In the AI era, the 80,000-volume Buddhist scripture rewritten by human hands…“For the future of humanity”

The Korean Buddhist monastery of Haeinsa, or "法寶寺" in Korean, is embarking on an ambitious project to hand-carve 81,258 wooden blocks of the Buddhist scriptures, known as the "大藏經". The project, which will take 10 years to complete, aims to revive the traditional techniques and spirit of the 800-year-old Palman Daejanggyeong, a collection of Buddhist scriptures carved onto wooden blocks during the Goryeo dynasty.

The monastery held a ceremony on the 29th to mark the beginning of the project, which aims to pass on the traditional techniques and spiritual values to future generations. The project leaders say that in an era of artificial intelligence, they want to emphasize the importance of human effort and responsibility, and to accumulate the power to overcome the crises facing humanity today.