Buddhism and Science

Buddhism places great emphasis on finding the truth. This basic principle allows acceptance of science as science is regarded as modern truth for most people. In addition, Buddhists believe in the evolution of human consciousness - this evolution, along with the truth presented by science, allows for excessive acceptance of biological evolution. Even more interestingly, in the sacred Buddhist text Agganna Sutta, Buddha interpreted the world as it evolved over time. Although biological evolution is not mentioned, we still emphasize the evolution as a whole physically and mentally.

Buddhism and science are considered to be compatible by many writers. Some philosophical and psychological doctrines found in Buddhism have something in common with modern Western science and philosophy. For example, Buddhism encourages fair investigation of nature (known as Dhamma-Vicaya in Pali Classic) - the main objective of this research is itself. Buddhism and science also emphasize the causal relationship. However, Buddhism does not focus on materialism.

Thanks to its research and intellectual research, Buddhism naturally synchronizes with the dialogue of scientists. The main obstacle between Buddhism and modern science lies in the study of the essence of consciousness, one of the most complex problems. According to Buddhism consciousness is a major fact, not necessarily related to the function of the brain; of course, this does not represent the view of most neuroscientists. But the Dalai Lama often said that if science uses persuasive evidence to object to a particular Buddhist dissertation, he should not hesitate to give up these arguments. Considering the current scientific knowledge, the Dalai Lama says that the traditional Buddhist cosmology (which itself is based on the same Hindu cosmology as existed in India 2,500 years ago) is now obsolete To argue. This is certainly a bold statement and is similar to the Pope's announcement that it should abandon the idea of ​​creating the world in the sixth day.

Karl Sagan is suspected to have asked Dalai Lama what he would do if the basic principle of his religion (reborn) was clearly denied by science. The Dalai Lama replied: 'If Taiwanese Buddhism would give up on reincarnation if science could object to the reborn children of the soul, it would be very difficult to resist reincarnation.' Walter and Review of 1999 research by Waterhouse 30 thorough interviews with the UK people who do not belong to past data and religious reincarnation on the level of reincarnation belief. The authors report that in the survey it was revealed that about a fifth to a quarter of Europeans have some degree of confidence in similar results as in the United States. In the interviewed group, the beliefs about the existence of this phenomenon seem to be unrelated to their age and the type of religion to which these people belong, mostly Christians.