Transforming Social Media into the Buddhist Path

Modern Buddhism does not require us to go live in a cave. We can transform the ordinary into Dharma Wisdom.

While sitting among Sangha friends after a teaching, the topic of Facebook came up. As all my Sangha friends know, I am fond of Facebook and have used it as examples when I teach Dharma. Yet once again I was met with all of the negative aspects of Facebook and the reasons my friends choose not to use the application. I immediately with, for me it is a way to give to others, and a vital part of my path as a Buddhist. At that moment a dear friend encouraged me to write an article from my point of view. Thanks to this wonderful Sangha friend, this article was conceived.

As a practitioner of Dharma I am constantly watching my mind and trying to increase positive thinking and decrease negativity. I have learned with Dharma that thorough seeking wisdom and practicing giving, compassion, cherishing love, and patient acceptance I can decrease my delusions (negative mental bad habits) and crate inner peace. When I view all other living beings as my kind mothers  and practice equanimity, I also create inner peace. Practicing these virtuous minds propels me forward on my path to enlightenment. And yet as wonderful as it sounds, sometimes it is difficult for me to move my mind in this direction with real life, face to face encounters with my "kind mothers".

The beauty of Facebook is it provides me with an environment to be gentle with myself and start small with make progress toward transforming my mind. Yes, I see all the negative, angry, unhappy suffering that is being spewed out on peoples walls. But I have realized that when I hide threads or avoid people it does not give me true inner peace or change my heart. Granted if seeing this rhetoric constantly causes me more negative thinking and my mind is not strong enough to patiently accept, then perhaps for the time being I need to hide the those pages.

However, that is not a final solution as there has not been an internal change in my mind. When I begin to gain more control over my delusions, and can gradually bring these virtual appearances back into my view, they become a perfect opportunity to practice equanimity.

Practicing equanimity is a vital part in Buddhists path. Our familiar inclination is to label people as "good", "bad" or "indifferent". In truth, all sentient beings are lovable from one point of view. For example. even the most "evil" people in history have a parent or family member that love them deeply even if they hate their actions. When we move our minds to see all beings as lovable we create inner peace and change our world. 

Also, by seeing suffering such as tragic events, it provides me an opportunity on a grander scale, to give love, peace and positive energy to all my kind mothers trapped in samsara. Giving is yet another important component to the Buddhist practice. I try to make it a consistent practice to use my Facebook page to wish others happiness and bring positive thought provoking content. They can choose to follow my page or not so I am not "proselytizing"  or pushing my views on others. I am simply offering a different perspective and planting positive seeds in the hearts of others.

 I can assure you that for many people that are inundated with negative information, just seeing a positive thought  can brighten their day. The more peace and positive thoughts I can help create for others also brings me more inner peace and virtuous thinking. By focusing on others and wishing them happiness in the midst of their suffering, not only does it cut away at the root of our own self cherishing, but brings them peace of mind. 

The supreme goal in Buddhism is to become an enlightened being so we can help others out of Samara. We have been given everything we need by the kindness of the Buddha's to achieve this goal. by changing our point of view and using every situation in our lives as an opportunity to strengthen our practice, we are on our way to experience even social media as meaningful. In this moment, we have the opportunity to transform the ordinary negative rhetoric into extraordinary virtuous. 

May everyone be happy!