A
Buddhist Dialogue with Science
By Timothy
Harada
Here is one way of looking at the 6th and 7th factors of
life in relation to human feelings. All
humans have the inherent tendency for the feelings of love, hate and many other
emotions; these are all inherent causes (or internal causes).
However, without someone in our environment to stir our feeling of love
or hate, we could never manifest those feelings.
Therefore we need a relation
(an external cause) to allow us to manifest our internal cause.
There is symmetry in these attractions; there is consistency
from beginning to end. However
much a person stimulates another to feel love or hate, that person will manifest
those feeling to that degree.
From these few examples of the similarity of concepts between Buddhism and science, one can see that both Buddhism and science have a lot to offer each other-to push each other to new ways of viewing reality. There are many more similarities, such as the Buddhist concept of the 10 worlds and its relationship to psychology and brain chemistry, and probably even other similarities that I am not yet aware of, nor far too many to detail in this short paper. Hopefully, as science progresses and the study of Buddhism progresses, each will continue offering complimentary perspectives to the other, and hopefully a richer dialogue will emerge from the study of both. If science is to progress quicker, it must be open to alternative views of reality. In addition, if the understanding of Buddhism is to progress, and if Buddhists are to become more enlightened, they must constantly challenge their views of reality, by comparing them with the views of science. NEXT>>>
The
views expressed in Mr. Harada's article are his
and not necessarily those of the publisher or editors of FortuneChildBooks.com.