Buddhism and science are generally considered to be compatible with each other, especially compared to the conflict between science and the Abrahamic religions. Buddhism itself, being generally neutral on the subject of the supernatural, is open to scientific discoveries. With its focus on the nature of mind and its implications for the concept of reality, Buddhism offers explanations for metaphysical issues within psychology and studies of consciousness. Some popular conceptions of Buddhism connect it to discourse regarding evolution, quantum theory, and cosmology, though most scientists see a separation between the religious and metaphysical statements of Buddhism and the methodology of science.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, commonalities have been cited between scientific investigation and Buddhist thought. The Dalai Lama, in a speech at the meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, listed a "suspicion of absolutes" and a reliance on causality and empiricism as common philosophical principles shared between Buddhism and science.^[1] As both Buddhism and science are open to criticism from within, there is some disagreement over whether one is being badly influenced by the other. map showing the prevalence of Abrahamic (purple) and Dharmic (yellow) religions in each country. ... Buddhism is a variety of teachings, sometimes described as a religion[1] or way of life that attempts to identify the causes of human suffering and offer various ways that are claimed to end, or ease suffering. ... For other uses, see Mind (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ... {redirect|Psychological science|the journal|Psychological Science (journal)}} Not to be confused with Phycology. ... Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ... This box:      Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger, founders of Quantum Mechanics. ... Cosmology, from the Greek: κοσμολογία (cosmologia, κόσμος (cosmos) order + λογια (logia) discourse) is the study of the Universe in its totality, and by extension, humanitys place in it. ... The demarcation problem in the philosophy of science is about how and where to draw the lines around science. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... The Society for Neuroscience is a professional society for scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. ...

Parallels

Attempts to link Buddhist concepts such as nondualism to concepts in physics such as wave-particle duality, while popularised through books like The Tao of Physics and The Dancing Wu Li Masters, have so far proved only suggestive. While there are instances where the pioneers of quantum theory such as Einstein, Heisenberg and Schrödinger mentioned Buddhist and eastern philosophical concepts and many indicated this influence in their thought, there is no evidence that these philosophies influenced the ideas and development of quantum theory or the mainstream scientific physical descriptions of natural processes. Despite this, a number of popular New Age and mystical gurus and authors have conflated the two in what has been termed by some skeptics as pseudoscience. The term nondual is a literal translation of the Sanskrit term advaita, (meaning not two). ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... In physics, wave-particle duality holds that light and matter exhibit properties of both waves and of particles. ... The Tao of Physics (full title: The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism) was a 1975 book by physicist Fritjof Capra, published by Shambhala Publications of Berkeley, California. ... The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav is a popular new age book from 1979 about quantum physics interpretations. ... “Einstein” redirects here. ... Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976) was a celebrated German physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. ... Erwin Schrödinger, as depicted on the former Austrian 1000 Schilling bank note. ... For other uses, see Mainstream. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... For other uses, see Guru (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A typical 18th century phrenology chart. ...

Einstein did comment that Buddhism "contains a much stronger element of [the cosmic religious feeling, by which] the religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished."^[2] Einstein redirects here. ...

Erwin Schroedinger (1887-1961), Austrian theoretical physicist, best known for his discovery of wave mechanics, which won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933, wished to see: "Some blood transfusion from the East to the West" to save Western science from spiritual anemia." Erwin Schrödinger, as depicted on the former Austrian 1000 Schilling bank note. ...

"In all the world," writes Schrödinger in his book, My View of the World (chapter iv), "there is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction....The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad."

David Bohm, who had a series of meetings with the Dalai Lama, was impressed with Eastern transcendental practices: David Bohm. ...

"[M]editation would even bring us out of all [the difficulties] we've been talking about. . . [S]omewhere we've got to leave thought behind, and come to this emptiness of manifest thought altogether. . . In other words, meditation actually transforms the mind. It transforms consciousness." (Pp. 103-104)

In 1974 the Kagyu Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa predicted that "Buddhism will come to the West as psychology". This view was apparently regarded with considerable skepticism at the time, but Buddhist concepts have indeed made most in-roads in the psychological sciences. Some modern scientific theories, such as Rogerian psychology, show strong parallels with Buddhist thought. Some of the most interesting work on the relationship between Buddhism and science is being done in the area of comparison between Yogacara theories regarding the store consciousness and modern evolutionary biology, especially DNA. This is because the Yogacara theory of karmic seeds works well in explaining the nature/nurture problem. See the works by William Walron on this topic. The Kagyu (Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་; Wylie: Bka-brgyud) school, also known as the Oral Lineage and the Spotless Practice Lineage school, is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the other three being Nyingma (Rnying-ma), Sakya (Sa-skya), and Gelug (Dge-lugs). ... Chögyam Trungpa (February 1939 - April 1987) was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and a Trungpa tülku. ... Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. ... Yogācāra (Sanskrit: yoga practice), also spelled yogāchāra, is an influential school of philosophy and psychology that developed in Indian Mahayana Buddhism starting sometime in the fourth to fifth centuries C.E., also commonly known as consciousness-only or mind-only (Sanskrit: cittamātra) (although scholars increasingly... Store consciousness (Sanskrit ālayavij āna; Tib. ... The structure of part of a DNA double helix Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is a nucleic acid molecule that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. ...

During the 1970s, several experimental studies suggested that Buddhist meditation could produce insights into a wide range of psychological states. Interest in the use of meditation as a means of providing insight into mind-states has recently been revived, following the increased availability of such brain-scanning technologies as fMRI and SPECT. Buddhist meditation encompasses a variety of meditation techniques that develop mindfulness, concentration, tranquility and insight. ... Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (or fMRI) describes the use of MRI to measure hemodynamic signals related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals. ... SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) is a nuclear medicine tomographic imaging technique using gamma rays. ...

Such studies are enthusiastically encouraged by the present Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso who has long expressed an interest in exploring the connection between Buddhism and science, and regularly attends the Mind and Life Institute Conferences.^[3] However, some scientists are concerned by the popular coverage given to Buddhism's applications in neuroscience, believing that it will open up the field to mysticism. This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... Tenzin Gyatso is the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama. ...

Kalama Sutta

The Kalama Sutta provides some support for the claimed synergy between Buddhism and science, by its insistence on a proper assessment of evidence, rather than a reliance on faith, hearsay or speculation: The Kalama Sutta (Sanskrit: Kalama Sutra) is a Buddhist sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya of the Tipitaka. ...

"Yes, Kalamas, it is proper that you have doubt, that you have perplexity, for a doubt has arisen in a matter which is doubtful. Now, look you Kalamas, do not be led by reports, or tradition, or hearsay. Be not led by the authority of religious texts, not by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: 'this is our teacher'. But, O Kalamas, when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome (akusala), and wrong, and bad, then give them up...And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusala) and good, then accept them and follow them."

The general tenor of the sutta is similar to "Nullius in verba" - often translated as "Take no-one's word for it", the motto of the Royal Society. Sutra (सूत्र) in Sanskrit is derived from the verb siv-, meaning to sew (these words, including English to sew and Latinate suture, all derive from PIE *syū-). It literally means a rope or thread, and more metaphorically refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or... For other uses, see Motto (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Royal Society (disambiguation). ...

Famous Scientists on Buddhism

Niels Bohr, who developed the Bohr Model of the atom, said, Niels Henrik David Bohr (October 7, 1885 – November 18, 1962) was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. ... The Bohr model of the hydrogen atom () or a hydrogen-like ion (), where the negatively charged electron confined to an atomic shell encircles a small positively charged atomic nucleus, and an electron jump between orbits is accompanied by an emitted or absorbed amount of electromagnetic energy . ...

"For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory...[we must turn] to those kinds of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence." 1958 Neils Bohr, Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge, (edited by John Wiley and Sons, 1958) p. 20.

British mathematician, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Alfred North Whitehead (co-author, with Bertrand Russell, of Principia Mathematica, widely considered by specialists in the subject to be one of the most important and seminal works in mathematical logic and philosophy) declared: This article or section should include material from Episteme Epistemology (from the Greek words episteme=science and logos=word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. ... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861, Ramsgate, Kent, England – December 30, 1947, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.) was an English-born mathematician who became a philosopher. ... Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ... The Principia Mathematica is a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics, written by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell and published in 1910-1913. ...

"Buddhism is the most colossal example in the history of applied metaphysics."^{[citation needed]}

Bertrand Russell, another Nobel Prize winner, discovered a superior scientific method—one that reconciled the speculative and the rational while investigating the ultimate questions of life: Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, advocate for social reform, and pacifist. ...

Buddhism is a combination of both speculative and scientific philosophy. It advocates the scientific method and pursues that to a finality that may be called Rationalistic. In it are to be found answers to such questions of interest as: 'What is mind and matter? Of them, which is of greater importance? Is the universe moving towards a goal? What is man's position? Is there living that is noble?' It takes up where science cannot lead because of the limitations of the latter's instruments. Its conquests are those of the mind.

The American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer made an analogy to Buddhism when describing the Heisenberg uncertainty principle thusly: J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb, served as the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, beginning in 1943. ... In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, sometimes called the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle, expresses a limitation on accuracy of (nearly) simultaneous measurement of observables such as the position and the momentum of a particle. ...

If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say 'no;' if we ask whether the electron's position changes with time, we must say 'no;' if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say 'no;' if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say 'no.' The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated as to the conditions of man's self after his death; but they are not familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth-century science. J. R. Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding, (Oxford University Press, 1954) pp 8-9.

Fritjof Capra, in his book The Tao of Physics, says (p. 18): Dr. Fritjof Capra – photo by Kate Mount Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist. ... The Tao of Physics (full title: The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism) was a 1975 book by physicist Fritjof Capra, published by Shambhala Publications of Berkeley, California. ...

"The general notions about human understanding… which are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and central place. What we shall find [in modern physics] is an exemplification, an encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom."

Buddhism and Cognitive Science

The Buddhist ideas of emptiness, impermanence and dependent arising have much in common with ideas within the Cognitive Linguistics school of thought such as subjectivity, cognitive grammar ("meaning is conceptualization") and frame semantics. Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit), Suññatā (Pāli), stong pa nyid (Tibetan), Kuu, 空 (Japanese) qoÉ£usun (Mongolian), generally translated into English as Emptiness or Voidness, is a concept of central importance in the teaching of the Buddha, as a direct realization of Sunyata is required to achieve liberation from the cycle of... Impermanence (Sanskrit: anitya; Pali anicca; Tibetan: mi rtag pa; Chinese: 無常, wúcháng; Japanese: mujō) is one of the essential doctrines or the three marks of Buddhism. ... Dependent Origination (Sanskrit: pratītya-samutpāda, Pali: paticca samuppada) The doctrine of pratitya-samutpada is Buddhisms primary contribution to metaphysics. ... In linguistics and cognitive science, cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the currently dominant school of linguistics that views the important essence of language as innately based in evolutionarily-developed and speciated faculties, and seeks explanations that advance or fit well into the current understandings of the human mind. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Cognitive grammar is an influential cognitive approach to language developed since 1976 by Ronald Langacker. ... Frame semantics can refer to: Kripke semantics - semantics for modal logics Frame semantics (linguistics) - linguistic theory developed by Charles Fillmore (linguist) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Arthur Schopenhauer: Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation. ...

We find the doctrine of metempsychosis, springing from the earliest and noblest ages of the human race, always spread abroad in the earth as the belief of the great majority of mankind, nay, really as the teachings of all religions with the exception of that of the Jews and the two which have preceded from it: in the most subtle form, however, and coming nearest to the truth, as has already been mentioned, in Buddhism.

It almost seems that, as the oldest languages are the most perfect so also are the oldest religions. If I were to take the results of my philosophy as a yardstick of the truth, I would concede to Buddhism the pre-eminence of all religions of the world.

William James: This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

"This is the psychology everybody will be studying twenty-five years from now."^[4] James often drew on Buddhist cosmology when framing perceptual concepts, such as his term "stream of consciousness," which is the literal English translation of the Sanskrit vinnana-sota.

In the landmark text, Varieties of Religious Experience, James also breaks new ground for modern psychology by addressing the functional value of meditation.^[5]

Buddhism and physics

The quantum interpretations of the advaitin conception of Brahman are the same as those made of the Mahayana shunyata. Capra describes both as attempts to define the single entity underlying all physical phenomena, and Mu Soeng concurs.^[6] However, Buddhists describe shunyata as being neither entity nor non-entity.^[7] In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is an indivisible entity of energy. ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Brahman (nominative ) is a concept of Hinduism. ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Kuan Yin from Mt. ... Śūnyatā, शून्यता (Sanskrit), Suññatā (Pāli), stong pa nyid (Tibetan), Kuu, 空 (Japanese) qoɣusun (Mongolian), generally translated into English as Emptiness or Voidness, is a concept of central importance in the teaching of the Buddha, as a direct realization of Sunyata is required to achieve liberation from the cycle of...

See also: Advaita#Advaita and science

Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ...

References

1. ^ "The Neuroscience of Meditation." November 12, 2005 speech given by the Dalai Lama
2. ^ Albert Einstein, "Religion and Science". New York Times Magazine, 9 November 1930 reprinted in Ideas and Opinions, ISBN 0-517-00393-7, p. 36.
3. ^ Christina Reed, "Talking Up Enlightenment." Scientific American, 6 February 2006.
4. ^ David Scott, "William James and Buddhism: American Pragmatism and the Orient," Religion 30 (2000): 335.
5. ^ William James, Varieties of Religious Experience. (1902; New York: Viking Penguin, 1982).
6. ^ Mu Soeng, The Diamond Sutra, page iii.
7. ^ David Loy, PhD thesis at the University of Singapore, http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-AN/26715.htm

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Scientific American is a popular-science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly) since August 28, 1845, making it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ... is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• B. Alan Wallace, Hidden Dimensions: The Unification of Physics and Consciousness (Columbia Univ Press 2007)
• B. Alan Wallace (ed), Buddhism and Science: breaking new ground (Columbia Univ Press 2003)
• Matthieu Ricard, Trinh Xuan Thuan, The Quantum and the Lotus (Three Rivers Press 2004)
• Robin Cooper, The Evolving Mind: Buddhism, Biology and Consciousness, Windhorse (Birmingham UK 1996)
• Daniel Goleman (in collaboration with The Dalai Lama), Destructive Emotions, Bloomsbury (London UK 2003)
• B. Alan Wallace, Choosing Reality: A Buddhist Perspective of Physics and the Mind, (Snow Lion 1996)
• Rapgay L, Rinpoche VL, Jessum R, Exploring the nature and functions of the mind: a Tibetan Buddhist meditative perspective, Prog. Brain Res. 2000 vol 122 pp 507-15
• Tenzin Gyatso, The Dalai Lama XIV, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality, (Morgan Road Books 2005)
• McMahan, David, “Modernity and the Discourse of Scientific Buddhism.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 72, No. 4 (2004), 897-933.

External links

• Buddhism and Science
• Full text of 2004 paper examining effects of long-term meditation on brain function
• Full text of 2003 paper examining the effect of mindfulness meditation on brain and immune function
• The Mind and Life Conferences
• Buddha on the Brain - Dalai Lama on the Society for Neuroscience's annual conference
• Collection of quotes regarding Buddhism and science

See also

• Buddhism and Evolution
• Buddhism and psychology