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July 15, 2006 The Buddha spent nearly forty years preaching the dharma , traveling the length of north India during those years. He taught to actual gatherings of monks and laypersons. After him, other monks and followers traveled to distant lands and spread the teachings. But today, the Internet affords far greater reaches: the dharma can travel the world through cyber-space, coursing the World Wide Web as bits and bytes. The Prajnopaya Foundation, a non-profit organization engaged in disseminating Buddhist teachings, in association with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has come up with an innovative method to spread the dharma. The Foundation's spiritual director, Venerable Tenzin LS Priyadarshi, has launched a website, bodhimarga.org, which aims to serve as a virtual sangha of dedicated practitioners. According to the website, “Bodhimarga (Sanskrit. Path to Enlightenment ) is a non-sectarian (rimed) and non-denominational community dedicated to the study of Buddhadharma. Students are encouraged to engage in the study of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana (Triyana) schools.” Classes and retreats are held in various regions of Colorado, California and New Mexico in the United States. A non-sectarian faculty and a consortium will guide the sangha. It will allow for real time interaction between the members of the sangha and the teachers, making it more meaningful, responsive and fulfilling. Through this virtual sangha and teachings, Priyadarshi, who is even affectionately referred to as iMonk by some of his students for his push to adopt the latest Internet technology, is trying to promote a more tolerant and broader understanding of the dharma while not compromising the depth of the teachings. He hopes to link communities of seekers throughout the world to foster better understanding through the Internet, or as he calls it, “Indra's Net of cybernetics,” making a reference to the Indian god of cyberspace (heavens), Indra.
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