Sharing Practice in Virtual Communities

I am currently reading a book called Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus edited by Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger. This book talks about the kinds of Internet activity that is going on in regards to Buddhist practice. One of the points which struck me comes from research by Allison Ostrowski, which suggests that American Buddhists tend to access Buddhist-related sights more for "information" than to connect with fellow believers and practitioners (p.201-202). I wondered why this is so, but I have a few hypotheses. The first is that Buddhism in America (North America in general) tends to be relatively new, and it may be that practitioners are still in the process of consolidating their knowledge. A second possibility is that "new" Buddhists are afraid to approach anyone for fear that they may be misguided away from the tradition that they have chosen to practice in Buddhism. There is sometimes a fear that too many 'voices' in discussion might start to dilute the practice in some way, and people on the Internet might be looking for the most 'clear cut' information they can find.
    I sometimes wonder, at what point does the process of building a practice later lead to the desire to reach out to others to share it? Is there a certain point in the person's evolution within a practice where this becomes more compelling? Having learned Buddhist practice from a center and not initially online, I had some benefit of always having others with whom I could discuss or at least overhear what was happening in their practice. But with online connections, one can't always tell who they are talking to. Another point is that many Buddhists emphasize staying with one lineage or tradition, rather than trying to draw from a mixture of different practices.
     Certainly, I can say that confidence in one's practice is one factor in whether one decides to 'share' one's spiritual tradition with others, or try to seek out others. If I am not so confident in my affiliation with Buddhism, I may be less inclined to actively seek out those who are, or at least proclaim to be, because there may not be such a strong sense of affinity or affiliation to one teaching. Another possibility, however, might be to see that opposite: that all teachings have some grain of truth in them, and one is allowed to be curious to listen to all the truths in everyone without feeling that their faith is undermined by the multiple voices around them. This is an exciting idea, but it also makes me wonder whether people can find the time to invest in all that the Internet has to offer.


Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus edited by Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger. New York: Routledge.














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