Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

The Scientific Buddha 4, The Future of the Past

Posted on July 22, 2016July 22, 2016 by Dharma Documentaries
The last in a series of four lectures by Prof. Donald Lopez looking at the prospects for relations between Buddhism and science.

The Scientific Buddha 2,  Building a Better Buddha

This is the last of four lectures given by Prof. Donald Lopez at Yale University as part of the Dwight H. Terry Lecture Series on Religion and Science. The first one was shown here, the second one here, and the third one here.

In this lecture Prof Lopez reviews what he has been previously discussing about the relationship, and presumed relationships, between Buddhism and science, and how that has changed over the past one and a half centuries, which encompassed developments through a rational, early Buddhism (shorn of much of its material), and zen period in the 60s and 70s, and recently a relationship based on Tibetan Buddhism, which was once the despised outcaste of the Buddhist fold.

Prof Lopez sees little to no benefit in the Buddha being a presumed soothsayer who could knew the theories of relativity or evolution thousands of years before they were postulated, but he does feel that research into the neuropathology of the brain using monastics with high degrees of meditation levels as subjects, may yield some useful results, which may in fact help both sides understand what is happening in meditation better.

Prof Lopez also has an interesting discussion about the aims of Buddhist meditation, which is now co-opted in the west as a stress reduction practice, whereas in traditional Buddhism if anything it was mainly aiming at increasing stress so as to increase spiritual anxiety, and thereby striving, in the monastic practising it.

All-in-all these lectures have been provocative, ground breaking in many ways, and a fresh look at a subject which has often been hashed at best, and Prof Lopez’ humour and good story telling techniques keeping the interest, while getting over many pertinent and interesting points.

 

if this video is no longer available please leave a comment so I can update the page
(the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Culture, Academic, Buddha, History, Lectures

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please Note: Comments are Moderated before Publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/3QM

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

or Bank Transfer to:
Mr. Ng Choon Aun, Public Bank Berhad (Malaysia), Acc. No. 6352323912, Swift: PBBEMYKL

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Popular Posts

  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
  • The Silk Road Series 7/16: Khotan-Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • The Tibetan Oracles
  • The Mountain Yogi, Lama Govinda
  • Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth
  • Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
  • Avalokiteshvara (Chinese Movie)

Recent Posts

  • Zen Buddhism – In Search of Self
  • Why Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • From Myanmar to the World 2, Caves to Pagodas
  • From Myanmar to the World 1, Overland to India
  • The Rise of Dhamma
  • Lempad of Bali
  • Bagan, City of Temples (Fall of Civilizations)
  • Escape from Tibet
  • Escape from Tibet 2 (The Dalai Lama)

Random Posts

  • Slaughterhouse
  • Fairytales of Growth
  • The Mystery of Bezeklik
  • Buddha, Genius of the Ancient World
  • Amazing Tibet 1
  • Priest Meets Buddha, Seokguram Grotto
  • Tashi Jong, a Tibetan Community in Exile
  • Tears of Gaza
  • Shangri-la by Michael Wood
  • The Story of Buddhism 10, The Search Beyond

Related Posts

  • The Scientific Buddha 3, The Problem With Karma
  • The Scientific Buddha 2, Building a Better Buddha
  • The Scientific Buddha 1, A Purified Religion
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 5-6 of 24
  • Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures of the Silk Road
  • Eternal Ancestors - Buddha's Relics
  • Bronze Technology in Cambodia
  • Great Minds 17, Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
  • Great Minds 14, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu
  • Envisioning the Buddha
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme