Our View
The Buddha Lab is an innovative research and development initiative dedicated to exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and Buddhist practice. Rather than rejecting technology or adopting it uncritically, our Lab seeks a middle path—leveraging AI's potential to support authentic Dharma transmission while protecting the integrity of Buddhist teachings.
Our Mission
Our mission is threefold: to foster discernment in an age where authentic and artificial content are increasingly difficult to distinguish, to establish ethical guidelines for AI use in Buddhist contexts, and to create tools that genuinely serve practitioners' path to liberation through creative use of technology.
Our Work
The Buddha Lab is a research initiative exploring how artificial intelligence can support authentic Buddhist practice while protecting dharma integrity. Rather than rejecting or blindly adopting AI, it seeks a middle path—using technology skillfully to enhance accessibility and understanding while maintaining clear ethical boundaries.
Prajna AI HUB
Prajna AI Hub: Digital Dharma Discernment Addresses the crisis of AI-generated Buddhist content flooding online spaces. Provides ethical frameworks distinguishing skillful from harmful AI uses, educational resources for identifying synthetic content, and develops two detection tools: Bhante AI (a chatbot analyzing images, texts, videos, and teachings for AI generation) and Dharma Guard (a browser extension flagging AI content on social media). Includes a comprehensive Baseline Discernment Study measuring practitioners' ability to distinguish authentic materials from AI-generated content.
Alaya SoundLab
Alaya SoundLab: Buddhist Teachings as Contemporary Music Transforms human-translated Buddhist texts into accessible music across modern genres—rock, jazz, psychedelic, samba, bossa nova, and more. Leveraging how music creates lasting neural pathways, the lab makes profound teachings memorable and culturally relevant, especially for younger generations. AI handles production while humans provide translations, creative direction, and curation.
The deeper vision is seeding a movement where talented human musicians create authentic Dharma music.
Nalanda Debate AI
Nalanda Debate AI: Classical Philosophy Education Features specialized chatbots representing five major Buddhist philosophical schools (Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Yogācāra, Svātantrika Madhyamaka, Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka) plus Prama, a bot teaching traditional Tibetan debate methodology. Operates in two modes: general philosophical study and formal debate practice. Designed as supplementary Logic and Debate training, not replacement for human teachers.
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Core Principles
The Lab operates on five ethical foundations: transparency (clear AI labeling), lineage respect (never fabricating transmissions or teachers), human primacy (AI enhances rather than replaces qualified humans), shared learning (community-driven development), and beneficial impact (genuinely serving liberation).
