<p>My impression is BSE is 5.4 years old and is unrelated to other Buddhist forums.</p>
<p>The first major Buddhist forum I was aware of was called <a href="https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/E-Sangha" rel="nofollow noreferrer">E-Sangha</a>, which was extremely sectarian, and banned lots of folks, including DD. Legend says it was cyber-attacked. Read <a href="https://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?t=11218" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>From the ashes of E-Sangha appeared to arise a number of Buddhist chatsites created by <a href="https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/David_N._Snyder" rel="nofollow noreferrer">David N. Snyder Ph.D</a>, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>dhammawheel.com (Theravada)</li>
<li>zenforuminternational.org (Zen; now defunk)</li>
<li>dharmawheel.net (Mahayana)</li>
</ul>
<p>Most of the founding members of dhammawheel.com were active on E-Sangha, such as the current admin Retrofuturist and Venerable Dhammanando (and some now ex-DW moderators).</p>
<p>There is also a current chatsite at newbuddhist.com with moderators who were E-Sangha members (however, possibly not the site owner).</p>
<p>Another independent forum is buddhismwithoutboundaries.com, which I and another ex-E-Sangha-bannee posted a lot on.</p>
<p>There is the low traffic Goenka orientated vipassanaforum.net and more low traffic off &amp; on forum called freesangha.com and low traffic secularbuddhism.org/community/</p>
<p>There is dharmaoverground.org, where members focus heavily on personal claims of attainments.</p>
<p>There is discourse.suttacentral.net, which appears to have a narrow doctrinal focus</p>
<p>There is bswa.org/forum/, connected to Ajahn Brahm's monastery.</p>
<p>That's probably it.</p>
<p>Oh... and there is Reddit, which looks like a sectarian free-for-all to me; where folks can set up their own site and cult.</p>
<p>I post/have posted on most of them, under various pseudonyms, unless I am banned or forget them.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Because I'm in the habit of reinterpreting scripture, and questioning traditional authorities, I often find that fundamentalists are upset by what I write. For instance some time ago a chap going by the name of 'Namdrol' on the E-Sangha bulletin board, in a discussion of the Theravāda three lifetimes model of the nidāna chain - for which there is no Pāli Canonical authority - declared: &quot;to reject the three lifetimes model is harming the dharma&quot;. I mentioned back then that I thought this a fundamentalist view, but was told that the word &quot;fundamentalist&quot; was banned in that forum (along with any reference to the New Kadampa Tradition which was a bit of a give away). E-Sangha died not long afterwards, but not before I realised that online forums, and arguing with strangers on the internet generally, were a waste of my time and started focussing on writing this blog.</em></p>
<p><a href="http://jayarava.blogspot.com/2011/07/rescuing-dharma-from-fundamentalists.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Jayarava - BSE member</em></a></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T06:09:16.223Z
Sympathies to Jayarava -- he hasn't posted here since 2015 actually.
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T06:11:20.460Z
Last seen Aug 25 at 21:29  https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5715/jayarava
Dhamma Dhatu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T06:14:31.393Z
Yes but [last posted](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5715/jayarava?tab=activity) -- *sic transit* -- some people aren't up for much "arguing with strangers", Ven. Yuttadhammo wrote something similar when he retired.
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T06:19:11.547Z
Personally, i find arguing with strangers to be extremely beneficial. I have found my knowledge of dhamma theory growing strongly, particularly with the help of SC sutta facilities.
Dhamma Dhatu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T06:35:02.850Z
Yes, good. And argument might be traditional in [some schools](https://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-travel-advice/monk-debate-in-tibet.html), like part of the curriculum: important. People volunteer for that though, imo, know what they're getting into as students in that school. People here on BSE asked, "[don't assume a teacher's mantle](https://buddhism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/61/254)". Quakers are aka "Friends", did you know? Well I met a Young Friend when I was a teen -- he mentioned, "I'll *discuss* anything with anyone, but as soon as it turns into an *argument* I walk away."
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T10:54:19.693Z
Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/99955/discussion-on-answer-by-dhammadhatu-buddhist-forums-communities).
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-16T05:14:12.677Z
2019-10-16T05:58:15.410Z
2020-06-17T09:56:10.877Z
Dhamma Dhatu
<p>What are the Buddhist communities &amp; forums on the internet and in the real world? What are their history? How does BuddhismSE fit in with the others? </p>

<buddhist>
Buddhist forums & communities
# Buddhist forums & communities

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-16)

What are the Buddhist communities & forums on the internet and in the real world? What are their history? How does BuddhismSE fit in with the others?

**Tags:** buddhist


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-16. Score: 2

My impression is BSE is 5.4 years old and is unrelated to other Buddhist forums.

The first major Buddhist forum I was aware of was called [E-Sangha](https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/E-Sangha), which was extremely sectarian, and banned lots of folks, including DD. Legend says it was cyber-attacked. Read [here](https://dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?t=11218).

From the ashes of E-Sangha appeared to arise a number of Buddhist chatsites created by [David N. Snyder Ph.D](https://dhammawiki.com/index.php/David_N._Snyder), such as:

* dhammawheel.com (Theravada)
* zenforuminternational.org (Zen; now defunk)
* dharmawheel.net (Mahayana)

Most of the founding members of dhammawheel.com were active on E-Sangha, such as the current admin Retrofuturist and Venerable Dhammanando (and some now ex-DW moderators).

There is also a current chatsite at newbuddhist.com with moderators who were E-Sangha members (however, possibly not the site owner).

Another independent forum is buddhismwithoutboundaries.com, which I and another ex-E-Sangha-bannee posted a lot on.

There is the low traffic Goenka orientated vipassanaforum.net and more low traffic off & on forum called freesangha.com and low traffic secularbuddhism.org/community/

There is dharmaoverground.org, where members focus heavily on personal claims of attainments.

There is discourse.suttacentral.net, which appears to have a narrow doctrinal focus

There is bswa.org/forum/, connected to Ajahn Brahm's monastery.

That's probably it.

Oh... and there is Reddit, which looks like a sectarian free-for-all to me; where folks can set up their own site and cult.

I post/have posted on most of them, under various pseudonyms, unless I am banned or forget them.

> *Because I'm in the habit of reinterpreting scripture, and questioning traditional authorities, I often find that fundamentalists are upset by what I write. For instance some time ago a chap going by the name of 'Namdrol' on the E-Sangha bulletin board, in a discussion of the Theravāda three lifetimes model of the nidāna chain - for which there is no Pāli Canonical authority - declared: "to reject the three lifetimes model is harming the dharma". I mentioned back then that I thought this a fundamentalist view, but was told that the word "fundamentalist" was banned in that forum (along with any reference to the New Kadampa Tradition which was a bit of a give away). E-Sangha died not long afterwards, but not before I realised that online forums, and arguing with strangers on the internet generally, were a waste of my time and started focussing on writing this blog.*
>
> [*Jayarava - BSE member*](http://jayarava.blogspot.com/2011/07/rescuing-dharma-from-fundamentalists.html)

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Sympathies to Jayarava -- he hasn't posted here since 2015 actually.  
> **username_1**: Last seen Aug 25 at 21:29  https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5715/jayarava  
> **username_2**: Yes but [last posted](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/users/5715/jayarava?tab=activity) -- *sic transit* -- some people aren't up for much "arguing with strangers", Ven. Yuttadhammo wrote something similar when he retired.  
> **username_1**: Personally, i find arguing with strangers to be extremely beneficial. I have found my knowledge of dhamma theory growing strongly, particularly with the help of SC sutta facilities.  
> **username_2**: Yes, good. And argument might be traditional in [some schools](https://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-travel-advice/monk-debate-in-tibet.html), like part of the curriculum: important. People volunteer for that though, imo, know what they're getting into as students in that school. People here on BSE asked, "[don't assume a teacher's mantle](https://buddhism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/61/254)". Quakers are aka "Friends", did you know? Well I met a Young Friend when I was a teen -- he mentioned, "I'll *discuss* anything with anyone, but as soon as it turns into an *argument* I walk away."  
> **username_2**: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/99955/discussion-on-answer-by-dhammadhatu-buddhist-forums-communities).  

---

