by
Richard Moorman
The purpose of science is to
seek the truth and to understand the workings of everything. Scientists
want to
know not only what goes on at subatomic level but also how the universe
itself
operates. They observe the phenomena around them and develop theories to
explain them. Theories are nothing more than possible explanations of
things
until such time as they can be tested and proved by rigorous experiment.
The purpose of religion is to
seek the truth and to understand the workings of everything. Religions
have
developed in response to mankind’s yearning to know the answers to big
questions such as “Why is the universe there? – How does it work? – What
is the
meaning of life? – How do I fit in? – What am I?” Added to these
philosophical
questions are those expressing deeply felt concerns such as, “Why is
there so
much suffering in the world? – How can I be happy? – What happens when I
die? Theories and philosophies have
been developed to answer these big questions. Often it is accepted that
we can
never fully understand everything and that faith is required in order to
accept
these theories and therefore be happy. Faith might, for example, be in
the
existence of the supernatural, or of a being or beings living in a realm
that
is inaccessible to ordinary humans and who have created things the way
they
are. By their very definition, the existence of such beings cannot be
proved by
experiment.
These two approaches have
traditionally been quite separate and even totally incompatible.
Scientific
proof is fundamentally different from “blind” religious faith. Modern
civilisation, especially in the West, has become increasingly based on
Science,
which has contributed enormous benefits to mankind, and religion has
therefore
been in decline.
The burning desire to
understand everything is still the driving force of Science. When Isaac
Newton
observed an apple falling to the ground, he asked himself why this
should
happen. He did not rest until he had discovered the force of gravity.
His great
discovery, together with his deep understanding of other phenomena, such
as
expressed in his Laws of Motion, are still the basis of the intricate
calculations that enable astronomers to predict the orbits of planets
and their
satellites and military scientists to work out the ballistics of their
weapons.
The scientific world
was revolutionised when Albert Einstein showed how matter and energy are
related and how the effect of gravity is dependent on time, now seen as a
fourth
dimension. He explained that gravity can be considered as “curved space”
a
concept that has enabled astronomers to understand such things as how
the earth
actually manages to stay in orbit around the sun. Everyone knows of his
famous
equation e = mc², where e is energy, m is mass and c is the speed of
light.
Knowledge of this relationship is not the same as really understanding
it and
only physicists can form a concept of it in their minds.
Other scientists
studying matter at subatomic level have developed theories that seem to
explain
what is happening there. At this level matter does not really seem to
exist at
all. Everything seems to boil down to minute particles constantly in
motion and
related to each other in ways that depend on energy and time and on the
probability of certain events occurring. These laws, described in
quantum
physics, do not seem to tally with Einstein’s theories. And so there is a
search for a set of scientific principles that really do explain
everything - a “Law of Everything”. The best
modern
contender is the “string theory” which postulates that everything in the
entire
universe is made up of minute “strings” of energy, constantly in motion
and
relating to each other in different ways to produce different kinds of
matter
and everything else.
About 2500 years ago, a
man named Siddhartha Gautama sat under a tree in Northern India and
started
meditating. He had decided not to rise until he had answered those same
big
questions that have always bothered mankind.
He wanted to understand everything as it really was and not as it
appeared to
be. After a prolonged period he came to a perfect understanding of what
reality
was. This great event is known as his “enlightenment” and he was
thereafter
known to all as the “Buddha”, meaning “the enlightened one”.
The Buddha developed theories
to explain his understanding. He typically looked at reality from
various
viewpoints. In examining the nature of existence he said that there is
in fact
no inherent existence in anything at all. Nothing in the entire universe
has
existence in its own right. Everything depends upon something else for
its own
existence which can therefore only ever be “relative” existence. Another
of his
findings was that even this relative existence is not permanent in any
way. It
is constantly changing and the prime reason for change is the law of cause and effect (Karma). The basic
“content” of everything is therefore “nothingness” (Shunyata) and only
manifests as “something” when a temporary set of conditions, or
“energies”, are
present. So everything in the universe is the result of a cosmic
interplay
between the unseen (energy) and the seen (matter). None of these results
is
constant because the causes themselves are always changing.
With regard to human happiness
the Buddha taught that we must learn not to cling onto “things” such as
possessions or relationships as sources of happiness because there is no
permanent substance or reality to these things. He taught us to regard
ourselves as an integral part of everything and everyone in the entire
universe. Because we are essentially “one” with everything and everyone
we can
only be truly happy when we realise that we cannot be so on our own. To
be
truly happy we have to strive to make everyone happy and we must work on
our
own minds so that we can see things clearly. The great Buddhist
qualities of
loving-kindness and compassion are a
natural result of this kind of thinking.
“Oneness” with everything is
easy to say but difficult to grasp. It is useful to resort to analogies
to help
us understand. Analogies can form part of our contemplation of life,
part of
our meditation. The following is an example of how we may contemplate
our
oneness with everything.
Imagine that you are a
wave, a
single wave on the surface of the vast ocean. The ocean represents the
universe. You have a separate identity in that you have movement and
form and
an apparent life of your own. You may be a small ripple or you may be a
giant
tidal wave with terrible power at your disposal. There are many other
waves
each having its own characteristics - these represent all the other
living
beings in the universe. You are not the ocean and yet you only exist
because of
it. You are made of it and you cannot really distinguish the difference
between
the water making you up and the water forming the vast ocean itself. You
cannot
exist without the ocean and the ocean cannot exist without you because
it is
impossible to distinguish where you end and the ocean begins.
The Buddha instructed
his disciples not to accept anything as true simply because they heard
it from
a respected person or simply because it
was written in holy scripture. He said that they should test every
theory in
the laboratory of life and in the light of reason and logic. A teaching
should
only be accepted it can be proved in this way. This thinking should be
applied
to the whole of the Buddha’s teaching, collectively referred to as the
“Buddha
Dharma”. He went on to say that we should base our very lives on the
Dharma and
not on him as a person.
The Buddha left behind
a huge volume of teachings, recorded in the Buddhist Sutras, and
Buddhists of
various schools have developed many approaches to “living the Buddha
Dharma”.
Some of these approaches became so complex over time that only a
monastic
existence provided any hope of success in following them. Other schools
over-simplified the teachings and even brought in an element of “blind
faith”
to make things simpler for ordinary people.
In thirteenth century
Japan, a reforming monk named Nichiren really wanted to find the
Buddhist
equivalent of what our present day Scientist’s are seeking – the “Law of
Everything”. He wanted to find a way in which ordinary people could
follow the
Dharma in the midst of their everyday life and achieve the absolute kind
of
happiness that the Buddha himself had achieved. After
many years of study and contemplation, Nichiren concluded
that the culmination of the Buddha’s teachings was to be found in the Lotus
Sutra. The Lotus Sutra teaches that everyone has the
potential to be
a Buddha, irrespective of education, social class or gender. All one has
to do
is to practice the sutra or teachings. The Sutra does not however go on
to tell
us how this should be done. Nichiren’s enormous contribution to Buddhism
was to
give the world a method of following the Buddha’s instructions to the
letter.
He defined his “Law of Everything” as “Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo”.
“Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo”
can be translated as “I take refuge in the wonderful Dharma of the Lotus
Sutra”. Nichiren taught his followers to recite or chant this phrase
over and
over again, like a mantra, as a way of concentrating the mind whilst
contemplating a special scroll, or “mandala”, upon which is a
calligraphic
representation of enlightened human life . This practice can be thought
of as a
“holistic” form of meditation in which attention is paid to sound,
sight,
breath and posture. Nichiren taught that this practice must be backed up
by
study of Buddhist philosophy and by right living or self-transformation.
A new
school of Buddhism evolved from his teachings and is becoming known in
the West
largely through the efforts of the lay Buddhist society known as the
“Soka
Gakkai International”, which is striving for world peace based on the
propagation of Nichiren’s teachings.
Nichiren Buddhism,
along with other schools like Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, is part
of an
amazing growth in the number of people practising Buddhism today. One
reason
for this upsurge in interest is that the mind-training techniques of
Buddhism
provide a perfect antidote to the stresses of modern living. Everyone
wants
peace of mind. Other techniques and therapies can provide this of
course, but
people are still seeking answers to the big questions and Buddhism’s
basic
“scientific” approach strikes a chord with people who are no longer
prepared to
take a “leap of faith” in order to make sense of life. There
is no conflict between Buddhism and
Science. Both are seeking the truth. Indeed many Buddhists consider
Scientific
truth as a part of the Dharma.
At an audience with the
Dalai Lama, the respected leader of Tibetan Buddhism, a western student
asked
him how he would react if science could prove without doubt that a
teaching
based on Buddhist scripture was untrue. The Dalai Lama thought quietly
for a
moment and then replied that if this were to be proved then Buddhism
would
simply have to accept it.
The following words of
Einstein, the father of modern physics, will provide a fitting final
thought:
"Buddhism
has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion
for the
future: it transcends a personal god, avoids dogmas and theology; it
covers
both the natural and spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense
aspiring
from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a
meaningful
unity."
