Top 10 Buddhist Twitter peeps you should Follow. ~ via William Harryman
Buddhism in the Twitterverse
by William Harryman
The assignment: to write an article on the top ten Buddhist Twitter users.
I’ve never been very good at following directions. As I went through the Buddhists that I follow on Twitter, it quickly became apparent that there are those who are well known as magazines, meditation teachers, and writers. Then there are monks, lay Buddhists, and others who tweet on Buddhism but are not so well known.
[As an aside, Soren Gordhamer recently wrote an article for Huffington Post on how to use Twitter as the Buddha might, were he alive to tweet the Dharma.]
So this first group of Twitter users contains a lot of names you might recognize, but all of them are worth following for news and Dharma tweets. The second group is comprised of people you may or may not know, but who certainly have a lot to add. Consequently, there will be more than the requested ten names.
In no particular order, despite the fact that I numbered them so could keep track of where I was on making the list (the first link is to the Twitter page, the second link is to a website or blog):
1. Shambhala Sun – Shambhala SunSpace – One of the best known Buddhist magazines, founded by Chogyam Trungpa.
2. Tricycle Magazine – Tricycle – Another of the big names in Buddhist magazines.
3. Lama Surya Das – personal site – Lama Surya Das was in the first wave of American’s to study Tibetan Buddhism, and has since authored many fine books for general readers.
4. Roshi Joan Halifax – Upaya Chaplains – I first read Roshi when she was married to Stan Grof and have enjoyed seeing her evolution as a writer and Buddhist.
5. Brad Warner – Hardcore Zen – Brad is author of Hardcore Zen and two other books. He brings a punk ethos to his very traditionalist Zen teachings.
6. Genpo Roshi – Big Mind, Big Heart – Genpo has taken the Voice Dialogue approach to shadow work and adapted it to meditation. His biggest backer is Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute.
7. Ethan Nichtern – One City – Ethan is another of the younger generation of Buddhist authors and the author of the One City blog at BeliefNet. See also One City.
8. Susan Piver – her blog – Susan is one of my favorite Buddhist writers, appearing widely in the Buddhist world, including Shambhala Sun.
9. Buddhist Geeks – Buddhist Geeks podcasts – Buddhists Geeks have quickly become the leading Buddhist podcast on the web, seriously Buddhist, seriously Geeky. You should follow the BG’s host, Vince Horn, too.
Buddhist tweeters you might want to know and follow if you don’t already.
1. ~C4Chaos – personal blog – ~C was one of the first and best integral bloggers, but recently he has become one of the leading Buddhist bloggers with his #openpractice project.
2. Hokai Sobol – personal blog – Hokai is a lecturer, translator, publisher, Buddhist meditation teacher, Shingon Koshi, and integral agent; he lives in Croatia.
3. Rev. Danny Fisher – personal blog – Reverend Danny is a Buddhist Chaplain now serving as Coordinator of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at University of the West.
4. Justin Whitaker – American Buddhist – Justin is a well-known blogger in the Buddhist world and he tweets on Buddhist ethics.
5. Bodhipaksa – personal blog – See also Wildmind Buddhist Meditation, Bodhipaksa teaches meditation and dharma in the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order lineage.
6. Lama Yeshe – personal blog – Lama Yeshe is a Tibetan monk posting some great dharma.
7. Bill Schwartz, better known as Ryder Japhy – An old school Buddhist always willing to engage in a conversation.
There are many more great Buddhist Twitter users and this list is somewhat subjective in that these are the Buddhists that I follow and enjoy. You might have a different list. To find new Buddhists to follow, try a hash-tag search, for example, #Buddhism, or #Buddha.
Finally, you should be following Waylon Lewis of Elephant Journal for all the best in Buddhism and beyond.
If I missed someone that you follow and recommend, please leave a note and a link in the comments.
Incorrect source, offensive, or found a typo? Or do you want to write for Elephant?
Please don't overlook Michael McAlister – @InfiniteSmile – he posts links to his weekly dharma podcasts and is a consistently informative presence on Twitter.
Also, don't forget Kelly Sosan Bearer – @KellyBearer – she's a Zen Monk and Priestess and runs the up and coming Integral practice community iEvolve: Global Practice Community as the Executive Director with Sally Kempton, Diane Musho Hamilton Sensei, Marc Gafni, and Sofia Diaz. Also follow iEvolve – @iEvolve_GPC
John, I can't find @Kelly Bearer on twitter search. Do you have a direct link? thanks!
hi John it's me again – I found her! sorry to bother you:) ~Carol~
Don't forget @12stepbuddhist – I think I tweet as much or more than most of the above.
Raising my hand @LuminousHeart. Not a scholarly Buddhist, focused on the heart of love and compassion (inspired by my Root Lama.) Just starting to blog at http://luminousheart.com
I'll give some thought to others & see if I can come back with more suggestions.
Via RyderJaphy's tweet: "When asked by @elephantjournal my thoughts when approached immediately named @dirkjohnson and @Ogmin as Buddhists to follow on Twitter."
Sorry I didn't get to everyone – and special apologies to Darren and Dirk, as I read them quite a bit.
To John: Didn't know Kelly was Buddhist, generally think of her as Integral.
To Gina: Will check out Michael – great handle, infinite smile.
Peace,
Bill
Raising my hand @LuminousHeart. Not a scholarly Buddhist, focused on the heart of love and compassion (inspired by my Root Lama.) Just starting to blog at http://luminousheart.com
I'll give some thought to who else you could list. They're not the big name Buddhists. But they tweet and engage and follow back more than a lot of the Names do.
Hi William,
Kelly's standing in the confluence…Integral Zen.
Thanks for writing back.
Wonderful….appreciate your time and foot work in compiling this list…I've happily found even more great Buddhist Tweets thanks to you!
Wow… thanks for including me, William. It is a wonderful surprise (Danny Fisher clued me in by putting it in his introduction to my talk at UWest today) and a great honor. My email-cup-of-new-followers runneth over
And I've added all of your other recommendations that I wasn't already following.
Great article! First off, Lama Yeshe passed away a few years ago. It is his foundation that is retransmitting his teachings via Twitter. Mujaku is a person to follow if you want the undiluted 'juice' as he calls it. Tsemtulku is a highly qualified Dharma teacher and certainly worthy of reading. He also has a number of informative video lectures on Youtube.
Hey GK – Sorry, that was my mistake – should have been "was".
Justin – my pleasure! Like your tweets.
What about Zencast? http://www.twitter.com/zencast
Hi Stephen,
As author of the article, I did the list and text, but not the photo. Please contact the site host if you have questions. And apologies from me if your work was used without permission.
Peace,
Bill
[...] The Sound of One Hand Tweeting Although I’m not really a hardcore tweeter — or Buddhist — I do find value (and, occasionally, meaning) in both. I recently considered what Brad Warner wrote about some Twitter users who wrote “Dharma Tweets”: Dharma Tweets are stupid, by the way. They’re not honest expressions of anything, just a ploy to keep folks who follow them hanging on and keep the person who posts them’s name in the public eye. As if you could put anything worthwhile into 140 characters. [...]
A few other twittering Buddhists to mention – @OfficeBuddhist, @wanderingdhamma, @minddeep, @everydaydharma
And for a "group" of Twittering Buddhists – check out @twitsangha
I find the above message hard to believe. This “anonymous” seems to be posting in a number of places, and there is no other information to be found about this allegation. In addition, per this person’s allegation, the “blonde bombshell” remark is totally taken out of context. He’s referring to the way in which she might be viewed by the world in relation to Michael Roach, her spiritual partner. Reference the article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/garden/15buddhi… Other than this person’s postings (the same posting in multiple locations), I’ve heard nothing else, read nothing else, about this. No one seems to be addressing it. And when someone posts as “anonymous,” who can take him/her seriously? Anonymity allows people to take potshots at public figures too easily.
Please consider my precious teacher, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, recognized by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche as the incarnation of Ahkon Lhamo, sister to Kunzang Sherab – father of the Palyul Lineage within Nyingmapa (http://www.tara.org). She is a very active twitterer – and at 7:00 pm each day leads a short Amitabha practice for the world to join in for all the benefit of all those suffering in Haiti.
Thank you for your kindness and efforts. They are much appreciated for the benefit of the dharma's firm foothold in the west.
Om ah hung – for their sake.
will this list be updated again?? find it useful @heilbrunn
[...] are interesting times on Twitter for Tibetan Buddhists. Asked @Ponlop if this was Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s account; the response was affirmative. He [...]
[...] just missed the cutoff). Also, it should be noted that we consulted William Harryman’s list “Top 10 Buddhist Twitter peeps you should Follow” and purposely left those people off this list, because, well, you can just go look at that list. [...]
Time to update this list? Getting close, wethinks.
@BuddhistHulk and @WolverineBuddha
Uhhh, FYI, Lama Yeshe is dead. His students are posting gems from the archives, which I think is great. I love them!
[...] lots of great Buddhists on twitter: Ponlop Rinpoche, The Dalai Lama, Tricycle, Shambhala Sun…here’s our faves. But, then, there’s Buddhist Hulk aka Rachel Lewis. Buddhist Hulk smash all twitter [...]
my favs
@ponlop
@dzigarkongtrul
@ryderjaphy
@rjbullock
Great stuff!
Thanks everyone for adding these names to follow on Twitter : )
[...] (below) she talks about tonglen practice, one of the fundamental meditation practices of Buddhism as taught by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It’s great for doing if a loved one is dying, or your [...]
[...] Firehorse" by Julia Kwan — the pic was found here. Little Buddha at the computer pic was found at Elephantjournal. Ironman Zen pic is by Freakscity.] GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", [...]
http://www.Twitter.com/ChanBuddhism is a page dedicated to the origins of 禅 Zen. Very insight, not just a bunch of quotes. Follow @ChanBuddhism
Please share these free practices as used at the Internal School since 1968. http://www.bluedragonzenacademy.com Long life and good health, SŐn Hae, Dharma Master, Martial Arts Master, Patriarchal successor Dr Seo, Kyung-Bo, 76 Chan Patriarch, Korea
AN AUTHENTIC LAMA BY WHOSE STANDARDS? SHUT UP AND KNEEL TO PRAY…