Media, Technology and Buddhism (Some Thoughts)

   There are a whole number of blogs and websites out there which are exploring Buddhist topics and organizations. I have been thinking recently, what kinds of niches do these blogs fulfill? One of my theories is that Buddhist-themed blogs can allow practitioners to sound out what they believe is a part of the Buddhist faith, while also incorporating other parts of their identity which may not be discussed in their communities. For instance, I might be Buddhist and also Christian at the same time (yes, possible), or I might also be a Buddhist with a particular passion for gardening. Blogging seems to offer an opportunity for people to explore hybrid identities, which often consist of unique combinations of interests. Since Buddhism is flexible to embrace these hybrid sorts of identities as expressions of wisdom and compassion, there is an endless combination of these hybrids.
   Can expressions such as "mindfulness" sometimes be used in an overextended way to include anything? I believe it's possible that the term can be extended to endless, and sometimes absurd permutations (see Wilson, 2014). Can, in a similar way, Buddhism be sometimes indiscriminately applied to just about any field, thus muddying waters over what is a correct application of it? Yes, it is possible. But on the other hand, blogging can give people the opportunity to try to work out what Buddhist philosophy means to them in the particular contexts in which they live. For example, the life of a Buddhist cello player might be quite different from that of a Buddhist businessperson, not only in terms of what they might emphasize in terms of the Buddhist teachings, but also in how they express it. I don't think that this necessarily dilutes the teachings, but in a sense it can allow for a more nuanced presentation of how Buddhist ideas can really infiltrate the daily lives of people. I even suspect that it would be vital to the spread of Buddhism in North America to show the diverse ways in which it can be expressed. If anything, multicultural diversity may be the most interesting idea of the 21st century, and what Buddhist teachings can bring to bear on this topic might be extremely interesting.
  That being said, I have to wonder whether too much of an online community loses the sense of face to face community that characterizes most Buddhist sanghas. I can't imagine, for instance, ever having engaged Dharma Drum Mountain as much as I have were it not for the fact that I met very kind and compassionate volunteers in the organization, who in turn inspired me to want to meditate. Can such kindness be captured through chat rooms and emoticons? So far, at this phase in the game, I am not so sure, and I remain a bit 'openly' skeptical about it. While online resources can provide some intellectual inspiration, I have yet to be fully convinced that there is a full emotional resonance in what I see online, compared with what happens in person. I wonder if perhaps one vital role of blogging is not simply to create its own virtual religious community (or "Vurch"-- a virtual church), but to chronicle those communities in which people are interacting 'in person' in a shared space.






Wilson, Jeff (2015). Mindful America: the Mutual Transformation of Meditation and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.