Web Picks: The editors choice of e dharma
Zen Buddhism and the Martial Arts http://www.zatma.org/Dharma/zbohy/Home/home.html
This site includes the site for the The Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun. There are several useful longer texts and several Zen clergy contribute shorter essays and dharma talks on a regular basis. Rev. Ming Shakya's essay on giving and receiving on the old OHY website helped create some healing in my family, so naturally I have a lot of respect for her writing. Sometimes I am dismayed by her apparently mindless American patriotism and wonder why she mixes politics and religion so freely. However, sometimes politics and religion mix whether you will or no, and her essay on the Vatican's Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue's report on new age activities certainly makes this clear.
If you are wondering why this web site mixes martial arts and zen, there is a 33 page text by the same Ming Shakya explaining the links. I found that I came back to the old OHY site regularly, and I expect it will be worth checking out new postings on the new combined site regularly. If you don't like to read off the screen go to the "library" at the Willows and use the binder of essays printed (with permission) from the old site. If you print more material, please add it to the binder when you are done with it.
These people take their internet ministry seriously. They post exercises and advice for home practice and you can contact a priest through the website.
IMS has two retreat centers in central Massachusetts with one for 7-9 day Vipassana retreats and one for longer retreats by experienced Vipassana meditators. Half a mile away is the Barre center for Buddhist studies, where there are faculty with both academic and Tibetan, Vipassana, Theravada, or Zen training. All three facilities provide accomodation. This is definitely a hotspot in the North American Buddhist melting pot. There are contact addresses on the website, and lists of publications. It is not clear how to order books, but I am sure an email query would clear that up, and there is a "donate now" button in case a generous moment is encountered. (I'm to see if I can put one of those "donate now" buttons on our website!) Definitely worth a visit.
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