Web Picks: The editors choice of e dharma
Urban Dharma - Buddhism in America at http://urbandharma.org
This is a rich resource with contributions relevant to Buddhists of any type and also to Catholics. The sheer scope of the site is dazzeling. There are photographs and information about conferences for monastics (Buddhist and Catholic, Nuns and Monks.) Other resources include basic Buddhist teachings, free Buddhist books available as downloadable PDF files, and links to international Buddhist news. There are articles on many topics including prison ministry, childhood abuse, engaged buddhism, and health. I could not possibly read everything on this site. In fact when I go there I feel like a kid in a candy store, there is so much to choose from I can't make my mind up where to start. There are many of the webmasters dharma talks available on the site, as well as enough other material to overwhelm even this print junkie.
I was curious as to who runs the site, as this was not obvious. The site allows an internal google search, so I searched for "webmaster" and found Rev Kusala Bhikshu, a Monk trained in the Vietnamese Zen tradition and living in Los Angeles. When I contacted him he told me a bit more about the site: " I started the site a few years ago to help Westerners feel comfortable with Buddhism. I had a vision of what Buddhism could be in the West and I started putting articles I found interesting on the internet and called it Kusala.org. As time went on, Kusala.org seemed too personal and private for the kind of web site it was becoming. That's when I came up with Urban Dharma, by that time it had a life of it's own. And it could live without me. One day I may need to hand it over to someone else, but for now, I work on it everyday -- adding, changing, formatting. It has become part of my practice... I also became aware that some really good articles were only on one web site, and if that web site went dark, the articles were lost forever... Urban Dharma over the years has become sort of an archive as well. With a smattering of interreligious articles to help Buddhists feel comfortable with unity and diversity in the West I'm happy with the way Urban Dharma turned out, and it gives me something to do. Be Well and Happy :-) "
David
Brazier's (Dharmavidya's) blog at http://dharmavidya.blogspot.com
I never visited a blog (web log) before because I thought I didn't have time
to learn one more technotoy. I landed on
Dharmavidya David Braziers blog quite by accident, and I didn't have to learn
a single thing to enjoy it. David Brazier is a well known Zen teacher, psychiatrist
and author, and he is definitely an engaged buddhist, seeking social change
as well as individual transformation. In his blog, he makes public notes on
personal events, like his mother's death, as well as on current events etc.
He can easily be contacted through this blog. Now I understand the blogging
phenomenon a lot better, it's just a new use of the technology. People put their
thoughts and experiences on line, together with links to favourite stuff. It
is another way for a zen teachers to share their mind with students.
Dharmavidya's blog contains some pretty interesting and inspiring thoughts, this one really hits hard: "The ideal state - call it enlightenment if you like - would be one in which there were no need for enemies. This would, however, have to also be a state in which there was no need for a coherent self. There would have to be some other organising principle for one's mental and emotional life. The purpose of religion should be to provide such."
David Brazier's books include The New Buddhism, Zen Therapy and The Feeling Buddha, three very different books all of which are worth reading. If you want to check these out before you buy there is a descriptive review of the most recent book, The New Buddhism, at http://www.globalbuddhism.org, there are the usual reviews at Amazon.com and if you ask Zen group members you can probably borrow them.