When it comes to leveraging the technologies of our time, Lama Surya Das is one of the most active American Buddhists around. He blogs, tweets, skypes, hosts webinars, and participates in virtual retreats. And yet he acknowledges that if it were completely up to him, he’d be leading meditation retreats in-person and writing books. We speak with Surya Das on why he has decided to engage these technologies, as opposed to treating them merely as distractions or as “necessary evils,” as so many teachers do. We explore both the upsides and downsides of what he refers to as, “beaming, streaming media.” As he points out during the interview, he feels he has two feet firmly planted in the old tradition, and two feet firmly planted in the new. What happens when someone is immersed in both?

This is part 1 of a two-part series. Listen to part 2, Living in Buddha Standard Time.

Episode Links:

@LamaSuryaDas ( www.twitter.com/LamaSuryaDas )

www.Surya.org The Tao of Twitter: The Spirit in the Machine ( http://bit.ly/9wtD4c )

Dzogchen Center ( http://dzogchen.org )

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