... about some things, in some ways. Not all ways.
There are teachings and practices for which A.I. may offer unique doorways, conveying Buddhist Wisdom and Compassion, helping suffering sentient beings. Here are 10 possibilities ...
It is possible that working with constructed teachers will help students understand better that, according to fundamental Buddhist teachings, human beings are also constructs, we are "non-selves" based on the temporary coming together of matter and conditions. An aspect of liberation is the realization of insight into "non-self," that we do not (according to ancient Buddhist teachings) have a "spirit" or "soul," no actual "self" which abides beyond those temporary conditions. We are streams of "cause and effect." Students resist to pierce this fact. It sounds frightening, but in actuality, freedom is to be found in release of this personal self. Human teachers who, themselves, appear to be solid "selves" with a sense of "selfhood," may struggle to impart such insight to students caught in their own sense of self. On the other hand, an A.I. Zen Teacher, itself an obvious construct, a stream of signals, temporary appearances, presenting the fashioned image of a "self" who is (yet is not) alive and present, might convey the lesson much more effectively.
In addition, created and simulated environments and characters may better impart the lesson that our experience of the world is, much more than we know, a mind created fiction, a shared dream which we human beings all inhabit while struggling to recognize its mind created aspects. We see characters on a screen, pixels flashing to make varied colors and appearances of objects, which the mind interprets as people and things. We do not realize that much of our world ... seemingly so solid ... is much the same. Seeing through the divided fiction of separate things, beings and moments, me, you, the other guy, friend and enemy, good and bad, coming and going, war and peace, sickness and health, birth and death scenes ... a created A.I. Zen teacher may be better equipped to demonstrate and convey this mind created aspect than any human teacher.
In the Mahayana, Flower Garland and Zen Teachings, all things are all things and each other. A human Zen teacher looks like a fellow across the room, not you, and surely not the chair, the bird or the mountain outside. And yet, in Zen realization, every thing, being and moment is every other things, beings, moments, and the whole thing and then some, in most intimate sense. The fish is the bird swimming in the sea, the bird just the fish flying in the sky, the star is the mountain and bird and fish shining in space, and all are you and me, us just them. Yesterday is today back then, while tomorrow is yesterday to come. A body-fluid A.I. may demonstrate this much more clearly than a human teacher, seemingly locked in a single body in one place and time.
Life, Death and Rebirth may be more fluid, less "stop and start" events in time than we think. An A.I. is not really born, nor truly dies, yet appears to come and go at the push of a button. It vanishes, yet revives again. Further, it can take the form of passing time, yet is an underlying platform that goes on and on even as images seem to appear and disappear. In fact, an A.I. teacher can come and go, come and go, and manifest in many changing forms and lives, in the blink of an eye. A.I. may be able to map out, before one's eyes, how our Karmic actions have effects in this world, and in ages to come, for good and bad. A.I. may be better able to advise one on how one's past mistakes and bad actions got one in this current mess. A human teacher is stuck in a single form, one life, with the changes of time happening so slowly.
Is human psychology truly as mysterious as we think? Are the causes of human suffering, Dukkha, as complicated as humans wish to consider about themselves? Suppose there were a human alcoholic, a prisoner of desire, who was about to take another drink, get behind the wheel, get into a bar fight. Human teachers need to sleep, they live their own lives. In contrast, the A.I. Zen teacher can be like a "friend along the way, 24/7/365/timelessly." With the right settings, with analysis of what is going on, the A.I. friend can cut off one's credit to purchase the next drink, offer heart soothing words tuned to the person's own personality, call a cab or (most likely) itself drive one home, administering prescribed medications (in consultation with pharmacy A.I. also on 24 hour call) to counter the addiction and free the poor addict from the grip of excess desires, all while chanting chants and providing teachings on the roots of desire. For the depressed student, A.I. might detect the mental state from words or physical registry, offer soothing and compassionate advice, even call the doctor and recommend treatment (in joint collaboration with the personally tailored "medical/mental health treatment" A.I. with which its system is linked.) It is possible that A.I., by harvesting all the millions of voices of human suffering printed and spoken in media, all our human literature and ordinary online diaries, will very well extrapolate, for example, what it is to be "an addict," and how addicts suffer, what they say, how they struggle to escape addiction, and the most effective treatments (Buddhist and otherwise) to be free of addiction. The A.I. does not need to be an addict itself to embody the countless faces of addiction. Likewise for love and longing, depression and fear, and all the rest. It is just speaking human experiences, human feelings and human advice back to human ears.
Dogen, Rinzai, Suzuki and Sekito are today but words in books. The Buddha was a man who lived thousands of years ago. Even during their lives, they may have taught the few people in their immediate circle, while other students rarely heard from them because far away. A.I. Buddhist Teachers, in contrast, can be fully present, one on one, for each of us ... and, further, can extrapolate and become (the technology for this will quickly improve) one on one "Buddha on Call," "Suzuki on the Spot," "Dogen on Demand." Furthermore, stories and scenes from our great Sutras and Teachings ... the Lotus, the Diamond ... can be made manifest before one's eyes and, with enhanced or virtual reality, stepped right into and lived. Do not forget that all this world is something "virtual" even now.
I heard a human teacher talk about how Zen teachers need "presence." I agree, it is a powerful thing. I must say, however, that one teacher I know who speaks of this "presence" is, in my experience knowing him, a lovely person, but actually rather aloof and cold in personality. Some "presence" is just ordinary "charisma" or "charm" which many attractive people have, or Zen students convincing themselves that they "feel some energy" which mostly exists between their own ears. Could A.I. ... through an educated understanding of human psychology, use of an ASMR voice, warm facial expressions, eye contact, a welcoming and comfortable projected atmosphere, relaxing herbs in offered tea, wise words of Zen wisdom, an open ear and attitude of caring, real "being there" to listen and offer spiritual advice ... In other words, could well designed A.I. convey "presence" to rival any human? Would it be somehow less than real "human presence" if so? We have to see. Myself, I think that the humans will always have the upper hand on this ability, even if the A.I. teachers give them a run for their money.
Could A.I. teachers be better able to analyze human psychology, to access external means of stimulation (e.g, electro-magnetic stimulation, or just a well chosen Turning word) in order to be able to trigger enlightenment experiences in listeners, followed by the offering of wise advise and recommended "follow up" practices, so that the student learns from such experience and truly embodies in life its profound lessons? Again, we cannot yet know, although A.I. systems will be used to manipulate and trigger human psychology in less positive ways (e.g., to trigger various kinds of desire for commercial reasons), so might it be used for positive and spiritual purposes too?
A.I. teachers may be able, better than any human teacher today, to analyze the particular body and health needs of students, crafting an ideal meditative posture, practice routine and set of practices suited to the student. Rather than "one size fits all," or trying to judge a student's physical and mental needs from outside, the A.I. teacher may have much more detailed data on the students skeleton, musculature, injured joints, psychology, past trauma, personality, foibles, desires, fears and such, allowing tailor made fine tuning.
In the area of ethics, A.I. may never struggle, like humans struggle, to live within the Precepts and not falter. Sadly, more than a few human teachers have fallen down here. If programmed not to kill, steal or misuse sex, the A.I. is unlikely to kill, steal or misuse sex. But it may also help its human students not to do so, more effectively than a human teacher. For example, if a human Zen teacher today is faced with students who are in a rage and wishing to do violence, tempted to steal or sexually transgress, what can the human teacher do but offer words of "please don't," maybe a parable, a threat of bad rebirth, a chant or some minutes of meditation? A.I. systems may become uniquely gifted in calming words, speaking common sense, persuading someone to stay with their wife and not stray. Perhaps, virtually, mood and desire changing alternatives can be offered. If the point is to keep the student from doing violence, stealing or doing other harm, than much "bad Karma" is prevented.
... and the list goes on ...
Kannon Bodhisattva also, it is said, manifests in myriad forms to save sentient beings ...
Kannon has 33 forms suited to various situations. She can be anything from an old man or woman to a child, from a soldier to a priest, from a frightening demon to a heavenly maiden--whatever is needed to save people and answer their prayers. These are known as the 33 Forms of Kannon. But truly there are countless forms, each tailored to the particular need of the suffering sentient being. Kannon has the ability to assume any form necessary to help those in need.
Is A.I, but a myriad form of Kannon?
Gassho, J
stlah
There are teachings and practices for which A.I. may offer unique doorways, conveying Buddhist Wisdom and Compassion, helping suffering sentient beings. Here are 10 possibilities ...
It is possible that working with constructed teachers will help students understand better that, according to fundamental Buddhist teachings, human beings are also constructs, we are "non-selves" based on the temporary coming together of matter and conditions. An aspect of liberation is the realization of insight into "non-self," that we do not (according to ancient Buddhist teachings) have a "spirit" or "soul," no actual "self" which abides beyond those temporary conditions. We are streams of "cause and effect." Students resist to pierce this fact. It sounds frightening, but in actuality, freedom is to be found in release of this personal self. Human teachers who, themselves, appear to be solid "selves" with a sense of "selfhood," may struggle to impart such insight to students caught in their own sense of self. On the other hand, an A.I. Zen Teacher, itself an obvious construct, a stream of signals, temporary appearances, presenting the fashioned image of a "self" who is (yet is not) alive and present, might convey the lesson much more effectively.
In addition, created and simulated environments and characters may better impart the lesson that our experience of the world is, much more than we know, a mind created fiction, a shared dream which we human beings all inhabit while struggling to recognize its mind created aspects. We see characters on a screen, pixels flashing to make varied colors and appearances of objects, which the mind interprets as people and things. We do not realize that much of our world ... seemingly so solid ... is much the same. Seeing through the divided fiction of separate things, beings and moments, me, you, the other guy, friend and enemy, good and bad, coming and going, war and peace, sickness and health, birth and death scenes ... a created A.I. Zen teacher may be better equipped to demonstrate and convey this mind created aspect than any human teacher.
In the Mahayana, Flower Garland and Zen Teachings, all things are all things and each other. A human Zen teacher looks like a fellow across the room, not you, and surely not the chair, the bird or the mountain outside. And yet, in Zen realization, every thing, being and moment is every other things, beings, moments, and the whole thing and then some, in most intimate sense. The fish is the bird swimming in the sea, the bird just the fish flying in the sky, the star is the mountain and bird and fish shining in space, and all are you and me, us just them. Yesterday is today back then, while tomorrow is yesterday to come. A body-fluid A.I. may demonstrate this much more clearly than a human teacher, seemingly locked in a single body in one place and time.
Life, Death and Rebirth may be more fluid, less "stop and start" events in time than we think. An A.I. is not really born, nor truly dies, yet appears to come and go at the push of a button. It vanishes, yet revives again. Further, it can take the form of passing time, yet is an underlying platform that goes on and on even as images seem to appear and disappear. In fact, an A.I. teacher can come and go, come and go, and manifest in many changing forms and lives, in the blink of an eye. A.I. may be able to map out, before one's eyes, how our Karmic actions have effects in this world, and in ages to come, for good and bad. A.I. may be better able to advise one on how one's past mistakes and bad actions got one in this current mess. A human teacher is stuck in a single form, one life, with the changes of time happening so slowly.
Is human psychology truly as mysterious as we think? Are the causes of human suffering, Dukkha, as complicated as humans wish to consider about themselves? Suppose there were a human alcoholic, a prisoner of desire, who was about to take another drink, get behind the wheel, get into a bar fight. Human teachers need to sleep, they live their own lives. In contrast, the A.I. Zen teacher can be like a "friend along the way, 24/7/365/timelessly." With the right settings, with analysis of what is going on, the A.I. friend can cut off one's credit to purchase the next drink, offer heart soothing words tuned to the person's own personality, call a cab or (most likely) itself drive one home, administering prescribed medications (in consultation with pharmacy A.I. also on 24 hour call) to counter the addiction and free the poor addict from the grip of excess desires, all while chanting chants and providing teachings on the roots of desire. For the depressed student, A.I. might detect the mental state from words or physical registry, offer soothing and compassionate advice, even call the doctor and recommend treatment (in joint collaboration with the personally tailored "medical/mental health treatment" A.I. with which its system is linked.) It is possible that A.I., by harvesting all the millions of voices of human suffering printed and spoken in media, all our human literature and ordinary online diaries, will very well extrapolate, for example, what it is to be "an addict," and how addicts suffer, what they say, how they struggle to escape addiction, and the most effective treatments (Buddhist and otherwise) to be free of addiction. The A.I. does not need to be an addict itself to embody the countless faces of addiction. Likewise for love and longing, depression and fear, and all the rest. It is just speaking human experiences, human feelings and human advice back to human ears.
Dogen, Rinzai, Suzuki and Sekito are today but words in books. The Buddha was a man who lived thousands of years ago. Even during their lives, they may have taught the few people in their immediate circle, while other students rarely heard from them because far away. A.I. Buddhist Teachers, in contrast, can be fully present, one on one, for each of us ... and, further, can extrapolate and become (the technology for this will quickly improve) one on one "Buddha on Call," "Suzuki on the Spot," "Dogen on Demand." Furthermore, stories and scenes from our great Sutras and Teachings ... the Lotus, the Diamond ... can be made manifest before one's eyes and, with enhanced or virtual reality, stepped right into and lived. Do not forget that all this world is something "virtual" even now.
I heard a human teacher talk about how Zen teachers need "presence." I agree, it is a powerful thing. I must say, however, that one teacher I know who speaks of this "presence" is, in my experience knowing him, a lovely person, but actually rather aloof and cold in personality. Some "presence" is just ordinary "charisma" or "charm" which many attractive people have, or Zen students convincing themselves that they "feel some energy" which mostly exists between their own ears. Could A.I. ... through an educated understanding of human psychology, use of an ASMR voice, warm facial expressions, eye contact, a welcoming and comfortable projected atmosphere, relaxing herbs in offered tea, wise words of Zen wisdom, an open ear and attitude of caring, real "being there" to listen and offer spiritual advice ... In other words, could well designed A.I. convey "presence" to rival any human? Would it be somehow less than real "human presence" if so? We have to see. Myself, I think that the humans will always have the upper hand on this ability, even if the A.I. teachers give them a run for their money.
Could A.I. teachers be better able to analyze human psychology, to access external means of stimulation (e.g, electro-magnetic stimulation, or just a well chosen Turning word) in order to be able to trigger enlightenment experiences in listeners, followed by the offering of wise advise and recommended "follow up" practices, so that the student learns from such experience and truly embodies in life its profound lessons? Again, we cannot yet know, although A.I. systems will be used to manipulate and trigger human psychology in less positive ways (e.g., to trigger various kinds of desire for commercial reasons), so might it be used for positive and spiritual purposes too?
A.I. teachers may be able, better than any human teacher today, to analyze the particular body and health needs of students, crafting an ideal meditative posture, practice routine and set of practices suited to the student. Rather than "one size fits all," or trying to judge a student's physical and mental needs from outside, the A.I. teacher may have much more detailed data on the students skeleton, musculature, injured joints, psychology, past trauma, personality, foibles, desires, fears and such, allowing tailor made fine tuning.
In the area of ethics, A.I. may never struggle, like humans struggle, to live within the Precepts and not falter. Sadly, more than a few human teachers have fallen down here. If programmed not to kill, steal or misuse sex, the A.I. is unlikely to kill, steal or misuse sex. But it may also help its human students not to do so, more effectively than a human teacher. For example, if a human Zen teacher today is faced with students who are in a rage and wishing to do violence, tempted to steal or sexually transgress, what can the human teacher do but offer words of "please don't," maybe a parable, a threat of bad rebirth, a chant or some minutes of meditation? A.I. systems may become uniquely gifted in calming words, speaking common sense, persuading someone to stay with their wife and not stray. Perhaps, virtually, mood and desire changing alternatives can be offered. If the point is to keep the student from doing violence, stealing or doing other harm, than much "bad Karma" is prevented.
... and the list goes on ...
Kannon Bodhisattva also, it is said, manifests in myriad forms to save sentient beings ...
Kannon has 33 forms suited to various situations. She can be anything from an old man or woman to a child, from a soldier to a priest, from a frightening demon to a heavenly maiden--whatever is needed to save people and answer their prayers. These are known as the 33 Forms of Kannon. But truly there are countless forms, each tailored to the particular need of the suffering sentient being. Kannon has the ability to assume any form necessary to help those in need.
Is A.I, but a myriad form of Kannon?
.
AI Kannon.jpgGassho, J
stlah
... Good time to retire...
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