Our Faith in Science
Published: Thursday, 1 December, 2005
by Tenzin GyatsoThe New York Times, November 12, 2005, Washington
SCIENCE has always fascinated me. As a child in Tibet, I was
keenly curious about how things worked. When I got a toy I would play
with it a bit, then take it apart to see how it was put together. As I
became older, I applied the same scrutiny to a movie projector and an
antique automobile.
At one point I became particularly intrigued by an
old telescope, with which I would study the heavens. One night while
looking at the moon I realized that there were shadows on its surface.
I corralled my two main tutors to show them, because this was contrary
to the ancient version of cosmology I had been taught, which held that
the moon was a heavenly body that emitted its own light.
But through my telescope the moon was clearly just a barren rock,
pocked with craters. If the author of that fourth-century treatise were
writing today, I'm sure he would write the chapter on cosmology
differently.
If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism
will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search
for the truth and for understanding reality. By learning from science
about aspects of reality where its understanding may be more advanced,
I believe that Buddhism enriches its own worldview.
For many years now, on my own and through the Mind and Life
Institute, which I helped found, I have had the opportunity to meet
with scientists to discuss their work. World-class scientists have
generously coached me in subatomic physics, cosmology, psychology,
biology.
It is our discussions of neuroscience, however,
that have proved particularly important. From these exchanges a
vigorous research initiative has emerged, a collaboration between monks
and neuroscientists, to explore how meditation might alter brain
function.
The goal here is not to prove Buddhism right or wrong - or even to
bring people to Buddhism - but rather to take these methods out of the
traditional context, study their potential benefits, and share the
findings with anyone who might find them helpful.
After all, if practices from my own tradition can be brought
together with scientific methods, then we may be able to take another
small step toward alleviating human suffering.
Already this collaboration has borne fruit. Dr. Richard Davidson,
a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin, has published results
from brain imaging studies of lamas meditating. He found that during
meditation the regions of the brain thought to be related to happiness
increase in activity. He also found that the longer a person has been a
meditator, the greater the activity increase will be.
Other studies are under way. At Princeton University, Dr. Jonathan
Cohen, a neuroscientist, is studying the effects of meditation on
attention. At the University of California Medical School at San
Francisco, Dr. Margaret Kemeny has been studying how meditation helps
develop empathy in school teachers.
Whatever the results of this work, I am encouraged that it is
taking place. You see, many people still consider science and religion
to be in opposition. While I agree that certain religious concepts
conflict with scientific facts and principles, I also feel that people
from both worlds can have an intelligent discussion, one that has the
power ultimately to generate a deeper understanding of challenges we
face together in our interconnected world.
One of my first teachers of science was the German physicist Carl
von Weizsäcker, who had been an apprentice to the quantum theorist
Werner Heisenberg. Dr. Weizsäcker was kind enough to give me some
formal tutorials on scientific topics. (I confess that while listening
to him I would feel I could grasp the intricacies of the full argument,
but when the sessions were over there was often not a great deal of his
explanation left behind.)
What impressed me most deeply was how Dr. Weizsäcker worried about
both the philosophical implications of quantum physics and the ethical
consequences of science generally. He felt that science could benefit
from exploring issues usually left to the humanities.
I believe that we must find a way to bring ethical considerations
to bear upon the direction of scientific development, especially in the
life sciences. By invoking fundamental ethical principles, I am not
advocating a fusion of religious ethics and scientific inquiry.
Rather, I am speaking of what I call "secular ethics," which
embrace the principles we share as human beings: compassion, tolerance,
consideration of others, the responsible use of knowledge and power.
These principles transcend the barriers between religious believers and
non-believers; they belong not to one faith, but to all faiths.
Today, our knowledge of the human brain and body at the cellular
and genetic level has reached a new level of sophistication. Advances
in genetic manipulation, for example, mean scientists can create new
genetic entities - like hybrid animal and plant species - whose
long-term consequences are unknown.
Sometimes when scientists concentrate on their own narrow fields,
their keen focus obscures the larger effect their work might have. In
my conversations with scientists I try to remind them of the larger
goal behind what they do in their daily work.
This is more important than ever. It is all too evident that our
moral thinking simply has not been able to keep pace with the speed of
scientific advancement. Yet the ramifications of this progress are such
that it is no longer adequate to say that the choice of what to do with
this knowledge should be left in the hands of individuals.
This is a point I intend to make when I speak at the annual
meeting of the Society for Neuroscience today in Washington. I will
suggest that how science relates to wider humanity is no longer of
academic interest alone. This question must assume a sense of urgency
for all those who are concerned about the fate of human existence.
A deeper dialogue between neuroscience and society - indeed
between all scientific fields and society - could help deepen our
understanding of what it means to be human and our responsibilities for
the natural world we share with other sentient beings.
Just as the world of business has been paying renewed attention to
ethics, the world of science would benefit from more deeply considering
the implications of its own work. Scientists should be more than merely
technically adept; they should be mindful of their own motivation and
the larger goal of what they do: the betterment of humanity.
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is the author of "The
Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality."
