The Quantum and the Lotus by Matthieu Ricard (Buddhist monk) and Trinh Xuan Thuan (scientist)

A Journey to the Frontiers where Science and Buddhism meet. It was a journey indeed. Written as a dialogue, Matthieu and Thuan discuss their views on topics such as the origin and nature of the universe, is there a god?, artificial intelligence, #consciousness and others. In exploring those topics the Rational, Analytical Scientific approach is contrasted with the Buddhist Contemplative approach. 

I liked how much the authors respected each other views. 

Surprisingly the book reveals how much Scientific and Buddhist views of nature coincide. And I thought they were going to differ considerably. Buddhism is not your typical creationist, dogmatic religion. Buddhism is a quest for enlightenment. A search for knowledge but unlike science, which does objective, falsifiable experiments, Buddhism goes for introspection to know the world from within. The aim is not truth but happiness or the end of suffering. 

A point where both approaches kind of overlap is #physics, believe it or not. Theories such as the Special Theory of Relativity and General Theory of Relativity by Einstein, Quantum theory and its powerful implications to current (realist) paradigms, those and more concur with Buddhist views of the universe. Buddhists believe that there is not point in looking for the beginning of the universe or any beginning for that matter. There are no beginnings or endings. Phenomena do not have independent, discrete existence but are explained through their relationships with others. Everything is “empty” meaning it lacks inherent nature. Things cannot begin as they cannot be the cause of themselves. Therefore they appear.

Here a couple of quotes because I still need to process these concepts and cannot say more: 

* Any approach to the question of origins forces us to adopt a metaphysical position. As Françios Jacob said, “One field must be totally excluded from scientific enquiry: the origin of the world.” … the only metaphysical approach to the question of a beginning that stands up to analysis is the absence of any beginning. Any other possibility inevitably leads to a causeless cause, something immutable that changes itself, or nothing becoming something. 

* In the Buddhist viewpoint, this Western obsession – in religion, philosophy, and science – with a beginning derives from a stubborn belief in the reality of phenomena: objects really “exist” as we see them, and so must have a beginning. This approach forces scientists into performing complicated juggling acts when trying to reconcile the results of quantum mechanics with a reassuring vision of the world, thus preserving us from having to put our ordinary perception of things into question.