AI Integration in Buddhist Cultural Heritage: Preservation, Transmission and Ethical Pathways

Buddhist cultural heritage constitutes one of the world’s most significant repositories of religious, historical, artistic, and intellectual traditions. It encompasses tangible heritage, including temples, monasteries, sculptures, manuscripts, inscriptions, paintings, and archaeological sites, as well as intangible heritage such as rituals, meditation practices, oral traditions, chanting, philosophical teachings, and monastic customs. These cultural assets face increasing threats from environmental degradation, climate change, urban development, armed conflicts, tourism pressures, material deterioration, and the gradual disappearance of traditional knowledge holders. Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have introduced new possibilities for documenting, preserving, restoring, interpreting, and disseminating Buddhist cultural heritage. Technologies including machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, optical character recognition, generative AI, and digital twins are transforming heritage management by enabling automated manuscript transcription, virtual reconstruction of damaged monuments, multilingual translation of canonical texts, predictive conservation, and interactive educational platforms. Despite these opportunities, AI also presents important ethical, cultural, and governance challenges concerning authenticity, algorithmic bias, data ownership, cultural sensitivity, and the potential misrepresentation of sacred knowledge. This study examines the emerging role of AI in preserving and transmitting Buddhist cultural heritage through a critical review of recent interdisciplinary scholarship. It analyses the applications of AI across tangible and intangible heritage while evaluating their implications for heritage conservation, religious education, and cultural sustainability. The paper argues that AI should complement rather than replace traditional custodianship exercised by monastic communities, heritage professionals, and cultural institutions. Sustainable preservation requires interdisciplinary collaboration among Buddhist scholars, computer scientists, conservators, museums, libraries, governments, and international organizations. The study proposes a human-centred framework that integrates technological innovation with ethical governance and cultural authenticity. Such an approach ensures that AI contributes to safeguarding Buddhist heritage for future generations while respecting its historical integrity, religious significance, and cultural diversity.