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FACEBUDDHA

transcendence in the age of social networks

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 * Home
 * About Facebuddha, Advance Praise and Press
 * Audio and Video Interviews, etc
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 * About the Author
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 * Facebuddha Mindfulness Challenge
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FACEBUDDHA: TRANSCENDENCE IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

A journey through the wilds of relationships, from a rooftop in Hanoi to a
village in India, from the streets of San Francisco and Japan to the blue Wall
of Facebook, culminating in a transformative
experience of interdependence.
Facebuddha will make you smile, laugh
and think differently about the world we share. 

FACEBUDDHA IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE NOW!
Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award
for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought

Also in stock at Forest Books in SF Japantown
and Eastwind Books in Berkeley!
Support your local bookstore!

We are who happens to us, and what we make of the happening. Who do we become
when we relate online? What happens to our minds and hearts? Ravi Chandra is a
psychiatrist and Buddhist who values conversation, relationship and their
ultimate goals: love and the feeling of society. And he thinks we are in danger.

Online, we seek belonging, self-expression and meaning, essential to our
humanity. Social media can be a curio for the exploration of the self. Social
networks might be an empowering means to address our social ills. But the online
world has traps for our habitually and unconsciously self-centered egos, cause
of so much of our suffering in life. Our transcendent spirits and our social
beings are challenged and even imperiled by the realms we enter through our
screens.

Chandra writes, only partially tongue-in-cheek, “Social media is not just a
medium. It is a new religion. The Tweet is our Call to Prayers. We thumb our
Phones like Rosaries. We take Food Pics instead of Saying Grace. The Status
Update is our Sermon on the Mount. The Selfie our personal Anointment and
Beatification. Facebook Messenger is our Messiah. The Apple Store is our modern
Cathedral, our Silicon Sanctuary. New Emoji are released to the fanfare of a new
Pope.” Where is this religion taking us?

Thoughtful, humorous, engaging and enlightening, Facebuddha will be a
conversation starter for years to come.

Facebuddha is a rich memoir of relationships, online and off, and an exploration
of the psychology of social networks through a Buddhist lens.

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE NOW!

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Leave a comment on my guestbook!!!

Book cover image:  Hollywood Buddha
courtesy of the artist, Tenzing Rigdol.

Book photos and prop styling by Toni Zernik.


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ABOUT FACEBUDDHA, ADVANCE PRAISE AND PRESS

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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“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

Sign up for a newsletter!!!

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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”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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”


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TRAILER – AND PURCHASE LINKS

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!

 

 


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AUDIO AND VIDEO INTERVIEWS, ETC


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.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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

 


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CONTACT

hello@ravichandramd.com


ABOUT THIS SITE

Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks

To be published in the Fall of 2017 by Pacific Heart Books!


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