The relationship between Buddhism and science is a subject of contemporary discussion and debate among Buddhists, scientists, and scholars of Buddhism. Historically, Buddhism encompasses many types of beliefs, traditions and practices, so it is difficult to assert any single "Buddhism" in relation to science. Similarly, the issue of what "science" refers to remains a subject of debate, and there is no single view on this issue. Those who compare science with Buddhism may use "science" to refer to "a method of sober and rational investigation" or may refer to specific scientific theories, methods or technologies.Lopez Jr. (2009), p. xii.
There are many examples throughout Buddhism of beliefs such as dogmatism, fundamentalism, clericalism, and devotion to supernatural spirits and deities.Safire, William (2007) The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge p.718Deegalle, Mahinda (2006) Popularizing Buddhism: Preaching as Performance in Sri Lanka p.131 Nevertheless, since the 19th century, numerous modern figures have argued that Buddhism is rational and uniquely compatible with science. Some have even argued that Buddhism is "scientific" (a kind of "science of the mind" or an "inner science").Wallace (2003), p. 52.Yong, Amos. (2005) Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground (review) Buddhist-Christian Studies – Volume 25, 2005, pp. 176–180.Lopez Jr. (2009), pp. xi–xii, 5.Thompson, Evan (2020). Why I am Not a Buddhist. Yale University Press. p. 1. Those who argue that Buddhism is aligned with science point out certain commonalities between the scientific method and Buddhist thought. The 14th Dalai Lama, for example, in a speech to the Society for Neuroscience,"Talking Up Enlightenment." Christina Reed Scientific American, February 6, 2006 listed a "suspicion of absolutes" and a reliance on causality and empiricism as common philosophical principles shared by Buddhism and science."The Neuroscience of Meditation." November 12, 2005, speech given by the Dalai Lama.
Buddhists also point to various statements in the Buddhist scriptures that promote rational and empirical investigation and invite people to put the teachings of the Buddha to the test before accepting them. Furthermore, Buddhist doctrines such as impermanence and emptiness have been compared to the scientific understanding of the natural world. However, some scholars have criticized the idea that Buddhism is uniquely rational and science friendly, seeing these ideas as a minor element of traditional Buddhism. Scholars like Donald Lopez Jr. have also argued that this narrative of Buddhism as rationalistic developed recently, as a part of a Buddhist modernism that arose from the encounter between Buddhism and western thought.Donald S. Lopez Jr., Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, (University of Chicago Press 2008)Snodgrass, Judith. (2007) Defining Modern Buddhism: Mr. and Mrs. Rhys Davids and the Pāli Text Society, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East – Volume 27, Number 1, 2007, pp. 186–202
Furthermore, while some have compared Buddhist ideas to modern theories of evolution, quantum theory, and cosmology, other figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama have also highlighted the methodological and metaphysical differences between these traditions. For the Dalai Lama, Buddhism mainly focuses on studying consciousness from the first-person or phenomenological perspective, while science focuses on studying the objective world.Gyatso (2005), p. 165.
Pre-modern Buddhism
Rational inquiry in Buddhist texts
Some modern commentators assert that Buddhist texts contain ideas which share commonalities with modern scientific methods, such as encouraging an impartial investigation of nature (an activity referred to as dhamma-vicaya in the Pali Canon) — the principal object of study being the nature of one's mind or self.
Several passages from the Buddhist scriptures have been seen as indicating the importance of free thinking and empirical inquiry to Buddhism. Perhaps the most popular Buddhist discourse used in this way is the Kālāma Sutta (AN 3.65).Verhoeven, Martin J. (2001). Buddhism and Science: Probing the Boundaries of Faith and Reason. Religion East and West, Issue 1, June 2001, pp. 77–97 In this discourse, the Buddha is speaking to a number of villagers that are unsure of which ideas to believe. The key passage which is widely quoted states:Come, Kālāmas, do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by the acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think: 'The ascetic is our guru.' But when, Kālāmas, you know for yourselves: 'These things are unwholesome; these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; these things, if accepted and undertaken, lead to harm and suffering,' then you should abandon them.Kesamuttisutta AN 3.65 (AN i 188), translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi. https://suttacentral.net/an3.65/The exact meaning of this passage has been widely debated and interpreted. Buddhist modernists consider this passage to show that the Buddha promoted a skeptical empirical investigation which rejected faith, dogma, scripture, Revelations and even rationalistic metaphysical speculations. Buddhist philosophers like K.N. Jayatilleke argue that this and other passages from the Buddhist scriptures indicate that early Buddhism promotes an "honest, impartial search for truth" as well as "critical investigation and personal verification" which is compatible with a scientific outlook.Kirthisinghe (1993), pp. 10–11. However, Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that this sutra does not rule out faith as an important component of the path.A Look at the Kalama Sutta by Bhikku Bodhi (1988) Another discourse, the Vīmaṃsaka Sutta (MN 47, with a Chinese parallel at MA 186) has been called "a remarkable advocacy of free inquiry" by Bhikkhu Analayo.Anālayo, The Scope of Free Inquiry According to the Vīmaṃsakasutta and its Madhyama- āgama Parallel; Rivista di studi sudasiatici, 4 ∙ 2010, 7–20.
Reason and logic in Buddhist scholasticism Buddhist texts contain exhortations to examine the teachings of the Buddha through reason and experience. Śāntarakṣita's (725–788 CE) Tattvasaṃgraha cites a well known scriptural passage that is also cited by the 14th Dalai Lama and other Buddhists:Berzin, Alexander. "Overdependence and Rebellion" ch. 13 in Wise Teacher, Wise Student: Tibetan Approaches to a Healthy Relationship (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2010). Originally published in Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship (Ithaca, Snow Lion, 2000).Lopez Jr. (2009), p. 143."O monks, like gold that is heated, cut, and rubbed, my words should be analyzed by the wise and then accepted; they should not do so out of reverence." – A Sutra on Pure Realms Spread Out in a Dense Array
Buddhism also has a long tradition of epistemology and logic. Buddhist philosophers in this tradition, such as Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, developed complex theories of knowledge which held that there were only two "instruments of knowledge" or "epistemic tools" (pramana): perception and inference."Coseru, Christian. Reason and Experience in Buddhist Epistemology in Steven Emmanuel (ed.), A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell (2013)Numrich (2008), p. 43.
According to Cristian Coseru, Dignāga's theory of knowledge is strongly grounded on perception. Furthermore, unlike other Indian theories of knowledge, Indian Buddhist philosophers like Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century) generally rejected scripture as a major epistemic instrument. Dharmakīrti held that one should not rely on scripture to decide issues that can be discovered through rational means and that one could reject unreasonable parts of scripture. However, he did argue that when it came to "radically inaccessible things" (such as karma), one could turn to scripture (which was an uncertain and fallible source).Tom Tillemans (2011), Dharmakirti, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Natural philosophy and proto-scientific practices
The early Buddhist texts contain various ideas about the nature of the world and the universe. However, they also warn against certain speculative questions regarding about the universe. In various early discourses, the Buddha rejects certain questions about the world as "unfathomable" or "unexplainable" (Skt. avyākṛta). These include questions about the eternity and the infinity of the universe. In the Cūḷamālukya Sutta, the Buddha uses the parable of a poisoned arrow to explain his approach to these questions, his teaching is focused on how to remove the arrow of suffering, not on the particular details about the arrow and who shot the arrow (and so forth).Gyatso (2005), pp. 77–79. As Paul David Numrich writes, there are thus certain questions about the world that the Buddha sees as "irrelevant to the ultimate religious goal of liberation from the human condition."Numrich (2008), p. 12.
In spite of this warning found in the Buddhist texts, Indian Buddhists developed complex theories about the physical world, including atomic theories, theories of sense perception, theories of time and space and Buddhist cosmology. Apart from teaching Buddhist philosophy, medieval Buddhist universities such as Nālandā (in modern day Bihar) were important centers for the study of natural philosophy and applied sciences such as cosmology, medicine and astronomy.Dutt, Sukumar (1962). Buddhist Monks And Monasteries of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture, pp. 332–333. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd (Reprinted 1988). .Frazier, Jessica, ed. (2011). The Continuum companion to Hindu studies, p. 34. London: Continuum. . Ancient Buddhist philosophy explored key questions about the natural world such as the nature of space and time, the nature and existence of atoms (and their indivisibility), the origin of the world and the relationship between mind and matter.Numrich (2008), p. 33. It explored these questions through philosophical analysis and Thought experiments.Numrich (2008), p. 34
Medicine was a particularly important concern for ancient Buddhists, and references to it can be in all historical layers of Buddhist literature. Nālandā University was also said to have been the site of the composition of the Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya-saṃhitā, an influential medical work by the physician Vāgbhaṭa. According to Pierce Salguero "Buddhist texts mentioning various aspects of medicine proliferated across the Buddhist world throughout the first millenium." Because of this, Buddhism was "one of the most important vehicles for the cross-cultural diffusion of Indian Medicine in pre-modern Asia." Closely related with this ancient medicine was the practice of Indian alchemy or rasaśāstra. Practitioners of rasaśāstra experimented with various substances and metals.Tansen Sen (2003). Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400, p. 51. University of Hawaii Press. Rasāyana is also an important part of some of the Buddhist tantras.Fenner, Edward T. (1984). Rasayana Siddhi: Medicine and Alchemy in the Buddhist Tantras. Trado-Medic Books.
The Buddhist tradition of worldly sciences continued to develop in outside of India and today survives as part of Tibetan Medicine and Tibetan astrology (which includes astronomical and astrological elements).Gyatso (2005), pp. 73–74. Traditional Buddhist cosmology taught that there were multiple world systems and that the universe goes through cycles of formation, endurance and destruction.Gyatso (2005), p. 86. It also holds that the universe has no absolute beginning (and thus rejects creationism and theism, but also the idea that the universe arose without a cause).Gyatso (2005), pp. 81–82.
Buddhism as scientific or as compatible with science
History of the Buddhist modernist discourse