Buddhism and Science

One hears so much about what science can do, yet so little about what it cannot do.

Scientific knowledge is limited to those data received through the sense organs, and does not recognise the reality which transcends sense-data.

Scientific truth is built upon logical observations which are changing constantly. It is therefore relative truth not intended to stand the test of time, and a scientist aware of this fact is always willing to discard a theory if it can be replaced by a better one.

Science attempts to understand the outer world, but has barely scratched the surface of man’s inner world.

Today, so many people are plagued with fear, restlessness, and insecurity, yet science fails to succour them. It is unable to teach the common man how to control his mind when he is driven by the nature which burns within him.

Science is thoroughly secular in nature and unconcerned with man’s spiritual goal, denying to his psyche anything higher than material satisfaction.

The transcendental mind developed by Buddha is not limited to sense-data, and goes beyond the logic bounded by the limits of relative perception.

On the contrary, human intellect operates on the basis of information it collects and stores, whether in the field of religion, philosophy, science, or art. This information is gathered by our sense organs which are inferior in many ways, and the very limited information perceived makes our understanding of the world distorted.

The less we know, the more certain we are in our explanations. The more we know, the more we realise our limitations. In this regard, Socrates had this to say when asked what he knew: “I know only one thing – that I do not know!”

Buddhism goes beyond modern science in its acceptance of a wider field of knowledge than is allowed by the scientific mind. It admits knowledge arising from the sense organs, as well as personal experiences gained through mental culture, and by training and developing a highly concentrated mind, spiritual experience can be understood and verified.

This experience is not something which can be understood by conducting experiments in a test tube, or examined under the microscope.

The truth disclosed by science is relative, and subject to change, while that found by the Buddha is final and absolute – it does not change according to time and space and is known by its Sanskrit name, Dhamma.