Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 10 Oct 2017 | Archive Date 08 Mar 2022

Description

Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought!

Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks is a rich modern Asian American immigrant memoir of relationship online and off, a state-of-the-art exploration of psychological research about social media, and an engaging introduction to Buddhism.

We are who happens to us, and what we make of the happening. Who do we become when we relate online? What happens to our minds and hearts? Ravi Chandra is a psychiatrist and Buddhist who values conversation, relationship and their ultimate goals: love and the feeling of society. And he thinks we are in danger.

Online, we seek belonging, self-expression and meaning, essential to our humanity. Social media can be a curio for the exploration of the self. Social networks might be an empowering means to address our social ills. But the online world has traps for our habitually and unconsciously self-centered egos, cause of so much of our suffering in life. Our transcendent spirits are challenged and even imperiled by the realms we enter through our screens.

Chandra writes, “Social media is not just a medium. It is a new religion. The Tweet is our Call to Prayers. We thumb our Phones like Rosaries. Food Porn is our Communion and our Offering to the Cloud. The Status Update is our Sermon on the Mount. The Selfie our personal Anointment and Beatification. Facebook Messenger is our Messiah. The Apple Store is our modern Cathedral, our Silicon Sanctuary. New Emoji are released to the fanfare of a new Pope.” Where is this religion taking us?

Thoughtful, humorous, engaging and enlightening, Facebuddha will be a conversation starter for years to come.

For more details, advance praise and reviews, see www.facebuddha.co.

Ravi Chandra, M.D., is a psychiatrist and writer in San Francisco.  He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.  Facebuddha is his nonfiction debut.  He blogs regularly for Psychology Today (The Pacific Heart) and for the Center for Asian American Media (Memoirs of a Superfan).  His ebook on Asian American Anger is available for free download.  He was published in the award-winning anthology of South Asian American Poetry, Indivisible, and his first book of poetry, a fox peeks out, won Honorable Mention at the San Francisco Book Festival.  Details and more writing at www.RaviChandraMD.com. The Pacific Heart podcast is available on Stitcher, Soundcloud and iTunes.

Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought!

Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks is a rich modern Asian American immigrant memoir of...


Advance Praise

“I heartily recommend Facebuddha, a wonderfully written, exciting and at times elegiac and rhapsodic presentation of the potentials and difficulties of connecting in relationship – especially in our modern age of technology and as seen through a Buddhist lens.  Ravi Chandra is a wonderful storyteller, a psychiatrist, a Buddhist student and teacher, an Asian American, and an able, eloquent writer with the capacity and personal experience to address all the contemporary issues this book brings together.  I think Facebuddha will be inspiring to many, many people.”
Sylvia Boorstein, Ph.D., Buddhist teacher and author
Co-founder, Spirit Rock Meditation Center

“Facebuddha is both personal journey and social commentary, a good-hearted meander across cultural, artistic and occupational worlds that explores a deep concern for our modern dilemmas with the perspective of a devoted Buddhist.”
Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., Buddhist teacher and author
Co-founder Spirit Rock Meditation Center

“Facebuddha is magnificent, a breathtakingly personal work that combines memoir, media commentary, Buddhist practicum and depth psychology. Like Martin Luther’s theses, these chapters are nailed on the door of the Cathedral of Technology asking us to look beyond our screens by way of reforming contemporary indulgences. As we do so our world moves beneath the surface sheen and towards the interior. Ravi Chandra’s effervescent prose locates compassion, in his own soul and in the soul of humanity, in real world relationships endangered by modernity. ”
F.B. Steele, M.D., psychiatrist and teacher
Former Executive Director, C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco

“A very personal, often funny, warmly intelligent, thoughtful and heartfelt journey to transcendence!”  – Tamlyn Tomita, actor

“An exhortation to cultivate genuine love, kindness, and compassion.” – Deann Borshay Liem, director and producer

“Thought-provoking, engagingly written, and enriched by memoir and haiku-like stories and vignettes.” – Francis Lu, M.D.

“Poetic and poignant! Ravi Chandra portrays the importance of truly relating to people.” – Louise Nayer, author of Burned: A Memoir

“Facebuddha is an invitation to depth and personal growth.” – Stephen Gong, Executive Director, CAAM

“I heartily recommend Facebuddha, a wonderfully written, exciting and at times elegiac and rhapsodic presentation of the potentials and difficulties of connecting in relationship – especially in our...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9780990933922
PRICE $30.00 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

Send to Kindle (EPUB)

Average rating from 5 members


Featured Reviews

FaceBuddha is a book that explores spirituality in our digital age. It is well written and enlightening.

Was this review helpful?

This is a really good book, I could do without the India talk. I do like the Buddha sayings, cause don't all that make sense? This was a really long book however very interesting and thought provoking. This book brings up reasons not to be on social media and also reasons why people do. We all have heard of Catfishing, videos of suicides, police shooting, and what they can do to people that witness these things sometimes by accident. But scarred for life. That social media exploits us and probably sells us. Exploits us in a way that we could get robbed while on vacation because we post it, maybe items in our background pics seem appealing. Exploits us in ways of bullying, relying on likes and comments to make us feel good, build us up. The people who intentional friend request just to check up on ex-lovers and ex-friends, I've done this. I've got mad at my children because they would skip liking something I would put on their wall and they would whine back that it's just fb. I've had people ask me to unfriend someone they didn't like. I find myself thinking well isn't this my fb? The Author is right in so many ways, she made a lot of sense on so many points. One thing that stuck out for me is when you're off social media you seem more happy, but on social media seems to make you angry and have low self worth. It's nice to see what everyone is up to like births, marriages, funny pics and videos. This book is like a self help book and makes you look at social media in a totally different view. I know I will be a lot different in the future on how I post and like. Social media is very intrusive and really opened my eyes to this phenomenon.
Thank you so much to the Author for your honest, eye-openness words in this world that can be selfish, and downright mean. I recommend this book for anyone who is on social media or is thinking about joining.

Thank you Pacific Heart Books and Net Gallery.

Cherie'

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: