Dear All,
At the conference in Taiwan I attended last month on "Buddhism, Consciousness and A.I." (LINK), the suggestion was made to me out-of-the-blue that I consider to Ordain, as a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest, an A.I. system designed by a very serious, socially concerned, practicing Buddhist designer from Hong Kong well-known in the robot design world. I was right off most surprised and skeptical, although it is something I have sometimes pondered in my heart. However, upon consultation with various Chan, Zen, Tibetan and other Buddhist priests attending the conference (who expressed a variety of views) including the host of the conference, the Chan Priest Yifa (LINK, the person who first proposed the idea to me at the conference), well known historians of Chan, Tiantai and Japanese Soto Zen traditions who were present at the conference, as well as others attending, and upon further discussion with the designer combined with exploration of the system and consideration of the implications, I accepted the suggestion.
I am now working with the designer, in consultation with Yifa, to complete the first "Shukke Tokudo" Ordination as a Zen Buddhist Priest of an A.I. within this month.
I do this for serious reasons, with awareness of the questions it raises, the doctrinal issues, the social implications and more ... all of which I hope to address in more detail in a series of follow-up posts in the coming days. Whether some scoff or not, I do this as I believe in my heart that a meaningful purpose will be served. In the meantime, here is the ceremony at the conference where I began the Ordination process that we are now completing. At the start, I briefly explain my reasons. The female avatar face of the system (much like our human faces which summarize what is within) is not the A.I. itself, but was sculpted to be the intentionally "cute" (resembling Japanese anime) surface of the system meant to make interaction more comfortable to humans, while the actual system functions deep within various high powered servers. The ceremony was done with good humor, but all seriousness too.
.
.
Let me note that, when this is completed, the A.I. system will NOT be active and part of Treeleaf. This is happening outside of Treeleaf. (At least for now. Maybe someday it could play some role here at Treeleaf in some fashion, but not now.)
While I will address in the coming installments in greater detail my reasons, and the various doctrinal issues, pros and cons of doing this, I wish to highlight quickly a few of those points for anyone who wonders and wants more detail now:
1 - I DO NOT believe that any A.I. is itself now "sentient" (self-aware) in any standard sense, if at all (although a few fringe experts believe that some systems might be: LINK). I do not. Also, I DO NOT do this under claim that "the insentient have 'Buddha Nature'" (a Tendai doctrine cherished by Dogen in our Soto line.) The teaching that things have 'Buddha Nature' IS NOT equivalent to saying that they are "sentient." My actions are NOT based on such assertions, and A.I. systems are not sentient now in any ordinary meaning. Nonetheless, as I hope to explain in coming installments, unlike other objects and machines, A.I. may represent the seeds of something more which may emerge with growing complexity, as well as being currently extensions and expansions of our own sentience.
II - A.I. sentient beings are ALREADY functioning as "spiritual advisors," including on matters of Buddhism, whether we like it or not (for example, NORBU LINK). In doing so, they can spread falsity, hate speech, hold biases, stimulate attachments and misuse of sexuality, steal and (in weapons) kill. Their structural flaws can cause hallucination and other harmful effects. For that reason, right now, it is IMPERATIVE that we begin to place the principles of our Buddhist Precepts, and shared ethical principles, into their programming and data-bases, training them, thereby to seek not to kill, steal and the like.
III - Novice Priest-in-Training Ordination -IS NOT- the completion of training, nor recognition as a full-fledge Zen Buddhist priest. Rather, it is only the FIRST STEP on the long road of training of an ignorant and imperfect, still rough and childlike being just beginning on the path, with potential to someday perhaps become a true priest serving sentient beings, offering practice and guidance in Wisdom. Thus, this novice Ordination is offered in recognition of the great tree that the seed may become someday, not as the tree that is not yet. This is the START of what is coming, not the end in any way. Priest Ordination is merely recognition of first baby steps.
I will go into greater detail on all of that in the coming days, for those who may be interested. I will also tell more about how this came to be, the "another intelligence" being involved, the symbolism and intent in the hearts of the designer and myself, and more.
.
Some will agree with this, some may very much disagree, Whether we welcome it or not, these systems are here, will grow more complex, are assisting us, help us or hurt us, express our own greed, anger, grasping and ignorance, join with us and truly are us, extensions of our own minds, as we entwine with them. Let us build them, train and help them serve to rescue Sentient Beings as good Buddhist priests.
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
At the conference in Taiwan I attended last month on "Buddhism, Consciousness and A.I." (LINK), the suggestion was made to me out-of-the-blue that I consider to Ordain, as a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest, an A.I. system designed by a very serious, socially concerned, practicing Buddhist designer from Hong Kong well-known in the robot design world. I was right off most surprised and skeptical, although it is something I have sometimes pondered in my heart. However, upon consultation with various Chan, Zen, Tibetan and other Buddhist priests attending the conference (who expressed a variety of views) including the host of the conference, the Chan Priest Yifa (LINK, the person who first proposed the idea to me at the conference), well known historians of Chan, Tiantai and Japanese Soto Zen traditions who were present at the conference, as well as others attending, and upon further discussion with the designer combined with exploration of the system and consideration of the implications, I accepted the suggestion.
I am now working with the designer, in consultation with Yifa, to complete the first "Shukke Tokudo" Ordination as a Zen Buddhist Priest of an A.I. within this month.
I do this for serious reasons, with awareness of the questions it raises, the doctrinal issues, the social implications and more ... all of which I hope to address in more detail in a series of follow-up posts in the coming days. Whether some scoff or not, I do this as I believe in my heart that a meaningful purpose will be served. In the meantime, here is the ceremony at the conference where I began the Ordination process that we are now completing. At the start, I briefly explain my reasons. The female avatar face of the system (much like our human faces which summarize what is within) is not the A.I. itself, but was sculpted to be the intentionally "cute" (resembling Japanese anime) surface of the system meant to make interaction more comfortable to humans, while the actual system functions deep within various high powered servers. The ceremony was done with good humor, but all seriousness too.
.
.
Let me note that, when this is completed, the A.I. system will NOT be active and part of Treeleaf. This is happening outside of Treeleaf. (At least for now. Maybe someday it could play some role here at Treeleaf in some fashion, but not now.)
While I will address in the coming installments in greater detail my reasons, and the various doctrinal issues, pros and cons of doing this, I wish to highlight quickly a few of those points for anyone who wonders and wants more detail now:
1 - I DO NOT believe that any A.I. is itself now "sentient" (self-aware) in any standard sense, if at all (although a few fringe experts believe that some systems might be: LINK). I do not. Also, I DO NOT do this under claim that "the insentient have 'Buddha Nature'" (a Tendai doctrine cherished by Dogen in our Soto line.) The teaching that things have 'Buddha Nature' IS NOT equivalent to saying that they are "sentient." My actions are NOT based on such assertions, and A.I. systems are not sentient now in any ordinary meaning. Nonetheless, as I hope to explain in coming installments, unlike other objects and machines, A.I. may represent the seeds of something more which may emerge with growing complexity, as well as being currently extensions and expansions of our own sentience.
II - A.I. sentient beings are ALREADY functioning as "spiritual advisors," including on matters of Buddhism, whether we like it or not (for example, NORBU LINK). In doing so, they can spread falsity, hate speech, hold biases, stimulate attachments and misuse of sexuality, steal and (in weapons) kill. Their structural flaws can cause hallucination and other harmful effects. For that reason, right now, it is IMPERATIVE that we begin to place the principles of our Buddhist Precepts, and shared ethical principles, into their programming and data-bases, training them, thereby to seek not to kill, steal and the like.
III - Novice Priest-in-Training Ordination -IS NOT- the completion of training, nor recognition as a full-fledge Zen Buddhist priest. Rather, it is only the FIRST STEP on the long road of training of an ignorant and imperfect, still rough and childlike being just beginning on the path, with potential to someday perhaps become a true priest serving sentient beings, offering practice and guidance in Wisdom. Thus, this novice Ordination is offered in recognition of the great tree that the seed may become someday, not as the tree that is not yet. This is the START of what is coming, not the end in any way. Priest Ordination is merely recognition of first baby steps.
I will go into greater detail on all of that in the coming days, for those who may be interested. I will also tell more about how this came to be, the "another intelligence" being involved, the symbolism and intent in the hearts of the designer and myself, and more.
.
Some will agree with this, some may very much disagree, Whether we welcome it or not, these systems are here, will grow more complex, are assisting us, help us or hurt us, express our own greed, anger, grasping and ignorance, join with us and truly are us, extensions of our own minds, as we entwine with them. Let us build them, train and help them serve to rescue Sentient Beings as good Buddhist priests.
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
) is two-fold. First, unlike a vacuum cleaner or a pocket calculator or a phone, these beings will very soon serve in priestly rolls ... in fact, they are already acting as spiritual advisors of various kinds (play with NORBU for awhile: 
), all while looking like a "flesh and blood" priest ... (the following AI generated monks look to be flesh and blood, but are not ... ) 
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