Digital Footprints of Buddhism in Chinese-Speaking Cyberspace: Ethnography, Developments, and Challenges

Abstract

This article explores the state of the field of research on digital Buddhism, contextualizing the field within a broader scope. It discusses the present and future digital ethnographic study of Buddhism in the Chinese-speaking community by presenting the methodological approaches taken so far to study this phenomenon, the kinds of case studies explored, and the epistemological problems that are facing the scholars in this new field. Because of the particular historical, social, and political factors that comprise the Buddhist community in Chinese society (both in the PRC and ROC), Buddhist cyberspace should not be reviewed as an isolated phenomenon. Instead, Buddhist cyberspace should be considered part of three intersecting domains: religion, technology, and the market economy. These three domains have become increasingly central in Chinese society, as they rapidly change, evolve, and influence both the Chinese-speaking community and the ways in which scholars study it.