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
“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
AVAILABLE IN STORES and ONLINE
PRESS
Review, Clinical Psychiatry News: ‘Facebuddha’ analyzes psychology of social media through a Buddhist lens
Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley: “How to use social media wisely and mindfully” January, 2018
Psychology Today cover story Nov/Dec 2017 – “The Comparison Trap”