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About 10 years ago I had the chance to be exposed to real Buddhist teachings—and by “real” I mean coming from a real Geshe monk who had been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for more than 20 years. It was a serendipitous encounter at the co-working space I used to manage in Bucharest. The Geshe visited us for 2 days, held a couple of events and, as a result, a local group based on his teachings was started. I was also personally involved in the seeding of that group, but life unfolded for me differently: a couple of years after that I left Romania, following my location independence calling and moved to Spain. That was the beginning of an 8-year-long trip, still unfolding, that took me to Spain, as I said, and then Portugal, and then Asia, with stays in Korea, Thailand and, recently, Vietnam.
During this time I did my best to follow the teachings and that was by far one of
the best things I did. I am by no means a monk, and I do not aim at becoming one. But I
am grateful every day for my renewed understanding of the world through Buddhist
lenses.
Bringing Practice Closer
Why this long introduction?
Well, one of the things I wanted to do for a long time was to shorten the path between my tech endeavors and the practice. As you know, I’m a geek, that’s how I put bread on the table, and I’ve been a coder for more than 35 years. What if, instead of separating practice from work, I could bring them together? What if I could find a way to integrate the teachings into my coding, or into my apps?
That’s how Zen Tales – Buddhist Stories was born. It’s an app that lets you listen
to short Buddhist stories adapted from various public domain sources. They range from
koans to Buddha life stories, packed as short intermezzos (one to four minutes) that
can be interwoven into the fabric of your day at any moment.
Buddhism in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
I went the extra mile here, and, on top of the listening experience, I added a
little bit more.
After each story is listened to, you can start a series of reflections on that piece, with the help of a specially crafted AI model. Let’s say you finished listening to the koan about “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” You can now tap on a series of pre-made reflections, like “Have you ever understood something by giving up rather than figuring it out?” and the AI model will gently give you more insights, based on the story and on general Buddhist principles.
There are 50 hand-picked stories in this first release, and each of them has 3
pre-made reflections. What happens after you tap on all 3 reflections? Well, you get
your own chat window and can ask your own free-form questions.
Of course, as with any app, there are some guardrails and incentives, like in-app purchases for more chat credits (like going to a retreat to deepen your wisdom). There is no advertising, everything is clean, and for those who really get the benefits there is even a “Practice Dana” section in the Settings, where you can express your gratitude with small tips (like lighting a candle, or ringing the temple bell).
All in all, Zen Tales is the app I wish I’d had 10 years ago. I hope it will support your practice.
Even if you’re not practicing Buddhism, I hope you’ll find some food for thought—or,
who knows, some genuinely useful wisdom—in this ever-changing Samsara.
You can download the app here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zen-tales-buddhist-stories/id6758518121
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dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)
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