[Buddha-l] Zen/Ch'an & Shaolin

[Dan Lusthaus]

Steve,

Of the works Kate mentioned, the most informative and most reliable -- if
you are interested in the truth behind the legends, and not just more
fantasy, is:

> 2.  'Ming-Period Evidence of Shaolin Martial Practice' - Meir Shahar

Shahar has been working on Shaolin history for many years, and is a
first-rate scholar (as well as practitioner). He has spent time at Shaolin,
witnessed the commercialized, nationalistic revival of the Shaolin monastery
and its environs, has visited (and translated) all the steles around China
that bear on Shaolin history, etc. Best of all, hot off the press, is a new
book by him on Shaolin, _The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the
Martial Arts_ (University of Hawaii Press, 2008)

Here's a link to it on amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/3dh4s6

Dan