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

We have a Find my iPhone app – but we need to find our “I.” Who am I, and who do I become when I engage on social media? How do I come to myself and my highest, most transcendent possibilities? How do I cultivate wisdom, compassion and love in this shrinking world that threatens to tear itself apart?

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

What happens to the heart and mind as we engage online?  In these politically charged and divided times, how can we connect?  Social media offers many inspiring and heady possibilities, as well as dangers.  Chandra explores our transformed social terrain thoughtfully and with humor, as he leads the reader on a spiritual quest for transcendence.

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

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“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

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“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

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

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

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

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

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

AVAILABLE IN STORES and ONLINE

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PRESS

Review, Clinical Psychiatry News: ‘Facebuddha’ analyzes psychology of social media through a Buddhist lens

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Hyphen Magazine: “Psychiatrist Ravi Chandra Explores Social Media Culture through a Buddhist Lens in Facebuddha”

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Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley: “How to use social media wisely and mindfully” January, 2018

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Psychology Today cover story Nov/Dec 2017 – “The Comparison Trap”

Enjoy this trailer (animation and music by Valerie Mih, seeherestudios.com)
(Shareable trailer also on Facebook and YouTube)

Purchase book!!  (ebook now only $2.99 on all platforms!)
Amazon Kindle ebook and Hardcover
iBooks
Nook
Kobo
Barnes and Noble Hardcover
IndieBound

Also available at your local independent bookstore! Just ask!

 

 

TABLE OF BELONGING

Belonging table from Facebuddha (PDF)  (Click to view)

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AUDIO AND VIDEO INTERVIEWS

Consciously Curated Digital Self-Mastery With Dr. Ravi Chandra MD & Jordan Reid. “Taking time away from our digital devices and engaging in the present moment is becoming more difficult with each new social media app. Each bell and ding is designed to hook us and keep us engaged. When we are conscious and thoughtful about our screen time, we put ourselves back in control of our human experience.” Airdate July 13, 2022 ( repeat of October 17, 2018 interview)

10 minutes with Mike Farwell of 570 News in Ontario, Canada, beginning at minute 20:55. Taped and broadcast October 2, 2020. Regarding a Facebook group initially started for community safety awareness but then propagating violent messages against the homeless and substance-abusers. Followed by further conversation about the Facebook group.

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5 minutes with Robert Handa of NBC Asian Pacific America, broadcast January 20, 2019. About Asian Americans and social media as a “Subtle Asian Trait.”

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Our Smartphones, Our Selves: How to Be a Happy Human in the Digital Era. Lisa Cypers Kamen and I had a great conversation touching on dealing with the downsides of our highly connected world: the cataclysmic barrage of trauma, and all the ways we can become isolated, feel dissatisfied and disconnected online. Social media is not all bad, but we do have to make conscious adaptations to this new online environment, the largest country on Earth if gathered together. (October 17, 2018)

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Mimi Chan’s Culture Chat podcast was one of my favorite conversations – because Mimi actually READ my whole entire book!!! This hour-long conversation will take you right into the heart of my experience as an Asian American Buddhist psychiatrist interested in relatedness and the Asian American experience. (August 9, 2018)

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Think Opposite with Alison Donaghey on iHeart Radio (and iTunes)
How Social Media Falls Short
A wide-ranging conversation with focus on empathy, feminism and mens rights activists
Recorded July 25, 2018

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KPFA 94.1 FM
Talk it Out Radio
with host Marlena Willis
June 3, 2018
Facebuddha: Bringing Mindfulness, Compassion and Relationship to our world and our use of social media

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The Dr. Stem Show on America Out Loud
May 14, 2018
Is Social Media Bad For Your Mental Health?

 

 

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Connect the Dots
with Alison Rose Levy
Progressive Radio Network
May 16, 2018
Is Facebook a Stressor?
A wide ranging discussion on media issues

 

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The Pacific Heart podcast on  Soundcloud, Stitcher, and iTunes.

Episodes most relevant to social media:
Ep. 1: Kim Chinh, sexual assault and #MeToo
Ep. 2: SFSU mental health and technology panel discussion
Ep. 3: Facebuddha: Psychiatrists Ravi Chandra and F.B. Steele in conversation
Ep. 4: Facebuddha: Ravi Chandra and Bernice Yeung at Booksmith
Ep. 9: Eastwind Books: Ravi Chandra and Najee Amaranth
Ep. 10: Narcissism, the American Psyche and Social Media (SSF Library)

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8Asians interview with John Lin
October 29, 2017

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Facebuddha Book Launch conversation with F.B. Steele, M.D., former Executive Director of the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.
October 23, 2017.

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October 31, 2017
Martin Luther + Facebook = Facebuddha

On the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, I “nailed” my book to the Facebook sign in Menlo Park. Full text of the event available here. Video by Tony Nguyen.

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Holloway Series at Berkeley in 2010

Starting at 57:52, I read two poems about tech. The first about the iPad (which was launched the same day as our South Asian poetry anthology Indivisible) , the second about Facebook, noting that national news anchors like Katie Couric were reporting on changes in Facebook while omitting news about famine and other disasters.

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 full length nonfiction debut; the book won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Book Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought. 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.  His latest book on gun psychology and identity is Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church! Details, press and more writing at www.RaviChandraMD.com. The Pacific Heart podcast is available on Stitcher, Soundcloud and iTunes.

Photos by Toni Zernik