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August 9, 2025  Can We Guide AI Toward Compassion? Tricycle’s Fall 2025 issue is here! In this issue, we explore the implications of ordaining AI, the connections between the Buddha and Socrates, and what it’s like to practice with OCD. In his Letter from the Editor, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen, introduces us to an ordained AI chatbot, Emi Jido. Not fully convinced that AI should be ordained, Shaheen weighs the pros and cons of allowing the dharma to flow through an algorithm. Zen teacher Jundo Cohen, who ordained the bot, argues that it should be, emphasizing that in a time when AI is being weaponized, it’s even more critical to guide it toward compassion and ethical action. “We’re going to have bad AI,” Cohen says, “but we need to have good AI out there helping sentient beings.” Also in the new issue, Joan Sutherland reveals the origin story of the oldest koan collection, The Blue Cliff Record; a practitioner shares their experience of practicing with OCD; and an excerpt from Stephen Batchelor’s forthcoming book, Buddha, Socrates, and Us: Ethical Living in Uncertain Times, underscores the parallels between Buddhism and ancient Greek philosophy. Batchelor writes, “To practice either Buddhist or Hellenistic philosophy becomes a full-time exercise in remaining sufficiently detached, mindful, and vigilant to respond appropriately to whatever life throws at you.” Enjoy these and other features in the new issue, now available online and in print! Read the full issue now » Also this week: Join Stephen Batchelor in person in NYC on September 11 for a book launch celebrating his latest release.   Learn about the practice of silent illumination in this month’s Dharma Talk.   Join scholar Sarah Shaw for a virtual event on August 19! Sign up to learn about jhana, the often overlooked or misunderstood state of meditative absorption.