Above: Virtual Second Life Free Tibet Meditation Vigil (Video)

The May issue of Bearing Witness: the Free Newsletter on Western Social... explores the role of online technology in the world of SEB. It includes my first-hand coverage of the Wisdom 2.0 conference and
perspectives by activists, scholars and leaders of Buddhist
organizations including Roshi Joan Halifax (Upaya Zen Center), Soren
Gordhamer (Wisdom 2.0), Vince Horn (Buddhist Geeks), Alan Senauke
(Clear View Project), Chris Queen (Zen Peacemakers) and Kate Crisp
(Peacemaker Institute and Prison Dharma Network). Stay tuned to the Bearing Witness Blog to explore questions regarding this complex and controversial
topic. Key questions from Chris Queen’s introduction:

Articles in this month’s Bearing Witness raise provocative questions for socially engaged Buddhists. Despite the power of the web to alert us to the suffering of beings around the
world, are we spending far too much time staring at screens in darkened
rooms? Are typing and clicking, texting and Googling truly Buddhist
practices, in the way that meditating, chanting and serving are? Is
“high tech” a substitute or a supplement to “high touch”? Can the
virtual activism of Second Life avatars be compared to the bodily
service of flesh-and-blood bodhisattvas?