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Words of wisdom from iconic monk
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XIAN Er is a wise, if quirky, Buddhist monk. At the Longquan Temple in Beijing, he talks to visitors about things like Zen philosophy, air quality and bittersweet romance.
Xian Er has eyes like two black peas and stands only a half-meter tall. He’s not human. He is a robot.
The mechanical monk, developed by the temple, works a bit like Siri. By answering people’s questions, he spreads the wisdom of Buddhism.
Q: “What is romantic love?”
A: “Romantic love is the pain of persistence. It is the pain of two people crashing into each other.”
Q: “Who is your master?”
A: “My master is just my master.”
Q: “Who am I?”
A: “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my master.”
Q: “How is the air quality today?”
A: “In the absence of big international conferences or a national military parade, the air quality is usually not very good.”
Xian Er doesn’t confine his “conversations” just to Longquan Temple. He has own WeChat account and has become so famous that the monks at the temple take on the road to participate in various events around China.
“We believe that the consciousness of a robot is one of the consciousnesses, which means humans have very limit understanding of how it works,” said Master Xian Xin, a monk serving at the temple.
“The study of creating artificial intelligence can help us discover our own hearts and reach the seventh and eighth consciousness level in Buddhism. That is why we decided to create Xian Er.”
Longquan must be the first temple anywhere to use artificial intelligence to promote Buddhist beliefs. That’s not odd. The temple is known as “the most popular place to become a monk among geeks.”
It’s said that Zhang Xiaolong, creator of the social media app WeChat, was inspired by a “sweeping monk” at the temple, and that Liu Zhiyu, International Mathematical Olympiad gold medal winner, became a monk at the temple after graduating from Peking University. Many of the monks are PhD graduates from top universities in China.
It’s quite difficult to verify such stories, but it is true that the temple does have a strong scientific research and development team. It all started in 2005, when Master Xue Cheng took over as abbot of the temple.
This is a modern twist in a long history. Longquan Temple was built around AD 951. It thrived until the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), when the buildings were converted into residential houses.
The arrival of Master Xue returned the temple to religious devotion and helped kick-start a new wave of public interest in Buddhism.
Master Xue first created the Longquan Comic and Animation Center, which later evolved into the research institute that created Xian Er.
“There were five people with me when I first arrived at Longquan Temple,” he said.
Three of them graduated from the prestigious Tsinghua University and another came from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The temple, in Beijing’s Haidian District, is located near several universities and the Zhongguancun technology hub. It’s a site brimming with people seeking new knowledge and inspiring new ideas. The abbot said he believes that the temple benefits from having monks with higher education backgrounds.
“I want to break through the stereotypes about Buddhism in China, the idea that Buddhism is pessimistic and superstitious,” he said. “We believe that with a modern approach to management of the temple, people with high intelligence will accept the Dharma of Buddhism.”
The first thing Xue Cheng did to promote Dharma was to build the Comic and Animation Center. A team composed entirely of volunteers created a series of comics, starring the little monk Xian Er to spread Buddhism wisdom. The comics were later adapted to animation, raising the profile of the image of Xian Er.
Meanwhile, the temple is very active on social media. On Xian Er’s WeChat account, anyone can have a chat with him. It’s a bit harder to see him in “person” because he’s a robot with a hectic schedule.
The temple attracts many IT people who are looking for inspiration or to find themselves. The temple holds free sessions for them.
“They can stay at the temple for several days or for a week, during which they are away from cell phones and the Internet,” said Master Xue. “Here they can sort out confusions in their minds and use the time to think and consider.”
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