About this title: A Buddhist with a scientific background and a scientist with a Buddhist background compare notes on the intersection of the disparate worldviews, highlighting remarkable similarities between the two.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: New in New jacket. pp. 312. Ricard trained as a molecular biologist, but became drawn to Buddhism. Eventually he became a Buddhist monk and translator for the Dalai Lama, living near Kathmandu in Nepal. Thuan was born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam. He is now an acclaimed astrophysicist and specialist on how the galaxies formed. When the two met in 1997, they began discussing the many remarkable connections between the teachings of Buddhism and the findings of recent science. That ... read more
"I really enjoyed this read. Lately, the discussions in my Buddhist class have inspired me to brush up on my physics/neurobiology knowledge. When we talk about the mind and Emptiness, there's a lot of assumptions that people throw about the classroom - not realising that these assumptions don't agree with the current findings of modern science. I wanted to clear up my own doubts and confusion. The Quantum and the Lotus really revived my love of science & philosophy. Both have a lot to offer and anything that makes us question our mundane thoughts/routine is a blessing indeed! I really recommend this for anyone curious about the Buddhist philosophy of Emptiness. It's a good foundation for any of the tricky thoughts that will naturally come up as soon as you start poking at the subject of Emptiness."
"Of all the books I've read about Buddhism and science (most especially Physics) this may be the most useful and accessible. I was delighted to sit in on the conversation between this monk and physicist to see both their differences and the profound similarities in their understanding of reality.
Ricard is a penetrative thinker and he can strongly present the Buddhist view. At times I felt like Thuan, while certainly extremely competent as a physicist, may not be up to Ricard's philosophically astute standard.
When all is said and done, I find Ricard's arguments most convincing, but still remain far from convinced that consciousness cannot be grounded completely in the brain. This makes me a naturalist; not necessarily the typical materialist he would argue against. The notion that consciousness co-arises with matter is impressive, but that it can exist in a dis-embodied state goes further than the evidence allows -- in my opinion."
"Matthieu Ricard is a Buddist monk of the Tibetan tradition wgo serves as the Dalai Lama's official French translator. Trinh Xuan Thuan is professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia. This book is framed as a conversation between the two about the areas where Buddhism and science converge, as well as where they part ways.
"The Quantum and the Lotus" is steeped in theory and philosophy, but guides the reader through most of the concepts adroitly via examples that are enumerated as part of the dialogue. This "Socratic" method helps keep the material interesting and understandable, though it may lead the reader into a false complacency by allowing the authors' questions substitute his/her own.
In general, the authors are frank in their discourse, and critical of each others' assumptions. There are a few points where this scrutiny appears to drop off a bit, especially on the side of the scientist. Every chapter also ends with the monk giving the final word on the subject at hand, which may be a slightly biased way of presenting the conversation. The book makes up for this in part by placing the scientist's final conclusions after the monk's, though it must be noted that even here he finishes with an uncritical statement in favor of Buddhist spiritualism that is not sufficiently explored in the body of the book.
The two men definitely have some profound ideas to impart, and whether one agrees with their conclusions or not, the questions are definitely worth spending some time pondering."
"I loved this book. It takes a look at two subjects commonly disregarded as compatible and sheds light on the connections between physics and buddhism. I like to learn about science and math, which this book talks about in relation to religion. My favorite part is that the two authors switched places in life. One was a Buddhist growing up, then turned to astrophysics. While the other was a biologist and is currently a buddhist monk."
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