Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed
    Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed
    Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed
    Ebook268 pages6 hours

    Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed

    By Donald S. Lopez Jr.

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, both Buddhists and admirers of Buddhism have proclaimed the compatibility of Buddhism and science. Their assertions have ranged from modest claims about the efficacy of meditation for mental health to grander declarations that the Buddha himself anticipated the theories of relativity, quantum physics and the big bang more than two millennia ago.
    In Buddhism and Science, Donald S. Lopez Jr. is less interested in evaluating the accuracy of such claims than in exploring how and why these two seemingly disparate modes of understanding the inner and outer universe have been so persistently linked. Lopez opens with an account of the rise and fall of Mount Meru, the great peak that stands at the center of the flat earth of Buddhist cosmography—and which was interpreted anew once it proved incompatible with modern geography. From there, he analyzes the way in which Buddhist concepts of spiritual nobility were enlisted to support the notorious science of race in the nineteenth century. Bringing the story to the present, Lopez explores the Dalai Lama’s interest in scientific discoveries, as well as the implications of research on meditation for neuroscience.      Lopez argues that by presenting an ancient Asian tradition as compatible with—and even anticipating—scientific discoveries, European enthusiasts and Asian elites have sidestepped the debates on the relevance of religion in the modern world that began in the nineteenth century and still flare today. As new discoveries continue to reshape our understanding of mind and matter, Buddhism and Science will be indispensable reading for those fascinated by religion, science, and their often vexed relation.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateMay 15, 2009
    ISBN9780226493244
    Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed
    Author

    Donald S. Lopez Jr.

    Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000.

    Read more from Donald S. Lopez Jr.

    Related to Buddhism and Science

    Titles in the series (15)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Buddhism For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      Dec 6, 2022

      WE CALL SHAKYAMUNI the “historical Buddha,” yet mostly treat him as a quasi-mythic figure who transcends time and space, whose actual existence on our planet is but a faint memory. Xinru Liu, a historian of ancient India, would beg to differ. In Earl

      4 min read

    • Article

      Nothing Is More Important Than Your Buddhanature

      Sep 20, 2023

      BUDDHISTS OFTEN talk about suffering, emptiness, interdependence, and other philosophies and practices, but behind all of it is one simple teaching: buddhanature. Buddhism is notoriously complex, and sometimes it seems difficult for people to know wh

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Problem with Calling Buddhism a Science

      Feb 11, 2020

      The Problem with Calling Buddhism a Science
      8 min read

    • Article

      Science Vs Buddhism

      Mar 23, 2023

      Science Vs Buddhism
      9 min read

    • Article

      Enlightenment Is a Male Fantasy

      Nov 6, 2018

      Enlightenment Is a Male Fantasy
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Buddhist Science of Mind

      Mar 2, 2021

      The Buddhist Science of Mind
      6 min read

    • Article

      How Buddhists Can Benefit from Western Philosophy

      May 7, 2019

      IN THE EARLY 2000s, I taught Western philosophy to Tibetan monks at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India. These monks were excited to explore new insights into questions they were already pursuing in Buddhist philosophy, and new

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Zen of Retirement Living

      May 18, 2021

      HAD SOMEONE TOLD Susan O’Connell, when she started her Zen journey over thirty years ago, that one day the San Francisco Zen Center would be a partner in a retirement community, she would have politely questioned their sanity. And yet today that very

      2 min read

    • Article

      Thanks To Guanyin

      Mar 23, 2021

      Thanks To Guanyin
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Short Guide to Key Buddhanature Texts

      Sep 20, 2023

      Buddhanature, or tathagatagarbha: some say it is not Buddhist, some say it is quintessentially so. I do not want to push either judgment upon you; there is more than one way to be a Buddhist! Instead, I want to provide a roundup of some formative bud

      3 min read

    • Article

      Ask The Teachers

      Feb 11, 2020

      BHANTE SUJATO: In 2014 I coauthored, with Bhikkhu Brahmali, a book called The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts. The “early Buddhist texts” are essentially the main parts of the Pali suttas and vinaya, as well as the cognate texts in Chinese a

      5 min read

    • Article

      How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?

      Jun 28, 2022

      How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?
      15 min read

    • Article

      Why Meditation Isn’t Enough

      May 21, 2019

      IN THE TIBETAN tradition, the study of Buddhist philosophy is known as “learning and reflecting on the view.” Through a process of sustained inquiry, we can become free from all doubts about the true nature of reality as described by the Buddhist tea

      4 min read

    • Article

      You Are Already A Buddha

      Nov 22, 2022

      My first experiences learning to meditate were with my late father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. He was a revered meditation teacher, but he lived a very simple life, spending most of his time in a small hermitage on the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley.

      7 min read

    • Article

      MUSLIM & BUDDHIST

      Jan 24, 2023

      SUNDOWN TURNS TO DUSK as my forehead touches the rug beneath me. I stand, clasp my left wrist with my right hand, and intone the Arabic verses of the Qur’an that are recited daily by over a billion Muslims around the world. With my prayers, I’m unify

      3 min read

    • Article

      No Being, No Nonbeing

      May 18, 2021

      The Zen master asked the novice monk: “Tell me about your understanding of the Heart Sutra.” The novice joined his palms and replied: “I have understood that all the five skandhas are empty. There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, an

      2 min read

    • Article

      Can We Know Others’ Worlds?

      Mar 8, 2022

      Can We Know Others’ Worlds?
      6 min read

    • Article

      What A Good Horse You Are!

      Jan 24, 2023

      What A Good Horse You Are!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      Aug 7, 2018

      Ajahn Jayasaro’s STILLNESS FLOWING: THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF AJAHN CHAH (Abhayagiri 2017) is a remarkable testament to the legacy of the Thai Buddhist teacher Ajahn Chah (1918–1992). Over eight hundred pages in length, the book begins with Ajahn Cha

      4 min read

    • Article

      Was There a Fifth Noble Truth?

      Jan 22, 2019

      MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS have passed since twenty-eight fragile birch bark scrolls, now known to be the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts in the world, came to light. Dating back to as early as the first century BCE, the scrolls—originating in the

      2 min read

    • Article

      Through The Lens Of Madhyamaka

      Feb 6, 2018

      Through The Lens Of Madhyamaka
      9 min read

    • Article

      What’s Daoism Got to Do with It?

      Nov 3, 2020

      What’s Daoism Got to Do with It?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Magical Emanations

      Jan 19, 2021

      Magical Emanations
      13 min read

    • Article

      Compassion Without Calculation

      Mar 8, 2022

      Compassion Without Calculation
      10 min read

    • Article

      Why Buddhanature Matters

      Sep 20, 2023

      Why Buddhanature Matters
      12 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Buddhism and Science

    5/5

    4 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Buddhism and Science - Donald S. Lopez Jr.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1