Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Book Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought!
Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks is a rich modern Asian American cross-cultural memoir of relationship online and off, an exploration of psychological research about social media, and an engaging introduction to Buddhism. We are who happens to us, and what we make of that happening. Who do we become when we try to relate online? What happens to our mind and heart? Ravi Chandra is a psychiatrist and Buddhist who values conversation, relationship and their ultimate goals: love and the feeling of society. In these politically charged and divided times, how can we connect? Social media offers many inspiring possibilities. Facebook has become popular because we need belonging, meaning and self-expression. But our time on social media is a bardo, or dream-realm, that has traps for our habitually and unconsciously self-centered egos, which Chandra describes thoughtfully and with humor.
We have a Find my iPhone app - but we need to find our "I". Who am I, and who do I become when I engage on social media? How do I come to myself and my highest, most transcendent possibilities? How do I cultivate wisdom, compassion and love in this shrinking world that threatens to tear itself apart?
Chandra writes, "Social media is not just a medium. It is a new religion. The Tweet is our Call to Prayers. We thumb our Phones like Rosaries. Food Porn is our Communion and our Offering to the Cloud. The Status Update is our Sermon on the Mount. The Selfie our personal Anointment and Beatification. Facebook Messenger is our Messiah. The Apple Store is our modern Cathedral, our Silicon Sanctuary. New Emoji are released to the fanfare of a new Pope." Where is this religion taking us?
Thoughtful, humorous, engaging and enlightening, Facebuddha will be a conversation starter for years to come.
A journey through the wilds of relationships, from a rooftop in Hanoi to a village in India, from the streets of San Francisco and Japan to the blue Wall of Facebook, culminating in transformative spiritual experience. Facebuddha will make you smile, laugh and think differently about the world we share.
Ravi Chandra is a psychiatrist and writer in San Francisco. He blogs regularly for Psychology Today and the Center for Asian American Media. A graduate of Brown, Stanford and UCSF, he is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
