One day, frustrated that I could not remember where a particular passage occurred in the Pāli Canon, I asked ChatGPT to look at SuttaCentral and find where the Buddha had discussed a particular subject. The answer was interesting. ChatGPT duly pointed to a quotation in Pāli, together with its accurate translation. Furthermore, it provided a reference to the Saṃyutta Nikāya.
There was only one problem. The phrase did not occur in that Nikāya. Nor indeed did it occur anywhere else in the Pāli Canon. It seems that ChatGPT, unable to locate the actual sutta, obligingly invented some Pāli scripture and an appropriate (fictitious) reference. Fortunately, I double-checked the phrase against the Pāli Canon itself and found that it was a confabulation. Had I not checked, this phrase could have been perpetuated in something I was writing as genuine scripture. And as we know, there are enough fake Buddha quotes out there without adding any further ones.
In the Sabbāsava Sutta (MN 2) from the Majjhima Nikāya, the Buddha teaches that our spiritual growth is dependent on rooting out the obstacles which stand between us and awakening:
I say that the destruction of the taints is for one who knows and sees, not for one who does not know and see. Who knows and sees what? Wise attention and unwise attention. When one attends unwisely, unarisen taints arise and arisen taints increase. When one attends wisely, unarisen taints do not arise and arisen taints are abandoned.
His meaning is clear: we need to develop our ability to ‘know and see’ by nurturing the quality of ‘wise attention’. Though the word ‘taints’ might sound rather archaic, it simply refers to those blemishes in our ways of thinking and acting which hinder our development and our clear perception.
Never has the Buddha’s call to wake up, pay attention, and avoid delusion been more apposite. We live in a world with extraordinary, powerful tools, but we cannot afford to fall into their thrall. My Pāli Canon experience is a vivid warning to remain alert, vigilant, conscious of what’s happening in our environment.
The Buddha encouraged his followers to persevere in tracking what was arising in their minds, so as to encourage wholesome and beneficial thoughts. These days much of what happens in our consciousness may originate from the online world, and increasingly from AI. It goes without saying that we should keep acutely alert to what is arising in our digital environment, asking ourselves whether it is truthful, kindly, beneficial and timely. The Buddha’s prescient yardstick to identify right speech has taken on a new significance as we apply it to content which has been generated artificially. Never has his advice been more salient.
Wake up!