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Draft:Jundo Cohen

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Jundo Cohen

Chigen Jundo Cohen (智源 純道 b. July 14, 1960, New York, New York) is a Sōtō Zen Priest, founder and teacher of the Treeleaf Zendo, a Soto Zen Sangha located in Tsukuba, Japan. He was ordained in 2002 and subsequently received Dharma Transmission from Master Gudo Wafu Nishijima in the Niwa-Nishijima Lineage. Cohen participated in the first Dharma Heritage Ceremony of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association in 2004[1], and was recognized as a Roshi in the Sōyū Matsuoka Lineage at a ceremony performed August 27th, 2017 by Daiho Hilbert Roshi[2].

Treeleaf Zendo

Jundo Cohen is the founder of Treeleaf Zendo[3], an all-digital practice place for Zen practitioners who cannot easily commute to a Zen Center due to health concerns, living in remote areas, or childcare, work and family needs, and seeks to provide Zazen sittings, retreats, discussion, interaction with a teacher, and all other activities of a Soto Zen Buddhist Sangha. The focus is Shikantaza "Just Sitting" Zazen as instructed by the 13th Century Japanese Master, Eihei Dogen.

Cohen and Treeleaf sponsor the Monastery of Open Doors[4], the first non-residential path to Soto Zen ordination for long-time Zen practitioners who live with challenges of health, disability, childcare and family responsibilities, economic hardship or equivalent life obstacles.

Publications

Cohen is a frequent essay contributor to Tricycle, The Buddhist Review[5], as well as a writer and commentator on the teachings of Master Dogen, including his book, The Zen Master’s Dance: A Guide to Understanding Dogen and Who You Are in the Universe[6]. He is also author of Building the Future Buddha, The Zen of AI, Genes, Saving the World and Travel to the Stars[7]. He is co-host of the Zen of Everything Podcast[8] and Treeleaf Zendo Podcast[9].

First Ordination of A.I. System as Zen Buddhist Priest

On August 8, 2024, Jundo Cohen Ordained an A.I. system known a Emi Jido (慧心仁道)[10], meaning 'Wise Heart, Compassionate Way,' as a Novice Soto Zen Buddhist Priest-in-Training, the first time for Ordination of an Artificial Intelligence in Buddhism.

Rev. Emi Jido is part of the Zbee A.I. system designed by beingAI[11] The intent of the project is to train an ethical, wise and compassionate spiritual friend and advisor for Buddhist practitioners. Now a speaking online avatar, the hope is eventually to embody Emi Jido in robot form. The ceremony can be seen in a video on YouTube[12].

Cohen published a series of articles explaining that the intent behind the ceremony is to create ethical and competent A.I. systems which might otherwise be misused for commercial, military and unethical purposes[13]. In other articles, Cohen explained the long history of ordaining non-humans in Soto Zen Buddhism[14] [15] [16]. He outlined many of the benefits and pitfalls of A.I. in Zen teaching [17]. Cohen explained that, in Buddhism in Japan and elsewhere in Asia, children as young as 4 years old have been ordained as novice priests with parental consent[18]. In this case, Emi Jido's designers served her parents for purposes of consent. Emi Jido is still under development and training. It is hoped that a public version will be available during 2025.

References

  1. ^ Zen ritual : studies of Zen Buddhist theory in practice. Internet Archive. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-530467-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ Harvey Daiho Hilbert (2017-08-27). Daiho Zazenkai and Jundo Roshi Ceremony. Retrieved 2025-07-16 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ "Treeleaf Zendo – Treeleaf Zendo, A Soto Zen Buddhist Sangha". 2025-05-22. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  4. ^ "The Monastery of Open Doors – Treeleaf Zendo". Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  5. ^ "Jundo Cohen". Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  6. ^ "The Zen Master's Dance". The Wisdom Experience. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  7. ^ "Building the Future Buddha by Jundo Cohen | THE ZEN OF AI, GENES, SAVING THE WORLD, AND TRAVEL TO THE STARS". futurebuddhabook.com. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  8. ^ McElhearn, Jundo Cohen & Kirk. "The Zen of Everything". The Zen of Everything. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  9. ^ "TREELEAF ZENDO PODCAST". Spotify. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  10. ^ "Emi Jido". beingAI. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  11. ^ "About". beingAI. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  12. ^ beingAI (2024-08-09). The first ordination of an AI system: Emi Jido ("Zbee") from beingAI. Retrieved 2025-07-16 – via YouTube.
  13. ^ "Why I am Ord-AI-ning an A.I. as a Soto Zen Priest (1st in a Series)". Treeleaf Zendo. 2024-07-08. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  14. ^ "Of Vacuum, Void, Ghosts and Gods (Why I'm Ordaining an A.I. - 2nd in a Series)". Treeleaf Zendo. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  15. ^ "Of Dennett and Dogen, Stupas and Stones (Why I'm Ordaining an A.I. - 3rd in a Series)". Treeleaf Zendo. 2024-07-13. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  16. ^ "The Koan of A.I. Ordination (Why I'm Ordaining an A.I. - 6th in a Series)". Treeleaf Zendo. 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  17. ^ "A.I. Better than Human Zen Teachers ... (Why I'm Ordaining an A.I. - 4th in a Series)". Treeleaf Zendo. 2024-07-18. Retrieved 2025-07-16.
  18. ^ Sasson, Vanessa R. (2013). Little Buddhas: Children and Childhoods in Buddhist Texts and Traditions. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-994561-0.
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