Buddhism on the internet: Opportunities and obstacles

Abstract

The article considers the principles of the Buddhist schools in Russia (such as the Tibetan, Far Eastern and Southern ones) and their influence on the development and dissemination of Buddhist teaching in the cyberspace. The authors discuss the activities of Buddhist communities in the Russian segment of the Internet that vary from uploading text and media content to simulation of joint practices through real-time streaming. They try to identify the reasons why various Buddhist communities have different degrees of involvement in assimilating the Web. For instance, due to the closed nature of certain tantric teachings, Tibetan Buddhism prevents the communities of this tradition from using the Internet, while the Far Eastern tradition focuses on live contact with the teacher. In turn, Southern Buddhism - as a result of its features, such as the priority of textual cognition - has advantages in using the Internet space. The authors also examine how Russia's Buddhist communities, including traditional ones, have adapted to the transition to the online environment in response to the global emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, the leaders of Buddhism have focused more on global (especially ecological) problems rather than increasing the number of followers or spreading Buddhist practices.