Abstract
Drawing on Grounded Theory (GT) analysis of a multi-network Buddhist chatroom log (“#buddhism”), this paper develops a theory of composure-work in a porous sangha. The main concern animating interaction is how participants maintain present-oriented composure and belonging while the channel remains porous to worldly turbulence (politics, illness, violence), doctrinal contestation (rules vs. no rules), and infrastructural noise (multi-network relays, bots, joins/parts). The core category resolving this concern is affective hospitality: a recurrent practice of welcoming, reframing, and soft-normalizing experiences—joys, sorrows, rage, cravings—as transient guests in a shared space. Integration shows how affective hospitality couples with practice minimalism, not-self reframing, world-to-practice pivoting, boundary policing, and playful transgression to momentarily stabilize the channel’s moral order. The theory fits, works, is relevant to participants, and is modifiable for digital Buddhist publics and other porous online communities
Citation
Space-Coyote, L. G. N. R. (2025). Affective hospitality and composure-work in a porous sangha. Shugyokai.org. https://shugyokai.org/wkjl