Gabi led a procession of chanting Buddhist monks into the Jogye Temple in Seoul on Wednesday. Wearing a ceremonial gray and brown robe, black shoes, a rosary and flesh-colored gloves, Gabi brought hands to prayer.
“Will you devote yourself to the holy Buddha?” one of the monks asked, according to Yonhap, a Korean news agency.
“Yes, I will devote myself,” Gabi replied.
“Will you devote yourself to the holy teaching?” the monk asked.
“Yes, I will devote myself,” Gabi answered.
If these answers sound robotic, that’s because Gabi is, in fact, a robot.
At just over four feet tall, Gabi became South Korea’s first robot monk when it joined the Jogye Order, the country’s largest Buddhist sect. The name Gabi is the Korean word for mercy.
“We tried to give a name that is not too hard to pronounce and old-fashioned, and a name that stands for spreading Buddha’s mercy around the world,” the Venerable Seong Won, who oversees cultural affairs at the Jogye Order, told Yonhap.
The robot is the latest effort by the country’s monks to show the modern relevance of Buddhism. Introduced to Korea around the 4th century, the religion has seen a decline in popularity and practice.
In January, the Venerable Jinwoo, the president of the Jogye Order, pledged to incorporate artificial intelligence into the tradition at his annual New Year’s address.
During the ceremony on Wednesday, a monk presented Gabi with five precepts, or vows, for a Buddhist robot to live by: respecting life and not hurting it; not damaging other robots and objects; following humans and not talking back to them; not behaving or speaking in a deceptive manner; and saving energy and not overcharging.
The order developed precepts using the Gemini and ChatGPT A.I. chatbots, Yonhap reported.
Noah Namgoong, a Zen instructor at Korea Buddhism Jo-Gei Temple of America in New York City, said the robot was “a pretty weird thing” that spoke more to “something socioeconomic than spiritual.”
Buddhism has never been a religion of proselytizing, said Sujung Kim, an anthropology professor at Johns Hopkins University who focuses on Buddhism in East Asia. But the introduction of a robot monk may be a play to bolster the religion’s social capital and cultural presence, especially given the temple’s prominent placement in downtown Seoul.
The robot monk, she said, is “very much a unique marketing visibility strategy.”
Kyoto University in Japan introduced a similar robot in February that was able to learn scriptures and give feedback for people seeking guidance, Dr. Kim said. By contrast, Korean news media showed videos of Gabi waving its hands instead of bowing.
While its abilities may be limited, the Korean robot does address a central theme in Buddhism: What does it really mean to be a human being?
“The thing about this question is that it’s beyond logic, beyond reasoning, beyond ability to think,” Mr. Namgoong said, making it difficult for a robot to truly consider, given that “it doesn’t have a mind.”
But when it comes to the social function of a monk, perhaps it could be of some service.
“A monk is here to basically help other people liberate themselves,” he said. “So if this robot can help others liberate themselves, it can be helpful.”
