In a recent article titled "Buddhism and the Brain" (see link), the author David Weisman points out many striking similarities between Buddhism and the Neuroscience.
Some excerpts from this article:
"Despite my doubts, neurology and neuroscience do not appear to profoundly contradict Buddhist thought. Neuroscience tells us the thing we take as our unified mind is an illusion, that our mind is not unified and can barely be said to “exist” at all. Our feeling of unity and control is a post-hoc confabulation and is easily fractured into separate parts. As revealed by scientific inquiry, what we call a mind (or a self, or a soul) is actually something that changes so much and is so uncertain that our pre-scientific language struggles to find meaning.
Buddhists say pretty much the same thing. They believe in an impermanent and illusory self made of shifting parts. They’ve even come up with language to address the problem between perception and belief. Their word for self is anatta, which is usually translated as ‘non self.’ One might try to refer to the self, but the word cleverly reminds one’s self that there is no such thing.
When considering a Buddhist contemplating his soul, one is immediately struck by a disconnect between religious teaching and perception. While meditating in the temple, the self is an illusion. But when the Buddhist goes shopping he feels like we all do: unified, in control, and unchanged from moment to moment."
You may read the full article for more details.
Your views on this topic are welcome! - Sundar
http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/buddhism_and_the_brain/
There are three mathematicians who have strong connections with Buddhism. The great mathematician Alexander Grothendieck was Buddhist. Another Computer Scientists and Mathematician was Josef Gougen. Goguen was a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. Specifically, since the early 1970s he was a student of Chögyam Trungpa and, after his death in 1986, of his son Sakyong Mipham.During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a faculty member of the science program at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goguen).
Last the author of the book "How Mathematicians Think" W. Byers, was also connected with eastern philosophies.
There is a book whose title is: B. ALAN WALLACE CONTEMPLATIVE SCIENCE: WHERE BUDDHISM AND NEUROSCIENCE CONVERGE. This book is rather theistic but have its interest.
Stanford psychologist Kelly McGonigal practices zazen and is a leading teacher in neuroscience and psychology. Buddhists who are interested in neuroscience might enjoy following her work.
http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend
I may recommend the following link:
http://secularbuddhism.org/2012/06/07/buddhism-vs-neuroscience/
I would recommend the neuroscientist and author Sam Harris. He has presented a lot of interesting thoughts on the relation between religion, secular spirituality, and the brain.
Buddhism is learning via self experience versus neuroscience is learning via observation of other living beings?
The mind is both a connection between our bodies and the external world and a social construct which allows society to define what is and what is not unacceptable state of mind. The mind takes in information, processes it, sorts it into order and directs the body to react to it both physically and mentally. This process is carried out by a series of electrochemical functions in the CNS and brain.
The individual may experience a whole range of reactions to a stimulus. Certain types of food may induce desire, indifference or disgust. Music may be pleasurable or depending on the circumstances distracting or downright annoying.
All of these processes are to some extent capable of being controlled by will or by training. This allows an individual to do things that they may be naturally repelled from doing or to overcome fear. The processing of information from stimuli can be controlled in the human mind and this is perhaps the most striking difference between humans and animals whose response to stimuli is far more limited. (Although the application of human will can of course 'train' animals to react differently to stimuli, Pavlov's dogs for instance, we have not witnessed animals train themselves)
States of mind can be induced by intense meditation or prayer, this is the purpose of course of ritual. An artificially induced stimulus is just as capable of affecting thought processing by neurophysiology as a naturally occurring one. Clearly meditation functions by altering states of consciousness and this occurs in the brain.
Humans have the capacity and desire to achieve altered states of mind. This can on the one part lead to seeking spiritual stimuli in religion, spiritualism or exiting activities, or they may turn to psychoactive drugs.
The mind as a social construct however is used to control individual behaviour and justify coercion into compliance. Society decides what states of mind are acceptable and labels those without them mentally ill. This justifies the intervention of the state and the alteration of some states of mind by the will of others.
There are three mathematicians who have strong connections with Buddhism. The great mathematician Alexander Grothendieck was Buddhist. Another Computer Scientists and Mathematician was Josef Gougen. Goguen was a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. Specifically, since the early 1970s he was a student of Chögyam Trungpa and, after his death in 1986, of his son Sakyong Mipham.During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a faculty member of the science program at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goguen).
Last the author of the book "How Mathematicians Think" W. Byers, was also connected with eastern philosophies.
There is a book whose title is: B. ALAN WALLACE CONTEMPLATIVE SCIENCE: WHERE BUDDHISM AND NEUROSCIENCE CONVERGE. This book is rather theistic but have its interest.
Dear Prof. Costas Drossos - Thanks a lot for the book info. I shall read the work of B. Alan Wallace when I get time. It is interesting.
About your reply - "There are three mathematicians..", you may modify it to "There are many mathematicians.." From India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, I know of several Buddhists (including myself), who have contributed to Mathematics.
With best regards, Sundar
Dear Sundar,
You are right! I just mention three well known ones. Of course many others might be well known as well. In addition, mathematicians coming from Buddhistic countries count less!
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Neuroscience