ABSTRACT
Cecil Holmes remarks, “when a faith as ancient as Buddhism comes to the United States, it follows a mixture of patterns: It keeps what is necessary for its integrity and it also Americanizes. Americanizing includes making use of available media to explain and explore the faith’s tenets” (Holmes 2010, 53). Drawing on the wisdom of those Buddhist-informed communications scholars who call for an awareness of contingency and contextualization, we fi nd that dharma teachings are, in fact, very much shaped by their digital environments. Indeed, the iPhone, with its personalized programs and noise-walling headphones, is perhaps the most poignant icon of American individualism today. Seeking innovative ways to spread the teachings and practices of Buddhism, programmers have begun in recent years to translate elements of Buddhist belief and practice into the form of apps, and in so doing the message has necessarily been altered by the medium.
