People are very much deceived if they believe that advances in technology offer mankind a greater insight into his own being, inching him closer to ultimate truth. Even if we have the capability to travel to distant galaxies and meet with other kinds of human like creatures, our ability to travel faster than light does not add up to insight into our own nature. From the standpoint of the Buddha's awakening, we still remain clueless as to the substance of our self and the cosmos; we are still chasing after illusions—technological illusions.
The tendency of Western Buddhists to become too awed by technology is for me evinced by the on-line magazine Buddhist Geeks. If we think of communication technology as a swift and efficient messenger, what our messenger presents to us can still be labeled as pop Buddhism whose presumptions about Buddhism need a great amount of correcting. We need to bear in mind that communication technology can still sell crap; it can still offer the means to deceive people and make it incredibly difficult to correct false views.
We have to admit that advanced communication technology cannot transmit the Buddha-nature. Only we can actualize it. All the words in the world will not get us any closer to this profound realization. In the meantime, we can thoroughly deceive ourselves. Modern technology is no closer to enabling us to see true reality than it was five hundred or a thousand years ago.
The Buddhist journey is not on the outside. It involves our ability to plumb the depth of our own being where even space and time are transcended. In this perspective, the world of technology is a world that allows us mainly to extend our ignorance. How can my iMac computer or my iPhone enlighten? I can only speak of enlightenment if I have already beheld the light of Mahayana. Only then is technology useful. But then who cares about awakening to their true nature? Will technology help to overcome people's deeply held prejudices? I don't think so.
The essence of your message is correct; it's why I never felt that joining an "online sangha" was any different than joining any other online niche community. While the benefits of technology allow easy communication between people separated by time and space this particular activity (i.e. Zen practice, teaching and learning) feels hollow online.
But the previous commenter made a good point: without technology I wouldn't have been able to read your writings, which I've found to be profound and, admittedly, part of my education.
Posted by: Keen_eddie | July 02, 2015 at 05:17 AM
“In this perspective, the world of technology is a world that allows us mainly to extend our ignorance. …. Will technology help to overcome people's deeply held prejudices?”
I am able to read your postings because of technology, and I don’t think this has extended my ignorance, but it has rather enhanced my understanding of things I might not otherwise have been aware of. So, in this regard technology has helped me overcome my deep held prejudices. Having said this, though, I think I know what you are saying in that ‘pop Buddhism’ vis-a-vis technology has become the new Buddhism that distracts a seeker from striving to look inward instead of relying on exterior modalities—gadgets and whatnot, however the medium is NOT the message. It’s all a matter of balance and distinguishing the differences between the hammer, the nail, the wood, and why we are hammering!
Just my thoughts, just as yours are a useful reminder.
Posted by: Me from Cali | June 28, 2015 at 11:02 PM