One of our community members has recently begun to use AI to produce some beautiful images. I’ve pasted some examples below. I hope others feel free to post similar pieces to inspire. If you’d like to see anything specific, you may join Clear Mountain Monastery’s Discord server and type a request into the #hamma-art channel. Sadhu!
I love the painting of Angulimala. Looks perhaps a bit too Chinese? But the intensity makes me stop and consider him as a psychologically real person and not just as an archetype or a myth… Quite a powerful thing.
The big AI players right now are Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, and Dreambooth. Apparently dreambooth, written by MIT grads and Google, combined with stable diffusion offers the most realistic outcome like this ladybug turtoise
Gorgeous! There’s something oddly inspiring about turning words on a page into realistic images of people. It would be amazing to have images of the Buddha’s key disciples and envision them while reading the suttas, bringing them to life.
Or rather not. When I was young and was reading children’s books before they were turned into movies, I was ALWAYS quite disappointed on seeing what they made of my favorite characters in the movie. I preferred my own imagination.
Totally, Venerable, I’ve had that experience also.
I was also an avid reader as a child, the distinction is those books used a lot of character descriptors like physical features, gait, voice, mannerisms, so my mind could create that picture. I guess not having that with the suttas, the figures feel more abstract to me. I have a felt sense of them in terms of their personalities or dhamma qualities (which is more important!), but maybe they still seem far off…
I’m quite impressed as well, Bhante @sujato ! Here’s some more that one community member, Joseph H., has managed to create over the past 24 hours. He’s become a bit of an artist in directing the AI. I especially love his taking phrases directly from the suttas and chants. Enjoy!
The Buddha’s Stupa Like A Fountain Made of Sunshine Feeding Hungry Ghosts Nectar Overflowing From His Bowl This Is A Gift Offered In Goodwill To The Sangha May The Blessings Be Shared With All Beings
The Buddha’s Stupa Like A Fountain Made of Sunshine Feeding Hungry Ghosts The Nectar Of Peaceful Joyful Loving Compassion Overflowing From His Bowl This Is A Gift Offered In Goodwill To The Sangha May The Blessings Be Shared With All Beings
The Buddha’s Stupa Like A Fountain Made of Sunshine Feeding Hungry Ghosts The Nectar Of Peaceful Joyful Loving Compassion Overflowing From His Bowl This Is A Gift Offered In Goodwill To The Sangha May The Blessings Be Shared With All Beings
The Buddha’s Stupa Like A Fountain Made of Sunshine Feeding Hungry Ghosts Nectar Overflowing From His Bowl This Is A Gift Offered In Goodwill To The Sangha May The Blessings Be Shared With All Beings
Colossal Diamond Stupa Being Rained on by radiantly pure clear crystal Lotus flowers with clean white feathered wings filled with light and overflowing like a fountain with the blessed nectar of joyful compassionate peaceful goodwill May all beings share in it’s blessings
This is one of the most if not the most beautiful Dhamma Art I have even seen. I like most Brahma Sahampati and Dhamma Wheel Raining Blessings
Would it be possible Venerable to do these arts in a size that fits computer wallpaper please? I would certainly use these, and probably many other people. It’s probably no big deal for the AI, but who knows.
It could be an interesting idea to approach the developers of these AI image assemblers to see if we could feed a whole narrative rich sutta from suttacentral (i.e. from DN, MN or SN) and get the thing to produce 2-5 illustrations to accompany it.
@Invo - I’m glad you appreciate them as much as I do. The author, Joseph H., has given his hearty invitation to use the images as you’d like. I’ll also invite him to join this discussion in case he wants to make such desktop images himself. Perhaps he’ll also take you up on that invitation, Gabriel L : )
It makes me very happy to see everyone enjoying the A.I Dhamma Art. Anumotanaboon!
If anyone has any requests I’d be more then happy to use the fresh ideas to “grow” new art. It’s a very organic process, it feels like growing beautiful jewelled apples from an orchard of wish granting trees.
It would be a joy to share in the abundance of goodwill given form.
May you all have a happy and healthy day!
P.s I’m still learning how the program works, thank you for your patience. I have a subscription for unlimited images but I don’t know for certain yet how much control I have regarding the image size. I’ll keep playing around and keep the intention of making desktop wallpaper in mind moving forward.
Here is one of my favourite new images I would like to offer Joyfully to The Sangha for the benefit of my parents, relatives, & all beings everywhere.
A.I. Prompt: Colossal Bottomless Crystal Clear Buddha Bowl Endlessly Overflowing With Blessed Light, Ambrosial Nectar, & Jewelled Flowers That Rain Down Over The Entire Cosmos, Cool The Fires of Hell, Feed The Hungry Ghosts, Protect All Animals And Human Beings From Harm, Satisfy The Titans, Calm The Devas, & Make Continuous Offerings To The Sangha Of The Blessed One Disciples Who Have Practiced Well. May All Beings Share In The Blessings Of This Gift Of Immeasurable Universal Goodwill To The Triple Gem. Homage To The Buddha, Homage To The Dhamma, Homage To The Sangha. The Awakened One Is Worthy And So He Is Blessed. I Pay Him Homage.
I have no idea how it works but am wondering if you could take verse from the Therigatha and Theragatha and create something similar to angulimala. I’m thinking the second half of Mahakassapa’s verses in Thag, Subha of jivaka’s mango grove in Thig, Dantika and the elephant in Thig
And indeed I have a request. Would it be possible to feed the AI phrases about spiritual friendship?
On Lions Roar I found this text with a very inspiring description about spititual friendship (Spiritual Friendship Is the Path - Lions Roar). Here is a quote from it “A kalyana mitra is someone who helps you realize your deeper aspirations, one who uplifts your path to a higher level of ethical and spiritual well-being”.
I wonder if the essence of this text could be transformed into an image?
Much gratitude for sharing these creations with us.
I’ve just messaged him, and I believe he’s working on it. If people would like to request directly, he checks Clear Mountain’s Discord’s #dhamma-art channel. Here’s some more recent pieces he made with the AI. Sadhu, Joseph!
The Midnight Vigil
The Buddha Gustav Klimt Style Painting Ocean Of Joy, Happiness, & Peace In The Form Of Light And Nectar Flowing From The Heart Of A Monk In Golden Robes
No Shadows Without Light
A.I. Prompts: Gustave Moreau Painting Highly Detailed Buddhist Monk Sun Heart Smoke & Shadows Radiating Away From Center Transforming Into Light Nectar Blessings (edited)
A Deva Visits The Buddha
A.I. Prompt: Gustave Moreau Painting Highly Detailed Forest Trees Flowers Buddhist Monk Bright Shining Sun Heart Dozen Smoke Shadows Radiating Away From Center Transforming Into Light Nectar Blessings
.
I like most Brahma Sahampati and Dhamma Wheel Raining Blessings 
