In this book, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, outlines his views on the possibility of spiritual cooperation between modern science and religiosity to eliminate suffering in human life. Based on personal experience of many years of religious practice, as well as familiarity with the main provisions and discoveries of modern science, the author discusses the possibility of developing a single point of view regarding such seemingly incompatible ideas as, for example, evolution and karma, thereby creating the prerequisites for a holistic a view of the world in which science and religion become two equal approaches to the study of a single reality.
INTRODUCTION
In every atom of the universe there are myriads of worlds.
Flower Garland Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra)
I’ve never studied science. At first, all my knowledge in this field came mainly from reading books on astronomy and scientific news on the covers of Newsweek magazine, as well as from popular science programs of the BBC. However, I thought deeply about science, not just about its application to understanding reality, but about the more important question: what impact can it have on morality and human values? Over the past thirty years I have had many meetings with various scientists. When talking with them, I always tried to grasp the essence of the method of scientific thinking, as well as to see the scope of application of individual scientific theories and new discoveries. This is how I had the opportunity to become acquainted with such branches of scientific knowledge as particle physics, cosmology and biology, including neurophysiology and psychology. And since my own education was based primarily on the study of the Buddhist heritage, I often wondered about the possibility of comparing the key ideas of Buddhism with the basic concepts of modern science. This book is the fruit of long reflection, the result of an intellectual journey of a Tibetan Buddhist monk into the world of bubble chambers, particle accelerators and functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Many years after my flight to India, I came across an open letter written in 1940 and addressed to Buddhist thinkers in Tibet. Its author, Gedun Chopel, a Tibetan scholar, was not only an expert in Sanskrit, but also, which was rare for that time, had a good command of English. In the 30s. XX century he traveled extensively in British India, Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This letter, written by him at the end of a twelve-year journey, surprised me. It indicated various areas of human knowledge in which a fruitful dialogue could take place between Buddhism and modern science. I found that many of Gedun Chopel’s observations were remarkably consistent with my own. Unfortunately, this message did not attract the attention of those to whom it was addressed, partly because it was not published in Tibet until 1959, when I was forced to leave the country. So, the journey into the world of Western scientific thought has already been undertaken by at least one other representative of the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and this greatly encourages me, especially since Gedhun Chopel comes from my home province of Amdo. I was greatly impressed by the discovery of this letter many years after it was written.
I also remember a difficult conversation I had several years ago with an American woman who was married to a Tibetan. Having learned of my interest in science and my contacts with Western scientists, she began to warn me about the danger that, in her opinion, science posed to the very existence of Buddhism. History, she said, shows that science is incompatible with religiosity, and therefore the Dalai Lama should not make friends with representatives of the scientific world. I believe that by undertaking such an independent journey into the world of science, I really took a big risk. But what gives me courage is my deep conviction that in science, as in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is achieved through critical analysis. And if scientific analysis conclusively shows that some of the Buddhist beliefs are completely untenable, we should accept this scientific evidence and reconsider our own ideas.
I am an internationalist at heart, and one of the qualities that I find particularly attractive in scientists is their amazing willingness to share knowledge regardless of national differences. Even during the Cold War, when the world was politically polarized to the extreme, I saw scientists in the Eastern and Western blocs seeking to communicate with each other in ways that politicians could never have imagined. I see this as a manifestation of the spirit of human unity and the liberating sense of shared knowledge.
My interest in science is not only based on personal reasons. Even before I went into exile, it was clear to me and many in my country that the deepest cause of Tibet’s political tragedy was our lack of openness to modernization. Upon arrival in India, we tried to create modern educational programs for Tibetan refugee children, including primarily knowledge from the field of modern science. By this time, I already clearly understood that modernization should be based on modern education, which is based on knowledge in the field of science and technology. I even insisted that natural science disciplines be included in the curriculum of monastic educational institutions, where education is based primarily on the study of Buddhist classics.
As I began to comprehend scientific knowledge, it became increasingly clear to me that in understanding the physical world, our traditional Buddhist explanations and theories are very backward compared to those found in modern science. But at the same time, it is also obvious that even in scientifically highly developed countries, people continue to experience suffering, especially in the emotional and psychological spheres. Science can help get rid of physical pain, and this is its great merit, but mental suffering can only be overcome by developing kindness and changing one’s attitude towards events and circumstances. In other words, we need to consider fundamental human values in our pursuit of happiness, which is why science and spirituality are linked in terms of human well-being. We need both of these areas because suffering must be eliminated on both the physical and mental levels.
This book is not an attempt to combine European science and spirituality (examined through the example of Buddhism, which I know better than other spiritual traditions). In it I try to examine two major areas of human culture in order to develop a more holistic understanding of nature, and also to carefully examine the visible and invisible world, looking for evidence based on sound reasoning. I will not attempt to examine in a scientific manner the possible points of agreement or divergence between Buddhism and science, leaving that to academic scholars. On the contrary, I believe that spirituality and science are different but complementary methods of inquiry, while pursuing the same goal – the search for truth. They can learn a lot from each other, helping humanity expand the horizons of its knowledge and wisdom. Moreover, I hope that dialogue between science and spirituality can serve the needs of achieving human well-being. In addition, by sharing my journey into the world of science, I wish to emphasize to my Buddhist followers around the world the need to take scientific knowledge seriously and to include scientific concepts in their worldview.
The dialogue between spirituality and science has a long history, especially if we take into account the experience of Christianity. In my own spiritual tradition, Tibetan Buddhism, for a number of historical, social and political reasons, contact with a scientific worldview is a fairly new process for us. The conclusions about what exactly science can offer humanity are not yet completely obvious.
Regardless of differences in perspective, no credible understanding of the world and human existence in it—what I call a worldview in this book —can ignore key concepts such as evolution, relativity, and quantum mechanics. Science may also have something to learn from the knowledge of spirituality, especially in such humanities as morality or sociology, but it is also certain that some specifically scientific branches of Buddhist thought, such as ancient cosmological theories or outdated physics ideas – must be revised in the light of modern scientific data. My hope is that this book will help revitalize the dialogue between science and spirituality.
My goal is to address issues of primary importance to the modern world, and therefore I hope to reach as wide an audience as possible. This is quite difficult, especially given the rather complex reasoning and argumentation in both science and Buddhist philosophy. In some cases I will have to simplify the presentation somewhat in order to make this discussion more understandable for the uninitiated. I express my deepest gratitude to my two editors, my longtime translator Thubten Jinpa and his colleague Jace Eisner, for their invaluable assistance in making my ideas as clear as possible in English. I would also like to thank everyone who helped them at various stages of the preparation of the manuscript. And I would like to express special gratitude to all representatives of the scientific world who, when meeting with me, showed great kindness and care, patiently explaining complex scientific ideas to an often incomprehensible student. I consider all of them my teachers.
Read online. The book “The Universe in One Atom: Science and Spirituality in the Service of the World.” Tenzin Gyatso
Content
Preface. Introduction
1. Meditation
2. My encounter with science
3. Emptiness, relativity and quantum physics
4. The Big Bang Theory and the Buddhist Beginningless Cosmos
5. Evolution, karma and the world of living beings
6. The problem of the emergence of consciousness
7. Towards a science of consciousness
8. Factors of consciousness
9. Ethical problems of modern genetics
Conclusion. Science, Spirituality and Humanity