{"id":55157,"date":"2016-05-30T08:57:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-30T15:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=55157"},"modified":"2016-05-30T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T15:57:07","slug":"the-scientific-method-originated-in-early-buddhism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/05\/30\/the-scientific-method-originated-in-early-buddhism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scientific method originated in early Buddhism."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

[A shorter version of this article appeared in the Island Newspaper:
\nhttp:\/\/www.island.lk\/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=146074<\/a><\/p>\n

Shelton Gunaratne (SG), an emeritus Professor of communication at\u00a0 Moorhead, Minnesota, USA\u00a0\u00a0 has written in the Saturday Magazine of the Island (28th May, Island)\u00a0 that\u00a0 both Prof. Carlo Fonseka (CF), and\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana (UW) are\u00a0 wrong in viewing Buddhism as scientific” in spirit.\u00a0 SG says that<\/p>\n

Contrary to Upul W\u2019s view, Buddhism is not a science but a phenomenology, a method that enables one to use his\/her mind to test the truth of the Four Noble Truths and the three characteristics of cyclic existence through mindful concentration. Thus Buddhism shuns false objectivity and as in Kalama Suttta, often cited by Carlo F, calls on everyone to test the veracity of Buddhist teachings through personal experience. Why science fails to see the embodiment of mind seems to stem from its denigration of Oriental philosophies\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a science teacher and a\u00a0 popular-science writer, this is an opportunity to discuss the scientific method, and\u00a0 belief systems,\u00a0 also as posted in some of my internet blogs (see for example, http:\/\/this-life-buddhism.blogspot.ca\/2011\/08\/early-buddhist-sermons-are-independent.html?spref=tw<\/a>\u00a0 ).<\/p>\n

SG and many other writers\u00a0 claim that eastern thought is cyclic\u201d, while scientific thinking is linear\u201d and Cartesian. SG also claims that Science denigrates Oriental philosophies\u201d, when in reality, science is an off-shoot of some of the basic teachings of the Buddha.\u00a0 SG\u00a0 uses\u00a0 quantum physics\u201d to claim that\u00a0 Buddhism is indeed like modern science, after having\u00a0 already denied such links between Buddhism and Science.<\/p>\n

The Kalaama Sutta is not the only place where the Buddha has\u00a0 advised the populace to follow an approach based on personal experience, rather than on tradition and authority of sacred texts\u201d. Bhikku Bodhi, translator of many Pali texts, says that the Kalama sutta\u00a0 should be taken in the context of other Buddhist texts as well. Whether it be the Ummmagga Jathaaka\u201d, the Dhadabba Jatahaka\u201d,\u00a0 the Chulla-Haththi-padopama sutta\u201d, Brahmajaala Sutta\u201d, etc.,\u00a0 etc., the Buddha emphasizes the evidence-based rational approach.\u00a0 Brahmajala\u201d literarily means Brahamin tricks\u201d, and these include astrology, claims to being able to get information from divine sources etc. The Buddha rejects such methods.\u00a0 In one episode the Buddha says that\u00a0 if you wish to determine if a metal is a base metal (like lead), or a noble metal (like Gold), you should not just ask others, but TEST the piece of metal in question on a touch stone! This is surely the\u00a0 very FIRST clearest\u00a0 expression of the experimental method, stated some three centuries BEFORE Archimedes.<\/p>\n

The 5th to 6 th centuries BCE\u00a0 in India were a time of\u00a0 free intellectual ferment. Many scholars have noted how Greek science\u00a0 began closely after\u00a0 Buddha’s India. The Buddha strategically preached his first sermon in Benares, at the cross-roads\u00a0 of the Silk Route and the North-South route of the ancient world. His enlightened and rational message was\u00a0 brought to Greece via the Silk Route. An open society without an authoritarian priesthood\u00a0 flourished in Greece where intellectual discourse was openly practised, in the same way as it was as in Buddhist India. Is it\u00a0 a coincidence that\u00a0 Heraclitus also preached that everything is subject to incessant change? Thales\u00a0 called for natural explanations, rejecting mythology, just as\u00a0 in the Brahmajala Sutta. The most famous\u00a0 Greek thinker\u00a0 Socrates came\u00a0 a century after the\u00a0 Buddha. He\u00a0 believed in a logical approach to everything, while\u00a0 believing in rebirth\u201d and\u00a0\u00a0 Karma\u201d as embodied in\u00a0 Orphism. His pupils,\u00a0 Plato and Aristotle pushed the rational approach towards mathematics. The perfect form in geometry was\u00a0 the sphere, and they believed that everything happened cyclically.\u00a0 Ptolemy, the famous Greek astronomer explained the motion of astral bodies with cycles and epicycles. To claim that western thought is linear, while Eastern thought is cyclic\u201d, is to falsify history.\u00a0 To claim that science is based on Aristotelian logic\u201d while Buddhist thinking is based on the “Catuskoti logic”\u00a0 (of the Madyamika school), as has been repeatedly stated by a one-time Professor of Mathematics at the Kelaniya university is to reveal his utter\u00a0 ignorance of logic, mathematics, information theory, as well as Alan Turing’s famous theorem about universal computing machines.<\/p>\n

Indian ideas about cyclic processes probably came to Greece along the Silk route, while\u00a0 the Greeks gave\u00a0 a geometric justification for the existence of cyclic processes in nature. This tradition of\u00a0 the scientific method of the Buddha, via Thales, Socrates, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy and others\u00a0 produced Western science\u201d. Today, when studying the mechanics of levers, pulleys, laws of floating bodies etc.,\u00a0 we mention\u00a0 Archimedes and other Greek scientists who discovered those basic laws. The collapse of the classical civilizations and the rise of obscurantist and mystic belief systems, culminating in the sacking of Rome by the barbarians\u201d was followed by the rise of Christianity. The stranglehold of the church trampled the rise of science but also provided a repository for Greek texts, till the coming of the\u00a0 renaissance.\u00a0 The latter was\u00a0 triggered by the mass movements of people arising from the Crusades.<\/p>\n

Here we must ask why the scientific method, originating\u00a0 in North India did not flourish there.\u00a0\u00a0 The growth of science in India failed for two reasons.One of them was Brahminic power which banished Buddhism\u00a0 from India. The other was the Brahmin tradition of Guru-Mushti\u201d or\u00a0 ownership of knowledge by the family of the Guru. New knowledge was not\u00a0 shared and discussed among Indian scientists , unlike in the schools of Plato and Aristotle.\u00a0 Knowledge was\u00a0 secret, and passed from teacher to trusted pupil who\u00a0 married the teachers daughter! There was no room for innovation, critical improvement etc.<\/p>\n

In the West, during the renaissance, open discussion and\u00a0 public presentations were revived\u00a0 by newly formed\u00a0 learned societies. The Royal society\u201d of Hooke, Newton and others had their counterparts in other European capitals.\u00a0 These learned societies insisted that every discovery\u201d was publicly authenticated at a Royal society meeting\u201d for all to come and see (the Ehipassiko\u201d principle) for one self.\u00a0 Inventions were protected by Royal Charter (patents),\u00a0 minimizing the\u00a0 need for\u00a0\u00a0 trade secrets or keeping them in the family\u201d. The renaissance\u00a0\u00a0 had to struggle against the dogmatic Christian Church, although today churchmen take credit claiming that most of the early scientists were Christians. Indeed, born and raised in that society, it was natural, especially when because professing heretical views was extremely dangerous. Heretics were burnt alive and new opinions were crushed. The early\u00a0 innovators of the Renaissance covered themselves\u00a0 by always claiming that they were merely returning to the classical ideas of the Greeks, and not innovating.\u00a0 A similar development could\u00a0 not happen\u00a0 in India, and no Royal societies for open discussion could be founded\u201d, as the Brahmins controlled knowledge and society through a virulent\u00a0 caste system, and innovative scientists had to remain in their caste, subservient to the Brahmin Rishi\u201d who claimed to get his knowledge from the Gods.<\/p>\n

Those who, like SG,\u00a0 think that the Buddha did not herald the scientific method fail to appreciate the fullness of the Thathaagatha’s teaching. The Buddha taught that a hungry person cannot listen to Bana\u201d (sermons).\u00a0 He did NOT neglect\u00a0 material well being but regarded it as essential. He\u00a0 realized that contentment cannot come ONLY with material well being, while the latter is a mandatory necessity. His most important and urgent mission was to save the world from suffering. The parable of the arrow\u00a0 says that\u00a0 saving the person pierced by an arrow has priority over\u00a0 asking questions about who shot the arrow etc.\u00a0 However, this does NOT mean that Ehipassiko\u201d, or the exhortations to the Kaalaama\u00a0 apply only in the moral sphere. All the Buddhist\u00a0 discourses point to its strongly positivist, empiricist approach, as emphasized by the pre-eminent Buddhist philosopher, the late Prof. K. N. Jayatillke, in his books.<\/p>\n

Prof. SG claims that Budhism is simply a method that enables one to use his\/her mind to test the truth of the Four Noble Truths and the three characteristics of cyclic existence through mindful concentration.\u201d He must\u00a0 not forget the Simsapa incident\u201d, where the Buddha plucks some Simsapa leaves from a tree and asks Oh Bhikkus, are there other leaves besides\u00a0 Simsapa leaves in the forest\u201d? The monks answer Indeed Sir, there are many more leaves of many other kinds as well\u201d. Then the Buddha says that, in the same way, the Thathagatha has discussed only a few truths, and there are many more truths, and many other kinds of truths, that govern the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many popular writers make a mystery\u00a0 of quantum physics and relativity, claiming that they are\u00a0 weird\u201d, or counter-intuitive.\u00a0\u00a0 However, Quantum Physics can be recast in a completely Newtonian framework as shown by Professor David Bohm in 1952,\u00a0 while working with Einstein. This common-sense\u201d interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is rarely mentioned by journalists as they prefer to shock\u00a0 the reader with weird\u201d interpretations using the so-called Copenhagen Interpretation\u201d.\u00a0 Prof. SG claims that Quantum Physics supports his views about Buddhism!\u00a0\u00a0 Really? Quantum Physics applies to the subatomic world, and seamlessly reduces to old-fashioned physics at the human scale of things. Quantum Physics denies that a definite effect follows a definite cause. All we have are statistical laws of quantum\u201d chance. But Buddhism firmly asserts a fully causal Karmic\u201d moral law, and a dependent origination\u201d. These apply at the macroscopic level, and not at the quantum level where there is no causality what so ever. Einstein was unhappy about this, and said that God does not play dice\u201d even at the quatum level. But God (i.e., nature for Einstein) does seem to play dice.\u00a0 Einstein was completely wrong on this.<\/p>\n

Prof. SG should\u00a0 look up the Bohmian Interpretation of the Quantum theory\u201d on the internet, or in a suitable textbook. Simply put, there are many interpretations of Quantum Physics, and it is useless to claim that Buddhism, or Christianity, or some spiritual system\u201d is supported by the new physics which has many interpretations\u201d. It is not surprising that\u00a0 Dr. Polkinghorn may claim that St Paul and the\u00a0 Anglican Church, with their\u00a0 hell fire for the sinners or even un-baptised babies is perfectly consistent with Physics. But an Islamic writer will no doubt interpret the Quantum theory to prove that the Holy Koran had it all figured out, long before Newton and Einstein.<\/p>\n

When Einstein favourably spoke of a cosmic religion\u201d akin to Buddhism, he was referring to the\u00a0 non-dogmatic (“Kalama concepts”) and rational\u00a0 nature of\u00a0 Buddhism. It is precisely this that Prof. SG denies and claims to be not a part of Buddhism.\u00a0 Dr. CF\u00a0 and Dr. UW are in unison with Einstein on this, and I think they have good reason. The scientific method\u00a0 is just one aspect of the Buddha’s\u00a0 teaching, as applied to the physical world, while its application to elucidating moral questions to control Dhukka (suffering) for all beings is the main content of Buddhism practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada [A shorter version of this article appeared in the Island Newspaper: http:\/\/www.island.lk\/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=146074 Shelton Gunaratne (SG), an emeritus Professor of communication at\u00a0 Moorhead, Minnesota, USA\u00a0\u00a0 has written in the Saturday Magazine of the Island (28th May, Island)\u00a0 that\u00a0 both Prof. Carlo Fonseka (CF), and\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Upul Wijayawardhana (UW) are\u00a0 wrong in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}