The Dalai Lama on the final day of a three-day dialogue with scientists in India yesterday spoke about the possibility of holding a similar meeting in Taiwan.
Hopefully, there will be many more such dialogues between science and Buddhism, and more scientists in ethnically Chinese communities could be invited, he said, adding that he hoped such an event could be held in Taiwan.
“We welcome you to visit Taiwan,” Taiwanese Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who led a group of Taiwanese scientists to the event in Dharamsala, told the Dalai Lama.
Photo: CNA
The scientists arrived in Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday for a meeting with the Dalai Lama to discuss quantum mechanics in Buddhism, expand the scope of scientific studies to include the exploration of the inner mind and inculcate compassion in scientific research.
Academia Sinica members Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆), Lee Shih-chang (李世昌), Lee Ting-kuo (李定國) and Mou Chung-yuan (牟中原) were among the Taiwanese scientists at the event.
At its conclusion yesterday, the Dalai Lama put khata — ceremonial scarfs in Tibetan Buddhism — around the shoulders of the participants as a token of gratitude.
The Dalai Lama said he preferred talking to scientists from Chinese communities after 30 years of experience with Western scientists revealed beliefs revolving around a “creator.”
He spoke about a professor from Tsinghua University in Beijing who said he would seek to invite the Dalai Lama to scientific conferences to attend “not as the Dalai Lama, but as a scientist.”
Despite the event’s title — “Dialogue between His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and Chinese scientists on the quantum effect” — no scientists from China attended, as “there is no freedom in China,” the Dalai Lama said, adding that he could “therefore only invite Taiwanese scientists.”
“It is time that people tried to understand their inner selves, as the wisdom of Buddhist writings should not just be contained in books, but applied,” he said.
“Otherwise, the work of Buddhists would be reduced to praying, presiding over rituals and transferring merits,” he said.
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