In a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Beijing, they decided to get rid of the traditional ways and use a robot to attract fans.
In the Longquan Temple they use one robot a kangaroo who can sing a Buddhist mantra, move through voice commands, and engage in a simple conversation.
They called it Xian'er (don't ask us how to pronounce that), it's 60cm tall and looks like a children's cartoon. It shows a monk wearing a yellow robe, has a shaved head and is holding a touch screen to his chest.
The Xian'er can engage in a conversation by answering about 20 simple questions about Buddhism and daily life, listed on its screen, and perform seven voice motion commands.
Master Xianfan, who is the spiritual creator of Xian'er, mentioned that the robot monk is the ideal tool for spreading the wisdom of Buddhism in China through mergeof science and Buddhism.
H θρησκεία στην επίσημα άθεη Κομμουνιστική Κίνα έχει εισχωρήσει με αργό ρυθμό στην καθημερινή ζωή, δεδομένου ότι οι μεταρρυθμίσεις εκεί ξεκίνησαν πριν από αρκετά χρόνια. Ο Xianfan δήλωσε ότι ο Βουδισμός συμπλήρωσε το κενό που υπάρχει στη ψυχή των ανθρώπων σε μία ταχέως μεταβαλλόμενη, smart-phone κοινωνία.
The small robot was developed by China's top universities as a joint project between a company technologyand scientists on artificial intelligence. It was unveiled last October.
The robot has toured many exhibitions across China, and generally rarely makes public appearances at Longquan Temple. The Xian'er spends most of his day "meditating" on a shelf on a desk.
Are you saying something similar to our own monasteries and churches? How deep will the galloping technology enter the religion?
