Letters to the Editor
-
Tibetan Buddhism and Science
I have met the Dalai Lama and he is an amazingly charismatic and charming person. I greatly admire his ethics and compassion. However, some of his statements are problematic for me. Yes indeed, the Dalai Lama did say: "If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims." I would give this statement more credence if he were willing to accept the findings of the American Psychiatric Association regarding human sexuality and retract his statements on homosexuality.
As for the experience of meditating Monks tapping into some "reality" heretofore unavailable to scientific method - how much is what they find determined by the tenets of their tradition? If you believe in reincarnation, you just might find it. Not a terribly scientific approach.