Friends,
Having learned the non-theistic nature of Buddhism (see Topic #13), it should not surprise you to also learn that Buddhism has an uncanny degree of comfort with science. The Dalai Lama calls Buddhism “The Science of Mind”, and goes so far as to call himself, “half scientist, half Buddhist monk”. Well, he went even further, declaring that, “If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.” Remarkably, not a single Buddhist in the world we know of was offended by that declaration.
Well, actually, it’s even worse than that: Buddhism is actually in cahoots with modern science. Buddhism has contributed more to brain science than any religion has contributed to any field of science.
Why is Buddhism so comfortable with modern science? And is it a recent thing? Well, no. Both the spirit of enquiry and the scientific method were deeply embedded even in early Buddhism. The spirit of enquiry was so central that the Buddha even declared it one of the seven factors of enlightenment.
In Topic#14, you will learn about the surprisingly intimate relationship between Buddhism and science. That starts today.
Meng, for the Buddhism.net team
