Buddhist Monks Are Learning Science At A 'Mini Cosmos' Near Mysore

The other student monks at the Sera Jey Secondary School in the verdant Bylakuppe Settlement, dotted with coffee plantations outside Mysore district, agree with Dhondup. Science is a way to advance Buddhist philosophy, they say.

Dhondup wants to become a neuroscience researcher. He thinks more than ever now Buddhists are using scientific tools, and scientists are using Buddhist wisdom to uncover truths about the human mind. 바카라�While studying the brain and human behaviour, we can바카라�t exclude the exploration of experience. That바카라�s where Buddhism and science meet,바카라� he says.

So, to explore new learning at the frontiers of science and Buddhism, student monastics are relying on India바카라�s first dedicated science centre at the Sera Jey Monastic University. They call it their 바카라�mini cosmos바카라�바카라�a place where they can hone their scientific temperament and rethink Buddhist philosophy.

 Lopsang Samten, a 19-year-old student monk from Arunachal Pradesh, is convinced the dialogue between science and Buddhism will take leaps in the years ahead. 바카라�It will upturn people바카라�s understanding of consciousness and the material world. The centre is the fulcrum of change,바카라� he says.

The awakened consciousness among students has invigorated the Tibetan settlement area in Bylakkupe flanked by low-lying mountains. Here, the unsuspecting traveller is greeted by colourful flags, prayer wheels and monks in their trademark maroon and yellow robes chanting prayers to the soul-pacifying sounds of the monastery bells.

Yet, the buzz around the science centre at Sera Jey is palpable. Monks are found discussing research initiatives and teaching methods to spark new horizons of thinking among students. 바카라�We want our classrooms to be livelier and inspire students to think out-of-the-box,바카라� says Kalden Gyatso, a physics teacher at the centre.

Teachers like Gyatso believe the monastic science centre is a major landmark in the university바카라�s academic development. Since 2013, student monks have been relating to their philosophical study topics here through debates, seminars, exhibitions and lectures. 바카라�We want students to understand the world through reason, not blind faith. Buddhism, after all, is about reason and individual feeling,바카라� says Geshe Ngawang Sangay, the Director of the Sera Jey Secondary School.

Driven by the Dalai Lama바카라�s personal interest in science, the new discipline was introduced at the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries back in 2000.

Increasingly, science classes were organised at the monasteries through logistical, financial and professional support from organizations such as Science Meets Dharma and Science for Monks바카라�a project of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, a two-way exchange of people and ideas, also lent its support. Selected student monks could get scholarships for science study at the Emory University in the United States and then impart their training at science centres back home.

The Science for Monks Project was initially an effort to understand aspects of scientific knowledge that could hook scholarly monks from different traditions. But scholars also realised the importance of raising curiosity about Buddhist philosophy through a new prism, without harming the rootedness of monastic education.

바카라�We keep adjusting our focus as the community grows. In its essence, Science for Monks is about nurturing leaders and pushing the frontiers of the community바카라�s involvement with science,바카라� says Bryce Johnson, one of the founders of Science for Monks.

The science centre encourages scholars to take on leadership roles and share their perspectives on topics salient to the intersection of Buddhism and modern science.

바카라�Through scientific findings and observation of human behaviour, we want monks to make people aware of important issues such as climate change, environment, and water conservation,바카라� says 61-year-old Geshe Nyima Tashi, who helped establish the science centre.

Tashi remembers the excitement among student monks during their three-day exhibition in 2015, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama. 바카라�They put up a series of displays to illustrate the impact of climate change and came up with innovative ideas. Impressed by these projects, the Dalai Lama told the students to learn from the historic Nalanda University in Bihar, where the five sciences were studied extensively.바카라�

Even though intellectual advancement is key for the students from Sera Jey School, many want to use their science education to serve humanity.

Lobsang Dana, a 19-year-old monk from Ladakh, embraced monastic life in 2010 not knowing where it would take him. But now he wants to specialise in neuroscience led by a greater calling. 바카라�I want to serve in Iraq and Yemen where wars have taken major tolls on people바카라�s lives. I want to understand the psychological costs of war not only as a spiritual leader, but also as a neuroscientist,바카라� he says.

Dana바카라�s classmate Lhakpa Tsering also dreams of becoming a physicist one day. 바카라�During my childhood I used to stay with hermits, and I learnt a lot about Buddhist philosophy from them. But a part of me was always curious about how the universe works,바카라� he says.  After completing his monastic education, Tsering wants to go back to his village in Arunachal Pradesh where there바카라�s a scarcity of trained physicists. 바카라�I want to use mathematical models to understand natural phenomena. I바카라�ll use that knowledge to turn around the lives of villagers in remote areas,바카라� he explains.

The students at Sera Jey School are counting on science to evolve as spiritual leaders. But they are even more determined to break the notion that science is incompatible with religion. 바카라�Both science and Buddhism are founded on faith바카라�on the belief in the existence of something unexplainable outside the order of the universe. It바카라�s time people understood that,바카라� says Dhondup.