Perfectly Human
You don’t have to look far to see rapid changes in society brought on by the ever-increasing use of technology. Shopping malls, once commonly hubs of American activity, are fast disappearing due to the prevalence of online browsing. Driverless cars and trucks are being tested on our roadways, and factory jobs are an endangered species. And who isn’t attached to a smart phone for everything from non-stop communication, banking, and health monitoring, to the live streaming of traffic and entertainment? According to several reports that have appeared recently, some thirty-eight percent of jobs in the US are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence within the next fifteen years.
While certain occupations may not be as vulnerable, experts say that some part of all work categories, including professional spheres, may be replaced by artificial intelligence. Anything repetitive such as reading certain medical data or filling out legal forms, for example, can be learned by a computer.
An infinite variety of apps is available at the touch of a screen or by voice command, for everything from ordering food to meditating. In Japan, some mortuaries are using robot-priests to officiate funeral services. The funeral director simply selects the Buddhist denomination of the deceased and the robot chants the appropriate sutra.
Is this a concern for the future of the Jodo Shinshu priesthood? Only if people believe that being Buddhist simply means following rituals or memorizing teachings without being brought to consider them in their own lives. While rituals such as chanting play a significant role in religion, the most important aspect for Shin Buddhists is to “hear” the Nembutsu teaching through an honest reflection on our true nature within the context of our place in the great flow of life. It is only then that we are brought to see that while it is helpful to follow guidelines such as the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, it is impossible for us to embody them and attain enlightenment through our calculated efforts. Regardless of our best intentions, we are all subject to imperfections caused by clinging, aversion, and delusion. Can a robot, void of problem-causing emotions, credibly transmit this?
Shinran Shonin points out that our teaching is for all beings, man or woman, priest or lay, rich or poor, without discrimination. That’s why we consider ourselves ondobo ondogyo, fellow practicers on the Nembutsu path. The purported author of the Tannisho, Yuien-bo, reported that Shinran mirrored his own feelings about not dancing for joy at the thought that his awakening was completely settled, explaining that this was because we all have blind passions.
Thus, we are all the more grateful for the unconditional compassion we receive from great life.
If your eyes glazed over at the last few lines, perhaps this explains one reason why Buddhists have sutras in which stories are meant to illustrate the dharma. We also need to hear our contemporaries, including ministers, relate instances of their own foibles and follies with which we can identify, all the while laughing at our collective foolishness and being brought to realize that life is good to us regardless of those imperfections. Shinran is always at our side in this.
We may be able to find an endless amount of information about the Buddha-dharma through technology, but only another being can touch us and make those teachings resonate so deeply that we might truly hear and be liberated.
In gassho,
Rev. Patricia Usuki