Online Rituals

One Buddhist ritual that has found its place online is the use of mantras. In Buddhism, mantras are chantings of words that are used during mediation and they stem from the belief that certain words have magical powers. Some people believe that by using certain mantras with mediation, you can even connect to certain Buddhist figures such as the Buddha. The mantras when used with proper breathing techniques can help one to concentrate and become more aware while meditating. Mantras can help you improve concentration because by chanting you begin to pay attention to how your lips move when you say the words. However, to receive the benefits of mantras, one must be pronouncing and chanting them correctly.  This is where the WildMind website comes into play. WildMind is a Buddhist mediation website that teaches practitioners the history behind mediation and background information on a variety of useful mantras. For each mantra, WildMind includes background on it, the figure the mantra is associated with, as well as an audio version of the mantra and a pronunciation guide to ensure that followers are completing this ritual effectively.      

This online ritual works by teaching users the proper way to say the mantras and provides them with audio that they can use to chant along with while performing the ritual of mantra mediation. While Helland talks about how some academics view these online rituals to be more like games, WildMind serves more as a guide to help a user maintain authenticity of the ritual. The benefit to the online mantras is that it allows users to learn the proper way to chant mantras while meditating in a fast and convenient manner. This reflects one of the benefits that Helland cited for online rituals, the way that it allows for “one-to-many” communication. Many Buddhists don’t have the time or means to get to a priest to learn the proper way to use mantras and websites can reach many users in a short amount of time. By using WildMind while meditating, users can ensure that their mantras are being chanted correctly so they can use them effectively to achieve maximum concentration. Another aspect of online rituals Helland mentioned that is reflected in WildMind is how people use the internet to “facilitate” the ritual. This is demonstrated in WildMind because the main idea of the website is to make it easier for people to complete the ritual in an effective manner. WildMind makes sure that their users comprehend the accurate way to use mantras so that they don’t waste their time or energy performing the ritual incorrectly. 

Website link: http://www.wildmind.org/mantras/figures/avalokitesvara