How to use NORBU

The Buddhist Channel, 26 July 2023

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Two days ago, on 24 July 2023, the Buddhist Channel attained a significant step towards enhancing user experience and fostering knowledge exchange within our community. On that day, we integrated and activated what is probably the world's first Buddhist LLM AI Chat Bot.

Code named NORBU (Neural Omniscient Robotic-Being for Buddhist Understanding), the Buddhist LLM (Learning Language Model) is an artificial intelligence (AI) chat bot built upon cutting-edge ChatGPT technology. The technology allows NORBU to engage with our readers in real-time, answer questions, provide insightful teachings and foster meaningful discussions about Buddhism. This pioneering project aims to bring greater accessibility, personalized wisdom and interactivity to our platform, empowering Dharma seekers like you to embark on a journey of enlightenment, right from the comfort of your screen.

For those new to chat bots like ChatGPT, NORBU is a great way to learn how to use an AI. It is also Buddhist focused, so there is more incentive to learn.

To start, goto https://buddhistchannel.tv/ and look out for this red and yellow icon. You will find it at the bottom right hand corner. Click on it and a box will appear asking, "Svasti. Namo Buddhaya, how can I help you today?" Just type in anything inside the box that says "write a message" and you will get personalized answers to any queries on any topic regarding Buddha-Dharma. Nevertheless here are some FAQs for you to start off with.


What can you ask?

Actually anything that is related to Buddhism. NORBU is trained on content from the three major traditions, that is Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.


Are the answers from NORBU accurate?

Mostly, but not always. That is why we require NORBU to be continuously trained. Since it is a dedicated Buddhist chat bot, it will be easier to get together experts from all traditions and provide accurate information so that users will have the best experience using it. Meaning when they use NORBU, they will most likely get an accurate response, which is also rich in context and is delivered in a language that is easy to understand.


Apart from knowledge query, what else can I do with NORBU?

Let's be a bit creative and test it. Although at the beginning, most will use it to clarify or seek explaination on certain Buddhist terms or teachings, NORBU can also do some fun things. Here are some creative prompts that you can try (you can copy and try them out in NORBU):

• How to prepare Dana for a monk?
• Can I earn a geshe title as a layman?
• How to greet a Buddhist monk in a Thai temple?
• How to tell the life of Buddha to 10 years old children?
• Who was K Sri Dhammananda?
• I am from Malaysia [or Japan, Mongolia, Nepal etc]. What is the requirement to visit Tibet for pilgrimage?
• What to prepare for a pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, India?
• How to draw an enso circle?
• In Mahayana Buddhism can I use egg as an ingredient for cooking?
• I am sad, as a Buddhist what should I do?

As mentioned earlier, we are in the process of training NORBU to be even more responsive and useful. In future, one could ask questions like these:

• Suggest a vegetarian recipe for a vegan monk.
• I am a kapiya to a monk. What time should I prepare for his first morning meal?
• What type of games can you suggest for children to learn Buddhism?
• What courses can I take to learn Pali?
• Can you suggest where I can get a Buddhist degree?

So basically NORBU is nowhere near perfect right now, but given time and with support from the community, we are confident it will be an important tool to learn Dharma and also have "a Buddhist to listen" to your woes.


Why use NORBU? Why don't I just use ChatGPT?

NORBU is specifically trained using Buddhist information. This means the project will engage with knowledge experts such as those proficient in Abhidhamma, the Sutta Pitaka, the Vinaya, Mahayana Sutras and Vajrayana Tantras. The time, effort and dedication put in will ensure that NORBU is trained to produce accurate and verified from all expert sources, following the spirit as espoused by the Nalanda Tradition (https://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=8,13369,0,0,1,0). Also, to enable consistent branding, plans are afoot to enable the bot to be integrated into all Buddhist related websites and apps, so its usage shall be universal.


Will NORBU be only available through the Buddhist Channel?

At the moment yes, as the Buddhist Channel is funding its development. Also we have invested in a highly technical team to do this and the initial investment is quite considerable. Once the training and development of the bot matures, we will release the code for public use. This means that NORBU will be made available to ALL BUDDHIST WEBSITES or APPS. We hope this will not take too long and will become a reality in the near future. It all depends how fast the community embraces the technology and how quickly we can get support - financially and intellectually.

If you have more questions about NORBU, please feel free to contact editor@buddhistchannel.tv.

To support NORBU, please go here for information - https://buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?support