Come meet Gabi, a Buddhist monk in South Korea who happens to be a robot

Sure, why not?

Buddhist monks in South Korea have welcomed a new member to their fold recently, and something about it just makes sense.

Soulless? Droning? Obedient? No mind of its own?

I think Gabi has actually already made it to Nirvana!

Here's the New York Times with more on the Buddha Bot:

On Wednesday, Gabi became the first robot to be ordained as a monk in South Korea by the country's largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order. The name Gabi means Buddha's mercy.

'The ordination of a robot signifies that technology must be used in accordance with the values of compassion, wisdom, and responsibility,' the order said in a statement, 'and symbolizes new possibilities for the coexistence of humans and technology.'

I mean, I know that we Christians have our AI chatbot Jesus, whatever demon runs that, but this is Korea's largest sect of Buddhism. It's the top of the top, and they want to integrate man and machine to achieve enlightenment or something.

I guess uploading your consciousness to the cloud kind of sounds similar to the endpoint of Buddhism. That may be why it's such a popular religion in the tech world.

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.

We're cool Buddhist monks. Not those stuffy boring kinds!

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.

"Not overcharging."

Because in our escape from this world we want to make sure we don't have too many emissions.

Of course, we know this won't stay with the Buddhists.

Today Nirvana, tomorrow ...