Mind and Life: discussions with the Dalai Lama on the nature of reality

For over a decade, a small group of scientists and philosophers—members of the Mind and Life Institute—have met regularly to explore the intersection between science and the spirit. At one of these meetings, the themes discussed were both fundamental and profound: can physics, chemistry, and biology explain the mystery of life? How do our philosophical assumptions influence science and the ethics we bring to biotechnology? And how does an ancient spiritual tradition throw new light on these questions?

Mind and Life reproduces this dramatic, cross-cultural dialogue, in which world-class scientists, philosophers, and Buddhist scholars develop a holistic approach to the scientific exploration of reality. Pier Luigi Luisi captures the tone, mannerisms, and surprising humor of the participants, shaping each one into a vivid character for the reader. His chapters are organized from basic concepts to increasingly complex ideas. The first chapter deals with the structure of particles and the question of their reality. Alan Wallace, author of Contemplative Science and Hidden Dimensions and one of the Dalai Lama's translators, shares his views on elementary particles in Buddhism and inference versus direct observation as a source of authority. The second chapter questions how and why atoms form molecules and macroscopic compounds and where the properties of matter originate. Chapter 3 addresses the origin of life on Earth, particularly the progression of matter from inanimate to animate. The fourth chapter handles the biological cell and its properties, and the fifth chapter focuses on the human genome and the problems connected with genetic manipulation. The final chapter presents a general discussion of the ethics of science and how they relate to Buddhism.

Conference participants: Michel Bitbol (CNRS); Steven Chu (Stanford University); Ursula Goodenough (Washington University); Thupten Jinpa (Institute of Tibetan Classics); Stuart Kaufmann (University of Calgary); the Dalai Lama; Eric Lander (MIT); Pier Luigi Luisi (University of Roma 3); Mathieu Ricard (Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery); B. Alan Wallace (Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies); Arthur Zajonc (Amherst College)