United Nations Vesak Conference 2008 Concludes in Hanoi with
Keynote Speeches and Candlelight Procession
The Buddhist Channel, May 17, 2008
Excerpt of Address by ECAI Director Lewis Lancaster
After opening addresses by Venerable Monks, Louis Lancaster from University of California presented a keynote address to the delegates on the topic of "Buddhism and New Technologies." He offered the
observation that new technologies will be the primary form of communication about Buddhism in the future and cited the fact that Buddhanet website currently receives 800,000 hits per day. Many people
access their information on Buddhism on-line, and many of the most famous Buddhists texts are now available online or will be in the near future.
He noticed how many of the participants at this conference are communicating with devices, including cell phones, cameras, lap tops, email, etc. "The real future is the camera that will allow us to communicate with each other using real time pictures of what we are experiencing," he reported. He also referred to technology regarding brain imaging which gives us a glimpse into our brains and commended the National Institutes of Health for recent initiatives to fund research into Mindfulness in Behavioral Medicine as well as studying advanced meditators using brain imaging to be able to more fully understand "what happens to people when they meditate," in order to understand the spiritual event of meditation and also the biological event.
Lastly, he shared his view that the Buddhist community is in an excellent position to advance the world of virtual reality in an ethical and moral way. He refered to the Buddha's teaching that, "We must understand how the brain works before we can approach enlightenment. He noted that if we don't know
how we perceive the world, we cannot make spiritual progress. When we do understand how we perceive the world, then we know that what we perceive is in no way a representation of the external world and never has been. Our brains have been creating virtual reality from
the day we were born. We [always] have to deal with virtual reality based on limited
information we have about the world. Our senses do not ever tell us to not represent the
external world but what we perceive is important. You must know the senses and
how they work. You must deal with that."
He concluded by urging Buddhists to not fear the new technology. "It is true, we are part of something that is endless. Our senses only give us an experience but not a representation of the external world....Encourage people to make right use, right action and right livelihood with the new technologies. These technologies can be terribly abused and destructive. But the potential is also great...for dealing with life and all its complexities. Welcome it. Use it. Make it yours. Develop it to the best of your ability in order to contribute to the happiness and welfare of sentient beings." |
