Friday15 Dec 09:35 AM
Buddhism at Its Best Encourages a Spirit of Skepticism
Last month Salon ran an amazing interview with ex-monk B. Alan Wallace on the intersection of science and Buddhism. The interview covers a lot of far-out stuff, e.g., the three dimensions of consciousness, the great Nobel laureate Richard Feynman ( "We don't know what energy is"), and a study going on at the University of Virginia looking at the question of reincarnation seriously and scientifically. Here's a slice of Wallace's savvy & level headedness—
Well, the word "enlightenment" has been used in so many different ways, I won't tread on that mine field. Eighteenth century Europe itself went through an Enlightenment, but I'm not sure that would be an enlightenment in my category. So for me to make any claims about enlightenment would be counterproductive. Did I find any transformation of consciousness? Did I find attention skills honed? Did I experience states of consciousness that I'd never experienced before such sustained meditative training? The answer is yes, yes, yes. But what a mature meditator is even more concerned with than those epiphanies -- those moments of revelation or breakthrough -- is the overall impact on the quality of your life, your way of engaging with other people and dealing with adversity. Is it helpful? Does it give you a clearer sense of reality? If it doesn't, then I say meditation is merely a hobby. If it does, then meditation can be something very central to developing greater mental health and clear engagement with reality itself.
B. Alan Walace, Salon
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