SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Pastimes : History's effect on Religion
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: neolib who wrote (438)3/6/2007 7:45:46 PM
From: Sun Tzu  Read Replies (1) of 520
 
That particular passage highlight two very important things: the first is what called freedom of thought. You see that Buddha Himself did not instruct people to blindly follow anyone regardless of their religious or scientific status or appeals to common sense or whatever. This is more than just "freedom of thought"; it is an instruction for questioning. Right there you see why it is so hard to find faults with Buddhist percepts; it is an evolving understanding that always sticks to what works regardless of whom may have instructed whatever that does not work anymore. It is very scientific in that sense.

The other important thing to take away from that passage, imo, is the validity of personal experience. One could say that Buddhism is a form of existentialism (personally I think it is hell of a lot more).

This is of course a very small part of Buddhism and I only brought it up for you to show why it is so rare to find incompatibility between Buddhism and Science and that even if you did, it would not be earth shattering to the Buddhists.

I disagree with your assertion that "Not much comes from staring at ones navel." Buddhist masters have developed advanced concepts of time that only quantum mechanics managed to catch up with (and not even fully yet). They've also developed concepts of Ego, Cognitive Therapy methods, psychoanalysis and slew of other scientific doctrines. The path to such discoveries was direct knowledge synthesis rather than say application of regression methods to experimental data. Even in sciences, some scientists (eg. Einstein), rely on thought experiments to come to conclusions. Thought experiments, imo, are not much different than what you call "staring at ones navel."

ST
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2026 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News