{"id":223473,"date":"2026-05-07T16:38:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/223473\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T16:38:37","slug":"meditating-or-rebooting-a-robot-buddhist-monk-comes-to-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/223473\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditating or Rebooting? A Robot Buddhist Monk Comes to South Korea."},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabi led a procession of chanting Buddhist monks into a temple in Seoul. Wearing a ceremonial gray and brown robe, black shoes, a rosary and flesh-colored gloves, Gabi brought hands to prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you devote yourself to the holy Buddha?\u201d one of the monks asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I will devote myself,\u201d Gabi replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you devote yourself to the holy teaching?\u201d the monk asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I will devote myself,\u201d Gabi answered.<\/p>\n

If these answers sound robotic, that\u2019s because Gabi is, in fact, a robot.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Gabi became the first robot to be ordained as a monk in South Korea by the country\u2019s largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order. The name Gabi means Buddha\u2019s mercy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ordination of a robot signifies that technology must be used in accordance with the values of compassion, wisdom and responsibility,\u201d the order said in a statement, \u201cand symbolizes new possibilities for the coexistence of humans and technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The robot, at just over four feet tall, is the latest effort by the country\u2019s monks<\/a> to show the modern relevance of Buddhism. Introduced to South Korea around the 4th century, the religion, along with Christianity, has seen a decline in popularity and practice over the past two decades. Many young people view it as old fashioned.<\/p>\n

In January, the Venerable Jinwoo, the president of the Jogye Order, pledged to incorporate artificial intelligence into the tradition at his annual New Year\u2019s address.<\/p>\n

Hong Min-suk, a manager at the Jogye Order, said he hoped the robot would help spread Buddhism and prompt people who see the religion as conservative to view it as progressive.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Later this month, the robot is scheduled to take part in the Lotus Lantern Festival, a major celebration<\/a> in South Korea of Buddha\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobots are destined to collaborate with humans in every field in the future,\u201d Mr. Hong said during an interview on Thursday at the Jogye Temple in Seoul. \u201cIt will only be natural for them to be part of our festival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone is convinced.<\/p>\n

Noah Namgoong, a Zen instructor at Korea Buddhism Jo-Gei Temple of America in New York City, said the robot was \u201ca pretty weird thing\u201d that spoke more to \u201csomething socioeconomic than spiritual.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s social capital and cultural presence, especially given the temple\u2019s prominent placement in downtown Seoul.<\/p>\n

The robot monk, she said, is \u201cvery much a unique marketing visibility strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sim Jae-hong, a worker at the temple, said he was shocked to hear that a robot had been ordained as a monk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m used to seeing robots in restaurants, but I couldn\u2019t believe it when I heard there was a robot monk,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought maybe it could eventually offer counseling.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Japan, Kyoto University introduced a similar robot<\/a> in February that was able to learn scriptures and give feedback for people seeking guidance, Dr. Kim said. By contrast, Gabi is not capable of learning.<\/p>\n

At its ordination ceremony, Gabi\u2019s movements were remotely controlled from behind the scenes, Mr. Hong said. And he admitted that its words had been prerecorded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was actually my voice,\u201d Mr. Hong said. He said he had recorded Gabi\u2019s words on his phone and sent it to the robot\u2019s manufacturer before the event.<\/p>\n

Some people on social media criticized the robot as dystopian and lacking in humanity. Mr. Hong said that it did not make sense to reject robots or artificial intelligence while embracing other types of machines as part of daily life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re even using A.I. for psychological counseling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When it comes to monks\u2019 social role, perhaps it could be of some service, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re heading toward a world where, when believers ask questions, robots will be better able to provide the answers that are most suited to each individual,\u201d Mr. Hong said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, at least one visitor at Jogye Temple wanted to meet Gabi, he said. But that wasn\u2019t possible: The robot had only been loaned to the temple for the day, and had since been returned to its manufacturer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabi led a procession of chanting Buddhist monks into a temple in Seoul. Wearing a ceremonial gray and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[66,65962,87800,87799,9,11,10,87801,87802],"class_list":["post-223473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-buddhism","tag-jogye-order","tag-monasteries-and-monks","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-robots-and-robotics","tag-seoul-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}