|
|
The yogi as computer
The Fourteenth Dalai Lama is especially interested in the phenomenon of artificial intelligence. Since the mind is independent of the body in the Buddhist teachings, a pattern of spiritual synapses so to speak, he is of the opinion that it is possible for it to be reborn not just in people but also in machines: „I can』t totally rule out the possibility that,」 the god-king says, „that all the external conditions and the karmic action were there, a stream of consciousness might actually enter into a computer. […] There is a possibility that a scientist who is very much involved his whole life [with computers], than the next life [he would be reborn in a computer], same process! [laughter] Then this machine which is half-human and half-machine has been reincarnated.」 (Hayward, 1992, p. 152) (Hayward, 1992, p. 152). In answer to a subsequent question by Eleanor Rosch, a well-known cognitive psychologist from California, as to whether a great yogi who stood before the best computer in the world would be able to project his subtle consciousness into it, His Holiness replied enigmatically: „I feel this question about computers will be resolved only by time. We just have to wait and see until it actually happens.」 (Hayward, 1992, p. 153).
His Holiness casually grounds the possibility of taking the computer as a model for the spirit through a reference to an ancient magical practice of Tibetan Buddhism. This is known as Trongjug and involves a yogi transplanting his consciousness into a 「freshly」 deceased cadaver and then using this reanimated corpse for his own purposes (Evans-Wentz, 1937, p. 184). „In this case」, His Holiness says, „there is a total change of the body. [...] It』s very mystical, but imagine a person, a Tantric practitioner who actually transfers his consciousness to a fresh corpse. His previous body is dead; it has left and is finished. Now he has entered the new body. So in this case, you see, he has a completely new body but it』s the same life, the same person」 (Hayward, 1992, p. 155). Images of this kind can be translated into computer terms without father ado: The 「fresh corpse」 forms the hardware so to speak, which stores the awareness of the Tantric who uses the dead body for his own ends as software.
In addition, such Tantric Buddhist speculations can lead one to perceive a subjectivity independent of humans in the 「Internet」 and 「cyberspace」, a kind of superconscious. Could not the spirit of the supreme Kalachakra master, independent of a human body, one day control the international network of all computers from the inside? As fantastic and uncanny as it may sound, it is at any rate a theoretical possibility within the tantric system that such a question be answered with a yes. For this reason it is also taken seriously in exile Tibetan lama circles, by the Namgyal institute for example. The Namgyal monks are essentially commissioned to conduct the Kalachakra Tantra and are under the direct authority of the Dalai Lama. This institution can also be described as a kind of Tantric Buddhist 「elite university」.
On February 8, 1996, His Holiness』s tantra institute posted a 「Curriculum on Cyberspace」 online. This document is of interest in as far as it is about the occult relationship between Tantrism, especially the Kalachakra Tantra, and the Internet. We would therefore like to cite several lengthier passages from it: 「Cyberspace is a dimension of space sustained by networked computers designed to extend the power of the mind. Remarkably, the Internet often appears almost mystically to have a life of its own that is more than the sum of its parts. Mental projections can of course yield both positive and negative uses and results. Tibetan Buddhism, known for its mastery of the mind, has an area of concentration called 『tantra』 that specializes in bringing spiritual motivation to the realm of mental projections …」 (Namgyal, HPI 012). From this, the authors continue, follows the need to have a Buddhist influence upon the net, to bless it and purify it.
The document continues as follows: the monks of the Namgyal Institute, 「the personal monastery of the Dalai Lama, [were asked] to discuss whether the blessing of cyberspace would be possible. They enthusiastically responded, noting that one tantric system in particular, the Kalachakra Tantra, … would be highly appropriate as a blessing vehicle because it especially emphasizes space … Coincidentally, the Kalachakra is also the most widely disseminated of the Tibetan Buddhist tantric systems…」 (Namgyal, HPI 012). Cyberspace, we also learn, could be used as the vehicle for a tantric projection (i.e., of the Kalachakra Tantra).
Thus the Namgyal Institute conducted the first Kalachakra cyberspace blessing with a ritual on February 8, 1996: 「The actual ceremony took about 30 minutes and consisted of the monks chanting blessing prayers from the Kalachakra Tantra while envisioning space as cyberspace, the networked realm of computers, in their imagination. An image of the Kalachakra mandala, actually a scanned photo of a sand painting made earlier by the monks, was present on a computer as a visual aid … Future cyberspace blessings will likely be offered at other auspicious times …」 (Namgyal, HPI 012). It should be obvious that the monks』 prayers contained the constantly recited Mahayana wish to help all living beings. The vision of a global Buddhocracy discussed in the Kalachakra Tantra, however, is not openly mentioned. [7]
There is something both fascinating and frightening about Buddhist theoreticians and even the Dalai Lama depicting Tantrism as the potential awareness of a world-spanning megacomputer. In this an identity of the ADI BUDDHA as a global superbrain is implicit. Does it perhaps have something to do with this Buddhist vision that His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama made himself available for an advertisement by the computer manufacturer, Apple? (Spiegel, 16/1998). [8]
In reading the literature about the structures of consciousness and their relation to computer technology, it is notable that 「tantra」 and 「net」 are frequently compared with one another, not just because the Sanskrit word 「tantra」 can be translated as 「something woven」 or 「network」, but because the two systems are somehow presumed to be fundamentally related. Surprisingly even such a complex thinker as the astrophysicist and systems theorist Erich Jantsch –probably out of ignorance of the matter — has (in the late seventies) equated the principle of 「cybernetic leaning processes」 with Tantrism (Jantsch, 1982, p. 324).
In October 1987, a small group of well-known Western scientists headed by Francisco Varela traveled to Dharamsala to take part in a several-day seminar on neurobiology, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary theory with the Dalai Lama. There were daily meetings with an expert paper and subsequent discussion. The intention behind the whole event was however ultimately directed at just one question — how could the latest discoveries in the most advanced branches of scientific research be derived from Buddhism? After every expert paper one heard, yes, Buddhism already says that too! Admittedly, His Holiness spoke emotionally about a 「combination of Western science and Eastern spiritual development」, but at heart it was not about cooperation, but rather the consolidation of the Buddhist paradigm described about. In the meantime such meetings between His Holiness and Western scientists have become institutionalized by Dharamsala and take place annually 「Mind and Life」).
Many researchers from the West, starved of mystic experiences for decades, have finally found their spiritual master in the 「living Buddha」 from Dharamsala. They have become converts to Buddhism like Francisco Varela or the nuclear physicist David Bohm, or, like Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, they fall into a kind of private ecstasy when confronted with the Kundun. Although His Holiness』s 「scientific」 interventions remain very general and abstract and in fact repeatedly boil down to just a handful of epistemological statements, he is nonetheless treated as a 「colleague」 by a number of scientists, behind whom the omniscience of a yogi shines forth. „Well, as has often been the case in this conference,」 Francisco Varela enthuses for example, „Your Holiness, seem to anticipate the scientists』 questions」 (Hayward, 1992, p. 230). |
|
狗仔卡
提升卡
置頂卡
沉默卡
喧囂卡
變色卡
搶沙發
樓主
