ABSTRACT
Recognizing the importance, signifi cance, and potential of the Internet to support the Tibetan community in diaspora, in 1996 Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Namgyal Monastery used a variation of the Kalachakra Tantra (a sacred ritual) to bless the network and sanctify the newly created “cyberspace” for this purpose. To conduct the ritual, the monks used sacred chants while they visualized the interconnected network of computers that make up the Internet and the “space” created by these networks. An image of the Kalachakra Mandala (which had been created as a complex sand mandala earlier) was digitized and put up on a computer screen. This further helped with the visualization of the Internet as being part of a giant mandala that was now spiritually anchored within the virtual world. The event was timed to coincide with the “24 hours of Cyberspace” program conducted globally on February 8, 1996, to raise awareness of the positive impact the Internet could have on society and culture.
