BY SAM LITTLEFAIR WALLACE MARCH 23, 2016
New theories in neuroscience suggest consciousness is an intrinsic property of everything, just like gravity. That development opens a world of opportunity for collaboration between Buddhists and neuroscientists. ”The heart of consciousness,” says neuroscientist Christof Koch, “is that it feels like something. How is it that a piece of matter, like my brain, can feel anything?” In 2013, Koch, one of the world’s leading experts on consciousness, went to a monastery in India to discuss that question with a group of Buddhist monks. He and the Dalai Lama debated neuroscience and mind for a full day. more ...
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BY LILLY GREENBLATT MARCH 9, 2016
Earlier this week the Dalai Lama called on Buddhist centers to host academic pursuits and interreligious dialogue. According to The Tibet Post, the Tibetan spiritual leader made the appeal to a group of about 300 people who gathered at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Wisconsin on March 6, 2016 to hear him speak. “It would be better if [Buddhist centers] were not only temples for worship, but centers of learning,” he said. His Holiness noted that over the past 30 years he has engaged in discussions with modern scientists, allowing him to analyze and investigate the Buddha’s teachings. He hopes that the treatment of Buddhist centers as classrooms would bring this same kind of learning to the non-ordained. more... |