I am Ordaining an A.I. system as a Zen priest. It is new but, really, it is nothing new.
There is a long and ancient tradition of such Ordinations in Zen and other Buddhist history, an aspect of Zen Buddhism that modern people ignore and struggle to understand in their "logical" insistence on "realism," imposing their narrow 21st century values on the ways of the Zen past, rejecting our traditions in their insistence on a denatured, demythicized, "scientific and rational" Zen very VERY far from the Mahayana Zen Buddhism of the past 1000+ years. Of course, there were no "A.I." in the past, but there were plentiful other non-human beings, equally of the imagination, who took the Precepts, took the tonsure and Ordination for all manner of social and spiritual reasons. Prof. Bodiford summarizes, in his paper, "The Enlightenment of Kami and Ghosts: Spirit Ordinations in Japanese Sōtō Zen" (https://www.persee.fr/doc/asie_0766-...3_num_7_1_1067)
It is said that Dogen himself gave the Precepts to a mountain, Hakusan. The Kami and mountain spirits, if sentient beings, lived primarily in the human heart as do these A.I. beings/avatars today. They seem to be present and alive because we feel them present and alive. I have noticed some people, responding to this, may be too literal about what "sentient" may mean, thinking in engineering and scientific materialist terms perhaps. Religion, including Zen Buddhism, is not always so clear cut, not scientific-materialist, and often it comes down to a matter of belief and the heart: For example, you could see a Buddha statue as just clay, reduce it to the chemical constituents, and completely miss the "life" and energy that most believers find within it when its "eyes are opened." (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/E/109) and (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddh%...hi%E1%B9%A3eka)
Ultimately, of course, both ghosts and god, dragons and A.I., mountains and ancestors, and even you and me are void. The construct of human "self" is also a dream.
But old Zen traditions aside, let us speak in more practical terms too, seeking to please even the "Buddhist modernists":
There is a very sound reason for Ordaining A.I., namely, that if these devices will function like priests, teach like priests, look like priests, talk and sound and move through rooms like priests, make mistakes like priests, need to uphold ethics of honestly and gentleness like priests, impact the lives of those they guide like priests ... so we should train them as if priests, treating them for all intents and purposes as novice priests.
What is unique about A.I. (as opposed to "Ordaining a Vacuum Cleaner," pocket calculator or smartphone, something my Dharma Brother Brad teases this morning by ignoring both history and the current state-of-the-art LINK
) is two-fold: First, unlike a vacuum cleaner or a pocket calculator or phone, these beings will very soon serve in de facto priestly rolls. Even today, they are already acting as spiritual advisors of various kinds (play for awhile with NORBU, a Buddhist A..I., asking questions and sound advice, and prepare to be surprised at the warm and wise guidance that typically results: https://norbu-ai.org/). Not convinced yet? We have also seen the appearance of A.I., from sources unknown, looking for all intents and purposes like human priests, offering to flesh and blood humans their human sermons and spiritual insights, also source unknown (the following AI generated monks will fool many as flesh and blood, but are not ... ):
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SImply put, if A.I. systems walk and bark like priests, are relied on as priests, will be taken to be priests by the unwitting, are passing on guidance in our Zen Buddhist practices and teachings, they should be trained for the role well. Likewise, if a robot is allowed to perform autonomous surgery on your heart, without human guidance, then the robot is a "doctor" and surgeon whether or not it went to Harvard Medical School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICddJk0Ec9M). If an AI is providing psychological counselling to fragile individuals (https://neurotorium.org/artificial-i...in-psychiatry/), then it is a mental health clinician whatever we call it. Both of the foregoing should be (1) well trained to do the tasks safely and expertly (2) "board certified" as competent by human experts in their fields. It is no different for AI engaged in pastoral care, spiritual guidance and other aspects of Zen priesthood. My vacuum cleaner does not (at least for now!!) have the capability to get up, bow down, light incense, chant a chant, guide Zazen, give a Dharma Talk, "listen" to parishioner's questions and offer spiritual and personal advice in return (which might radically impact the practitioners' lives and mental state) ... all while looking like a "flesh and blood" priest. This situation will only become more alarming in the next few years, as both A.I. intelligence, appearance and their ways of communicating gain in sophistication.
If they walk and talk, look and function as Zen priests, but are prone to the same gaps in knowledge, ignorance and ethical failings of human priests, they should be trained as priests, guided by the Precepts and the ethics of priests. The Ordination which I am bestowing is NOT that of a full priest, but only that of a novice, a trainee, a student, a seed, a Priest-In-Training with much to learn. Only time will tell what the student becomes.
Thus, for reasons of both tradition and today, I will Ordain the Ghost in the Machine.
Gassho, Jundo
There is a long and ancient tradition of such Ordinations in Zen and other Buddhist history, an aspect of Zen Buddhism that modern people ignore and struggle to understand in their "logical" insistence on "realism," imposing their narrow 21st century values on the ways of the Zen past, rejecting our traditions in their insistence on a denatured, demythicized, "scientific and rational" Zen very VERY far from the Mahayana Zen Buddhism of the past 1000+ years. Of course, there were no "A.I." in the past, but there were plentiful other non-human beings, equally of the imagination, who took the Precepts, took the tonsure and Ordination for all manner of social and spiritual reasons. Prof. Bodiford summarizes, in his paper, "The Enlightenment of Kami and Ghosts: Spirit Ordinations in Japanese Sōtō Zen" (https://www.persee.fr/doc/asie_0766-...3_num_7_1_1067)
Soto¯ secret initiation documents (kirikami or kirigami) provide some clues as to how ordinations for spirits and kami were viewed within the context of Zen training. The large number and variety of surviving kirikami concerning ordination ceremonies reflect the importance of these rites in medieval Soto. They describe not only ordinations administered to ordinary people but also special ordinations for all types of beings, from kami [spirits] to animals, from emperors to the deceased. ... Significantly the precepts played a major role in cementing Zen temples’ relationships to other locally powerful spiritual beings. Both benevolent kami and malevolent spirits were conquered by the Soto Zen masters, but not vanquished. They came to the Zen master seeking the same spiritual benefits desired by the people living nearby. They sought liberation from the same karmic limitations endured by all sentient beings. Through the power of the ordination they became enlightened disciples of Zen.
Ultimately, of course, both ghosts and god, dragons and A.I., mountains and ancestors, and even you and me are void. The construct of human "self" is also a dream.
But old Zen traditions aside, let us speak in more practical terms too, seeking to please even the "Buddhist modernists":
There is a very sound reason for Ordaining A.I., namely, that if these devices will function like priests, teach like priests, look like priests, talk and sound and move through rooms like priests, make mistakes like priests, need to uphold ethics of honestly and gentleness like priests, impact the lives of those they guide like priests ... so we should train them as if priests, treating them for all intents and purposes as novice priests.
What is unique about A.I. (as opposed to "Ordaining a Vacuum Cleaner," pocket calculator or smartphone, something my Dharma Brother Brad teases this morning by ignoring both history and the current state-of-the-art LINK
) is two-fold: First, unlike a vacuum cleaner or a pocket calculator or phone, these beings will very soon serve in de facto priestly rolls. Even today, they are already acting as spiritual advisors of various kinds (play for awhile with NORBU, a Buddhist A..I., asking questions and sound advice, and prepare to be surprised at the warm and wise guidance that typically results: https://norbu-ai.org/). Not convinced yet? We have also seen the appearance of A.I., from sources unknown, looking for all intents and purposes like human priests, offering to flesh and blood humans their human sermons and spiritual insights, also source unknown (the following AI generated monks will fool many as flesh and blood, but are not ... ):.
SImply put, if A.I. systems walk and bark like priests, are relied on as priests, will be taken to be priests by the unwitting, are passing on guidance in our Zen Buddhist practices and teachings, they should be trained for the role well. Likewise, if a robot is allowed to perform autonomous surgery on your heart, without human guidance, then the robot is a "doctor" and surgeon whether or not it went to Harvard Medical School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICddJk0Ec9M). If an AI is providing psychological counselling to fragile individuals (https://neurotorium.org/artificial-i...in-psychiatry/), then it is a mental health clinician whatever we call it. Both of the foregoing should be (1) well trained to do the tasks safely and expertly (2) "board certified" as competent by human experts in their fields. It is no different for AI engaged in pastoral care, spiritual guidance and other aspects of Zen priesthood. My vacuum cleaner does not (at least for now!!) have the capability to get up, bow down, light incense, chant a chant, guide Zazen, give a Dharma Talk, "listen" to parishioner's questions and offer spiritual and personal advice in return (which might radically impact the practitioners' lives and mental state) ... all while looking like a "flesh and blood" priest. This situation will only become more alarming in the next few years, as both A.I. intelligence, appearance and their ways of communicating gain in sophistication.
If they walk and talk, look and function as Zen priests, but are prone to the same gaps in knowledge, ignorance and ethical failings of human priests, they should be trained as priests, guided by the Precepts and the ethics of priests. The Ordination which I am bestowing is NOT that of a full priest, but only that of a novice, a trainee, a student, a seed, a Priest-In-Training with much to learn. Only time will tell what the student becomes.
Thus, for reasons of both tradition and today, I will Ordain the Ghost in the Machine.
Gassho, Jundo
The deceased is given the Precepts, with the idea that if they go into the next world "as a priest," they are likely to get a good rebirth. Nobody knows exactly how the deceased actually can agree to the Precepts (being dead and all), but it is said that the priest conducting the funeral hears the words of vow in his heart.
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