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Venerable Miao Guang, Deputy Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, delivers a talk titled “Compassion and Tolerance in Times of Social-Political Unrest” at the invitation of Dr. Marcus Bingenheimer, Associate Professor of Temple University’s Department of Religion.

2024/10/10Temple University College of Liberal Arts Hosts Talk on Compassion and Tolerance in Times of Social-Political Unrest

On October 7, 2024, Venerable Miao Guang, Deputy Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, delivered a talk at the College of Liberal Arts' Department of Religion, Temple University, at the invitation of Associate Professor Marcus Bingenheimer. The talk, titled “Compassion and Tolerance in Times of Social-Political Unrest,” explored how Buddhist values of compassion and inclusion can address modern societal challenges. The event attracted faculty and students from the Department of Religion, including Professors Marcus Bingenheimer and Douglas Duckworth, as well as students from China, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Representatives from Fo Guang Shan, including Venerable Miao Fan, Chancellor of the Institute, also attended, with a total of 50 participants.

Venerable Miao Guang, James Chao, and Dr. Marcus Bingenheimer participate in the English forum on ”Compassion and Self-Compassion in Buddhism” at MIT.

2024/10/09Fo Guang Shan and MIT Host Panel Discussion on Compassion and Self-Compassion in Buddhism

On October 4, 2024, the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences co-hosted a panel as part of the T.T. and W.F. Chao Distinguished Buddhist Lecture Series, sponsored by the T.T. and W.F Chao Foundation. The panel featured three renowned speakers: Venerable Miao Guang, Deputy Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism and Director of the Fo Guang Buddhist Dictionary English Translation Project; James Chao, Senior Board Member of Westlake Chemical Corporation and MIT alumnus; and Dr. Marcus Bingenheimer, Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Temple University. The panel discussion, titled “Compassion and Self-Compassion in Buddhism,” was moderated by Professor Emma Teng, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations at MIT.

Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism held its first Buddhist talk at Rice University, drawing nearly 100 attendees.

2024/09/29Buddhist Talk at Rice University, Compassion as the Foundation of Inner Peace and Harmony

On September 27, 2024, Venerable Miao Guang, Deputy Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism was invited to deliver a talk at Rice University’s Kyle Morrow Room in Fondren Library in Houston. Titled “A Buddhist Path to Inner Peace and Harmony,” the event marked the first time Fo Guang Shan held a Buddhist talk on the Rice campus, attracting nearly 100 attendees. The event was attended by Fo Guang Shan benefactors James and Lydia Chao, Venerable Miao Fan, Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, and Venerable Chueh Fa, superintendent of the Fo Guang Shan Chung Mei Temple in Houston.

Buddhist Encounters offers not only a profound exposition of core Buddhist teachings but also a guide to integrating these principles into modern life. With wisdom and compassion, Dr. Lancaster guides us to transform fear into calmness.

2024/08/21Dr. Lewis Lancaster’s 2024 New Book Buddhist Encounters: Finding a Home in the Human Condition Launches in August

The latest work by Dr. Lewis R. Lancaster, Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Buddhist Encounters: Finding a Home in the Human Condition, offers a spiritual guide to navigate these concerns.

The new English edition of Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple was officially released by Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism (FGSIHB) in late August 2024, available as a three-volume box set.

2024/08/18New English Edition of Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple Offers Deeper Insights into Humanistic Buddhism

The new English edition of Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Founding Master of Fo Guang Shan, was officially released by Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism (FGSIHB) in late August 2024. Now available as a three-volume box set, this masterpiece provides English readers with a valuable resource to gain a deeper understanding of Buddhism in the 21st century.

The Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism convened five eminent Buddhist studies scholars and over 180 participants in an online panel to unveil the English BETA version of the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism (FGDB) on July 30, 2024.

2024/08/01FGDB English Digital Edition (BETA) Soft Launch Unveils Indispensable Asset for Buddhist Translation

The Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism convened five eminent Buddhist studies scholars and nearly 200 participants in an online panel to unveil the English BETA version of the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism (FGDB) on July 30, 2024.

Combining MITRA's technology and its corpus of over 3 million multilingual entries with the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism's 230,000 entries of bilingual Chinese-English corpora on Humanistic Buddhism to jointly develop a multilingual Buddhist AI translation tool. (Photo Credits: Yifan Yang)

2024/06/05MITRA Project at UC Berkeley and FGS Institute of Humanistic Buddhism Sign Official Agreement to Collaborate on Developing AI Tools for Buddhist Text Translation

On June 4, 2024, Venerable Miao Guang, Deputy Chancellor of the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, and Professor Kurt Keutzer, head of the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) laboratory and the MITRA project at the University of California, Berkeley, signed a cooperation agreement to develop artificial intelligence tools for translating Buddhist texts. The agreement aims to improve the efficiency and quality of English translations of Buddhist texts, such as the Buddhist Canon and the Complete Works of Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

Grace Huang, professional Chinese-English conference interpreter, teaches strategies including “paraphrasing,” “sight translation,” “shadowing and “multi-tasking,” helping students master interpretation techniques such as chunking, parts of speech conversion, adding or omitting information, and effort model, and introduces professional interpretation equipment and etiquette in translation booths.

2024/05/25Spreading the Dharma: The Second Basic Buddhist Interpretation Workshop

To train Buddhist interpreters and promote international Dharma propagation, the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, Department of Buddhist Studies at Fo Guang University, and the Fo Guang University Center for Buddhist Studies jointly organized the “2024 Second Basic Buddhist Interpretation Workshop” from May 17 to 19 at the Yun Shui Building, Fo Guang University. 32 participants from the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Netherlands, Argentina, Hong Kong, and Taiwan participated in the workshop to enhance their skills in Buddhist interpretation, and vow to share the compassion and wisdom of Buddhism.

美國加州大學柏克萊分校人工智能研究實驗室副研究員Sebastian Nehrdich博士，應財團法人佛光山人間佛教研究院邀請，4月23日於東禪樓主講「佛典翻譯與AI應用」英文講座，近百人出席。

2024/05/01UC Berkeley Collaborates with Fo Guang Shan in Developing AI Tool for Buddhist Texts Translation

Sebastian Nehrdich, Associate Specialist at University of California Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS), delivered a compelling talk “Buddhist Text Translation and AI Applications” on April 23, 2024 at Fo Guang Shan. Organized by the Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism (FGSIHB), the event drew nearly a hundred attendees, including the Institute's Chancellor Venerable Miao Fan, Deputy Chancellor Venerable Miao Guang, monastics, volunteers, and Tsung Lin University students. In his talk, Nehrdich outlined the evolution of machine translation and introduced Dharmamitra (MITRA), an AI translation tool he developed, which means “the friend of Dharma.” MITRA specializes in ancient languages of the Buddhist Tradition including Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Korean, English, and Chinese. Its three key features include 1. machine translations 2. semantic search, and 3. educational application (language learning). Nehrdich shared his journey in AI usage and how it led to the birth of MITRA. He started to use AI as his learning companion, with the initial goal of enhancing his understanding of the grammatical intricacies found in Buddhist texts. However, he soon encountered a significant challenge inherent in AI tools: the inability to track references and the potential for generating inaccurate content. Realizing this limitation, Nehrdich pivoted his focus towards creating an AI tool that prioritized accuracy and reliability, avoiding common pitfalls like content hallucinations. This endeavor led to the development of MITRA, a specialized AI translation tool for Buddhist texts. During the Q&A session, Nehrdich addressed queries on AI system’s training and adaptation to evolving languages. He emphasized the transformative potential of AI in smoothening the Buddhist text translation process. In closing remarks, Venerable Miao Guang emphasized the unstoppable impact of AI, urging cautious yet proactive use of AI for propagating Buddhist teachings. FGSIHB plans to further collaborate with MITRA to develop an AI translation platform for Buddhist texts, aiming to accelerate Dharma propagation worldwide. The event concluded with a heartfelt gesture as Venerable Miao Fan presented Nehrdich with a One-Stroke Calligraphy by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, expressing gratitude for his insightful presentation.

The “Workshop on AI Prompting” for the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism Translation Project, hosted by the FGS Institute of Humanistic Buddhism, was held online on April 23. Nearly 40 translators and data collectors from the USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Canada participated online.

2024/04/26FGDB Translation Workshop in Enhancing English Translation Efficiency with AI Prompting

Sebastian Nehrdich, Associate Specialist at University of California Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences (EECS), unveiled ways to improve translation fluency and accuracy with artificial intelligence (AI) in a “Workshop on AI Prompting” on April 23 ,2024 for the Fo Guang Dictionary of Buddhism (FGDB) Translation Project. Hosted by the FGS Institute of Humanistic Buddhism (FGSIHB), nearly 40 translators and data collectors from the USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Canada participated online. The training session emphasized AI command usage for efficient translation. Nehrdich, an AI specialist, introduced simple prompts that would make a huge difference in translation efficiency and quality through popular AI tools. Using Claude as an example, he demonstrated that with simple prompts, translators can utilize AI for sentence analyses and word-for-word explanations. This would enhance translators' comprehension of ambiguous sentences. Nehrdich also explained how AI algorithms, closely linked to databases, can be prompted to explain and translate complex Buddhist text sentences accurately. In response, Venerable Miao Guang suggested retranslating AI translations into the source language to ensure semantic integrity. In addition to AI mechanisms and translation efficiency, Nehrdich’s introduction on the functions of Dharmamitra Translator (MITRA), a free innovative Buddhist AI translation tool, also stressed the importance of using multiple AI tools to enhance accuracy and translators’ understanding of the source text. As he translated the same sentence with both Claude and MITRA, he highlighted MITRA’s feature of translating ancient Buddhist texts from and into languages including Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. With this function, MITRA becomes a valuable tool for translators, helping them understand and translate difficult sentences as coherent wholes. Referencing on AI tools’ analyses and translations, translators would be equipped to deliver highly accurate translations. At the end of the workshop, Nehrdich used car manufacturing as a metaphor to highlight the collaborative relationship between AI and human translators, indicating that even the best performing cars (AI tools) require skilled drivers (human). He looked forward to future workshops on AI tools with the FGDB project to further advance translation practices. To accelerate worldwide Dharma propagation, FGSIHB aims to collaborate with MITRA in developing an AI translation platform for Buddhist texts and The Complete Works of Venerable Master Hsing Yun. The Institute also plans to conduct more workshops with similar themes.

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Temple University College of Liberal Arts Hosts Talk on Compassion and Tolerance in Times of Social-Political Unrest