Access to Insight, a free on-line information service provided by the Study Center, is accessible to anyone with a computer and modem. This computer “bulletin board service” (BBS) puts modern telecommunications technology in the service of the dhamma, to provide an electronic forum for the exchange of dhamma-related ideas and information.
Callers of Access to Insight can keep in contact by electronic mail (“e-mail”). General announcements concerning upcoming events of interest to the Study Center community are posted on the “bulletin boards”–public message areas to which everyone has access. Thanks to DharmaNet, an international network of Buddhist-oriented electronic bulletin board services with which we are affiliated, callers may engage in discussion with like-minded people around the world, on a wide variety of topics ranging from Ahimsa to Zen.
The BBS offers a wealth of other information of interest to the Study Center community, including up-to-date course and retreat schedules for IMS and the Study Center, an on-line edition of the Insight newsletter, and a directory of sitting groups.
At the heart of Access to Insight is the library of Dhamma files, all of which are freely available for callers to download onto their personal computers. Here you will find books from the Buddhist Publication Society, including a number of its Wheel and Bodhi Leaves publications; transcriptions of Study Center workshops and conferences; Dhamma talks by vipassana, zen, and Tibetan Buddhist teachers; books by Ajahn Lee, Mu Soeng Sunim, Ajahn Chah, Sister Ayya Khema, and others; and much, much more. The list of titles grows weekly, thanks to the efforts of many volunteers participating in DharmaNet’s ongoing Dharma Book Transcription Project.
Access to Insight operates strictly on a dana basis, supported entirely through the generosity of volunteers and friends of the Study Center.
If you have a computer and modem, you can connect with us at (508) 433-5847. For directions on how to get started, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Study Center. If you are already on the Internet, you can learn more via e-mail by sending a message to “info@metta.ci.net.
Internet
The BBS is now on the Internet, the backbone of the emerging “Information Superhighway.” Anyone with access to the Internet can now retrieve any of our books and other information simply by sending an e-mail message to the BBS. The BBS then sends back a copy of the file–automatically. So far this year we have responded to almost 300 such automatic file-requests from six continents.
We offer a small Internet mailing list of our own, which allows Internet users to keep up to date with Study Center events without having to dial up the BBS directly, thus saving them a long-distance phone call. We are continuing to explore ways to put all this rapidly-evolving computer and communications technology to good use in supporting the dhamma. If you have any suggestions or ideas, we’d like to know.
Support
Access to Insight is a free service, and we will continue to offer it as long as there is support from the community. Dozens of people have already contributed to this project: volunteers transcribed many of our on-line books, course schedules, and other dhamma materials; some are sharing their computer expertise with us; others have made donations to help offset our expense (telephone bills, Internet access fees, software licence fees, etc.). It is truly a communal effort. Anyone who wants to see the possibilities of this evolving technology brought into the service of the dhamma is invited to help.
