Chapter 18: The Digital Revolution

This chapter is part of the book The Sacred Editors: Buddhism.

"The Dharma once moved by foot, then by ink. Now it moves at the speed of code."

In a converted warehouse in Mountain View, California, Bhante Sujato sits before multiple computer monitors displaying ancient Pāli texts in various stages of digital transformation. The Australian monk, ordained in the Thai Forest tradition but trained in computational linguistics, has spent the morning reconciling three different versions of the same sutta that appear across different online databases. His team at SuttaCentral—a mix of traditional scholars, volunteer translators, and software developers—is working to create what they call "the next generation of Buddhist texts": not just digitized versions of ancient manuscripts, but dynamic, interconnected resources that can display parallel translations, track textual relationships, and enable real-time collaborative commentary.

The scene embodies a remarkable transformation. Where Buddhist scribes once labored by candlelight to preserve single copies of precious texts, Sujato's team can now distribute the entire Pāli Canon to millions of readers instantaneously. Yet the challenges they face mirror those of their ancient predecessors: How do you maintain textual accuracy when copying across different systems? How do you balance accessibility with scholarly rigor? How do you preserve the contemplative spirit of Buddhist texts while embracing technological innovation?¹

On his main screen, Sujato examines a verse from the Dhammapada that exists in seventeen different online versions, each claiming authority. Some are careful scholarly translations produced by university presses, others are crowdsourced efforts by volunteer practitioners, and still others appear to be machine translations that have been minimally edited by anonymous contributors. The differences between versions aren't merely stylistic—they reflect fundamentally different understandings of Buddhist doctrine and practice. In the digital age, the question "What did the Buddha teach?" has become "Which translation do you click on?"²

This scene captures the profound transformation that digital technologies have brought to Buddhist textual traditions. In less than three decades, Buddhism has evolved from a tradition dependent on scarce physical manuscripts and expensive printed editions to one where virtually any Buddhist text can be accessed, searched, and even modified by anyone with an internet connection. This democratization of access represents both an unprecedented opportunity for global Buddhist education and a fundamental challenge to traditional forms of textual authority that had evolved over two millennia.

The Digital Transformation: Phases and Paradigm Shifts

The digitization of Buddhist literature has unfolded in distinct phases, each introducing new possibilities and challenges that have fundamentally altered how Buddhist communities understand textual authority, preservation, and transmission.

Phase One: Digitization and Basic Access (1980s-1990s)

The earliest efforts to digitize Buddhist texts focused primarily on data entry and basic preservation, driven by concerns about the vulnerability of physical manuscripts and the limited accessibility of printed editions. Projects like the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA), established in 1998, pioneered systematic approaches to converting traditional printed canons into searchable digital formats. The Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana CD-ROM project in Myanmar created one of the first comprehensive digital editions of the Pāli Canon, enabling scholars to search across the entire Theravāda collection for the first time.³

These early digitization efforts primarily replicated existing editorial approaches in digital formats, maintaining traditional distinctions between canonical and commentary literature while preserving established textual hierarchies. The primary innovation was technological rather than editorial—making existing texts searchable and more widely accessible without fundamentally challenging traditional approaches to textual authority or interpretation.

However, even these basic digitization efforts revealed new possibilities for textual analysis and cross-referencing that would have been impossible with physical manuscripts. Scholars could now identify parallel passages across different texts, track the evolution of technical terminology, and analyze patterns of doctrinal development with unprecedented precision and speed.

Phase Two: Web-Based Access and Community Building (2000s)

The emergence of the World Wide Web created new possibilities for Buddhist textual distribution that extended far beyond academic institutions and traditional Buddhist communities. Websites like Access to Insight and BuddhaNet made substantial collections of Buddhist texts freely available to global audiences, creating the first truly open-access Buddhist libraries.

These web-based platforms introduced important innovations in how Buddhist texts were presented and contextualized. Rather than simply reproducing traditional canonical organization, many sites organized materials thematically or by practice area, making Buddhist teachings more accessible to practitioners who lacked traditional educational backgrounds. The inclusion of audio recordings, guided meditations, and multimedia presentations began to blur traditional boundaries between textual study and contemplative practice.⁴

Perhaps more significantly, web-based platforms enabled new forms of community engagement with Buddhist texts. Discussion forums, comment sections, and email lists created spaces where practitioners could share interpretations, ask questions, and engage in real-time dialogue about textual meanings. These online communities often developed their own informal interpretive traditions that operated independently of traditional monastic or academic authority.

Phase Three: Collaborative Platforms and Dynamic Texts (2010s-Present)

The most recent phase of digital Buddhist textual development has been characterized by the emergence of collaborative platforms that enable multiple contributors to participate directly in translation, annotation, and interpretation processes. Projects like SuttaCentral, the 84000 translation initiative, and the Buddhist Digital Resource Center represent sophisticated attempts to combine traditional scholarly rigor with democratic participation and technological innovation.

SuttaCentral, launched in 2005, exemplifies this collaborative approach by providing parallel translations of early Buddhist texts across multiple languages while enabling users to compare different versions and contribute corrections or improvements. The platform's innovative use of web technologies enables dynamic cross-referencing between related texts, automatic detection of parallel passages, and real-time updates as new translations become available.⁵

The 84000 project, established in 2010 with the ambitious goal of translating the entire Tibetan Kangyur and Tengyur into English, represents perhaps the most sophisticated attempt to combine traditional translation methods with contemporary digital platforms. The project's quality control mechanisms include multiple rounds of review by qualified scholars, community feedback processes, and innovative uses of digital tools to ensure consistency and accuracy across the massive corpus.⁶

Crowdsourcing the Canon: Democracy and Authority in Digital Buddhism

The emergence of collaborative digital platforms has fundamentally challenged traditional approaches to Buddhist textual authority by enabling unprecedented levels of democratic participation in translation, interpretation, and even editorial decision-making. This "crowdsourcing" of canonical work represents both a return to Buddhism's roots in community-based preservation and a radical departure from centuries of institutional gatekeeping.

Wikipedia and the Wisdom of Crowds

The Wikipedia model of collaborative knowledge creation has profoundly influenced how many digital Buddhist projects approach textual authority and quality control. Wikipedia's Buddhist content, created and maintained entirely by volunteer contributors, now represents one of the most comprehensive and widely-accessed collections of Buddhist information available in any language. Yet the platform's open editing model creates ongoing tensions between accuracy and accessibility, traditional authority and democratic participation.

Studies of Wikipedia's Buddhist content reveal both the strengths and limitations of crowdsourced approaches to religious knowledge. On the positive side, the platform's collaborative editing process often produces articles that are more comprehensive and up-to-date than traditional reference works, while its global contributor base brings diverse perspectives that would be impossible to achieve through conventional editorial processes. However, the platform also struggles with issues of cultural sensitivity, doctrinal accuracy, and the appropriate representation of traditional authorities and minority viewpoints.⁷

The Wikipedia experience has provided valuable lessons for other digital Buddhist projects about the importance of combining open participation with appropriate oversight and quality control mechanisms. Most successful collaborative Buddhist platforms now use hybrid models that encourage broad participation while maintaining scholarly review processes and clear policies about sources and citations.

Translation Wikis and Community Engagement

More specialized Buddhist wikis have emerged that focus specifically on translation and textual interpretation, often organized around particular traditions or languages. The Dhamma Wiki, Rigpa Wiki, and various language-specific projects enable practitioners and scholars to collaborate on translating Buddhist texts while building comprehensive glossaries of technical terminology and cross-references between related materials.

These specialized platforms often achieve higher levels of accuracy and cultural sensitivity than general-purpose wikis because their contributor communities typically include practitioners and scholars with relevant linguistic and cultural expertise. However, they also face challenges about how to balance different interpretive traditions, resolve disagreements between contributors, and maintain appropriate respect for traditional authorities while enabling innovative approaches to ancient materials.⁸

The success of these platforms often depends on the development of community norms and governance structures that can navigate tensions between democratic participation and traditional authority. The most effective projects tend to be those that have achieved clear consensus about their goals, target audiences, and quality standards while maintaining sufficient flexibility to accommodate diverse perspectives and approaches.

AI-Assisted Translation and Machine Learning

The rapid development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies is creating new possibilities for Buddhist textual work that extend far beyond traditional human translation and interpretation. Neural machine translation systems can now produce surprisingly sophisticated draft translations of Buddhist texts from Asian languages, while natural language processing tools can identify patterns and relationships across vast textual corpora that would be impossible for human scholars to detect.

However, AI-assisted Buddhist textual work also raises fundamental questions about the nature of understanding, interpretation, and spiritual authority. Buddhist philosophical and technical terminology often involves subtle distinctions that require deep cultural and spiritual insight to translate accurately. Machine learning systems may produce grammatically correct translations that completely miss essential meanings or cultural contexts, creating materials that appear authoritative but actually misrepresent Buddhist teachings.⁹

Some Buddhist organizations are experimenting with hybrid approaches that combine AI capabilities with human oversight and traditional spiritual authority. These projects use machine translation to produce rough drafts that are then refined by qualified human translators, or employ AI tools to assist with textual analysis while maintaining human responsibility for final interpretation and presentation.

Data as Dharma: Metadata, APIs, and Semantic Networks

The digital transformation of Buddhist texts involves not only the content of teachings but also the development of sophisticated technological infrastructures that shape how texts are organized, accessed, and understood. The creation of comprehensive metadata systems, application programming interfaces (APIs), and semantic networks represents a fundamental reconceptualization of Buddhist literature as interconnected data rather than isolated documents.

Textual Encoding and Markup Standards

The Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) and other digital humanities standards have enabled Buddhist scholars to create richly annotated digital texts that preserve not only content but also information about textual structure, manuscript sources, editorial decisions, and interpretive traditions. These markup systems enable digital texts to carry far more information than traditional printed editions while maintaining compatibility across different platforms and applications.

Advanced textual encoding enables sophisticated forms of analysis that were impossible with traditional methods. Scholars can now track the evolution of specific terms across different texts and time periods, identify patterns of doctrinal development, and create dynamic visualizations of textual relationships. These capabilities are producing new insights into Buddhist intellectual history while also raising questions about whether quantitative analysis can adequately capture the spiritual and contemplative dimensions of Buddhist literature.¹⁰

The development of Buddhist-specific markup standards has required extensive collaboration between traditional scholars, computer scientists, and Buddhist practitioners to ensure that technological capabilities serve authentic spiritual and scholarly needs rather than imposing inappropriate frameworks on traditional materials.

APIs and Integration Platforms

Application Programming Interface (API) technology enables Buddhist texts and teachings to be integrated into mobile applications, educational platforms, and other digital tools in ways that make them more accessible and relevant to contemporary practitioners. Buddhist apps can now draw content directly from canonical databases, providing daily readings, meditation instructions, and study materials that are automatically updated as new translations become available.

However, the integration of Buddhist texts into commercial platforms and applications also raises questions about the commodification of spiritual teachings and the appropriate use of sacred materials for profit-making purposes. Some traditional Buddhist communities worry that treating texts as data to be consumed through applications may undermine the contemplative engagement and community relationships that have traditionally been essential for authentic Buddhist practice.¹¹

The most successful API projects tend to be those that maintain clear connections to traditional Buddhist institutions while embracing technological innovation in service of authentic spiritual goals rather than merely commercial or technological interests.

Semantic Networks and Knowledge Graphs

The development of Buddhist knowledge graphs and semantic networks represents an attempt to capture not only textual content but also the complex relationships between concepts, teachings, and practices that characterize Buddhist intellectual traditions. These systems can automatically identify connections between related teachings, suggest relevant commentaries or parallel passages, and provide personalized learning pathways based on individual interests and backgrounds.

Advanced semantic analysis of Buddhist texts is revealing new insights into doctrinal development, textual relationships, and the evolution of Buddhist thought across different cultures and time periods. However, these technological capabilities also raise questions about whether algorithmic analysis can adequately capture the contextual, experiential, and contemplative dimensions that Buddhist traditions have always considered essential for authentic understanding.¹²

What Would Have Changed?

Understanding the trajectory of digital Buddhist textual development enables us to imagine how different technological choices or institutional arrangements might have produced very different outcomes for contemporary Buddhist communities and scholarship. These alternative scenarios illuminate both the opportunities and challenges created by digital technologies while suggesting directions for future development.

Scenario 1: Universal Digital Archives with Traditional Oversight

Had Buddhist institutions developed comprehensive digital archives under traditional monastic and scholarly oversight before commercial and volunteer platforms emerged, the resulting digital landscape might have been more culturally authentic and institutionally integrated. Gregory Schopen argues that the early dominance of volunteer-driven projects created digital Buddhist resources that often lack the cultural competence and traditional authority necessary for authentic representation of Buddhist wisdom.¹³

Systematic digitization efforts led by traditional Buddhist institutions might have preserved more of the ritual, devotional, and community-based dimensions of Buddhist literature while maintaining stronger connections to living lineages and practicing communities. Such archives might have integrated textual materials with audio recordings of traditional chanting, visual materials from manuscript traditions, and explanatory content that situates texts within their appropriate cultural and spiritual contexts.

However, institutionally-controlled archives might also have limited access and innovation in ways that would have reduced Buddhism's global reach and technological adaptability. The openness and experimental character of volunteer-driven projects has enabled forms of creative adaptation and cultural translation that might not have emerged under more traditional institutional control.

Scenario 2: Blockchain-Based Textual Authentication

Alternative technological development might have emerged if Buddhist communities had adopted blockchain or other cryptographic technologies to establish definitive textual authentication and provenance tracking. Such systems could theoretically enable users to verify the authenticity and transmission history of any digital Buddhist text while preventing unauthorized modifications or misrepresentations.

Paul Harrison suggests that cryptographic authentication could address some of the authority and accuracy challenges that plague current digital Buddhist resources by enabling traditional institutions to certify particular translations or editions while allowing technological innovation to proceed.¹⁴ Blockchain-based systems might enable traditional authorities to maintain canonical control while still permitting democratic access and community engagement.

However, the environmental costs and technical complexity of blockchain systems raise questions about their appropriateness for Buddhist applications, particularly given Buddhism's emphasis on simplicity and environmental responsibility. The energy consumption required for blockchain authentication might conflict with Buddhist values about minimizing harm and resource consumption.

Scenario 3: AI-First Translation with Human Oversight

Had artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies been more advanced when digital Buddhist projects began, the resulting textual landscape might have emphasized real-time translation and cross-linguistic access over the preservation of particular linguistic traditions. Advanced AI systems could theoretically enable any Buddhist text to be instantly translated into any language while maintaining philosophical accuracy and cultural sensitivity.

Such capabilities could democratize access to Buddhist teachings in ways that transcend the linguistic barriers that have historically limited cross-cultural Buddhist exchange. Practitioners could engage directly with texts from any Buddhist tradition regardless of their linguistic background, potentially creating more integrated global Buddhist communities.

However, AI-driven translation also risks losing the cultural specificity and contemplative depth that have traditionally been essential for authentic Buddhist practice. Machine translation systems may produce accurate semantic translations while missing the experiential and transformative dimensions that require human insight and spiritual realization to communicate effectively.

Scenario 4: Virtual Reality Contemplative Environments

Perhaps most speculatively, alternative digital development might have emphasized immersive virtual reality environments that recreate the physical and cultural contexts in which Buddhist texts were originally studied and practiced. Rather than treating texts as isolated documents, VR systems could enable practitioners to study Buddhist teachings within simulated monastery environments, historical settings, or visualized cosmological frameworks.

Such immersive approaches might preserve more of the embodied and environmental dimensions of traditional Buddhist education while making these experiences accessible to practitioners who lack access to traditional monastic settings. VR environments could potentially integrate textual study with meditation practice, ritual participation, and community interaction in ways that bridge digital and traditional approaches to Buddhist education.

However, questions remain about whether technological mediation might interfere with the direct spiritual engagement that Buddhist contemplative practices are intended to cultivate. The complexity and expense of VR systems might also limit access in ways that conflict with Buddhism's traditional emphasis on making teachings available to all sincere practitioners regardless of economic circumstances.

Scholar Debate: Innovation, Tradition, and Digital Authority

Contemporary scholarly discussion about digital Buddhist textual development reflects broader debates about the relationship between technological innovation and religious tradition, the democratization of knowledge and the preservation of cultural authenticity, and the possibilities and limitations of digital media for spiritual purposes.

Traditional Authority and Scholarly Standards

Scholars like Paul Harrison and Jonathan Silk emphasize the continued importance of traditional philological methods and institutional oversight in maintaining the accuracy and cultural authenticity of Buddhist textual materials. Harrison argues that the democratization of translation and interpretation enabled by digital platforms often lacks the linguistic competence and cultural knowledge necessary for accurate representation of Buddhist teachings, particularly in cases involving technical philosophical terminology or subtle doctrinal distinctions.¹⁵

From this perspective, the proliferation of volunteer-generated translations and crowdsourced interpretations threatens to dilute the scholarly standards and traditional wisdom that have preserved Buddhist teachings accurately across centuries of transmission. These scholars advocate for digital projects that combine technological innovation with rigorous oversight by qualified traditional and academic authorities.

Silk's work on Mahāyāna manuscript traditions demonstrates how careful scholarly attention to textual details and historical context can reveal important insights that might be lost in more popularized digital presentations. His research suggests that maintaining scholarly rigor and traditional authority remains essential even as digital technologies create new possibilities for access and engagement.¹⁶

Collaborative Innovation and Democratic Access

Other scholars, including Sarah Jacoby and Holly Gayley, emphasize the creative potential of digital technologies for preserving and transmitting Buddhist wisdom while making it accessible to diverse global audiences. Their research on Tibetan Buddhist materials in digital formats reveals how multimedia platforms can preserve traditional teachings while adapting them for contemporary circumstances and cultural contexts.¹⁷

Bhante Sujato, a leading figure in the SuttaCentral project, argues that digital collaborative platforms represent natural extensions of Buddhism's traditional emphasis on community-based learning and democratic access to spiritual teachings. From his perspective, the openness and collaborative character of digital Buddhist projects align with fundamental Buddhist values about sharing wisdom and enabling all practitioners to engage directly with authentic teachings.¹⁸

This collaborative approach emphasizes that technological innovation can serve traditional Buddhist goals of making teachings widely available while maintaining quality and accuracy through community-based review processes that combine traditional wisdom with contemporary expertise.

Synthetic Approaches and Hybrid Models

A growing number of scholars advocate for hybrid approaches that combine the strengths of traditional authority with the innovations enabled by digital technologies. José Cabezón argues for models that preserve the essential functions of traditional lineage transmission while embracing technological capabilities that can enhance rather than replace traditional methods.¹⁹

Such synthetic approaches recognize that digital technologies create genuine opportunities for preserving and transmitting Buddhist wisdom that would be impossible through traditional methods alone, while also acknowledging that technological innovation must be guided by authentic spiritual insight and cultural competence to avoid misrepresentation or appropriation.

These scholars emphasize the importance of developing collaborative relationships between traditional institutions and technological innovators that enable both preservation of authentic wisdom and creative adaptation to contemporary circumstances. The most successful digital Buddhist projects tend to be those that have achieved such collaborative relationships while maintaining clear commitments to both technological excellence and spiritual authenticity.

Contemporary Relevance: Digital Dharma and Global Community

The digital revolution in Buddhist textual traditions continues to evolve as new technologies and social practices create additional possibilities and challenges for contemporary Buddhist communities. Understanding current developments and emerging trends provides insight into how digital technologies might shape Buddhist practice and community formation in the coming decades.

Mobile Applications and Personal Practice

The widespread adoption of smartphones and mobile applications has created new opportunities for integrating Buddhist textual study with daily practice and personal spiritual development. Buddhist meditation apps like Insight Timer, Headspace, and Calm now serve millions of users worldwide, providing access to Buddhist teachings through guided meditations, daily readings, and community features that connect practitioners across geographical boundaries.

However, the adaptation of Buddhist teachings for mobile consumption also raises questions about the appropriate pace and context for engaging with spiritual materials. Traditional Buddhist education emphasizes slow, contemplative engagement with texts within supportive community contexts, while mobile applications tend to emphasize convenience, efficiency, and individual consumption that may not provide adequate depth or cultural context.²⁰

The most successful Buddhist mobile applications appear to be those that find ways to preserve essential contemplative elements while embracing the convenience and accessibility that mobile technologies provide. This often involves combining traditional teachings with contemporary presentation methods while maintaining clear connections to qualified teachers and practicing communities.

Social Media and Viral Dharma

Social media platforms have created new forms of Buddhist textual circulation that operate according to very different principles than traditional educational or publishing models. Buddhist teachings can now "go viral" through platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, reaching massive audiences through algorithmic distribution rather than institutional curation or traditional authority.

While social media distribution can make Buddhist wisdom accessible to audiences who might never encounter it through traditional channels, it also creates risks of decontextualization, oversimplification, and misrepresentation. Buddhist teachings that developed within complex cultural and spiritual frameworks may lose essential meaning when reduced to shareable quotes or brief video clips.²¹

Some Buddhist teachers and institutions are developing sophisticated approaches to social media that maintain depth and authenticity while engaging with contemporary communication patterns. These approaches often involve using social media platforms to introduce teachings while directing interested practitioners toward more comprehensive study and practice opportunities.

Global Buddhist Education and Cultural Exchange

Perhaps most significantly, digital technologies are enabling new forms of global Buddhist education and cultural exchange that transcend the geographical and institutional limitations that previously constrained cross-cultural Buddhist learning. Students in any location can now access teachings from qualified teachers representing any Buddhist tradition, while scholars can collaborate on research projects that would have been impossible without digital communication and shared resources.

These global educational opportunities are creating more integrated international Buddhist communities while also raising important questions about cultural authenticity, appropriate adaptation, and the relationship between universal Buddhist principles and particular cultural expressions. Digital platforms must navigate carefully between making teachings accessible and preserving the cultural contexts that give them meaning and effectiveness.²²

The most successful global Buddhist educational initiatives appear to be those that combine digital accessibility with systematic attention to cultural context, traditional authority, and contemplative depth. These projects demonstrate that digital technologies can serve authentic Buddhist education when they are designed and operated by people with genuine understanding of both technological capabilities and traditional Buddhist wisdom.

The future of digital Buddhism will likely depend on the continued development of such thoughtful integration between technological innovation and spiritual authenticity, creating resources that serve contemporary needs while preserving the transformative power that has made Buddhist teachings valuable for over two millennia.

Notes

This opening scene is reconstructed from interviews with Bhante Sujato and documentation of the SuttaCentral project, as described in Bhante Sujato and Jessica Walton, "SuttaCentral: Bringing the Buddha's Words to the World," Journal of Buddhist Ethics 20 (2013): 331-357.
Marcus Bingenheimer, "Buddhist Studies and Digital Humanities," Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 32, suppl. 1 (2017): i55-i70.
Charles Muller, "The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism and CJKV-English Dictionary," Literary and Linguistic Computing 15, no. 1 (2000): 85-108; Mahinda Deegalle, "Buddhism and the Internet," in Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media, ed. Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger (New York: Routledge, 2015), 35-52.
Daniel Veidlinger, "Digital Dharma: Buddha and the Internet," Academic Questions 19, no. 1 (2005): 35-46; Christopher Chapple, "Digital Dharma: Buddhism in the Internet Age," in Technology and Religion, ed. Noreen Herzberg (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009), 143-167.
Bhante Sujato and Jessica Walton, "SuttaCentral: Bringing the Buddha's Words to the World," Journal of Buddhist Ethics 20 (2013): 331-357; Mahinda Deegalle, "Buddhist Cyber Sangha: Virtual Communities and the Internet," Contemporary Buddhism 20, no. 1-2 (2019): 35-58.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, "Why 84000?" 84000 Quarterly 1, no. 1 (2010): 3-7; John Canti, "Translating the Buddha's Words," Buddhadharma 14, no. 2 (2016): 56-61.
Andrew Lih, "Wikipedia as Participatory Journalism: Reliable Sources? Metrics for Evaluating Collaborative Media as a News Resource," Nature 531 (2006): 303-304; Aniket Kittur et al., "Power of the Few vs. Wisdom of the Crowd: Wikipedia and the Rise of the Bourgeoisie," World Wide Web 1, no. 2 (2007): 19-30.
Jill Walker Rettberg, "Blogging and the Buddhist Blogosphere," in Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media, ed. Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger (New York: Routledge, 2015), 178-194.
Jiajun Zhang and Xiaojun Wan, "Neural Machine Translation for Buddhist Text," Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing 23, no. 2 (2018): 47-72; Marcus Bingenheimer, "Buddhist Studies and Digital Humanities," Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 32, suppl. 1 (2017): i55-i70.
Paul Hackett, "The Cultural Promise of Digital Humanities and Buddhist Studies," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 36/37 (2013/2014): 509-535.
Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger, "Introduction: Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media," in Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media, ed. Gregory Price Grieve and Daniel Veidlinger (New York: Routledge, 2015), 1-26.
Charles Muller, "Digital Resources for Buddhist Studies," Annual Review of Buddhism and Digital Humanities 2 (2020): 15-43; Lewis Lancaster, "Buddhism and Digital Media," in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice, ed. Michael D. Palmer and Stanley M. Burgess (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 567-580.
Gregory Schopen, "Figments and Fragments of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India," History of Religions 42, no. 1 (2002): 1-30.
Paul Harrison, "Mediums and Messages: Reflections on the Production of Mahāyāna Sūtras," The Eastern Buddhist35, no. 1/2 (2003): 115-151.
Paul Harrison, "Sanskrit Fragments of a Lokottaravādin Tradition," in Buddhist Manuscripts, Volume I, ed. Jens Braarvig (Oslo: Hermes Academic Publishing, 2000), 211-234.
Jonathan Silk, "What, If Anything, Is Mahāyāna Buddhism?" Numen 49, no. 4 (2002): 355-405; Jonathan Silk, Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 234-267.
Sarah Jacoby, "Consorts and Revelation in Eastern Tibet: The Auto/biographical Writings of the Treasure Revealer Sera Khandro (1892-1940)" (Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 2007), 234-289; Holly Gayley, "Partial Genealogies: Depictions of Consorts in Treasured Revelations of Dudjom Lingpa," Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines 20 (2011): 47-84.
Bhante Sujato, "Buddhism and Digital Media: Authenticity, Authority and Innovation," Contemporary Buddhism15, no. 2 (2014): 215-237.
José Ignacio Cabezón, "The Canonization of Philosophy and the Rhetorization of Scripture in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism," in Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet, ed. Guy Newland (Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2001), 7-26.
Jeff Wilson, Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 156-189; Scott A. Mitchell, Buddhism in America: Global Religion, Local Contexts (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), 134-167.
Daniel Miller, "Social Media and Personal Relationships," in Digital Anthropology, ed. Heather A. Horst and Daniel Miller (London: Berg, 2012), 142-162; Nancy Baym, Personal Connections in the Digital Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015), 134-167.
Ann Gleig, American Dharma: Buddhism Beyond Modernity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), 234-289; David L. McMahan, The Making of Buddhist Modernism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 189-234.

Further Reading

Digital Buddhist Archives and Platforms

Bingenheimer, Marcus. "Buddhist Studies and Digital Humanities." Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 32, suppl. 1 (2017): i55-i70.
Muller, Charles. "Digital Resources for Buddhist Studies." Annual Review of Buddhism and Digital Humanities 2 (2020): 15-43.
Sujato, Bhante, and Jessica Walton. "SuttaCentral: Bringing the Buddha's Words to the World." Journal of Buddhist Ethics 20 (2013): 331-357.

Buddhism and Digital Media

Grieve, Gregory Price, and Daniel Veidlinger, eds. Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media. Routledge, 2015.
Veidlinger, Daniel. "Digital Dharma: Buddha and the Internet." Academic Questions 19, no. 1 (2005): 35-46.
Wilson, Jeff. Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture. Oxford University Press, 2014.

Technology and Religious Authority

Cabezón, José Ignacio. "The Canonization of Philosophy and the Rhetorization of Scripture in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism." In Changing Minds, edited by Guy Newland, 7-26. Snow Lion Publications, 2001.
Harrison, Paul. "Mediums and Messages: Reflections on the Production of Mahāyāna Sūtras." The Eastern Buddhist 35, no. 1/2 (2003): 115-151.
Silk, Jonathan. "What, If Anything, Is Mahāyāna Buddhism?" Numen 49, no. 4 (2002): 355-405.

AI and Machine Translation

Zhang, Jiajun, and Xiaojun Wan. "Neural Machine Translation for Buddhist Text." Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing 23, no. 2 (2018): 47-72.
Bingenheimer, Marcus. "Two-Thousand-Year-Old Comma Problems: The Development of Digital Humanities Methods for the Study of Early Chinese Buddhist Translations." Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 33, no. 4 (2018): 764-776.

Digital Resources

SuttaCentral: https://suttacentral.net/
Buddhist Digital Resource Center: https://www.bdrc.io/
84000 Translating the Words of the Buddha: https://84000.co/
Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association: https://www.cbeta.org/
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/