Virtual Reality already in use in many hospice programs for the dying.
More on Buddhism and VR ...
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[What] if I could guarantee entrance to a dreamland Pure Land, a Dharma Disneyland in this life, as wonderful as the real thing? I might take that offer!
And even before getting to the Pearly Gates, I’d like to meet and chat for awhile with Buddha, Bodhidharma, Dogen, Naropa, Buddhaghosa and many others face-to-face, getting to know them, hanging out, playing cards and having laughs (in my version, they will all play poker and have senses of humor), sitting meditation together. Zazen meditation can let us feel the presence of all these legendary stars even now, but this would be something more. This is a real opportunity!
In the near future, “Sutra-Sims” will be an excellent way to experience Buddhist history, sagas and sages first-hand, more powerful and poignant than a paper Sutra because we are actually characters in the story.
And it is here that the most fantastic realms of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism will come to life, namely, the dimensions of Sambhogakāya Buddhas in myriad expression, the Great Bodhisattvas, fierce protectors, wisdom kings, heavenly deities on Vulture Peak, and countless other wondrous denizens of the Buddhist pantheon. Kannon will come to life, before our eyes because dreamed between our ears, as we reach out and personally shake each one of Kannon’s hands. We will be able to enter her world, meet, bow to and practice with her together with all the Buddhist Greats.
Is this any different from how Sutras in the past, combined with intense meditation practices, made the mind “receptive” and welcoming to visions and inner revelations, allowed old time Buddhists to experience incredible things? For ancient Mahayanists, days of chanting, meditating, solitude, fasting, deprivation of sleep and other self-denial led the practitioner to see, hear, and otherwise experience visions and visitations from other realms. Buddhas appeared to these folks in their chambers, Bodhisattvas over their death beds. Would we not merely be substituting medication and simulation for meditation, isolation, deprivation and near starvation? Ancient Buddhist Tantrists hand-dug caves filled with elaborate artwork, buried themselves within for months at a time, all in hopes of triggering wondrous experiences. Is not our new way a digging deep into the recesses of the mind?
In any case, like so many new technologies, if we Buddhists turn away in disgust or ambivalence rather than actively seek to turn them toward the virtuous, these inventions will only be used for the frivolous, questionable and downright bad, nothing but porno and pastimes rather than Precepts and Prajna.
Thereby, I feel this another case where it is our special mission as Buddhists, together with other “white hat” good guys in human society, to employ these tools for good. If this tech is (as I propose) another example of something coming whether we want it to or not, then we can only employ it for good or ignore it. As always, there will be plenty of folks commandeering all new media to send bad messages, to sell junk, have kinky sex, to spew hate and abuse, just as the Internet is used today. We have a special duty as media-bodhisattvas to use the new environments for the positive.
Yes, it can (and will) be commercialized, subverted for the wrong reasons, used excessively, turned into one more addiction. Just as with recreational drugs today, new media shall be a vehicle for some people’s wild trips and running from life. But as with mind-altering drugs, it is the special task of Buddhist folks to dissuade people from harmful and excessive behaviors. Everything in its place, everything in moderation, some bad things never at all.
And there is one further risk: While most will use such devices for passing fun, a few will try to escape their “this world” life completely. Will people choose to reside in created environments, for not just minutes, but long years (either actual years or simulated experiences of years)?
Truly, I hope not. My hope is that Buddhists, and all human beings, will turn away from such temptations, working instead to better this world we live in rather than fleeing to some other. For me, our Zen ways are not about escape to dream realms, but rather, our finding liberation right here in this messy one.
However, in more extreme cases, it is possible that certain Buddhist practitioners (not only those at the end of life in hospice care, but those still in the prime of life) would wish to spend their entire flesh-and-blood lifetime within a virtual life. They might decide that doing so is key to escaping this ordinary world of Samsara, attaining what the Buddhas preached as reaching Nirvana or the Pure Land once and for all, whatever the means needed to do so. Buddhist sects will appear centered around these machines, worshipping them on altars, convinced that they are doorways to the promised land.
There will be AI facilities to keep one IV fed, tended to by solar powered nannies, the heart kept beating as the mind meets Animat-Amida first hand. There will be “Virtual Viharas,” offering perpetual “Neuro-Nirvana” so long as the hard drive keeps running (and the cash flowing). Some very sincere Buddhists might join the historical Buddha on every mile of his travels through India, or reside with Maitreya in Tushita Heaven, never to leave. If the pleasure centers of the human brain and nervous system can be controlled, it might come to pass that entrants into these realms will experience unending bliss, the very enjoyment of the ‘Enjoyment Body’ of Buddha. Alas, it is there that things most resemble an opium den disguised as religion!
Not every place needs to be a nice place to visit, however: The curious might take a peek at the Buddhist hells or the land of the Hungry Ghosts. A few, in an extreme act of contrition or masochism, will atone for their sins by placing themselves into fiery torments for what will seem like long Kalpa ages. Will they have a “safety phrase” for early release, something like “Jizo, save me!?” Having been sprung from hell, they will then experience the pleasures of rebirth into their next life, including the purification process of the Bardo, as real as real can be, opening the eyes to a new body, a new start, born again. Perhaps traditional Buddhists ideas of “rebirth” where always just something like this …
Some modern Buddhists (I am one) struggle vainly to accept very specific ideas of post-mortem rebirth, detailed processes leading to further lives after the heart has stopped beating in this one. We may not believe that our moral choices now or in the past can lead, quite literally, to return as dogs or gods down the road.
In fact, some genius might game-ify Karma, whether for moral edification or just fun, consisting of lives replayed on loops, with variations based on ethical choices. The prizes or punishments for winners and losers might be a virtual afterlife as god or dog, in a heaven or simulated hell. Primitive versions of such games already exist. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonze_Adventure ; see video below} While perhaps not an “orthodox” vision of Buddhist heavens and hells, new technologies may approach damn near, turning imagination into the tangible and real.
In this coming age, ancient Buddhist tales and doctrines, no matter how fantastic or fanciful, will all come true.
Not a single Buddha, Bodhisattva, fantastic feat, miracle, power, amazing characteristic, wild story or famous scene of the great Buddhist Sutras and legends would be beyond the realm of the possible, tangible, tactile, livable experienceable, realizable and real.
Simply (Step 1) place a coin in the donation box, (Step 2) interlace wires with beads in one’s fingers, (Step 3) recline in the Lion’s Pose, (Step 4) put a magnetic cap atop the head, much resembling the Buddha’s ushnisha bump, (Step 5) bow and push a button, and …
… The place is Vimalakirti’s sickroom …
as countless thrones, tall, spacious, and magnificent, descend from the sky …
a vision never seen before by the gathered Bodhisattvas,
great Arhats, Sakras, Brahmas, Lokapalas, and gods.” …
… among whom sits you …
as countless thrones, tall, spacious, and magnificent, descend from the sky …
a vision never seen before by the gathered Bodhisattvas,
great Arhats, Sakras, Brahmas, Lokapalas, and gods.” …
… among whom sits you …
END OF CHAPTER
Plot: Emma the Buddhist King of Death has lost his senses, causing him to lose order of his Underworld domain – enabling evil entities to roam freely. The player controls Bonze Kackremboh, a Buddhist priest who is son of the Divine Dragon. Kackremboh must now go on a journey to find and confront Emma. In order to find Emma, Bonze must survive against hordes of yokai (monsters), such as snakes, giant eyeballs, ghosts, kitsune, spiders, entities appearing to be hitodama/will-o'-the-wisp, as well as other evils.
Gameplay: The priest's weapons are Buddhist prayer beads, called "mala" beads, which can be powered up until they become almost as large as the priest himself. In times of difficulty, a deva often provides various power-ups to assist the priest's progress. In an unusual twist, the allotted time appears in the manner of melting candles, rather than a traditional timer. The game consists of several rounds: Dilapidated Backyard Cemetery, The Dead-or-Alive River, Burning Inferno, Bloody Pond, Glacier Trap, Lose-Your-Way-Maze, and finally Emma's Lair.
Gassho, J
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