Buddhism and the mind
The December issue of Wired magazine has Science + Religion as its theme, so when I saw it I had to buy it. So far, I’ve read two essays that were both very good. The articles are accompanied by small mini-interviews on this topic. I particularly liked this one with Jeremy Howard, buddhist and author:
I fell in love with quantum physics while reading a book that suggested the universe is more like the thoughts of a great mind than a great machine. Working on my PhD in theoretical physics at Cambridge, I found that there was little interest in such discussions. I moved into molecular biology at MIT with the hope of understanding the nature of life. But we were looking at dead things – kill the cell and see what’s there.
So I started reading about the study of consciousness, and that’s where I encountered Buddhism: “What is mind? If you want to know, look at your own mind.” Buddhism has a vast store of understanding of how the mind works. It’s close to the aspirations of the great scientists.
I agree with this; no wonder with all that meditation going on – it’s particularly true in Zen Buddhism (Zen means meditation).