“They are here to conduct the double-blind experiment.” The spirit of inquiry is one of the most important aspects of Buddhist practice. We have seen earlier that, “investigation of phenomena” (dhamma vicaya) is one of the seven factors of...
The first time I saw the 14th Dalai Lama share a stage with scientists was in 2009, at Stanford University, and it was not what I expected. He sat occupying center stage surrounded by prominent scientists. I saw the way he engaged with the scientists, and...
There is no one anywhere who has control over the world. Many people feel that one or more gods are in charge, but none of them are. Many others feel that humans are, or should be, in charge, but we aren’t either, and never will be. This world is created by natural...
I like to close the topic of gods and miracles in Buddhism with the story of Sāriputta’s final days.[1] Sāriputta was the Buddha’s top disciple. He passed into final nirvana a few months before the Buddha. One day, during the final year of the Buddha’s...
“I pray that we are not a religion.” Is Buddhism a religion? Is it, instead, a philosophy? First, let’s see what the Buddha himself has to say. It turns out, he has an answer for that question. He says emphatically, “What I teach is...
(Context: In Buddhism, the gods are merely our friends.) The religion Brahmanism predates the Buddha. The Buddha was born into a culture in which a certain group of priests, the Brahmans, believed in and worshiped Brahmā as the Creator God, and they were in the...
