Cultivating the Self in Cyberspace: The Use of Personal Blogs among Buddhist Priests

Abstract

This research attempts to understand the Internet religious practices from the immanent perspective. Since previous research on this subject has been mainly transcendental, this study offers a challenging view using a different perspective. The exploration of cultivating the self in cyberspace revealed that the degree of self-cultivation varies contingent upon the given conditions and the technologies that the priests practice to interact with them. This research has a potential to further the exploration of the interaction of cyberspace and the inner self, expanding the boundary of the study beyond online religious practices. When cyberspace and the self are understood in the plane of consistency, the range of the study about the engagement of the self in the new media can be opened out. Understanding the notions of the process of territorializing intensities and technologies of the self, the engagement of the self in cyberspace can be more specifically developed.