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<\/a>Last night a student brought over the recent Tricycle<\/i> with the article, Dharma Wars: What is it about the Internet that turns Buddhist<\/a> teachers into bullies? <\/i>It chronicles a few of the more ignoble moments of internet dharma exchange \u2013 people questioning each other\u2019s credentials and saying mean things.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAlthough I don\u2019t think the author, Zenshin Michael Haederle, supported the eye-catching \u201cbully\u201d thing in the body of the piece, he raises some important criticisms of internet dharma practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The dramatic part is hardly a news flash. It\u2019s easy to zip off\u00a0 zingers without reflection. \u201cPeople don\u2019t realize they\u2019re relating to a machine,\u201d says Ken McLeod. \u201cSomething pops up on their screen that offends them and they scream at it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Sure enough. I moderate the comments here so we have little of that. On the one hand, I want to encourage participation and on the other I want to encourage conversation that is to the point and opens vistas, not publish someone practicing their pathology. I\u2019ve probably deleted 18 or so comments in the past 18 months of blogging.\u00a0<\/span><\/span> Sure enough. Indeed, to deepen our life, a sustained, calm heart mind is necessary, so <\/span><\/span>one of my concerns is that whatever dharma might be offered via the internet might be received with the same glazed mind one might attain after Facebooking for several hours. Although if you look around at your local Zen hall (or at yourself) during a dharma talk \u2026 well, a certain portion of the people (those<\/i> people!) are zoning there too. The speaker, of course, might also be beating the same dead horse \u2026 as do we all from time to time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Once again, it\u2019s not the tool but how it\u2019s used.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What I want to do here is to create \u2013 together \u2013 an online Zen training program that is accessable AND that has depth and integrity. If you\u2019d like to be a part of that, stay tuned. I\u2019m in the midst of digesting the experience from the current 100 day training that added webinars for the first time and will be asking for feedback and ideas soon about how you think we might go forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll give James the last word (from the article): \u201cI think that on the balance, more good will come out of this than harm. I think it\u2019s bad for many people participating, I think a level of misinformation is ubiquitous, and I think it\u2019s very exciting.\u201d Last night a student brought over the recent Tricycle with the article, Dharma Wars: What is it about the Internet that turns Buddhist teachers into bullies? It chronicles a few of the more ignoble moments of internet dharma exchange \u2013 people questioning each other\u2019s credentials and saying mean things.\u00a0 Although I don\u2019t think the author, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Another criticism <\/span><\/span>Haederle presents <\/span><\/span>is about the leveling effect of the internet. \u201cAnybody with a keyboard is instantly allowed to present whatever they\u2019ve pulled out of their butts as if it were the dharma,\u201d says dear Rev. James Ford.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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