Antonio Salvati

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The CyberSangha of Bön: Rituality, Community, and the Third Space of Digital Religion

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The Tibetan tradition of Bön, often marginalised by Buddhist historiography, has found a new platform for dissemination and legitimisation in the digital world. Since 2019, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, a recognised Bön master and founder of the Ligmincha Institute, has promoted the creation of the CyberSangha, a multi-platform that integrates social media, forums and e-learning spaces, forming a global community of spiritual practice. This contribution analyses the CyberSangha as an emblematic case study of Digital religion (Campbell 2010; Hoover & Echchaibi 2023), highlighting how the Bön tradition adapts to hypermediated contexts and creates a “third space” (Bhabha 1994; Evolvi 2022) where rituality, identity and authority are renegotiated. Through historical-religious analysis and analysis of digital content (online broadcasts, forums, social media), the article shows how Dzogchen—the central teaching of Bön—is translated into accessible, multilingual digital practices, overcoming the barriers of space and time. In this ecosystem, rituality takes on new forms: from Italian online gompas, which replace physical temples, to community practices mediated by Zoom and YouTube. The community is no longer defined by geographical proximity, but by continuous interaction with globally connected content and practitioners. The aim of this speech is to propose digital Bön as a paradigm of resilience and transformation of minority religious traditions in the digital age.