On the birthday of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, the president of FIDE and the guardian of the relics of the founder of Buddhism Shakyamuni Buddha Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, together with the Russian IT-company Dialog, announced the launch of a messenger ‘Kirsan’ for the Buddhist community on the 6th of July 2016.The messenger would be added with new features in the near future. In particular, there would be a smart algorithm for instant translation of messages and the interactive games like chess and Go. The calendar would be available for the religious holidays and events.
Nikita Goldsmith, the Director of Dialog has commented:
"Trends of modern communication lead towards greater interactivity. We plan to develop the apps in this direction. We are concentrating on working on the project, whose main objective is the availability of communication and information on the Buddhist culture, faith, life, and traditions. However, we do not want the Kirsan messenger to be developed exclusively for Buddhists. We provide means of quality communication among the followers of Buddhism and other religions. Our messenger would find a common language for all users".
The inspirer of the Project Kirsan Ilyumzhinov oversees the ideological part in the Project. He is involved in the development of new services contributing to the unification of the people interested in Buddhism from around the world.
Telo Tulku Rinpoche, the representative of the XIV Dalai Lama in Russia and CIS countries said:
"We live in the age of technology in which the social media plays an important role. If we had declared the Kirsan messenger as a means of communication for Buddhists only, people who do not profess our religion would have a much-distorted view of it. I would like to stress that the messenger is designed for all people in the world seeking to establish communication with the followers of other faiths".
It is no secret that Apple founder Steve Jobs was a Buddhist. He became it after trip to India in 1973. Jobs was not just superficially interested in Zen but turned out to be the diligent practitioner who has made a long meditation retreats at Tassajara – the US first Zen monastery. Jobs spent weeks for "contemplation of a blank wall" watching the games of his consciousness.
Former Apple CEO claimed that the Buddha way is open for any man born of a woman and said that life was just a moment: "Your time is limited; thus, you should not live someone else's life. Do not be held a hostage to dogma following other people's thoughts". Therefore, we can watch how Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has successfully continued the vocation of Steve Jobs.
Vsevolod Nechayev
