My book Digital Zen: Buddhism, Virtual Worlds and the New Economy will be published by Routledge in 2013. The impetus for the book was when I first logged on to Second Life in October 2007 and found myself sitting in full lotus position, meditating next to a bear. The “bear,” like me, was currently logged onto Second Life, a 3D interactive world of over 20 million residents in which users interact with one another through animated avatars. He might have been in same room, or on another continent.