Buddhism and Technology: An Overview

Lewis Lancaster, University of California, Berkeley

It is fitting that this UN VESAK celebration here in Hanoi should give attention to the role of technology and Buddhism.  It was twenty years ago, on May 30, 1988 that the Digital Tripitaka Development Team at Mahidol University Computing Center in Bangkok announced the completion of the first major project to digitize Buddhist texts. Under the direction of Professor Supachai Tangwongsan, the Siam edition of the Pali tripitaka in forty-five volumes was released.  During the two decades since that event, we have seen the production of many projects dealing with Pali, Tibetan, and Chinese versions of the Buddhist canon.  We are fortunate to have some of the representatives of these great endeavors present today. One of the first Buddhist leaders to give thought to the digital revolution was Bikkhu Payutto.  He suggested that Buddhists might have to choose between remaining “a natural humanity living in a natural world…or attempting to make a scientific human for the scientific world. He recommended that Buddhists think how this new technology might affect their understanding of the basic doctrines of the tradition.  In particular, he asked whether technology is “creating benefit” or merely “seeking benefit.”  On December 7, 2000 a solemn procession of Jogye Order monks carried a crystal stupa into the Olympic Pavilion in Seoul, South Korea.  Sealed inside was a CD-ROM containing the digital versions of the Tripitaka Koreana.  In this ritual moment, the digital world became part of Buddhist religious tradition, and the Jogye Order’s celebration provided telling evidence of the acceptane of the digital canon as a sacred object. Professor Jim Taylor of the University of Adelaide, Australia has approached the issue from the point of view of modernity studies. He explores the idea of a major shift in the concept of space.  Using the Thai environment, he discusses the transformation of religious space that occurs when the physical...