Digital Humanistic Buddhism:

A New Approach to Contemporary Buddhist Studies

The Centre for Humanistic Buddhism
The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong

Digital Research Project

Śākyamuni 3D

Equipped with an innovative 3D/AR model viewer, this web-based tool aims to help people understand the 32 distinguishing bodily features of Gautama Buddha in an interactive way.

Background

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and text processing provide us new ways to digitize valuable Buddhist assets and primary information (including ancient and modern works) and make them available for public access and could be a game changer in the dissemination of Humanistic Buddhism in the digital era. It is against this background that we put forward a new concept called “Digital Humanistic Buddhism”, which focuses on research on the use and development of state-of-the-art digital technology for the innovative creation/presentation of information on Humanistic Buddhism and the dissemination of Buddhist thoughts.

Objectives

The research project aims to

1

Set up projects to explore innovative technologies (or development of tools/applications/games and products) to make content relating to Humanistic Buddhism in different languages/media available for Buddhists, scholars, and the community at large, with a focus on the following areas:

(a) Technology for Buddhist Translation
(b) Natural Language Processing for Buddhist texts
(c) Visualization and Buddhist Manuscripts
(d) Computational Approaches to Buddhist Studies

2

Promote the use of technologies in the context of Humanistic Buddhism (as well as challenges, opportunities, and issues thereof) through various channels and increase the public awareness of the importance of human-computer interaction in dharma preaching

3

Serve as a pilot project for larger-scale projects on Digital Buddhism

Online talk 1: Digital Visualization of Buddhist Heritage

The proposed theme of the first online talk is “Digital Visualization of Buddhist Heritage”. It aims to introduce state-of-the-art digital approaches to the preservation of Buddhist monuments, excavated artifacts, and epigraphic manuscripts.

Online talk 2: Technology for Translating Buddhist Texts

The theme of the second online talk is “Technology for Translating Buddhist Texts”, with a focus on the latest AI-driven applications that facilitate the translation of Buddhist texts. Innovative computational methods for analysing the history of Buddhist scripture translation will also be discussed.

Online international conference: Humanistic Buddhism in the Digital Era

The proposed theme of the conference is “Humanistic Buddhism in the Digital Era: The Way Forward”. Researchers from different academic institutions will be invited to present their papers on possible research directions for Digital Humanistic Buddhism in the 21st century.

Digital Humanistic Buddhism: A New Approach to Contemporary Buddhist Studies