Zen and the Martial Arts

The Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, developed by the founders of the Nan Hua Zen Buddhist Society, was the first exclusively electronic ministry on the Internet. The priests of ZBOHY follow the ancient teachings of Hui Neng and Lin Chi and the modern teachings of Hsu Yun. The Sangha has no dues or fees of any kind. Precepts are given free of charge to correspondents who have demonstrated a sincere desire to follow the Buddha's EightFold Path.

Special Announcements

Ladies and gentlemen, once again the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun is elated to announce that our dear friend and Dharma brother Abbot John (Rev. Yin Din Shakya) has been elected -by acclamation of course- Abbot of our order for 2012! Our heartiest congratulations to out to him this New Year!

Latest Essays

TWO WOMEN OF SIGNIFICANCE by Yao Xiang Shakya
WHEN THE HOLIDAY GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET TO THE GYM by Yin Cai Shakya
DALI'S CHRISTUS HYPERCUBUS by Ming Zhen Shakya
CONTRACTS WITH GOD by Yin Cai Shakya
TATTOO MESSAGES by Ming Zhen Shakya
THE AMITAYUR DHYANA SUTRA by Ming Zhen Shakya

Past Essays
NON-ATTACHMENT, STUPID! by Yao Xiang Shakya
ON GETTING DIVORCED by Yin Cai Shakya
BUREAUCRATIC GREED AND SLOTH by Ming Zhen Shakya
HOME OWNER ASSOCIATIONS AND THE LAW by Ming Zhen Shakya
THE PETER PRINCIPLE IN GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION by Ming Zhen Shakya
AL-HALLAJ AND THE DARK SIDE OF RELIGION by Fa Jun Shakya
WHITE DEATH by Abbot John
KITTY GENOVESE AND DEATH ON EVEREST by Ming Zhen Shakya
BLACK IRON by Yin Cai Shakya
VISITING THE MATISSES a poem by Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin)
JULY 30, IN THE LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA, PUBLIC LIBRARY a poem by Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin)
TIDE MAP: MISSISSIPPI RIVER a poem by Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin)
CLAIRVOYANCE a poem by Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin)
EMILY LANTZ a poem by Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin)
KNOWING WHEN IT'S NO WE CAN'T by Ming Zhen Shakya
LETTER TO A ZEN GOLF BEGINNER by Abbot John
YOU ARE FREE TO APPRECIATE THE MIDDLE WAY by Yao Xiang Shakya.
THE COBRA SPIRIT by Yin Shan Shakya
A QUICK COURSE IN ZEN THEOLOGY by Ming Zhen Shakya
AIKIDO, THE WAY OF THE HARMONIOUS SPIRIT by Sensei Joe Canon (Chuan Shou Shakya)
Visit the Archives for a complete listing of essays, poems, commentaries and more.

Click here to visit our original website which contains many fine features and previously published essays http://zbohy.zatma.org.

To contact a member of our clergy please visit the Clergy page.

Poetry
The Collected Poems of Zen Master Hsu Yun

ZATMA Dojo

There exists a myriad of different Martial Arts which are continually being studied, practiced, developed and refined all over the world. This is intended to be a resource pertinent to the study of Martial Arts, the living practice of Zen Buddhism, and how the two relate to one another.

Art Gallery
See a selection of art from members of the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, as well as pieces from other wonderful artists.

Literature
Empty Cloud: The Teachings of Master Hsu Yun
The Seventh World of Chan Buddhism (Basic and intermediate Chan teaching)
Ruminations on Zen's Cows (On the Oxherding pictures of Zen and their relationship to the Corrida)
Assault On The Summit

Personal Tributes & Memorable Moments

Our Dharma sister Yin Chun, of our Rome Sangha, looking positively radiant!

Yin Chun, the popular jewelry designer of our Rome Sangha, poses with bread stacked like stones. Natural shapes artistically converted into decorative pieces has always been her specialty. Some of her work will soon be shown on our new Zen Trading Post venue for artists and craftsmen.

Liliana Lopez 1934 - 2011

Mountain Persimmons.
The end part that is bitter
Mothers always choose.
-Issa

Submitted by her devoted son, Fa Geng Shakya, Rome.

Fa Geng Shakya, our "Man In Rome" is back again, attending the "Passi in Pace" demonstration.

Fa Geng Shakya, our Dharma brother and official "Man In Rome" sends us this lovely photo of his cat, reminding us to "be immovable" and demonstrating, in that way that only a cat can, just how to do so.

In honor of the Pack Attack, and their epic Super Bowl XLV win, Ming Zhen Shakya displays her souvenir "cheese hat."

In a move that might raise eyebrows in Fallujah, Mike adjusts his Menora beside his buddies' Christmas Tree.

Mike beats his chest in honor of his squad's first and so far only kill on foreign soil. His buddy Mays holds the weapon that "took out" one of the rodent terrorists that infiltrate every tent, helicopter, and MRAP. Mice running over your face when you're trying to sleep is not a pleasant experience; but the guys look on the bright side. It's better than camel spiders.

Illustrations, Videos and Photos

2012, © Jose Gilmar da Silva Souza

Karate action photos from the July 2004, New Orleans competition.
Tai Chi performance by Da Shi Chuan Sheng.
The prayer Suryanamaskar may be performed as a warm-up exercise.

Links
The Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun does not promote or endorse and is not responsible for any of the products or services offered.

Tendai Lotus (in cooperation with Mount Hiei, Japan)
Anyone interested in obtaining Yoga and dress clothing from India email Ms. Ruchi Chandr

Notice to our Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun sangha members and readers

There has been some confusion about which website is the site of the original Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, a non-profit corporation, that has served the Internet community since November, 1997. We are that group and anyone who wishes to check with the Secretary of State's office in Carson City, Nevada, can confirm this.
The organization now located at the address www.hsuyun.org is a non-profit corporation chartered in the state of Utah on August 3, 2004, #5702081-0140. This Utah organization is not related to or affiliated with the original Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun, and Ming Zhen Shakya has likewise never been involved or affiliated with the Utah organization.
Anyone who received Buddhist Precepts from the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun prior to that date has received them from our Order and is invited to consult with a priest through our ZATMA.org address.
On behalf of our corporate officers and board chairman Yin Zhao, Chuan Yuan, Chuan Chao, and myself, I invite you all to continue to visit our pages and to contribute your comments. If you have any additional questions, comments or concerns, please contact us at info@zatma.org.

In the Dharma,
Ming Zhen Shakya

Essays, Poetry and Talks

In words and in art, the Path to glory and to work are beautifully shown by two women of rare talent in Yao Xiang Shakya's Two Women of Significance.

Photo credit: Celli's Fitness Center, Yin Cai Shakya on the platform during the 2011 In-House Fundraiser

Just in time for Christmas! Yin Cai Shakya offers some useful advice regarding how to handle inevitable holiday stress, in WHEN THE HOLIDAY GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET TO THE GYM.

Photo credit: bbc.co.uk

Scientists reject the sacralizing of scientific truths: the explanations of Creationism or a divine motive in rainfall. In DALI'S CHRISTUS HYPERCUBUS Ming Zhen asks why they then focus on a scientific feature of a sacred work, desacralizing it to the point of banality.

Photo credit: bbc.co.uk

Yin Cai Shakya considers Contracts With God as illustrated in this 7th Century Anglo-Saxon warrior's belt offered at a religious shrine in England. The inscription reads: "Rise up, O Lord,and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face."

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Ming Zhen Shakya looks at the resurgence of body art now that ZBOHY's own Personnel Director, Yin Shan Shakya, has obtained a Buddhist-themed tattoo.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia King Bimbisara's jail, where he was imprisoned, in Rajgir

We are pleased to present Ming Zhen Shakya's excellent commentary on THE AMITAYUR DHYANA SUTRA.

In our war to attain the Summit, we first have to win the battle for self--awareness. In NON-ATTACHMENT, STUPID!, Yao Xiang Shakya gives us a sure-fire weapon.

In ON GETTING DIVORCED, Yin Cai Shakya offers some advice on expanding one's practice when he finds himself peacefully alone.

Photo credit: imdb.com

The Tea Party's whistle should be a Reveille for taxpayers of all parties. In Buerocratic Greed And Sloth, Ming Zhen Shakya looks at the problem from a hillbilly perspective.

Yao Xiang's Icy Adventure tells the harrowing story of our Dharma Brother Yao Xiang Shakya's experience with falling through thin ice, and Zen's salvation.

Photo credit:

Long term commitments can be more constrictive than we expect. In Home Owner Associations and the Law of Change Ming Zhen Shakya tells cautionary tales.

Photo credit: tvshowsondvd.com

Lord Acton was right... power corrupts. In The Peter Principle In Government and Religion, Ming Zhen Shakya explores the incompetence of officialdom.

Photo credit: Groups.yahoo.com ... Al-Hallaj teaching mystical theology

In AL-HALLAJ AND THE DARK SIDE OF RELIGION, Shi Fa Jun, who has recently become a member of the Italian Association of Sociologists, explores the gap between religion and the spiritual path.

Photo credit: myhero.com ... Balto's statue in NY's Central Park

In WHITE DEATH, heroic sled dogs dream their way into Abbot John's psyche as he finds himself marooned by snow.

Shrine of the Miracle Tortilla (the tortilla is in the smaller frame) Lake Arthur, New Mexico.
Photo Credit: roadsideamerica.com
(The shrine was closed in 2006 after the accidental destruction of the tortilla.)

By overwhelmingly popular demand we're featuring an essay from our archives - the History and Science Channel's pitiable attempt to explain THE MYSTERY OF THE TIBETAN MUMMY.

Photo credit: ABC News. Hillary and Norgay conquering Everest in 1953. Norgay died in 1986 and Hillary died in 2008. As per his request, Apa Sherpa will scatter Hillary's ashes on the mountain and "place a statue of Lord Buddha on the summit to pray for the eternal peace of Hillary's soul."

When do we do the right thing and step forward to help another? Or when do we wait to let the apologists shift blame onto the victim? In Kitty Genovese and Death on Everest Ming Zhen Shakya looks at two famous cases.

Photo credit: earthnews.com

Many of us here at the Order of Hsu Yun are reptile enthusiasts; and for the benefit of our readers who are fond of snakes or the concept of virgin births we reprint this article, which appeared in the November 3, 2010 edition of Earth News | BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Photo credit: nflpassers.com

You can never be the best that you can be if you lose your humility. In Black Iron, Yin Cai Shakya relates that moment of truth when he learned that pride is not a cure for shame.

La Coiffure, 1901, Henri Matisse. Photo credit: angel-art-house.com

In Visiting The Matisses, Poet Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin) yearns for Matisse's love of life, a libido frequently shown in his alluring nudes, and finds that this love cannot compete with the fearful command of sentimental journeys.

Mount Fujiyama. Photo Credit: thradora.com

In July 30, In The Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Public Library, the unexpected discovery of a pressed maple leaf in a library book lures poet Robert Rhodes (Yin Xin) to recalling Fujiyama's effect on Ryokan.

View of the Mississippi River, photo credit:watersecretsblog.com

Life has tides which always surprise us. Poet Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin) considers fragility of life and time in Tide Map: Mississippi River

The "Eye of God" Photo credit: Hubble Telescope and Kitt Peak National Observatory

In Clairvoyance, bone-cancer survivor poet Robert Rhodes (Yao Xin) considers love and death and our inability to be aware of what each of them intends for us.

Amish Country: Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Photo credit: nnathoneyrun.com

"Plain and Fancy" blend poignantly together in acclaimed poet Robert Rhodes' encounter with an Amish girl in Emily Lantz. (Rhodes, Yao Yin, has been with ZBOHY since 1998. His work can be purchased from Amazon and soon Norton will be publishing a new volume of his poetry.)

Photo credit: www.skepticworld.com

Beliefs are usually based on emotion, and being so, often override rational thought. In Knowing When It's No We Can't Ming Zhen Shakya discusses how to curb enthusiasm.

Abbot John assists Yin Cai with his golf game, and enlightens him to several other important points, in Letter To A Zen Golf Beginner.

Photo credit: bp.blogspot.com

We do not have to be hostage to foolish preferences. Balance is the answer Yao Xiang Shakya finds in You Are Free To Appreciate The Middle Way

The naga kindly spread his hood and kept the Buddha dry as the rains poured down. Yin Shan Shakya discusses The Cobra Spirit, in this perennial favorite.

Guan Yin in Royal Ease, photo credit: www.amtbweb.org/

What is it that we're acknowledging when we enter a Zen Temple? In A QUICK COURSE IN ZEN THEOLOGY Ming Zhen Shakya follows a direction given by Paul Reps in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

Aikido offers the greatest protection with the least strength necessary. Sensei Joe Canon (Chuan Shou Shakya) gives explanations and photos in AIKIDO, THE WAY OF THE HARMONIOUS SPIRIT.

photo credit: Bernard Walton

In his latest essay, Yin Cai Shakya reviews the documentary film A MAN AMONG WOLVES, about Shaun Ellis and his life's work.

photo credit: oncetold.blogspot.com

In COMMENTS ON THE HURT LOCKER by a soldier's father, Abbot John gives a personal view of men at war.

photo credit: www.outdooroddities.com

In THE CALL OF THE WILD ANSWERS A NEW DISEASE Ming Zhen Shakya comments on the dangerous failures of federal agencies to solve the problem of Prion diseases.

photo credit: sacramentohi.com

In No One Nose Abbot John reiterates Hsu Yun's warning to a ball that is definitely trying to penetrate the cup.

A 52-foot-long female Humpback whale (Cetacean - Baleen Whale) and her newborn calf filmed in the South Pacific atoll of Moorea (Polynesia). Calves are nursed by their mothers for the first six months of their lives, then are sustained through a combination of nursing and independent feeding for up to another 6 months. Credit: Franco Banfi for 3D Entertainment Ltd. photo credit: www.bigmoviezone.com

Religion and politics rarely mix with science. Ming Zhen Shakya discusses the dangers in Global Warming, Al Gore, and Sycophant Science.

In "Buddhism In The Time Of Blizzards," Yin Cai Shakya discovers that a problem is 1% circumstance and 99% perspective.

photo credit: travelpod.com

This week we are pleased to present a commentary on the Avatamsaka (Flower Ornament) Sutra, written by our Dharma brother, Yao Xiang Shakya

Photo credit: http://www2.umassd.edu/temath/
TEMATH2/Examples/ModelNautilus
ShellSpiral.html

In a personal autobiographical account and in an instructional letter sent to a student, Master Yin Zhao adds "Introduction to Sexual Mysticism" to the meditation lore for men in Assault on the Summit. (Updated: 08/29/2008)

Shi Yin Zhao, O.H.Y. 1957 - 2008

A tribute to our Dharma Brother, Da Shi Yin Zhao, In Memoriam.

VM Fo Yuan shares a pleasantry with Ming Zhao

Venerable Master Ming Zhao (xin Jue) In My Eyes Barry Tse (Shi Yao Hui) writes affectionately about his master VM Ming Zhao.

Dawn on the lake near Jiang Jun Si, Chi-Bi (Red Cliff) City, Hubei Province. Yao Hui Shakya gives details of the restoration of the old Tang Dynasty Buddhist Temple.

Map of China showing Hubei Province, famed location of Wu Dang Martial Arts development. The Yangtze River forms its southern boundary line. Jiang Jun Si is located near Chi-Bi (Red Cliff) City, down in the dip in the lower right of the province. This is also the location site of the movie, Battle of Red Cliff which is currently being filmed by Director John Woo.