Cyber Worship Resource of the Week is A Buddhist Prayer for Lost Information

... According to the Web site guide to Buddhist memorial services, on October 24 of every year, at the Daioh Temple of Rinzai Zen Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan, the head priest conducts a prayer for lost information. Recognizing that "many `living' documents and software are thoughtlessly discarded or erased without even a second thought," the sect hopes that through the holding of its "information service" the "`information void' will cease to exist."

Paradoxically, at the same time as institutions in the United States and elsewhere may be in danger of losing their collective memory due to routine deletion of information in electronic form, the typical end user is most likely experiencing the opposite sensation: drowning in information overload. A recent Washington Post cover story characterized the time we live in as the "Too-Much-Information Age," going so far as to declare in a bold headline: "Tidal Wave .of Information Threatens to Swamp Civilization" (Achenbach 1999). cited in Recordkeeping in the 21st Century. By:BARON, JASON R.

• More details of this Buddhist Prayer are in my book: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives, (p. 168-169).
  
• See also related content: Cyber Worship Resource of the Week is The Jewish Prayer While Logging Onto the Internet
• THE LIBRARIAN'S PRAYER / PRAYER FOR LIBRARIANS