Summary: The following video took place at the Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011, and was part of a series of live talks, each 20 minutes in length. Talk Description: In this talk Ethan Nichtern explores the limitations of online dharma. Transcript: Ethan Nichtern: So the title of my talk is "The Internet Is Not Your Teacher" and thereâs two iPads on the podium right now, which is kind of awesome. So, the first thing Iâd like to say is obviously this entire gathering is a product of the internet and thatâs great. On the way in here met six or seven people who I have previously only known through the Twitter, Facebook universe and Iâm reading my notes off an iPad 2 so I canât dislike the internet that much. In fact, I donât dislike it at all. What I wanted to really say is that I think weâre at a very interesting time and a very empowering time in terms of the psychological and spiritual teachings moving further into our society through science, through community, through art, through politics. Itâs also a really dangerous time. And my tradition which is a Vajrayana or Tantric tradition has this great framework for determining whether something is harmful or helpful which is called co-emergence which means when you want to figure out if something is destructive or empowering or enlightening or samsaric. Itâs both. Itâs always both and the internet is especially both. Like more both than anything has ever been. So letâs talk about the samsaric side as it relates to people wanting to study and practice genuine teachings of awakening. I think there are two aspects that are important here. The first is the cheapening of knowledge and wisdom. Where in the ancient world to even learn how to follow your breath was quite a journey over mountains or requesting teachings for a long period of time. And because it was quite a journey, you took the instructions that you received as important. And thatâs not so from a respect standpoint of course itâd be great if we were all respectful of teachers, etc. But the main thing is how the process of learning happens and when you think what youâre receiving is important you tend to take more time to absorb and integrate it into your experience which is the whole point of how these teachings work. This isnât ultimately a philosophy. As my teacher has been talking about recently the point of this is reworking how a human being experiences themselves not how they talk about themselves. Although if you change the way a human being experiences themselves I think the person should also be able to talk about themselves in a more engaging and interesting manner. True. But thatâs secondary. So you can Wikipedia pretty much any Buddhist teachings you want. So I had this laughable experience where a lot of the Vajrayana teachings in the Shambhala tradition are said to be secret. Thereâs not a single Vajrayana teaching that Iâve ever received an empowerment for that you couldnât Wikipedia right now. You could Wikipedia the surface of it, I mean, which is actually quite good. But if youâre doing seven other things at once and just want to find out what the word Mahamudra or Shikantaza means, and then have a conversation over Skype over what that means, or Twitter something about Mahamudra. Sorry tweet something about Mahamudra. Itâs interesting. Letâs put it that way. Hereâs the second thing which I think is even more co-emerging and didnât really exist to the extent, in my understanding, in the ancient Asian cultures where these teachings came from. Our entire society, in the words of Generation X, has become very DIY. Do-it-yourself. The interesting thing about this term is that it started as an anti-consumerist phrase but it actually means you get to consume in the way you want. So there seems to be a strand of dharma, a huge strand of dharma, where we all want to become spiritual libertarians.
