送交者: xj 于 2005-11-14, 12:09:52:
November 12, 2005 Op-Ed Contributor
Our Faith in Science
By TENZIN GYATSO
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."