Buddhist Temple in Japan has a robot Priest
If the ritualistic worship is performed with spiritual emotion, it creates Divine Consciousness and benefits society. The Robot may perform the worship, but would the Robot have a spiritual emotion ? Robot priests can be built using advanced technology, but how will it possess divine qualities such as spiritual emotion and attitude to surrender to God ? It shows the limitations of science.
Tokyo (Japan) – There is no priest in the 400-year-old Kodaiji Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. The rituals here are instead performed by a robot priest named Mindar. Apart from performing rituals, Mindar can deliver sermons, advise, and move around to interface with worshippers. This robot is adding to its knowledge baed on the changing times in Buddhism. Therefore, he gives correct answers to the questions asked by the devotees. It is being said that this robot will never die and will just keep updating itself and evolving. The six-foot-tall Mindar looks like a human and is made from silicone which makes his face, arms and shoulders look like human beings. One million dollars (Rs. 7.5 crore) have been spent to build Mindar.