A group of Taiwanese scientists led by Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) on Thursday attended the opening ceremony of a three-day dialogue on quantum mechanics in Buddhism with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India.
Having discussed similar issues with scientists from the West and India over the decades, the Dalai Lama in his opening remarks said this would be the first time he has engaged in such dialogue with scientists mainly from the Chinese community.
The Dalai Lama said that he hoped the dialogue would serve two purposes: expand the field of scientific research to include the study of the inner mind and promote the role of compassion, which some scientists believe is basic human nature, in the development of scientific research.
Photo: CNA
All religions carry the message of love, forgiveness, tolerance and self-discipline, but religion has limited effect in promoting the inner values of humanity, partly because it is often used to create division or to justify killing, the Dalai Lama said.
Different cultures and environments have varying effects on people’s receptiveness to the messages conveyed by religions, he said.
People would find compassionate human nature more convincing if it was based on scientific findings rather than religion, the Dalai Lama said.
Science means investigating reality without being content with belief, an approach similar to Buddhist teaching that emphasizes experimentation and not belief, the Dalai Lama said.
In his remarks, Lee raised the issue of global warming and scientists’ social responsibility.
Lee said that he has spent much of his time working on such issues because he worries about the future of humanity.
The dialogue offers a great opportunity for scientists to learn from the Dalai Lama through discussions on quantum mechanics, humanity and religion, Lee said.
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
Noting that researchers have found that 85 China-based blogs and accounts were spreading a conspiracy theory that a US “meteorological weapon” had caused recent fires in Hawaii, political observers in Taiwan said the nation also needs to be vigilant of Beijing employing similar disinformation campaigns against Taiwan. The untrue content concerning Hawaii was written in 15 languages and disseminated across a myriad of platforms including Facebook, YouTube and X, a report published in Gizmodo said, citing NewsGuard, an online news content ranker. The effort represented the most expansive Chinese informational operation to be uncovered by NewsGuard to date, Gizmodo said. The conspiracy theory
RSS