The Dalai Lama and the Big Bang

Posted by Katharine M. J. Osborne Apr 27, 2007

It was a very interesting event (and I'm still recovering from the bad sunburn from my hours-long stint in the bleachers without sunscreen), but what really struck me was how literate the Dalai Lama was when it came to science.

I've read some books by the Dalai Lama, and am relatively familiar with Tibetan Buddhism. I was also aware that Buddhists have been actively participating in brain studies of how the mind works. Even so, I was impressed that the Dalai Lama spoke effortlessly, and accurately, about certain aspects in science. Normally when I listen to or interact with individuals primarily concerned with religion or spirituality I am prepared to cringe at a misspoken fact or even an outright hatred for science. Partly that reflects my limited experience with people of religion, as I am sure not everyone is like that, but I also think that the Dalai Lama is just careful and conscientious in all his thinking.

At one point, as he was speaking in Tibetan (when he felt he couldn't express himself clearly he would switch from English and a translator translated), and as I was listening I heard the phrase "Big Bang" in amongst the rhythmic blur of Tibetan syllables. It turned out that he was talking about the chain of cause and effect in events back to the origin of our universe. He didn't name it specifically, but he was describing the concept of emergence. Later on he talked about how there is no center to the mind, but that it arises from the interactions of billions of neurons, another example of emergence. The Dalai Lama also referred accurately to the age of the Earth, as well as timeline for the development of religion in India.

I would have loved to corner him into a one-on-one conversation about his thoughts on M-Theory, but alas the Dalai Lama is too high profile to interact that way with the public (the mix of Homeland Security personnel and Buddhist monks was slightly comical).

He wasn't hesitant to say that he was unsure of the exact details of a fact - which I just have a lot of respect for. One of the issues that divides science and religion so deeply is the tendency (or at least perceived tendency) for leaders in organized religion to demand that their concepts are the absolute truth and questions are essentially irrelevant. This just rankles science-minded people no end, who value asking questions, and believe that we nowhere close to knowing the absolute truth about reality. Figuring it all out is what physics helps with.