Ron said to dmb: You continue to impress me with Sound explanation. If I was referee, you scored a hit.
dmb says: Thanks, Ron, but I can only take credit for finding and sharing that explanation. The quotes come from B. Alan Wallace. It's a sample of what you'll find in the linked interview (in Tricycle Magazine). Wallace is a huge fan of William James, a Tibetan Buddhist and he served as a translator for the Dalai Lama. > > On Dec 19, 2014, at 11:25 AM, david <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > http://www.tricycle.com/blog/six-questions-b-alan-wallace > > > > > > "Fundamentally, I find Buddhist and scientific methods of > > investigating reality to be complementary, as are many of their > > discoveries. Both traditions focus on the empirical and rational > > exploration of reality, not on accepting beliefs out of blind faith. The > > Dalai Lama comments: “A general basic stance of Buddhism is that it is > > inappropriate to hold a view that is logically inconsistent. This is > > taboo. But even more taboo than holding a view that is logically > > inconsistent, is holding a view that goes against direct experience.” > > This is consonant with an assertion attributed to the Buddha and > > widely quoted in Tibetan Buddhism: “Monks, just as the wise accept gold > > after testing it by heating, cutting, and rubbing it, so are my words to > > be accepted after examining them, but not out of respect for me.” A > > 3rd-century Indian Buddhist contemplative named Aryadeva claimed in a > > classic treatise that there are just three qualities one must have to > > venture onto the Buddhist path of inquiry: one must be perceptive and > > unbiased, and simultaneously enthusiastic about putting the teachings to > > the test of experience." > > > > > > "To my mind, the principal obstacle to a deep integration of Buddhist > > insight and scientific discovery is the uncritical acceptance among many > > scientists—and increasingly the general public—of the metaphysical > > principles of scientific materialism. The fundamental belief of this > > scientific materialism is that the whole of reality consists only of > > space-time and matter-energy, and their emergent properties. This > > implies that the only true causation is physical causation, that there > > are no nonphysical influences in the universe. When applied to human > > existence, this worldview implies that subjective experience is either > > physical—despite all evidence to the contrary—or doesn’t exist at all, > > which is simply insulting to our intelligence. As the philosopher John > > R. Searle states in his book The Rediscovery of the Mind, 'Earlier > > materialists argued that there aren’t any such things as separate mental > > phenomena, because mental phenomena are identical with brain states. More > > recent materialists argue that there aren’t any such things as separate > > mental phenomena because they are not identical > > with brain states. I find this pattern very revealing, and what it > > reveals is an urge to get rid of mental phenomena at any cost'." > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org/md/archives.html > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
