The Mediatization of Buddhism in Digital Media: The Contemporary Reflection of Uisang's Hwaom Thought

Abstract

By employing the core elements of mediatization theory with specific reference to the mediatization of religion, this article attempts to understand how Buddhism-based digital media reflect religious philosophy emphasizing nonviolence and meditation. It discusses the mediatization of Buddhism in digital media, including video games, in order to analyze whether the nexus of these two different areas can develop a new type of mediatization, which is termed religious-tainment, characterized as both entertaining and meditative. It analyzes two digital media genres—movies (Avatar) and video games (Journey). It especially cultivates discourse in mapping out the adaption of Uisang's Hwaom Thought developed in Korea, which has been eloquently articulated in Haein Do, in digital media. It then delivers the hybridization of Hwaom Thought and digital media as one of the most significant influences of media in the realm of religion because mediatization also closely relates to cultural globalization, known as hybridity.