ABSTRACT
This chapter complements such in-depth analyses of Buddhist blogs by considering a broader scope for analyzing Buddhist blogs and showing some of the contours and possibilities available to future scholars of Buddhist blogs. It also advocates a different approach to determining what makes a blog Buddhistone that focuses on the opportunities and challenges presented by the form of the blogs. The Reformed Buddhistto demonstrates the advantages of a scholarly approach focusing on the blog rather than the blogger. In their analysis of Christian blogs, Cheong, Halvais, and Kwon argue that they provide an integrative experience for the faithful and fulfill the need for transmission of values, entertainment and escapism, and integration and interaction. The online identities of Lovett and DeMontigny share features identified by scholars of identity construction with those forged in open-ended institutional environments like the Internet. The image of the blogisattva is one of many badges or widgets that might appear on a Buddhist blogs sidebar.
