Virtual Reality (Ain't It Always?) Zen Project

[Jundo]

Hey Guys,

I just saw the following, and it reminded me that this future of our Zendo is here. (Of course, we have to transcend those big glasses!) I would love to see, in the coming years, our Sangha on the forefront of developing this technology to make the group Zazen experience more available, and also to teach Buddhism and Zen Practice through the technology.

How might virtual reality change the world? Stanford lab peers into future

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/stanford-lab-looks-at-how-virtual-reality-could-change-the-world

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIGFGF1hQmw

It would be wonderful to have graphic and game designers associated with Treeleaf, over the coming years, work on the programs to make all that possible. Really.

I am reminded of this essay by me from awhile back ...

The world is virtual, this sangha is real

With Gassho before a body scanner, sitters will enter the 3-D Holographic Zen Hall from wherever they are. Instantly, a high roofed room, Manjusri Bodhisattva at its center, fills the senses and the 10 directions encircling them. Lifelike images of a hundred others who have sat that day (some hours earlier in distant time zones) occupy projected Zafus all around, and the scent of incense perfumes the air. A young priest walks through the room straightening slippers (all made of photons), guiding newcomers to their places. Biosensors in the sitter’s clothing adjust posture with a touch lightly felt at the small of the back. A teacher in far Japan, as if a few feet away, offers a talk and responds immediately to questions. Rising from Zazen, all recite as one the Bodhisattva Vows, prostrating toward Manjusri now seen hovering midair as vast as a mountain. The identical scene appears in Holospaces in every sitter’s home or private place, including for one fellow sitting zero gravity on the long voyage to Mars.

Though sounding like Isaac Asimov meets the Lotus Sutra, researchers at the holographics lab of one of Japan’s best science universities tell me it is just a matter of time now. The ‘HoloZendo’ is not a figment of the imagination, and may be available to carry in one’s pocket. If so, it will not be the first time that new technologies have impacted Buddhist practice.

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...sangha-is-real

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Kyotai]

With the emergence of Oculus Rift, a new technology being developed for gaming, I can see a time where this type of technology could be linked with G+. All one would need to do is purchase the "glasses" to go along with ones zafu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECyVSwzsSlE

Kyotai
Sat today

[Jundo]

I believe the glasses are wonderful, in a kinda "sit with what is" sorta way. But I look forward to the day when we sit in virtual rooms or spaces in our homes, surrounded by images on all sides, without need for the glasses.

Even more, I have read of ordinary eyeglasses or contacts being developed which will project images directly on the retina, letting the eye itself be the device. The brain will receive the images from the eye just like anything we see, and the new world will thus be created within us.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Getchi]

ive been writing a little something as a gift, bt check out te "google cardboard" priject, team it with the "jump" filming rig and suddenky we have VR video and possibly live linked youtube/g+ feeds that can be accessed by anyone with even the most basic tech. im into this because of my cybpunk sensibilities, high-tech for us low-lives


please excuse lack of links etc, im posting from a rescued chinese snapdragon tablet pc on a public wifi point through anon tor network. just for fun

[Mp]

I believe the glasses are wonderful, in a kinda "sit with what is" sorta way. But I look forward to the day when we sit in virtual rooms or spaces in our homes, surrounded by images on all sides, without need for the glasses.

Even more, I have read of ordinary eyeglasses or contacts being developed which will project images directly on the retina, letting the eye itself be the device. The brain will receive the images from the eye just like anything we see, and the new world will thus be created within us.

Gassho, J

SatToday

Reminds me off this classic =)

Also there is a Canadian doctor who invented the Bionic Lens coupled with Google tech, you never know, the hollow deck might not be that far off. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCDvz5V4TA8

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

[Getchi]

Here is a small article I found interesting. Ill read it again while awaiting my holodeck (which would be awesome!).

http://recode.net/2015/06/19/oculus-rift-inventor-palmer-luckey-virtual-reality-will-make-distance-irrelevant-qa/

New technology and a total cost for VR set and PC at $1500, I think its only a (short) matter of time


Gassho,
Geoff, a student.

SatToday.

[Joyo]

How far technology has come, even just in my lifetime. I hope I live long enough to see how this new bit will change the world, and Treeleaf.

The kids at school today were laughing at the "tvs that only had two channels, and you had to switch them with a big dial, and those big, ugly phones." Did I ever feel old, but they had no idea why. =)

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Kyonin]

Hi guys!

As you may know I love PC gaming and I have been reading a lot of VR as of late. It's a huge trend in gaming and corporations are investing millions into making it a reality. Of course the entertainment focus is outstanding, but I think the educational and communication uses would be far more important.

I have been reading Ready Player One, a sci fi novel by Ernst Cline. It's about how the world adopted a VR online role playing game as Earth's operative system and how it would affect life. The novel has a lot of adventure and geek culture, but it also talks about the different uses of VR in gaming, business and education. In this world, kids attend to school inside the virtual world. They form up relationships, fall in love and then graduate inside the simulation.

Since the human hasn't evolved to just plug in the simulation directly to the brain, people still depend on funky equipment to jack in.

The novel has made me think a lot about our relationship to technology and how human interaction has changed. Right now thanks to Hangouts we can gather together without having to care about boundaries and physical places. We just get together and talk, sit and walk kinhin. This is amazing and I feel grateful.

Maybe when we all adopt VR, we could meet up in our own zendo built in a moon of Jupiter. Who knows!

About having a holodeck? Well, one can only wish.

I would love to have a Dixon Hill adventure like Picard did

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Getchi]

Joyo - I feel the same, just recently my wife and I played "Technology that was everywhere in the 90's but would surprise you today?". Well, my top answer was the pager, and hers was overhead projectors (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...72/OHP-sch.JPG ). Our children and there friend, however, could not recognise even one of the things we said. I even see kids wearing my old band shirts now lol (Iron Maiden, Niravana, Pearl Jam etc) so Im constantly reminded of how fast teh world turns over!.

Kyonin - great book! the OASIS is a great representation of what we thought the online world would be in the 90's but updated with ideas from today, I loved it! Ever thought of jacking in here?; http://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunk or http://www.reddit.com/r/futurology

Im really looking forward to when this VR (im saving for an OCCULUS right now, im pretty into iRacing) is married to the new network Elon Musk is developing. Its going to be some very cheap and accesale technology available to villages in africa, towns in Peru or even isolated communities in my own country. Along with cheap solar power and water systems, there is no reason a child born in disadvantaged areas cant have a world-class education and good life. Not to mention the massive boost for preserving world cultures and language. Amazing.

Myself, id be happy to experience the great sites and cultures of the world, and one day small towns like mine will have the ability to talk to people on the street of Madrid, Tokyo, London, the edge of the Sahara, anywhere! A pretty big future indeed!

[Kotei]

Maybe, in the meantime, we should 3d-print some Inmoov robots to add additional remote-presence to Jundo ;-).
Sending out some robots during Jukai, controlled by him, might also add another dimension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Z09edx52E

Gassho,
Ralf sattoday.

[Roland]

We won't be scared by those virtual reality tricks, it seems: mindfulness meditators less affected by virtual reality.

Gassho

Roland
#SatToday

[jtlewis]

Kyonin - Just finished Ready Player One a couple weeks ago. Terrific read! And definitely echos what is to come with regards to VR technology. I am curious as to what you and eveybody else thinks about the pros and cons of our ever increasing digital footprint. Novels like Ready Player One and Snow Crash seem to be set in a dystopia world where VR technology is used more than anything else as a means to escape the physical world. Is there that chance of losing oneself into the matrix?

Holodeck would be sweet - still can't get past Worf as a not-so merry man ☺.

Gassho,

Josh
Sat Today

[Sozan]

Another take on this is Issac Asimov's "the Naked Sun" published in 1957. From Wikipedia:

The book focuses on the unusual traditions and culture of Solarian society: the planet has a rigidly controlled population of twenty thousand, and robots outnumber humans ten thousand to one, whereas people are strictly taught from birth to despise personal contact, and live on huge estates, either alone or with their spouse only. Communication is done via holographic telepresence (called viewing, as opposed to in-person seeing).

Gassho,
Sozan

s@2day

[clhw]

How far technology has come, even just in my lifetime. I hope I live long enough to see how this new bit will change the world, and Treeleaf.

The kids at school today were laughing at the "tvs that only had two channels, and you had to switch them with a big dial, and those big, ugly phones." Did I ever feel old, but they had no idea why. =)

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

Yesterday I watched 4 digital artists struggle to get the new printer to work. Not the 3D printer, they managed that in record time, but the 'old fashioned paper printer'. They gave up after 3 hours.

As you may know I love PC gaming and I have been reading a lot of VR as of late. It's a huge trend in gaming and corporations are investing millions into making it a reality. Of course the entertainment focus is outstanding, but I think the educational and communication uses would be far more important.

The 3D and VR tech is amazing for things like medicine / paramedics / nursing etc. and training where the costs of actually performing the task(s) are ridiculously high.

Communication, however, ....





Sat Today

[Roland]

Enlightenment in 20 minutes. But then again, as an Oculus Rift-user, I think serious meditating and hangouts could be organized.

Gassho

Roland

#SatToday