TY - BOOK T1 - Cyber Zen: Imagining Authentic Buddhist Identity, Community, and Practices in the Virtual World of Second Life Y1 - 2016 A1 - Grieve, G.P KW - Buddhist KW - cyber zen KW - Virtual World KW - Zen AB - Cyber Zen ethnographically explores Buddhist practices in the online virtual world of Second Life. Does typing at a keyboard and moving avatars around the screen, however, count as real Buddhism? If authentic practices must mimic the actual world, then Second Life Buddhism does not. In fact, a critical investigation reveals that online Buddhist practices have at best only a family resemblance to canonical Asian traditions and owe much of their methods to the late twentieth-century field of cybernetics. If, however, they are judged existentially, by how they enable users to respond to the suffering generated by living in a highly mediated consumer society, then Second Life Buddhism consists of authentic spiritual practices. Cyber Zen explores how Second Life Buddhist enthusiasts form communities, identities, locations, and practices that are both products of and authentic responses to contemporary Network Consumer Society. Gregory Price Grieve illustrates that to some extent all religion has always been virtual and gives a glimpse of possible future alternative forms of religion PB - Routledge CY - London UR - https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317293262 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus T2 - Routledge Studies in Religion and Digital Culture Y1 - 2014 A1 - Grieve, G.P A1 - Veidlinger, D KW - Buddhism KW - digital media KW - internet AB - Buddhism, the Internet and Digital Media: The Pixel in the Lotus explores Buddhist practice and teachings in an increasingly networked and digital era. Contributors consider the ways Buddhism plays a role and is present in digital media through a variety of methods including concrete case studies, ethnographic research, and content analysis, as well as interviews with practitioners and cyber-communities. In addition to considering Buddhism in the context of technologies such as virtual worlds, social media, and mobile devices, authors ask how the Internet affects identity, authority and community, and what effect this might have on the development, proliferation, and perception of Buddhism in an online environment. Together, these essays make the case that studying contemporary online Buddhist practice can provide valuable insights into the shifting role religion plays in our constantly changing, mediated, hurried, and uncertain culture. JF - Routledge Studies in Religion and Digital Culture PB - Routledge UR - https://books.google.com/books?id=-6uQBAAAQBAJ&dq=Internet+and+Buddhism/+Internet+and+Buddhists&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s ER -