Potpourri- Buddhism And Science

| Sunday, January 11, 2004 |

THIS WEEK

	Front Page
	Manipur
	Features
	Opinions
	Profiles
	Editorials
	Interviews
	Potpourri
	Photos
	Books
	Links

MANIPURONLINE

-	About Us
-	Advertise
-	Feedback
-	Contact Us
-	Letters to the Editor

Step 2: In the <body>, place the

Buddhism And Science
By MS Ningomba
Most religions use emotion as the energy for attaining their respective goals. Emotion is the inspiration, which arouses belief and obedience to the teachings, and emotions, particularly those, which produce faith, are a necessary part of most religions. Emotions are also that which preserves faith, for which reason it is quite important to ensure that these emotional states are sustained. While faith is the most important force in most religions, Buddhism stresses wisdom, giving faith a place of importance only in the initial stage. Even then, faith is only used very carefully, as wisdom is considered to be the prime factor in attaining to the goal of Buddhism. In order to clearly understand faith, it will be helpful to analyze it into different kinds. Generally speaking, faith can be divided into two main kinds: The first kind of faith is that which obstructs wisdom. It relies on inciting, or even enforcing, belief, and such belief must be complete and unquestioning. To doubt the teaching is forbidden. Only unquestioning obedience is allowed. This first kind of faith does not allow any room for wisdom to develop. Faith in most religions is of this variety. There must be belief and there must be obedience. Whatever the religion says must go, no questions asked. This feature of religion is known as dogma, the doctrine that is unquestionable, characterized by adherence in the face of reason. The second kind of faith is a channel for wisdom. This kind of faith stimulates curiosity; it is the incentive to begin learning. In this world there are so many things to learn about. Without faith we have no starting point or direction to set our learning, but when faith arises in a certain person, subject or teaching, it gives us a starting point. Faith awakens our interest. Faith in a person, in particular, leads to approaching and questioning that person. Having faith in the order of monks, for example, encourages us to approach them and learn from them, to gain a clearer understanding of the teachings. These two kinds of faith must be clearly distinguished. The faith that functions in Buddhism is the faith, which leads to wisdom, and as such is secondary to wisdom. Such faith is found in both Buddhism and science. Faith in Buddhism does not forbid questions or doubts, nor demand belief or unquestioning committal in any way. Both Buddhism and science possess this kind of faith; they both use faith as a stepping-stone on the path to realizing the truth. Now the question arises, what kind of faith is it, which leads to wisdom? The faith that leads to wisdom is the belief that this universe, or the world or nature, functions according to constant and invariable laws. This is faith in the Law of Nature, or the belief that nature has laws that are accessible to man’s understanding. And this faith is the impetus, which leads to the search for truth, but because faith in itself is incapable of leading directly to the truth, it must be used to further develop wisdom. At this stage the faith of Buddhism and the faith of science look very similar. Both have a belief in the laws of nature, and both strive to know the truth of these laws through wisdom. However the similarity ends right here. From this point on, the faith of Buddhism and faith of science part their ways. The source of both religion and science was the awareness of problems in life, the dangers in the natural world. In search of a remedy for this problem, human beings looked on the natural environment with trepidation and wonder. These two kinds of feeling led to both the desire for a way out of danger, and the desire to know the truth of nature. The objective of Buddhism is to solve the problem of human suffering, which arises from both internal and external conditions, with an emphasis on the world of human behavior. At the same time, Buddhism sees this process as a natural one. For this reason, Buddhism, like science, has faith in nature, but this belief or faith also includes human beings, both in the sense that human beings are a part of nature, and in the sense that human beings encompass the whole of nature within themselves, in that they are subject to the laws of nature. In Buddhism we believe that this abstract quality of human beings is also a natural phenomenon, and is also subject to the natural laws of cause and effect, and as such is included in natural truth. In order to know and understand nature, both the physical and the mental sides of nature should be thoroughly understood. Although science does have faith in nature, and strives to know the truths of nature, it doesn’t look at nature in its entirety. Science ignores human values and as a result has an incomplete or faulty view of nature. Science’s search for knowledge is inadequate and cannot reach completion, because one side of nature, the internal nature of man, is ignored. The faith of science can be divided into two aspects, and has two objects, the same as the faith of Buddhism. That is, firstly there is belief in the laws of nature, and secondly, belief in the ability of human intelligence to realize those laws, which is simply faith in human potential. However, this second aspect of faith is not clearly stated in science, it is more an assumption. Science does not mention this second kind of faith, and pays little attention to the development of the human being. It concentrates on serving only the first kind of faith. In this respect, science differs from Buddhism, which holds the faith in human potential to be of prime importance, and has expanded this subject into practical forms which have been systematized into the larger part of Buddhism’s teachings. In Buddhism there is the conviction that the realization of laws of nature will enable human beings to realize the highest good, which is liberation from suffering. This kind of faith creates a significant distinction between Buddhism and science. In Buddhism there is a search for truth in conjunction with a training to realize human potential. This development of human potential is also what determines the way knowledge is used. This being the case, the probability of using the knowledge gained from studying the laws of nature to serve the destructive influences of greed, hatred and delusion is minimized. Instead, knowledge gained will be used in constructive way. Science’s search for the truths of nature does not help anybody, even the scientists, to attain contentment, to relief suffering, to ease tension or to have calmer and clearer minds. At the same time, science opens wide the way for undesirable values to direct scientific development, leading it in the direction of greed, hatred and delusion. Examples of these undesirable values are the desire to conquer nature and materialism, which have controlled scientific development in the last century or more, causing exploitation of and destruction to the environment. Science is not interested in, and in fact is ignorant of, human nature, and as a result has become an instrument of industry and its selfish advances on the environment. This ignorance of human nature is ignorance of the fact that pandering to the five senses is incapable of making mankind happy and contented. This kind of desire has no end, and so the search for material wealth has no end. Because this abundance of material goods is obtained through exploitation of nature, it follows that the manipulation of nature is also without end and without check. Ultimately, nature will not have enough to satisfy human desires. Even if human beings completely destroy nature, it won’t be enough to satisfy human desire. Whatever misused or misdirected, we cannot underestimate science; an erudite monk scholar of Thailand, Bhikkhu PA Payutto remarked "any religion which points to the highest truth, to reality, will be in a position to unify with science. At that time science and religion will have reached another meeting point, their last one, where religion becomes science and science becomes religion, the division between the two gone forever."
(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

Copyright © 2005 ManipurOnline. A Virgo Communications Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED..	\| Privacy Policy \| Contact Us