On wefollow.com, 287 Twitter users have registered their sites with the tags “Buddhist” or “Buddhism.” Among those with the most followers (and I’m focusing only on those for whom Buddhism actually is the focus of their lives or work) are Tiny Buddha, His Holiness the Dalai Lama(not HIS Holiness, but followers who tweet quotes from him), Daily Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh (whose account is run by those directing his North American tour), Smart Buddhist, Lama Surya Das, Tricycle Magazine, Buddhist Buzz, and Daily Buddhism. Those I have listed have followers ranging from a high of about 41,000 to a low of about 2800 (all very respectable numbers). Most of these Buddhist Twitterers crank out about a tweet a day, though Tricycle typically does three or four, and Smart Buddhist and Buddhist Buzz may send out as many as seven. I personally block anyone who tweets more often than this, so I cannot speak for other accounts.
Most of the tweets are quotes from the Buddha or other well known Buddhists. Many alert followers to local Buddhist events or to international news that affects Buddhists—the typhoon in Taiwan, for instance, Thich Nhat Hanh’s health, or anything the Dalai Lama happens to be doing (or China thinks he’s doing). Some describe the tweeters’ efforts to apply the dharma in their daily lives. Others are, well, sales pitches from teachers of Buddhism who make a living by selling their books and offering their retreats. Many tweeting Buddhists are counselors, writers, musicians, other artists, and entrepreneurs who use Twitter to market their particular goods and services.
But whatever the topic, the fact is that there is a lot of Buddhist tweeting going on out there—about 40 tweets an hour, based on my very unscientific perusal of bingtweets.com.
The question is, is Twitter actually good for Buddhism?
The light side of Twitter. . .
And what, you ask, would make Twitter good for Buddhism? Well, it strikes me that Twitter could be good for Buddhism if it truly makes Buddhism more accessible to more people—which it appears to do. But let’s keep going. Twitter could be good for Buddhism if it helps us to understand and to live by the dharma. Twitter could be good for Buddhism if it unites us in common causes and leads us to take action on them.
The dark side of Twitter. . .
On the other hand, Twitter could be bad for Buddhism if it results in a superficial understanding of Buddhism, either because it is followers’ only source of information or because only so much information can be communicated in 140 characters. Twitter could be bad for Buddhism if it becomes another of the 84,000 things in our lives that compete for our attention, shredding it to the point that we become habituated to devoting no more than a minute or two to any of them. Twitter could be bad for Buddhism if it thus contributes to our inability to sit still long enough to meditate, to listen to others with attentive compassion, or to focus well enough to absorb and contemplate teachings.
Some of these potential outcomes are measurable: It is possible to monitor not just the increase or decrease of Buddhist tweets over time, but the level of discussion contained in those tweets. Sanghas that create Twitter accounts to communicate with their members or to raise funds for charitable projects could track their success. At some point, someone will develop a Twitter account that systematically teaches the dharma, and in that case, there WILL be a test. And then we could compare these test results to those of students who complete a more traditional course of study. (There is evidence that students learn better in online environments than in face-to-face ones. Whether Twitter counts as a “learning environment” is up for discussion. )
What do I think is the answer to my own question? That it depends. In the long run—by which I mean except as an introduction to Buddhism–Twitter probably isn’t good for those who are otherwise disconnected from Buddhism, people who are not part of a sangha, who have no teacher, or who lack the means to pursue a well founded practice on their own. Like a friend of mine whose text message signature is “Sexy Buddhist,” those for whom Twitter is their only source of Buddhist teaching are likely to have a facile understanding of the dharma and of meditation. They also may have little inclination to read the dharma and contemplate it, not because they lack the ability but because they lack the proper role models to set good examples for them. For this audience, Buddhism in 140-characters is fast-food Buddhism: It may seem to satiate the appetite, but it never really nourishes either the spirit or the mind.
On the other hand, for Buddhists who already have a solid practice, I can attest that Twitter is an aid, a way to stay connected in a spare moment, a way to reinforce a teaching. For these people, Twitter is dessert. . . made with organic ingredients, of course.
