About Soryu Forall

Soryu Forall is a master meditation teacher and spiritual leader dedicated to bringing all beings to enlightenment. He teaches that ethical behavior is the beginning of the path, and that the first step in ethics is to prevent the destruction of life on Earth. He has been totally committed to this goal since he was a young child.

By age ten, he confronted major issues of existential risk and realized that nothing in our modern education and culture can solve them. He has spent the rest of his life developing an approach that will work. With decades of intensive Buddhist monastic training, deep collaboration with top technology and business leaders, and a profound understanding of global existential risks, Forall stands as a foremost guide in cultivating awakened leadership to meet the challenges of our time.

As the Head Teacher and Founder of the Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth (MAPLE), Forall guides young leaders and elite technologists to develop the wisdom, compassion, and power necessary to create AI systems that genuinely care for all life. His dynamic and compassionate teaching style is rooted in a unique perspective that integrates Buddhist philosophy, world history, and modern social theory—challenging the deeply embedded assumptions of our culture.

Few Westerners have trained as deeply in traditional wisdom lineages as Forall. As a teenager, he entered a Rinzai monastery, where he was ordained under the renowned Zen Master Shodo Harada Roshi. He spent a decade training in monasteries around Asia in the Zen, Tibetan, Ch’an, and Ambedkar Buddhist traditions. While in India, he led community efforts to combat the caste system’s injustices. Since returning to the United States, he has continued to regularly work with Harada Roshi, while also training in Abenaki, Lakota and Diné Native American traditions.

In 2024, Forall delivered a comprehensive lecture series on the history of intelligence. It looked at the existential risk of AI and how Buddhist wisdom can help these entities use intelligence for good rather than harm. This series has since been transformed into a publicly available online course. He also co-authored Buddhism For All with Chade-Meng Tan, an early Google pioneer and co-chair of the Nobel Prize-nominated One Billion Acts of Peace project. Forall regularly participates in symposia with distinguished researchers in AI safety and related fields.

Forall’s guidance on the spiritual path, teachings on the world situation, and campaigns against the destruction of life have left an indelible mark on countless people. He has personally taught over ten thousand students through residential training, meditation retreats, and school programs.

Forall strives relentlessly to be a force of wisdom and compassion, guiding individuals and AI alike toward a path of awakening for the benefit of all beings.