Dalai Lama Links Science, Buddhism
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Dalai Lama Links Science, Buddhism
By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 12, 7:57 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Science and Buddhism share a quest of open investigation
into
the nature of reality, and science can be a pathway to discovering
well-being and happiness, the Dalai Lama told the Society for
Neuroscience
on Saturday.
Tibet's spiritual leader, speaking alternately in English and through a
translator, praised neuroscience - the study of the brain and nervous
system - as important work he's been interested in for 15 years.
"I believe we want happiness," he said, adding that the way to
transform
society is through education and by boosting among individuals,
families
and communities "some of the useful emotions such as compassion or
forgiveness."
Science is particularly important, he said, because it reaches both the
religious and nonreligious and can help identify the factors and forces
that promote well-being.
And on the growing controversy surrounding the teaching of intelligent
design in addition to evolution in U.S. classrooms, the Dalai Lama said
the greater the dialogue, the better.
But the Dalai Lama's visit to Washington was not without controversy.
More
than 500 people, many of them Society for Neuroscience members, signed
a
petition decrying the selection of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner as
a
speaker.
Society President Carol Barnes said Saturday that six abstracts were
withdrawn from the conference in protest and that the objections were
both
over the Dalai Lama's qualifications to address a scientific meeting
and
his subject matter as well as his politically charged leadership.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 following an aborted uprising against
Chinese rule in the territory and now keeps an office in exile in the
Himalayan town of Dharmsala, India.
"He is qualified to speak about his own experience," Barnes said,
adding
that the goal of the society's new "Dialogues Between Neuroscience and
Society" series is to expand the horizons of the group's membership.
She said a counter petition supporting the Dalai Lama's visit also was
circulated.