sujato

@sujato

Buddhist mendicant. Pali translations: Forum: Recorded talks: Events: The Monastery at the End of the World Writings: 🚫 AI

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sujato@sujato· 26d

Space is beyond human frontiers, and the nationalist and colonialist thinking that has lead to such horrors on earth is driving us to destruction. We are not exceptions; life is common in the cosmos. But we are confined here, custodians of this precious earth.

019A0012.NEF
Crescent Earth Over Lunar Horizon

art002e015231 (April 6, 2026) – The Artemis II crew captures a faint view of a crescent Earth above the horizon on the Moon’s far side.
Image Credit: NASA

sujato@sujato· Jul 12

Hey now I don't have to learn to crochet! The fine art has reached its apotheosis thanks to Ven Pasanna.

Ven Pasanna & Ven Sujato holding up a crocheted "No AI" sign, on a ferry on Parramatta River.

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

Fyodorov rejected the notion of aliens, regarding them as either extremely unlikely or not morally consequential (here driven by Christian exceptionalism). Like colonialists who declared *terra nullius*, he assumed we could colonize other worlds because nothing of value was there.

What is more fantastic - to create a moral society by postulating the existence of other beings in other worlds and envisioning the emigration thither of souls, the existence of which cannot be proven , or to transform this transcendental migration into an immanent one - that is, to make such a migration the goal of human activity ?

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

Expansion is inevitable (extropism). See Trump's "pursuing our manifest destiny into the farthest depths of the cosmos".

The destiny of the Earth convinces us that human activity cannot be bounded by the limits of the planet .

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

Interestingly, he didn't position his view as innovative, but regarded it as natural and lost to time. The purpose of space travel is to colonize new worlds to accommodate all the resurrected ancestors. (Yes, literally.)

The prejudice that the celestial expanse is unattainable to man has grown gradually over the centuries, but cannot have existed ab initio . Only the loss of tradition and the separation of men of thought from men of action gave birth to this prej udice . However , for the sons of man the celestial worlds are the future homes of the ancestors , since the skies will be attainable only to the resurrected an·d the resurrecting . The exploration of outer space is only the preparation for these future dwelling places.

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

He develops the argument that colonization of space is necessary in light of the fragility of earth (cosmism). This is of course mainstream in TESCREAL circles these days. Note tho that Fyodorov didn't use this to justify trashing the earth, but rather was very environmentalist.

Our sun is dimming , however slowly, and we are right to say that the hour will come when it will no longer give light , that 'the time is at hand ' . The extinction of stars (sudden or slow) is an instructive example , a terrifying warning . The growing exhaustion of the soil, the destruction of forests , distortions of the meteorological process manifested in floods and droughts - all this forebodes 'famines and plagues' and prompts us to heed the warning . Apart from a slowly advancing end , we cannot be certain whether a sudden catastrophe may not befall the Earth , this tiny grain of sand in the vastness of the Universe . - And yet , planet Earth is perhaps the only bearer of salvation , and the other millions of worlds merely nature's unsuccessful attempts.

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

He has some things to say about Buddhism. Safe to say, he didn't know much about it. Moving on!

Buddhism, negative and passive, grieves also over evil, but does not see disunity, hate and enmity as the greatest evil ; nor does it see unification and universal love as the greatest good . On the contrary, Buddhism hopes to destroy evil by abdicating love and affection . It encourages life in isolation, in separateness, in the desert ; a lite-of constant meditationand inaction ; and then laments the lilusoriness of the world. As if not only thoughts and day-dreams but also the manifestations of the forces of nature - uncontrolled by us - are nothing but ghostly, elusive, transient phenomena indistinguishable from visions and mirages ! Therefore life itself becomes either a pleasant but delusory dream or an oppressive nightmare . Indeed, natural phenomena will remain visions until they become the product of the general will and activity of all humans, acting as God's tools. And notions will remain ghostly and dream-like until they become proj ects, blueprints for the works to be achieved

sujato@sujato· Jul 7

This gives a rather nice summary of the current situation regarding the transition to solar energy. But more notable is his idea that such communication is the earth's "consciousness". This idea, directly or indirectly, inspired the invention of Bluesky.

Global communications by land and sea, rail and ship, require energy . Past energy received by the planet and embodied in coal, peat, and the like, is insufficient to maintain unifying communications among the inhabitants of the Earth ; so use will have to be made of the force which gives rise to storms, hurricanes, and so on. A united humanity will become the consciousness of the planet Earth and of its relationships with other heavenly bodies.

sujato@sujato· Jun 22

By this measure, the work of the Buddha and Buddhists is dangerous, since our path proceeds without reference to God; and it has been repressed as such by Catholics for centuries. But after centuries of colonization, our perspective is not worth mentioning. 15/22 suttacentral.net/an3.61/en/su...

Quote from AN 3.61: Regarding this, I went up to the ascetics and brahmins whose view is that everything that an individual person experiences is because of God Almighty’s creation, and I said to them: ‘Is it really true that this is the venerables’ view?’ And they answered, ‘Yes’. I said to them: ‘In that case, you might kill living creatures, steal, be unchaste; use speech that’s false, backbiting, harsh, or nonsensical; be covetous, malicious, or have wrong view, all because of God Almighty’s creation.’

sujato@sujato· Jun 22

It cites male patriarchs over 200 times, Hannah Arendt being the only exception. Yet its criticisms of AI are drawn from a field long dominated by female, trans, and non-white scholars, none of whom are cited. AI itself, of course, does the same thing. Here’s the audience the Pope addressed. 5/22

The audience for the Pope’s delivery of the encyclical, consisting almost entirely of male patriarchs of the Catholic Church.

sujato@sujato· Jun 17

o no, the horror!

Interior of an underground house in Coober Pedy, with a comfy couch and telly, clean floor, and walls carved from living rock.

sujato@sujato· May 16

Anyway, here’s Achilles dressed as a woman getting arrested by dark-skinned soldiers on the Greek island of Skyros. It's a Pompeii mural. Eerily, Achilles' expression looks just like a classics scholar when the nazisphere weighs in on Greek mythology.

Not sure what to put here, the image is described in the post! But have a great day anyway.

sujato@sujato· May 15

Check it out: The Dharma in the Meta-Crisis, a webinar by Sabina Rabold. She's an old friend, and we discussed these issues as part of her Phd research. Highly recommended. events.humanitix.com/dharma-in-th...

This is an image of a flyer for the event "The Dharma in the Meta-Crisis". For full text, go to the link in the main post.

sujato@sujato· May 14

Sydney morning

A view of Sydney looking east from Parramatta

sujato@sujato· Apr 30

Production of oil and gas. Here’s a graph from www.norskpetroleum.no/en/productio... Pretty much been the same for a quarter century. They anticipate a slight decline over the next few years, but that's just speculation. Which leads me to conclude that …

Historical and expected oil and gas production in Norway, 1970-2030. Real numbers rise from almost nothing at the start of the 70s, peaking around 2000 at about 240 cubic metres of oil equivalent. To 2025 production was similar, and is projected to fall slightly by 2030.

sujato@sujato· Apr 30

3. Energy intensity, i.e. primary energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product. Substantially more wealth per energy. But what really matters is …

Norway energy intensity, down from 4.18kWh in 1965 to 1 kWh in 2024.

sujato@sujato· Apr 30

2. Share of primary energy consumption from fossil fuels—down from 33.5% in 1965 to 28.19% in 2024. Not really all that dramatic tbh. More interesting is

Share of primary energy consumption from fossil fuels, 33% in 1965 to 28.2% in 2024.

sujato@sujato· Apr 30

My timeline is full of people telling me how miraculous Norway’s energy transmission is, especially due to EVs. Let’s check. Data from: ourworldindata.org/profile/ener... 1. Share of primary energy consumption from low-carbon sources—up 5% in 60 years. This correlates to …

Share of primary energy consumption from low-carbon sources in Norway has risen from 66.5% in 1965 to 71.8% in 2024. That’s 5% in 60 years.

sujato@sujato· Apr 29

The whole interview is grim, this utter disconnect from the idea that art *has something to say*. And the way they parrot AI industry talking points as fact. It's from 2023, when apparently "Everyone's talking about the metaverse", and they’re making predictions like:

Excerpt from interview quoted in OP. Interviewer: How many years do you think before AI can actually create – this is obviously a guess – but how long before AI can create a movie that's like, “Oh wait, that's AI, and that's a movie?”

RUSSO: Two years?

MUSTARD: Yeah, less.

sujato@sujato· Apr 21

Here's the global trend from the Lancet showing the same thing. “In countries with generally legal abortion (excluding China and India), [the abortion rate] declined by 43 percent. In countries with severe restrictions, the rate increased by around 12 percent.” www.cfr.org/articles/abo...

Between 1990–94 and 2015–19, the average abortion rate in countries with generally legal abortion (excluding China and India) declined by 43 percent. By contrast, in countries with severe restrictions on abortion, the average abortion rate increased by around 12 percent.

sujato@sujato· Apr 16

No. Also, nice ratio.

Stats if OP: 135 comments, 136 reposts, 5 likes.

sujato@sujato· Apr 14

Here's a slightly updated version, I got a couple of details wrong above, please use this if posting or citing.

SuttaCentral does not permit the use of our work in any manner by AI, per the licensing page at https://suttacentral.net/licensing:

SuttaCentral does not make use of artifically-generated data. We politely request that our content not be scraped or used in any way for the creation of datasets for generative AI or similar. This request applies to those who create applications directly, and those who build apps downstream of AI models that have scraped SuttaCentral’s data.
In addition, our translations include the following metadata prohibiting scraping:

<meta name="robots" content="noai, noimageai">
I and my colleagues have worked for over a decade to create an accurate and readable translation of the Pali Suttas. Our work for SuttaCentral is not for profit, and we have been generous in releasing our work for the use of all sentient beings under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0). At the same time, however, we have always requested that our work be used in accordance with the values and principles of the Buddhist community.
It is most certainly not in accord with Buddhist tradition to take the Buddha’s words, mutilate them in a language model, reconstitute new forms of data on a probabilistic basis, and pass off what emerges as a meaningful expression of the Buddha’s words. Make no mistake, the CC0 dedication simply means that we will not take anyone to court. It is unacceptable to use this as an excuse to appropriate my work and use it against my explicit request to create a desecration of the Buddha’s words.
Since introducing these policies, I have been contacted by several projects asking to use our work. I have refused every request. Further, VeritasChain Inc. and Mr. Tokachi Kamimura have never contacted SuttaCentral, and they do not have consent to use my translations for their commercial AI application. I request that they cease using our work immediately. Under no circumstances is any use of SuttaCentral work by AI acceptable.
I am grateful to …

sujato@sujato· Apr 8

Seems a good time to repost this: Indian women celebrating their successful Mars flyby. One of these sarees is now in the Smithsonian! www.si.edu/object/saree...

Women in sarees hugging and celebrating that successful Mars flyby of the Indian Space Agency.

sujato@sujato· Apr 8

On a whim I thought, what happens if you throw this article in an "AI detector". I did 4, pretty much what you'd expect: 88%, 85%, 25%, 0%. What a stunning technology it is.

Screenshot of four "AU detector" websites showing their purported probability of the Arstechnica article being AI. Percentages are: 88, 85, 25, 0.

sujato@sujato· Apr 6

“On this day 40 years ago, Rexie the wonder dog became the first German shepherd in Australia to be presented with an order of merit. Rexie was famed for being able to detect (by a claimed "sixth sense") when would-be suicides were intending to jump from The Gap at Watsons Bay. 1/3

sujato@sujato· Apr 4

My work has been, yet again, scraped up for use in a so-called “Buddhist” AI, this time in Japan. I’m working with Nagabodhi Ryushun Kusanagi, a Japanese Dhamma author to get them to stop. Here’s the official SuttaCentral statement on the matter.

SuttaCentral does not permit the use of our work in any manner by AI.
SuttaCentral does not make use of artifically-generated data. We politely request that our content not be scraped or used in any way for the creation of datasets for generative AI or similar. This request applies to those who create applications directly, and those who build apps downstream of AI models that have scraped SuttaCentral’s
data.
My colleagues and I have worked for over a decade to create an accurate and readable translation of the Pali Suttas. We have been generous in releasing our work for the use of all sentient beings under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0). At the same time, however, we have always requested that our work be used in accordance
with the values and principles of the Buddhist community.
It is most certainly not in accord with Buddhist tradition to take the Buddha’s words, mutilate them in a language model, reconstitute new forms of data on a probabilistic basis, and pass off what emerges as a meaningful expression of the Buddha’s words. The CC0 dedication simply means that we will not take anyone to court. It is unacceptable to use this as an excuse to appropriate my work and use it against my explicit request to create a desecration of the Buddha’s words.
VeritasChain Inc. and Mr. Tokachi Uemura have never contacted SuttaCentral, and they do not have consent to use my translations for their commercial AI application.
I am grateful to have been alerted in this matter by Nagabodhi Ryushun Kusanagi, whose work is also under threat. I fully support his efforts to prevent the corruption of Buddhism in Japan by AI. What is produced by AI is a counterfeit whose only purpose is to create delusion, tricking people into hallucinating meaning into it. I reiterate my request that under no circumstances may my work, and the work of SuttaCentral in general, be used for AI.
Bhikkhu Sujato
Co-founder and leader of SuttaCentral
4/4/2026

sujato@sujato· Mar 28

The Buddha once told of two acrobats on a pole. This is the sport of mallakambha, shown here on pottery of 200 BCE from Chandaketugarh, not far from the Sutta’s setting. Both pottery and Sutta depict a female acrobat. Also, in the Sutta they are caṇḍāla, from the despised caste of corpse-workers.

Photo of pottery from Chandraketughar. It is artistically excellent and well-preserved, though showing some signs of wear. The central scene shows three acrobats: one man kneeling down holding upright in his hands a T-shaped pole whose height and width is roughly a man’s height. From the crossbar of the pole hang two acrobats, one male and one female. The male is dangling from his feet, while the female grasps the pole with both hands and feet as she dangles. Around them is a crowd of five people, four of them women, all apparently marvelling at the display. They are dressed in the characteristic style of Chandraketughar art, with elaborate jewellery on wrists, upper arms, ankles, necks, ears, and waist, as well as ornate hairdos. All are topless and wear dhotis that are depicted as diaphanous and do not conceal the genitals. Men and women are dressed similarly, except the women have a fancy girdle. The whole scene is surrounded by by a bowl-shaped floral decoration, on either side of which are two large, plump, male figures squatting down.

sujato@sujato· Mar 23

Nimmita means "created". It's attested in the Brihadaranyaka in this extraordinary passage. Here, nirmā is "putting them back together". I believe this passage is speaking of deep meditation, specifically the entrance to jhana, deliberately hidden in the language of dream.

Screenshot of Upanishad text, Olivelle translation: Now, this person has just two places—this world and the other world. And there is a third, the place of dream where the two meet. Standing there in the place where the two meet, he sees both those places—this world and the other world. Now, that place serves as an entryway to the other world, and as he moves through that entryway he sees both the bad things and the joys. This is how he dreams. He takes materials from the entire world and, taking them apart on his own and then on his own putting them back together, he dreams with his own radiance, with his own light. In that place this person becomes his own light.

sujato@sujato· Mar 16

Turns out we can. Bluesky's Inter has an optional disambiguated character set. To turn it on in a browser: use Stylus, add this to bsky.app: div { font-feature-settings: 'ss02'!important; } et voila! Seems like this would be good to have as a user setting @bsky.app

Screenshot of the post above, with Al visually disambiguated from AI.

sujato@sujato· Mar 8

There is a connection. Patriarchal beliefs and institutions attract insecure men (“babies” according to his mother) who revel in subjugating the weak. Whether in secular or religious life, those who side with top-down patriarchy and against equality for women are enabling men like this.