The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

His Holiness continues to provide a ethical and compassionate compass for humans to consider in relation to science. His presentation of a parallel inquiry of Buddhism and today’s scientific discoveries is insightful and very deep in the mechanics of both. I’m continually impressed with his way for bringing the “sometimes difficult to understand” into clarity. Wonderful read…

As a Zen student with a Ph.D. in physics I often ponder the integration of scientific and religious world views. This is a bit easier for Buddhists because our religion places less emphasis on belief than other faiths do. I see science as a tool that uses measurement to understand nature, while religion deals with ethics and human experience. The Dalai Lama comes to similar conclusions, although more eloquently, in his book "The Universe in a Single Atom."Both science and religion inspire a sense of wonder and help us understand our place in the cosmos, so comparing them, as the Dalai Lama does in this book, can be worthwhile. He writes well about science. I found his descriptions of physics accurate, although he missed some of the subtleties of the EPR experiment. As expected from a meditator, he points out that science has yet to explore subjective experience. The Dalai Lama draws parallels between the empirical exploration of mental states in the Tibetan tradition and the scientific method. This empiricism first drew me to Buddhism. In fact, my intimate thoughts and feelings have often seemed more immediate and real than some ghostly trace on an oscilloscope that represents "objective reality."The Dalai Lama gently points out questionable assumptions made by scientific reductionists. For the most part I think his criticisms are valid. Although he's willing to abandon doctrines disproved by modern science, I wonder if the Dalai Lama would be willing to put the Buddhist bedrock teachings of karma and rebirth to the empirical test. If these are truly universal laws, they should be demonstrable by more than personal anecdote. I would have been interested if he'd discussed this more.This is a fascinating, well-written book. I recommend it to fellow Buddhists and anyone interested in the interaction between science and religion.

Who can critique the Dalai Lama? He is a smart, wise, man with a curiosity about pure science, and a pragmatic streak about technological applications. Should they benefit mankind, alleviate suffering, they are good. The Dalai Lama seems to have wanted to write this book thanks to a life-long fascination with science coupled with insights of his years of Buddhist training. He tells us as a boy growing up he had no training in western science whatsoever, but he was fascinated with a few (first-half 20th century) examples of western technology belonging to his predecessor. As a young man, once vested in his office, he availed himself of a new-found access to many of the world's greatest minds, philosophers, scientists, artists, and so on. He has gone on talking and learning from great minds ever since.After this introduction, the book looks at the physical (cosmology, quantum mechanics, relativity) and then life sciences. I was hoping he would not get into a "Buddhism discovered it first" argument, and mostly he does not. He comes close on the subject of quantum mechanics but I think mostly because at the time, the people from whom he learned it still took seriously the idea that individual human minds (for example that of a researcher) could be responsible for wave-function collapse. If this were true (the idea has long been put to rest as concerns individual minds) the tie-in with the Buddhist mind-first world-view and deep exploration of that first-person (consciousness) world would indeed be strong.Even within quantum mechanics his eminence is sensitive to the great gulf between the western scientific paradigm and the focus of Buddhism. He well illustrates these differences while pointing out to scientists that much of what they take to be the "structure of reality" is a metaphysical assumption. It does not follow necessarily from scientific methodology which so well illuminates structure as concerns the physical world.But this same methodology can say very little about consciousness. It is with consciousness that he spends much of the book examining the views of modern brain-science and how they might relate to Buddhist discoveries. The views of these different worlds stem as much from the purposes of their separate investigations as the technique; empirical 3rd-party evaluation versus highly-trained rigorous introspection. Becoming a master monk takes as many years as obtaining a PhD in physics (more in fact), but he mis-uses the term 'empirical' here. What the monk does and what the monk learns in the doing should not be dismissed by western science, but it is still subjective and for that reason not empirical. He advocates for joint research. Neuro-scientists together with trained monks, he thinks, might help unlock some of the mind's mysteries. He also is aware that not all mysteries are unlock-able!In the book's penultimate chapter he uses the then-new technology of genetic manipulation to plead with the scientific community to take it slow. He wants us all to be asking the right questions concerning the long term affects of the possibilities on our humanity. Here the contribution of Buddhism is the importance of compassion, of constant awareness of the mission to alleviate suffering. He is very good at identifying frightening possibilities in the technology and lists them. At the same time, aspects of the field, the need to produce more food, provided it isn't motivated purely by financial gain, can be good. In his last chapter, his eminence returns to the same subject, a cooperation between science and Buddhism's focus on bettering the human estate, not only physically or biologically, but socially, psychologically, and spiritually.The book is full of interesting philosophical implications I will perhaps explore on my blog. These have more to do with physics, cosmology, and what western philosophy calls metaphysics than with consciousness which Buddhism takes more or less for granted. The idea that the stuff of the universe is fundamentally phenomenal suffuses all schools of Buddhism, while in the West the idea, while not unknown, is viewed with great suspicion. Where consciousness is concerned, his emphasis falls on intentionality, our capacity to direct our attention, but he never mentions free will. Like consciousness itself, perhaps Buddhism takes free will for granted.

This book makes it obvious why the Dalai Lama is both loved and respected the world over. In it, he tells the story of how he came to discover Western science and its thinking and how he was trained as Lama in Buddhist ways. He then takes a number of key areas of scientific thought and carefully compares and contrasts them with [some of] the Buddhist thinking in that area.The result is a rich and flavoursome meeting of east and west that makes it apparent both science and Buddhism have much in common and much to teach each other. His holiness covers areas such as the nature of matter and attachment, the big bang (was there one?), quantum physics, and the nature of being.One of the delights in the Dalai Lama's writing style is his insistence on not only explaining each idea carefully to a non-specialist reader (in either science or Buddhism), but describing with love and compassion his interaction with his teacher in that particular field. It's a beautiful, connected, and enriching way to explore ideas. It's an offer of a true meeting.This book is an easy read but a challenging one. It's been so carefully wrought that it seems rude not to stop and ponder the deep implications of the science and Buddhist philosophy being revealed. Take the time to enjoy every last skerrick of this precious little book slowly and fully and you will be amply rewarded with precious insights, as I have been.

Very hard reading and deep.

Love this book! A book for live. To study again and again.

A perfect blend of spirituality and science,people are believing that science and religion are parallel concepts.But in this book these are unified.

Dem Dalai Lama gelingt es, Wissenschaft und Die Frage nach dem Bewusstsein in den Kontext von Spiritualitaet zu setzen. Dabei ist er stets auf dem Boden der Dinge, findet anschauliche Bilder und berührt den Leser. Wir sind alle eins, Danke fuer das gute Buch! Hat mir viel Freude bereitet.

I recently read " A Universe from Nothing " by Prof L. Krauss. I recommend it highly , it is cutting edge quantum physics inlaymans terms , and is very interesting and entertaining to read. "The Universe in a Single atom " is from 2005 , but the ideasdiscussed by the Dalai Lama are somewhat older. The blending of ancient thoughts with modern quantum physics ismind boggling. Any book that the Dalai Lama produces is worthy of a look , he is a knowledgeable fellow , but this book is a gem intwo different disciplines . Very heavy stuff, highly recommended , and on the Amazon used market it is inexpensive.