I think maybe the way to go is for RL existent Sanghas to use it for both open public teachings and closed sangha-only teachings. For example, my current teacher Ponlop rinpoche just gave a talk while visiting our Austin TX sangha. It was available in streaming video in real time There were around 80 at-large sangha members attending this talk (on Mahamudra Path and fruition – definitely -not- the stuff of a public talk).

I think another way of doing this is to streaming the audio in an SL dharma auditorium, and attendees watch from there, and interact in breaks. the obvious problem with this is that many…probably -most- people do not relate to SL. Half of our sangha are above the age of 50 (like myself). But, our Gen X to gen Millenials wouldn’t think twice about using it.

I can hear them now, “Sh*t man, why would I want to add yet another layer to Samsara/relative world, when I’m practicing to realize that it is inherently empty?” But, as Vajrayanists, I think the response is obvious. “Because, Second Life is the Creation and Completion stages of practice realized right on your computer. The danger of SL is the same as the idea of Vajra Hell: the viewer begins to believe its reality after the completion stage (after they shut SL down.)

I can go to sites where expending one’s kleshas into what would be extreme injury to others in RL seems indifferent on SL because, “after all, SL isn’t reality, right?” WRONG! I think it should be viewed as a simulation that trains use reality properly…or improperly.

So, I think you’re spot-on with SL. SL itself can be a practice…or at least a SIM of how to put “practice” “dharma in action”.

Now, that said, there are people that do group chanting, for example, using voice chat with avatars in Second Life. I think part of the issue that you ran into is there are a lot more pretend Buddhist teachers than actual ones running around there. Being a not necessarily tech savvy group, many Buddhist teachers probably don’t even consider Second Life an option for anything.

I think Second Life is an excellent place to give Dharma talks. I think that that kind of teaching, where a teacher is speaking to a group on a topic and then, maybe, doing a question and answer period after, translates perfectly well. That is what Kannonji is organizing a lot of within SL. They are tracking down Zen teachers from various lineages, convincing them to come into SL, making custom avatars for them (that look like the teachers) since the teachers don’t have these skills, and helping them get oriented. This makes the learning curve for the teachers a lot less steep and brings more actual teachers into SL.

I’ve also found it quite useful for interacting with the teachers in my own lineage. Both of them are tech savvy (one is a web designer, the other runs a tech company) and we can do individual and group voice chat in SL more easily, in many ways, than we can with Skype or similar tools. I’ve also used it for koan work since neither my teacher or the Zen master that I do koan work with are local to me so we have to find creative ways to work on koans during the portion of it that involves the testing of answers, etc. SL allows us to use voice, some gestures, and generally interact in real time, which is useful in a distributed world.

I would expect that the Tibetan Vajrayana schools might have less luck with it, being more conservative and being unable to give wangs and such outside of an in-person medium.

There are no refuge prayers, no supplications, and when I posted an English translation of the Heart Sutra, (after the 4 Dharmas of Gampopa and a lineage prayer), just before “practice” began with the bell, I was asked by the Umsei what it was and could she have a copy. I complied.

Really, from my inquiries, most people use practice sessions on SL to park their “Avatars” and piddle doing something else. Truth be told second life can be more of a distraction/hindrance to practice, as it creates just one more layer of “co-interdependent origination” and confusion. Best to put the ‘puter on standby and go to the shrine and practice. At least, this is what I do….when not messing around in SL!

Philip aka “Prosemo Nirvana”

Bill, I assume that there is an SDK though I think most people work on stuff, other than textures, in game. There is a way of creating and editing objects, though I don’t know all the details. Thinks like sitting are handled through right click on objects and choosing things from a “pie” menu that appears. Some of that depends on your client.

I don’t know a lot about SL culture though I know people do role-play of a variety of sorts, including sexual, in some spaces. I believe one has to explicitly consent to enter an area where “adult” content occurs. It isn’t my bag so I don’t really know.

My main avatar is clothed in free (or near free) clothes that Caspian, one of the main Kannonji people, helped me find. He also tweaked my body, found a skin for me (which I bought for something like $1) close to my skin tone, and the glasses. He probably spent an hour and a half helping me get set up with that so I could look like a proper Zen priest.

The Djinn avatar that I have, which you may have seen (or at least can see on Flickr), I paid for. You can convert dollars to Lindens (the local currency) and there is quite a secondary market in people manufacturing goods. The Five Mountain Zen, which is on top of a nearby peak, was created by someone who markets buildings and Rev. Jiun bought it when Kannonji gave us space to use. Caspian tweaked the roof and added a few items to our temple. The same goes for the Buddhist altars. There is a whole virtual economy.

You could actually have interviewed easily because you don’t actually need to walk to most places. You can teleport to where people that you know are or they can contact you and ask you to teleport to them (which will happen automatically if you agree). Jiun was teleporting people up to our zendo for the interviewing so it could be done in private. If you have a voice module in your client, you can even do private voice to voice chat so no typing is required, which is convenient.

Oh, one pointer is that if you hold down the alt key on the keyboard and use the arrow keys and page up or page down, you can move your point of view around without moving your avatar. That makes it convenient, if you are facing the wrong way, to turn your viewpoint around even if you aren’t really pointed in that direction. It also means that you can pull your POV back to observe groups as well.

Namaste.

Anyway, you’re right, there’s a lot of interest in Dharma there and it’s good to have people who know what they’re doing. But without a map, a schedule, and something very specific to do there, it could be a horrible waste of time, too. How do people construct those avatars? Is there some kind of SDK for that sort of thing?