Introduction

There are so many points worth investigating in comparative studies between Buddhism and science that it is utterly unrealistic to pretend that they all can be covered in a single article, much less treated in the profundity that each one of them deserves. Nevertheless, it was my intention to be as comprehensive as I could in underlining some of the key aspects that necessarily should be taken into consideration. Thus, I began by delineating the frame within which any comparison between Buddhism and science can actually take place, and by identifying the limitations and constraints that it implies. Bearing in mind these matters, I justified why this topic is still worth studying.

In this endeavor, I would have fallen into a dangerous trap had I tried to accommodate the Buddhist views to the current ones of science, only to realize some years from now that the tenets of science are very different. The views and body of knowledge of science are in constant change and evolution. It is intrinsic to the scientific method to constantly challenge its theories with new empirical data and then discard or modify them accordingly. But to be fair, Buddhism too has evolved and branched along history, and has modified its form to better adapt to the intrinsic circumstances of the cultures it was coming upon. Therefore, in doing the comparison, I intentionally avoided being too categorical.

In the last thirty years, authors such as Fritjof Capra[1] have found many parallels between physics and the Dharma. I will also present here a few more by quoting one of the most important Mahayana Sutras, the Shurangama. Due to its dialectic approach to the nature of reality and life, this Sutra is, in my opinion, the most fitting for the present times, although, unfortunately, it is still not so well known in the West.

The comparison between Buddhist and scientific views will move from the physical to the mental phenomena, from matter to consciousness. The more mainstream views held by the scientific community will be complemented by new radical ones. The discussion will continue by evaluating some ethical issues, and will finish with some reflections on the scope of the scientific method.

 

The Frame for Comparison

Dharma is a Sanskrit term that has been left untranslated due to the richness of meanings that it conveys. Usual translations include: “Truth,” “Natural Law,” “Reality,” and “Right Way of Living.” Dharma has therefore two main connotations: the first is a description of the world and the laws operating in it; and the second a sense of duty for living in harmony with those principles in order to realize our highest potential. Science is, at its heart, a discipline motivated by the desire to know and understand the world and its laws and to then put all that knowledge to the service of society. Hence, it seems that science and the Dharma have similar connotations, and that is why it seems reasonable, at least in principle, to do a comparative study between both.

Is science Dharmic? Or in other words, “Are the views of Dharma and science alike?” The rational way of thinking, based on logic and using language as its fundamental tool, has rendered the body of philosophy as ontological and epistemological answers to the barbed questions of existence and reality.[2] Modern science does not deal with ontological questions but rather uses the rational-logic mind combined with mathematics to observe patterns of phenomena and derive explanatory theories. Although most would agree that language is associated with the logical mind, it is not so clear with mathematics since it could be believed that it is in itself an absolute truth. However, mathematics is based on indemonstrable axioms, and for that reason it is also, from its very conception, a rational product. The mathematician Gödel proved that axioms must be necessarily incorporated without possible verification of their validity. Moreover, when using mathematics as a tool to describe the phenomena of the world, the interpretation of the functions and numerical results inevitably implies a certain degree of rational intrusion.

For Buddhism, on the other hand, “the reality of reality” lays beyond the comprehension of the rational mind. The Buddha always emphasized transcendence and liberation from delusion, and said that trying to figure out the meanings of concepts such as eternity, infinity, or immortality will not lead to ultimate answers but to the end of life without finding anything definitive. Science, however, keeps on persevering with unremitting doggedness in its search for explanations, each time more precise, of all kind of observations, experiments, and phenomena.

In Buddhism, there are several classifications and definitions of wisdom. According to one of them, there are three categories: (i) literary wisdom, obtained by studying the Holy Scriptures called Sutras; (ii) contemplative wisdom, a product of deep meditative states beyond the rational mind; and (iii) wisdom without characteristics or marks, which is the all-embracing, ego-transcendent, omniscient wisdom of those beings who become enlightened. The scientific method, based on analytical objectivity, can not expand to deal with the gnosis of the last two kinds of wisdoms because they are derived from elevated mental states that transcend the rational mind and are acquired through moral discipline and trained focused attention. As a result, what actually happens in comparative studies is that Buddhism is always constrained to the first kind of wisdom, which is the only one manageable by the rational discursive mind. And yet, the meanings and interpretations of the Sutras are not unique, but can be very different depending on the capacity of the reader. Additionally, Sutras have a very peculiar capacity of affecting the mind at subliminal levels, deeper than the intellectual, by means of the skillful use of a language full of repetitions, archetypal images, metaphors, etc, all of which is completely overlooked in the rational investigation of its meanings.

Nonetheless, in spite of the many limitations, to explore the scientific views conjointly with the Dharma could be at least interesting and, given the contextual situation of the present era in which science has become so prominent, perhaps even necessary. Thus, a brief history of modern science is presented, and its progress will be contrasted against the wisdom contained in one of the most important Mahayana Sutras, the Shurangama.

 

Space, Time & Matter

Galileo, back at the end of the 16th century, was the first one who used empirical observations to challenge the Church as a “repository of the Truth” when he stated that the earth was not at the center of the universe. A few decades later, Newton would formulate his famous “theory of gravity” to explain the movement of planets around the Sun. These great accomplishments, together with subsequent advances in the following two centuries in chemistry, electromagnetism, and other fields, led scientist by the end of the 19th century to offer a quite coherent view of the universe as a huge clock in which everything moves according to specific natural laws. The rational mind would eventually be able to fathom, and even master, the universal machinery. However, a cataclysmic shaking of that view took place at the beginning of the last century when Einstein brought forth his “theory of relativity.” Consequences? Time is not absolute, space is curved, and matter is actually condensed energy. In fact, time and space are not independent but form an inseparable continuum of “space-time,” which is distorted by the mass of the objects. Time goes slower when we move faster or are in stronger gravitational fields, and energy (light) and matter are interconvertible according to the equation E=mc2. A single person was able to demolish the whole Newtonian universe. We might rhetorically say that, “a universe where all was absolute was replaced by another in which absolutely all was relative.”

Scientist have also found that matter itself is mainly empty, made out of atoms which have a very tiny nucleus with most of the mass surrounded by a cloud of electrons. Furthermore, the nucleus is made of other particles called protons and neutrons, which in themselves are also essentially empty, made of much smaller particles named quarks. The emptiness of matter is such that there are particles called neutrinos that can pass through the whole earth – in fact they could pass through several ones – without colliding at all.

“Let us consider the nature of the element earth. It is perceived in its gross form as all the lands, and is perceived in its fine aspect as motes of dust. In its most subtle aspect it is perceived as particles so minute that they can hardly be distinguished from space itself. If these minute particles were divided further into seven parts, they would then be as small as perceived objects can be. If these minute particles were divided yet further, they would actually assume the nature of space.” –Shurangama Sutra

A very important concept in Buddhism is that of emptiness, which means that nothing has an ultimate essential nature, but all is made out of components –human beings included[3]– brought together by interdependent causal conditions. The analytical deconstruction of the element earth described in the Sutra very much resembles the scientific view of the structure of matter. Thus, is the Sutra saying that matter (land) is composed of atoms (motes of dust)? Would the most subtle aspect of matter a reference to quarks?[4] A theory called “strings theory” –sometimes also “superstrings”– postulates that extremely small loops of strings are the ultimate components of everything, and it is their restricted modes of vibration which give account for the different manifestations of reality, and even space itself.[5] Would be then the smallest perceived object a reference to these strings? Would the splitting of a loop of string transform it into space?

[SL1] Another point worth mentioning is that the Sutra does not say that matter is “made of” but that it is “perceived as,” which is a very important ontological distinction that will be further elaborated later in this discussion.

As physicists looked into progressively smaller constituents of matter, they clashed against a limit beyond which they could not know with certainty the properties and characteristics of particles, which was formulated by Heisenberg as the Uncertainty Principle. Moreover, what was known as the “Copenhagen Interpretation” declared that “there is not such a thing as ultimate reality,” which meant that there is a threshold beyond which it is impossible to distinguish the object, the act of measuring, and the observer because they are too interwoven. All this knowledge was formulated mathematically in what has been known as “quantum mechanics.” According to it, particles are wavy diffused entities that can behave differently depending on the way of observing them. The subatomic world can only be described in terms of probabilities, and empty space can not any longer be considered as absolutely empty; instead, super-ephemeral particle-antiparticle pairs are fleetingly popping out and disappearing constantly everywhere.[6]

In 1964, the Irish physicist John Bell brought to view a very important concept in quantum theory: non-local correlations. Bell’s theorem proves that any physical system retains correlations even as they become spatially separated, which means that any measurement of nature will manifest correlations to facts not necessarily local.[7] Events that are not causally connected through signals (communications) are still correlated in mysterious ways that suggest an underlying wholeness.

 

New Paradigm

So far, most of what I wrote conforms to the orthodox scientific view, but as the discussion has moved into more subtle levels of reality, new theories need to be introduced which, although still not fully accepted by the mainstream scientific community, offer challenging ideas and views grounded in scientific principles that seem to fill the gap with those views held in Buddhism.

British physicist David Bohm believes that non-local correlations imply that objective reality does not exist; that despite its apparent solidity, the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and superbly detailed hologram. The universe according to Bohm actually has two faces, or more precisely, two orders. One is the explicate order, corresponding to the physical world as we know it in day-to-day reality, the other a deeper, more fundamental order which Bohm calls the implicate order. The implicate order is the vast holo-movement. We see only the surface of this movement as it presents or “explicates” itself from moment to moment in time and space. What we see in the world – the explicate order – is no more than the surface of the implicate order as it unfolds. Time and space are themselves the modes or forms of the unfolding process.[8]

“The Matrix of the Tathagata is itself the wondrous enlightened understanding, which illuminates the entire Dharma Realm. Within it, therefore, the one is infinitely many and the infinitely many are one. The great appears within the small, just as the small appears within the great.” –Shurangama Sutra

“Their bodies and minds, replete with perfect understanding, become a place of stillness and enlightenment. Then, within the tip of a fine hair all the lands in the ten directions are contained. –Shurangama Sutra

There are frequent expressions in the Mahayana Sutras, especially in the Avatamsaka, pointing to a holographic-like reality.[9] The famous Indra’s net described in the Avatamsaka could be a perfect description of what is a hologram.[10] Could indeed the universe be like a huge hologram, in which every part of it contains the information of the whole? The total interconnection among everything in the universe is one of the main tenets of Buddhism, and this can be also found in cosmological theories,[11] or even in what has been named as “chaos theory,”[12] which explains how seemingly insignificant phenomena could be the cause of large effects even at great distances.

In the 1960s, Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram had also become persuaded of the holographic functioning of the brain. According to him, memories are encoded not in neuronal synapses but in patterns of nerve impulses that crisscross the entire brain in the same way that patterns of laser light crisscross the entire area of a piece of film containing a holographic image. The synthesis of Bohm and Pribram views offers a striking new picture of reality which has come to be called the “holographic paradigm.” The world would be a holographic blur of frequencies, some of which would develop the capacity to be self-conscious through life. Living beings are alive because they have nervous systems able to select some frequencies through the senses and transform them into sensory perceptions, producing the illusory impression of concrete objects.

“Once all your sense-faculties are completely dislodged, Ananda, you will glow with a pure inner brilliance. Then, in the space of a thought, all coarse sense-objects, all the material world – all phenomena subject to change – will be transformed into a sublime awareness, just as ice is transformed when it melts away in boiling water.”–Shurangama Sutra

“The Buddha said to Ananda, “(Your analytical mind) is merely your mental process of assigning false and illusory attributes to the world of perceived objects. This process deludes you about your true nature and has caused you, in your present life and for the entirety of time, which has no beginning, to mistake a burglar for your own child – to lose touch with your own original, everlasting mind – and thus revolve upon the wheel of rebirth.” –Shurangama Sutra

The Shurangama Sutra, some 2,000 years ago, already contained a description of the world astonishingly similar to that of the holographic paradigm. Thus, the use of senses together with the intellect that manipulates the received information creates the illusion of a concrete world, but the world is Maya, only an illusion.

I would like to mention another hypothesis which departs from mainstream science even further than the holographic, that of “morphic resonance” proposed in 1970s by British Biologist Rupert Sheldrake, a heretic in the “Church of Science,” who put forth the notion that morphic fields are a special kind of cumulative collective memory that each type of organism forms.[13] The regularities of nature are therefore habitual and things are as they are because they were as they were. Interestingly similar, in the Yogachara school,[14] the universe is conceived as just the conscious representation emanated from the store consciousness, constituted by the accumulation of impregnations left by all the previous experiences, which eventually will develop to produce new phenomena. The parallelism between the store consciousness and the implicate order of Bohm is also evident.

 

Life & Consciousness

“Beings are born as one or another of twelve kinds, turning and returning as they undergo change. Thus beings are caught upon the wheel of rebirth, and according to their various distorted attributes, they are born into this world from eggs, or from wombs, or in water, or by metamorphosis. Beings are born with physical form, and others are born without physical form.” –Shurangama Sutra

For Buddhism, all phenomena, life and consciousness included, are manifestations in constant flux of arising and extinguishing depending on causes and conditions. Indeed, life would be the result of cause-effect relationships that go beyond death, based on karma, which, as energy that obeys thermodynamic principles, is not destroyed after death, only transformed. Everything, from life, to planets, up to the whole universe, follows causal cycles. Since everything evolves following cycles of appearing, maintaining, decaying, and extinction, to talk about an origin of the universe, or life, is irrelevant. However, for those interested in briefly knowing the scientific views on these subjects, you can check the following notes at the end. [15],[16]

Astronomical observations indicate that all matter in the entire universe is identical – they are made of the same atoms and molecules. Although the possible ways of combining them could be almost infinite, there are actually only a few combinations with the stability and flexibility necessary to support complex forms of life. The universe is indeed so fitted for life as we know it that a principle called “anthropic principle” has been postulated, which says that the universe manifests as it is due to the emergence of conscious beings able to observe it. From quantum theory, infinite undifferentiated dynamic universes would coexist until one of the possibilities is able to hold life, and, as the consciousness of beings evolves, so too the universe becomes more defined by the collapse of probabilities into realities.

“The Buddha has asked us how we broke through all obstructions. I practiced in focused contemplation that everything in the ten directions is a manifestation within the consciousness-element. My mind gained perfect understanding, and I realized the true nature of reality. I left far behind from any dependence on what is external and freed myself forever from constant categorizing.” –Shurangama Sutra

Orthodox scientists generally try to avoid giving any role to consciousness in modeling reality. That view is indeed the purpose of the Copenhagen interpretation: to limit research only to observations without modeling what lies behind them. However, when scientists propose new models of reality, often the role of consciousness emerges. To say that consciousness would be the agent that collapses infinite probabilities of universes into single realities is not far from saying that the mind would be indeed creating the universe.

 

Space-Time and Beings in the Shurangama Sutra

“Ananda, what is the distorted phenomenon of worlds in space and time? Due to ignorance and to all that exists based upon ignorance, there arises the unreal phenomenon of beings divided into individual bodies, and as a result, space is established. Further, although ignorance is not a cause, yet there is that which is based on it. There is no basis for anything to exist, yet there is that which exists. Therefore, beings are in constant flux and do not endure, and as a result, time is established. The three periods of time and the four quarters of space combine and interact, and in this way are beings transformed into any one of twelve kinds.” –Shurangama Sutra

At a fundamental level, there is no world or beings, and although we may think we are physical beings moving in time and space through a physical world, this is an illusion.

“Out of darkness, a mental void appears, and this dark void condenses to create a subtle object of mind. What characterizes this distorting mental activity is that it leads to the coming into being of the embryonic body. An internal confluence of causes distorts this body and directs its attention outward. In this stage of confused agitation, we take this agitation to be the true nature of our minds. Once we take this initial confusion to be our mind, we are committed to the delusion that the mind is inside the physical body. You do not know that the true and wondrously understanding mind contains the body and everything outside the body — mountains, rivers, sky, earth, everything. You are like someone who fails to see a boundless ocean a hundred thousand miles across, and merely is aware of a single floating bubble. You see that bubble floating there and think it is the vast tide that surges toward the farthest branching of the sea. Within your confusion you are confused further.” –Shurangama Sutra

The first half of this quotation is, in my opinion, one of the most important, but also enigmatic, passages of the Shurangama Sutra. It describes how the connection between consciousness and embryos occurs. Out of mental confusion, we end up convinced that the mind is inside the body, but that is the ordinary petty mind. The true mind contains the whole universe. The following passage elaborates on these issues.

“Ananda, what is the distorted phenomenon that we call beings? The enlightened nature of the true mind that understands, Ananda, is that its understanding is perfect and complete. But, from this understanding, another understanding appears and creates another entity, and because of this other entity, deluded awareness comes into being. Thus from within the original state of complete emptiness, existence gradually comes about.” –Shurangama Sutra

The immediate question is to think how is it possible that from a perfect understanding comes forth a deluded awareness? The Sutra seems to suggest that out of its unlimited potential everything is possible. The delusion of beings appears when appearing entities, although based on nothing, on unreality, end up believing they are something independent.

“One may wish to return to what is real, but to wish for the real is already to be apart from the true nature of reality. To seek to recover the true mind on the basis of what is not real is as if to turn the real into the unreal.” –Shurangama Sutra

One of the paradoxes of the Dharma is that, even the wish to escape from the illusion is part of the illusion. The Dharma in itself is therefore something to be also transcended.

“An unreal coming into being, an abiding in that unreality, a mind that is unreal, and unreal objects of mind – all these arise interdependently. As the mutual reinforcement of this process continues, its pervasive influence results in karma. Similar karma mutually attracts, and because of the karma of this mutual attraction, there is a coming into being and ceasing to be. This is the reason for the upside-down phenomenon of beings.” –Shurangama Sutra

Out of an illusion karma appears, and out of karma beings appear. Fundamentally all is unreal.

“Further, Pūrna, you should know that this mistaken understanding is due simply to the error of adding an understanding to our inherent enlightenment. The inevitable consequence is the mistaken establishment of the categories “something understood” and “that which understand.” –Shurangama Sutra

“The Buddha said, “You should know, Ananda, that the wondrous enlightened nature is endowed with perfect understanding. It is apart from all names and attributes, and in it, at the fundamental level, there are no worlds and no beings... When delusion ceases, reality appears. This turning back from duality to reality is called unsurpassed Bodhi (enlightenment). It is also called the Great Nirvana of the Tathagata.” –Shurangama Sutra

Concise and powerful statements about the epistemological stand of Buddhism: when the true nature is covered by an illusion created by the rational mind, then the perception of reality is distorted. A duality between subject and object is the heart of the whole illusion.

 

Is Science Dharmic?

Clearly, science is moving –or we should better say, jumping– from one paradigm to another, each time more expansive and embracing. The idea of the sun moving across the firmament was not incorrect for the medieval society whose existential location was the land they walked upon. In relativistic terms, we could rightly say that, from the point of reference of the earth, the sun is indeed moving. As our capacity to see was expanded through telescopes to the macrocosm, and through microscopes to the microcosm, our point of reference also changed, and with it our view of whom we are, and how we are related to each other and to the universe. A relativistic universe lacking absolutes, in which mind and phenomena become undistinguishable, is indeed a view much closer to that of the Dharma, especially as it has evolved in the Mahayana school, than that of the classical Newtonian conception.

Basic science observes nature and formulates theories that explain the empirical data and is able to make predictions. The theories are ratified, discarded, or modified to comply with the experimental evidence. This process is basically the scientific method. Applied science uses all that knowledge to create technological products. In looking for answers to the question of to which degree science is Dharmic, two different approaches can be taken based on this classification of science into basic and applied. The approach for basic science implies the validity of the scientific method, whereas the approach for applied science implies a discussion of its ethical implications.

 

Ethical Implications

Our current life style is highly dependent on the development of more sophisticated and awesome technological products. Wireless communication, computers, medical equipment, and space trips are some of the feats with which science and technology amazes us. Out of this amazement, science could be perceived as a religion in the sense of being the way through which to gain liberation from the sufferings of life. As a result, there is a natural tendency to perceive scientists as possessors of the truth, almost as if they were a new clergy. Put in a symbolic way, we could say that in modern society, white coats, mathematical jargon, and laboratories have replaced purple robes, Latin and Sanskrit, and cathedrals and temples. However, this widespread faith on the unlimited potential of science as panacea for all sufferings should be checked by taking into consideration the global impact that all this progress is bringing along. We should not forget that weapons of massive destruction and global warming, among many other threads, are jeopardizing our survival and that of the whole planet, and they are directly connected to ‘scientific progress’. Scientists would argue that the use of the knowledge that they produce is not exclusively their responsibility but that of the whole society, particularly politicians.

Another aspect to consider is the fact that science often degenerates into the dogmatism of taking science as the absolute and only justifiable access to the truth, and in this regard, in spite of their different purposes, a comparison with dogmatic religions is justified. This dogmatic behavior of science can be also detected in its internal way of functioning. Thus, at present, the usual method of publicizing new scientific results is the submission of articles for publication in specialized journals subject to peer review. In the practice, this means that the defenders of the present scientific paradigm, usually involved as reviewers of the most influential journals, have a great capacity to block and filter those results that seriously challenge their views. Frequently, only when the evidence is overwhelming, or only after some of these dominant personalities retire, a shift is produced, almost like a jump, into a new paradigm. But, because science is willing to challenge its own assumptions at every step, given the necessary time that usually involves the overcoming of personal egos, it can not be denied that actual development and growth has occurred.

“Most who pursue studies in this present era do it for the sake of fame and profit. The “ming-li” which means “to understand principle” and the “ming-li” which means “fame and profit” are about the same in (Chinese) pronunciation, but in their implementation they are complete opposites and are separated by one hundred and eight thousand miles.” – Venerable Master Hua

According to Buddhist ethics, scientists should evaluate their intentions in pursuing scientific studies. Doing it just for the benefit of earning a good salary, as frequently happens in those working for the industry, or to gain prestige and recognition, as happens in academic circles, will very likely not bring anything of sound value to society and to the individual.

“What is meant by intentional engagement with perceived objects, Ananda? People who practice in this way -- who observe the prohibitory precepts with purity and who have no sexual desire -- will allow themselves few outflows in response to the six kinds of perceived objects. Because their outflows are few, these people are able to redirect the attention of their sense-faculties inward to the faculties’ source. Since their sense-faculties are no longer attending to perceived objects, the faculties and objects are no longer paired. Once the attention has been redirected inward, the sense-faculties become one and cease to function in six separate ways. Then the lands throughout the ten directions will be as pure and as transparent as a bright moon appearing within a crystal. In their bodies and minds they will experience bliss, wondrous perfection, and identity with all beings and all things.” –Shurangama Sutra

For Buddhism, morality (sila) is one of the three requisites absolutely necessary to have correct views of the world, the other two being mental concentration and wisdom (samadhi and Prajña). Without the three of them, to become a buddha is impossible.

“All of a sudden I (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) transcended the worlds of ordinary beings and even transcended the worlds of beings who have transcended the ordinary worlds. Everything in the ten directions was fully illuminated, and I gained two remarkable powers. First, my mind ascended to unite with the fundamental, wondrous, enlightened mind of all Buddhas in all ten directions, and my power of compassion became the same as theirs. Second, my mind descended to unite with all beings of the six destinies in all ten directions, such that I felt their sorrows and prayerful yearnings as my own.” –Shurangama Sutra

Enlightened beings do not see themselves apart from others, so acting ethically is a natural consequence of understanding the world. The conclusions to which some of the new scientific theories arrive resonate very much with this view of the Dharma. According to Sheldrake, “Descartes believed the only kind of mind was the conscious mind. Then Freud reinvented the unconscious. Then Jung said it's not just a personal unconscious but a collective unconscious. Morphic resonance shows us that our very souls are connected with those of others and bound up with the world around us.” In Bohm’s words, “In a universe in which all things are infinitely interconnected, all consciousnesses are also interconnected. Despite appearances, we are beings without borders. Deep down the consciousness of mankind is one.” Regardless of the fact that orthodox science will eventually be able to confirm or refute the details of their models and speculations, I think this direction is the one that the new scientific paradigm will have to take, one in which ethics will pervade the whole functioning and purpose of science -- not out of imposition, but out of being coherent with its own conclusions.

 

The Scientific Method

Can the scientific method provide definitive views of what is the world and how it works? The Kalama Sutra cautions everybody not to be gullible about “what is taught by tradition, or hearsay, sacred texts, or logic, deduction, or facade, agreement with established opinion, the seeming competence of a teacher, or even the own teacher.” It says that one must know by himself what is wholesome or not, and encourages to investigate deeply on this direction. Therefore, Buddhism and science share a similar method to derive their knowledge: an objective and verifiable observation and investigation of the interconnectedness of all phenomena by causal relationships. The cause-effect relationships observed by science in the physical world are expanded in Buddhism, in what is called the law of karma, to embrace all existing phenomena, including mental and even spiritual. In fact, the use of probabilities to describe phenomena, as in quantum mechanics, might be taken as an evidence of not having deeply understood the ultimate network of karma and the true nature of consciousness.

The scientific method provides knowledge that can be naturally embraced as part of the process of clarifying all objects and functions in the world, and that is why Buddhism does not need to be defensive, or intrinsically paranoid about science. But in order to have a truly unbiased gnosis, even reason has to be transcended, not out of dogma, like other religions, but actually out of pure impartiality. Because an unbiased experience can only take place when it is absolutely free of any predisposition, it is necessary to eradicate from the mind all obstructions, from the gross ones –attachments, prejudices, negative emotions such as greed and hatred, etc – to the most subtle functions of an ego and its intellect. It could be said that Buddhism takes the scientific method to its deepest level of functioning, and therefore is even more scientific that science itself in its commitment to truth.

 

Final Remark

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." – Albert Einstein [17]

Buddhism, unlike science, offers a clear way to live which is conducive to the realization of the ultimate potential of our minds. In the sense of offering liberation (from an illusion), Buddhism could be called a religion, although it is more like a methodology to reveal all of that inherent potential. That is why Buddhists prefer to refer to themselves as cultivators or practitioners rather than believers. By progressing in the tuning of the mind, eventually the distinction of a self separated from the rest of the universe is dissolved, and then true awareness and pure wisdom manifest, what is called to be enlightened,[18] to become a Buddha; literally, to awaken.

 

BOX #1: Authenticity of the Shurangama Sutra

Perhaps it is worth dedicating some words to one of the issues that surround the Shurangama Sutra: its authenticity. I will expound some considerations on the issue of authenticity of any of the texts of the Buddhist cannon. The first consideration is the fact that the historical Buddha Shakyamuni did not write anything himself; his teachings were preserved as an oral tradition for about three centuries before they were actually written down, so the whole cannon is a recompilation. Another consideration is that the Buddha himself pointed out that he did not create the Dharma, but simply fathom it. Hence, anyone else able to likewise realize his awakening would find the same. As a result, any doctrine should be judged not only on the authority of the reporter or his sources but on its consistency with the rest of the cannon and the Vinaya (moral regulations). As long as a pronouncement is in accordance with them, the question of who first stated it becomes secondary; at least for those really interested in the cultivation of the Dharma. To enter into disquisitions about authorship or dating of texts is no more than some fuel for the survival of a small scholarly industry.

The Shurangama Sutra contains as its heart a very powerful esoteric aid, the Shurangama mantra, and stresses the importance of morality, of not indulging in sexual desire, and of concentration of the mind (samadhi), as necessary prerequisites to realize any deep insight. Could it be that such a straightforward message is the authentic reason for the animosity this Sutra produces in many scholars and “cultivators”?

“What is meant by the fundamental rules of behavior? Ananda, beings who wish to enter samadhi must strictly observe the pure precepts. They must rid themselves of sexual desire once and for all. They must not consume alcohol or meat. Ananda, if people who practice do not put an end to their sexual desire and do not refrain from taking life, it will be impossible for them to transcend the three realms.” –Shurangama Sutra

Critics often point out the fact that it praises not eating meat as a proof of its Chinese origin, instead of Indian.  For me, it is an indication of not having stopped to seriously reflect upon the consequences that the consumption of meat brings on personal health, the environment, and especially on our compassion. Do we need to take refuge on what the Buddha said or did not say, to not see by ourselves the principle behind this practice? Even if just the few quotations of the Shurangama Sutra contained in this article can not make justice to its breadth and depth, I hope everyone will sense through them its immense perennial wisdom and authenticity.

 

BOX #2: Measuring and Inducing Enlightenment

The Dharma offers 84,000 doors to enter into nirvana (the state of an enlightened being), but it is necessary to indeed enter. To confirm the existence of any fact or phenomena, science must be able to measure, quantify, and reproduce it, and this is the main difficulty for Buddhism to fully come into terms with science. To realize enlightenment requires individual introspection, and for that reason it is a completely personal experience that depends on intangible factors such as sincerity, concentration, or virtue.

“When such pure people practice samadhi, then, they will very naturally be able to see the worlds of the ten directions, while remaining in their bodies born of their parents, and without needing their celestial eyes. They will see the Buddhas and hear the Dharma, and they will in person respectfully receive the Sages’ instructions. They will gain great spiritual powers -- they will roam playfully throughout the ten directions, and they will have clear knowledge of past lives. They will never encounter danger or difficulty.” –Shurangama Sutra

Recently, we read in the media about the interest of neurophysiologists to examine the brain of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in search of evidence of special mental states. The Dharma says that all kind of psychic abilities are naturally developed as one gains control over the mind, so one might think, why not to put them on view as a confirmation of enlightenment? The Buddha warned against the public display of these powers precisely because they are not a confirmation of enlightenment, but can be equally developed by those who, lacking a moral grounding, use them for self benefit by taking advantage of others.

Another aspect to consider is the idea of achieving enlightenment by using drugs. Although some claim that hallucinogens and psychedelics can induce higher states of mind, the fact is that their limited effect and lack of control are indeed opposite qualities of what is associated with enlightenment.

 

---

Notes and References

---