What Buddhist wisdom is going viral? A multimodal-appraisal analysis of a selection of Jay Shetty’s digital narratives

Abstract

ABSTRACT The digital landscape of Shetty situates rhetoric scholars within complex intersections. His persuasive discourse is characterized by consistent attempts to evoke culturally shared frames for the millennial viewers, subscribers, and followers; entail desired courses of action on their part; and affect the way life events are interpreted and experienced. With this in mind, the current research in undertaken to examine a selection of Shetty’s digital narratives to: first, unveil the Buddhist practices Shetty propagates as a code for living the enlightened life; second, pinpoint the rhetorical strategies Shetty uses to make his wisdom reach the globe, on the other. Specifically, the paper rests on an eclectic approach informed by Goffman’s framing theory, Kress and Van Leuween’s visual design, Van Leuween’s sound design, and Martin and White’s appraisal theory. The multi-layered analysis discloses how the digital monk works to align his intended audiences with his Buddhist movement via rhetoric of transcendence closely tied to the practices of discipline, generosity, (self)compassion, non-attachment, right effort, meditation, and patience. This paper hopes to be a significant contribution to the study of digital narratives, driven by socially engaged Buddhist tenets from social, multimodal, and evaluative standpoints.