Latest News
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.
News
2024/10/10
Fo Guang Shan Institute of Humanistic Buddhism

Temple 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.

News

Year
  • {{selectedItem.fullText}}
Sort by:
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.

No.153, Xingtian Rd., Dashu, Kaohsiung
886-7-6561921 #2501-2506