Poland, as evidenced by emails from London and Oslo.  The London group welcomed Bon Shim SSN as teacher for a YMJJ and Dharma talk in June, and have now sent pictures which I have turned into a small picture gallery.  Such picture galleries run on the KUSZE website but are only linked to from the group's website (London, in this case) not from the Picture Galleries page here.  They also sent a link to a video of a Dharma talk by Bon Yo SSN at a previous YMJJ last November, including an introductory talk by ... guess who?  Like most people, I don't like seeing myself on video, so I can't tell you if it is worth watching — judge for yourself, at your own risk!

Oslo also updated the program for the next visit of Hyon Gak Sunim JDPS — see their site for details.  London are expecting Mu Shim Sunim JDPS (of Mu Sang Sa in Korea) to visit in September, but details are not yet finalized.

#42: Posted by Peter Voke at 13:55 on 20/8/08

 

12th August 2008

Over the Hill

We are now past the half-way point of the Kyol Che and into the eighth week.  It seems like reaching the top of a mountain and starting to go downhill after a long climb.  Here is a picture of us a week-and-a-half ago with Andrzej Piotrowski JDPSN, our teacher that week.  Numbers seem to have settled at just under thirty participants each week — just enough to fill the Dharma Hall completely.

At the same time, some people on the edges of the Kyo Che or even practicing with us are building up towards the "Whole World is a Single Flower" conference which takes place here immediately after the end of the Kyol Che.  Many activities are happening in the background, in preparation for the conference.  Anybody who wants to attend must please register right away, via the link to the conference website on the right.  Go to the section "Registration Form" if you want to register now.

#41: Posted by Peter Voke at 12:42 on 12/8/08

 

1st August 2008

Won Kwang Sa Update

Here at Warsaw ZC we are almost at the half way point of the Summer Kyol Che, while down at Won Kwang Sa in Hungary they are more than half way through their summer Hwa Um Song Jung kido.  The plans continue to develop there, as they look forward to the visitors arriving on 26th September on the tour of Europe after the Whole World is a Single Flower conference.

Above left is a sketch of the eventual shape of Won Kwang Sa as it is currently envisaged.  On the right, links to recent newsletters and a weekend Yong Maeng Jong Jin at Wong Kwang Sa, 29th to 31st August. 

#40: Posted by Peter Voke at 17:52 on 1/8/08

 

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