FromHis Holiness the Dalai Lama; Science and Buddhism ; Tibet and India

The Visit to India in 1956

In 1956 I went to India to take partin the 2500^th anniversary of Buddha’s death, whose main event took place in Delhi. Later the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru became something of a counsellor to me and a friend as well as my host in exile. Nehru was scientifically minded; he saw India’s future in terms of technological and industrial development and had a profound vision of progress. After the final celebration of Buddha’s passing away, I saw many parts of India-not only the pilgrimage sites like Bodhgaya where Buddha attained full awakening, but also major cities, industrial complexes and universities.

It was then that I had my first encounters with spiritual teachers who were seeking the integration of science and spirituality, such as the members of the Theosophical Society in Madras. Theosophy was an important spiritual movement in nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries that sought to develop a synthesis of human knowledge, Eastern and Western, religious and scientific. Its founders including  Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant, were westerners but spent much time in India.

I noticed certain similarities between science and Buddhist thought which I still find striking. The scientific method proceeds from the observation of certain phenomena of  in the material world, leads to a theoretical generalization which predicts the event and the results that arise if one treats the phenomena in a particular way, and then tests the prediction with an experiment. The result is accepted as part of the body of wider scientific knowledge if the experiment is correctly conducted and may be repeated. However, if the experiment contradicts the theory, then it is the theory that needs to be adapted-since the empirical observation of phenomena has priority. Effectively science moves from empirical experience via a conceptual thought process that includes application of reason and culminates in further empirical experience to verify the understanding offered by reason. I have long been gripped by a fascination with the parallels between this form of investigation and those I had learnt in my Buddhist philosophical training and contemplative practice.

Although Buddhism has evolved as a religion with a characteristic body of scriptures and rituals, strictly speaking, in Buddhism scriptural authority cannot outweigh an understanding based on reason and experience. In fact, the Buddha himself, in a famous statement, undermines the scriptural authority of his own words when he exhorts his followers not to accept the validity of his teachings simply on the basis of reverence to him. Just as a seasoned goldsmith would test the purity of his gold through a meticulous process of examination, the Buddha advises that people should test the truth of what he has said through reasoned examination and personal experiment. Therefore when it comes to validating the truth of a claim, Buddhism accords greatest authority to experience , with reason second and scripture last. The great masters of the Nalanda school of Indian Buddhism, from which Tibetan Buddhism sprang, continued to apply the spirit of the Buddha’s advice in their rigorous and critical examination of the Buddha’s own teachings.

In one sense the method of science and Buddhism are different: scientific investigation proceeds by experiment, using instruments that analyse external phenomena, whereas contemplative investigation proceeds by the development of refined attention, which is then used in the introspective examination of inner experience. But both share a strong empirical basis: if science shows something to exist or to be non-existent (which is not the same as not finding it), then we must acknowledge that as a fact. If a hypothesis is tested and found to be true, we must accept it. Likewise, Buddhism must accept the facts-whether found by science or found by contemplative insights. If when we investigate something, we find there is reason and proof for it, we must acknowledge that as reality – even if it is in contradiction with a literal scriptural explanation that has held sway for many centuries or with a deeply held opinion or view. So one fundamental attitude shared by Buddhism and science is the commitment to keep searching for reality by empirical means and to be willing to discard accepted or long-held positions if our search finds that the truth is different.

With regard to Buddhist investigative traditions, we Tibetans owe a tremendous debt to classical India, the birthplace of Buddhist philosophical thinking and spiritual teaching. Tibetans have always referred to India as ‘The Land of the Noble Ones’. This the country that gave birth to the Buddha, and to a series of great Indian masters whose writings have fundamentally shaped the philosophical thinking and the spiritual tradition of the Tibetan people- the second century philosopher Nagarjuna, the fourth century luminaries Asanga and his brother Vasubandhu, the great ethical teacher Shantideva and the seventh century logician Dharmakirti.