BuddhaNet is a nonprofit and non-sectarian “Buddhist Information and Education Network”. It started as the first Buddhist bulletin board system (BBS) in the Southern Hemisphere and developed into the website it is today as newer technologies became available.¹ It is affiliated with the Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc., which was first established as a Vipassanā Meditation Centre in 1992.² 

Buddhanet is administered by its founder, Venerable Pannyavaro, and a team of lay volunteers. Recognising that the internet has greater potential than simply repackaging and disseminating Buddhist teachings, Venerable Pannyavaro envisioned BuddhaNet as the base for a global online community, or “cyber sangha,” that offers spiritual care, compassion, sharing and support in the digital world. It is seen as an extension of the physical Buddhist temple and a co-learning hub that enables access to information as well as to peers and experts.³ In May 1993, upon returning to Sydney after an intensive retreat in Myanmar, Venerable Pannyavaro set up BuddhaNet in a converted garage in Berowra, a northern suburb of Sydney.  

Today, BuddhaNet comprises sections devoted to Buddhist studies and meditation, a multilingual digital library⁴, an online magazine⁵, a repository of Dharma and meditation audio, ⁶ and a world Buddhist directory⁷ – also available as a free app. Its repository includes Buddhist texts, commentaries, lectures, news, videos and educational materials for scholars, practitioners, educators and children alike. Its online magazine, Buddhazine, caters for serious, in-depth studies as well as more light-hearted Buddhist comics and puzzles. All resources are free and open access.⁸ 

By using technology to make Buddhist teachings freely accessible to all, BuddhaNet facilitates a Buddhist presence in the expanding digital realm. Its founder sees technology as transforming and accelerating the way the Buddhist teachings spread, not only by increasing the speed of communication, but also by bypassing the time traditionally needed for Buddhism to adapt to new locales and cultures.⁹ 

By: Sioh Yang Tan and Kim Lam 

References: 

¹  “The BuddhaNet Story: Or Making Tracks on the Information Super Highway,” BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhanet.net/story/. 

² “About BuddhaNet: Buddhist information and education network,” BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhanet.net/about_bn/. 

³  “About BuddhaNet,” BuddhaNet; Venerable Pannyavaro, “E-Learning Buddhism on the Internet,” BuddhaNet Magazine Articles, July 7, 2002, https://www.buddhanet.net/gds-speech/. 

⁴ “Home,” Buddhist eLibrary, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhistelibrary.org/. 

⁵ “BuddhaNet’s BuddhaZine: Online magazine,” BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhanet.net/budzine/. 

⁶ “Buddhanet Audio”, BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhanet.net/audio/. 

⁷ “World Buddhist directory,” BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026. https://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/; “About BuddhaNet,” BuddhaNet. 

⁸  “About Buddhanet,” BuddhaNet; “Home,” BuddhaNet, accessed September 4, 2026, https://www.buddhanet.net/; Daniel Veidlinger, ed., Digital Humanities and Buddhism: An Introduction, Introductions to Digital Humanities – Religion 1 (De Gruyter, 2019), 14. 

⁹  Venerable Pannyavaro, “E-Learning Buddhism on the Internet.”