Dalai Lama - The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

CONTENTS

In each atom of the realms of the universe,
There exist vast oceans of world systems.

The Great Flower Ornament,
an ancient Buddhist scripture

PROLOGUE

I was never myself trained in science. My knowledge comes mainly from reading news coverage of important scientific stories in magazines like Newsweek, or hearing reports on the BBC World Service and later reading textbooks on astronomy. Over the last thirty years I have held many personal meetings and discussions with scientists. In these encounters, I have always attempted to grasp the underlying models and methods of scientific thought as well as the implications of particular theories or new discoveries. But I have nonetheless thought deeply about sciencenot just its implications for the understanding of what reality is but the still more important question of how it may influence ethics and human values. The specific areas of science that I have explored most over the years are subatomic physics, cosmology, and biology, including neuroscience and psychology. Given that my own intellectual training is in Buddhist thought, naturally I have often wondered about the interface of key Buddhist concepts and major scientific ideas. This book is a result of that long period of thinking and of the intellectual journey of a Buddhist monk from Tibet into the world of bubble chambers, particle accelerators, and FMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging).

Many years after I went into exile in India, I came across an open letter from the 1940s addressed to the Buddhist thinkers of Tibet. It was written by Gendn Chphel, a Tibetan scholar who not only had mastered Sanskrit but also, uniquely among Tibetan thinkers of his time, had a good command of English. He traveled extensively in British India, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in the 1930s. This letter, composed toward the end of his twelve-year trip, was amazing to me. It articulates many of the areas in which there could be a fruitful dialogue between Buddhism and modern science. I discovered that Gendn Chphels observations often coincide remarkably with my own. It is a pity that this letter did not attract the attention it deserved, partly because it was never properly published in Tibet before I came into exile in 1959. But I find it heartwarming that my journey into the scientific world has a precedent within my own Tibetan tradition. All the more so since Gendn Chphel came from my native province of Amdo. Encountering this letter so many years after it was written was an impressive moment.

I remember a disturbing conversation I had had only a few years earlier with an American lady who was married to a Tibetan. Having heard of my interest in science and my active engagement in dialogue with scientists, she warned me of the danger science poses to the survival of Buddhism. She told me that history attests to the fact that science is the killer of religion and advised me that it was not wise for the Dalai Lama to pursue friendships with those who represent this profession. By taking this personal journey into science, I suppose I have stuck my neck out. My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: 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.

Because I am an internationalist at heart, one of the qualities that has moved me most about scientists is their amazing willingness to share knowledge with each other without regard for national boundaries. Even during the Cold War, when the political world was polarized to a dangerous degree, I found scientists from the Eastern and Western blocs willing to communicate in ways the politicians could not even imagine. I felt an implicit recognition in this spirit of the oneness of humanity and a liberating absence of proprietorship in matters of knowledge.

The motivation for my interest in science is more than merely personal. Even before I came into exile, it was clear to me and others in the country that one of the underlying causes for Tibets political tragedy was its failure to open itself to modernization. As soon as we arrived in India, we set up Tibetan schools for refugee children with a modern curriculum, which included scientific education for the first time. By then I had come to recognize that the essence of modernization lies in the introduction of modern education, and at the heart of modern education there must be a command of science and technology. My personal commitment to this educational project has led me to encourage even the monastic colleges, whose primary role is to teach classical Buddhist thought, to introduce science into their curriculum.

As my comprehension of science has grown, it has gradually become evident to me that, insofar as understanding the physical world is concerned, there are many areas of traditional Buddhist thought where our explanations and theories are rudimentary when compared with those of modern science. But at the same time, even in the most highly developed scientific countries, it is clear that human beings continue to experience suffering, especially at the emotional and psychological level. The great benefit of science is that it can contribute tremendously to the alleviation of suffering at the physical level, but it is only through the cultivation of the qualities of the human heart and the transformation of our attitudes that we can begin to address and overcome our mental suffering. In other words, the enhancement of fundamental human values is indispensable to our basic quest for happiness. Therefore, from the perspective of human well-being, science and spirituality are not unrelated. We need both, since the alleviation of suffering must take place at both the physical and the psychological levels.

This book is not an attempt to unite science and spirituality (Buddhism being the example I know best) but an effort to examine two important human disciplines for the purpose of developing a more holistic and integrated way of understanding the world around us, one that explores deeply the seen and the unseen, through the discovery of evidence bolstered by reason. I am not attempting a scholarly treatment of the potential points of convergence and difference between Buddhism and scienceI leave that to professional academics. Rather, I believe that spirituality and science are different but complementary investigative approaches with the same greater goal, of seeking the truth. In this, there is much each may learn from the other, and together they may contribute to expanding the horizon of human knowledge and wisdom. Moreover, through a dialogue between the two disciplines, I hope both science and spirituality may develop to be of better service to the needs and well-being of humanity. In addition, by telling the story of my own journey, I wish to emphasize to the millions of my fellow Buddhists worldwide the need to take science seriously and to accept its fundamental discoveries within their worldview.