All Comments (10)

I have observed with admiration the translation skill of Dr. Thupten Jinpa during lectures by H.H. the Dalai Lama. His presentation of the basis of a common ground between science and religion in this posting is really lucid. While I have not been able to be a serious Buddhist practitioner, I find the basic Buddhist tenet of testing anything, including the Buddha's teachings, before relying on them is a challenge to today's generation of skeptics.

Mr. JiNPA, Mr. TENZiN , Mr. GANDHi, et al;

This is recycled material from Mr. Steinsaltz page today. thank You.

Att: S T A N D I N G, et al;

And Canada or Australia or Israel or India or America et al APOCALYPTIC NATIONS [not Pre-] should "TAX , at a pre-determined & reasonable but Target annual rate, a CHURCH Tax to Government coffers!

Example: Abolish All 501-3(c) 'Tax-Exempt' Status & start Charging or Imposing a Specialized 'Humate-kind-Tax' , on ALL known Religious Institutions,

like the U.S. or Canadian "IMPORTED" Catholic Religions, via their Arch Diosis here and other American realigious Entity's [must the registered or get padlocked maybe incarsarated for cheating] based on say, the current (inflation adjusted) 1-year U.S. Treasury-Reserve-Note or 6-month Bill Rate!

Imagine how the 'RELIGIOUS POLUTION' in highly religious area's will loose Asperant's and or anger such. Note: Under Islam You have to Abolish ALL EVERY and Any Islamic Mosque in All India to Stop their 'Psychic-Driving' via Loud Speaker's via their minnerettes by repeating & repeating & repeating & repeating & repeating 'The Islamic (in INDIA, not Saudi) Call to Prayer'!

Why should "i" , in India, have to listen to some Imported Pre-Apocalyptic Saudi implanted Religion. that is not of my taste or liking nor Philosophy as if New-Song, so to speaketh!??????

Tell them Leave! if they do not like It!

remember: This "Humate-Kind-Tax" will be collected from the Poorest to the Richest competing 'Religious Institutions' therein & therefrom!

So All Every & Any JUDEHIndu or JUDEO-Islamic or Judeo-Christian or Judeo-Buddhist or Jain or Zoroastrian or Seik et al 'Registered Faith/Belief Institution' must be EQUALLY treated & EQUILY TAXED! This is Fair, This is POETIC JUSTICE!

A Solution to a Polution in ITSELF! Imagine!?

PS:

TRIVIA: Dis you know that In Sweet sweet GERMANY , ALL EVERY & ANY Religious-Institution there, get's a certain Lump-Sum Church Budgett-Each-Year.

They are 'not-allowed' to collect or exact

(with no SuperStupidStitious threats nor any strings attached. alittle like U.S.A/'s "Faith-Based-initiatives" grass-Roots thing.)

any TAX/TiTHES/ALMS/BAKSHISH/CHARITY! They are up to Accounting Standards just like any other competing Business!

In case you are lost for translation please see his Link here under. Thank You.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/adin_steinsaltz/2008/01/the_future_of_jewish_americans.html

So the Question is : Are Your Kids Assimillating or not???

Please see this, not so old, Interesting IndiaTimes article:

On:
With India seeing a spurt in cases where women offer their womb in exchange for money, are we all set to become the surrogacy outsourcing capital of the world?

May 29, 2006: A childless couple from Singapore got their bundle of joy when an Indian woman decided to rent her womb for $6,600.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1952828.cms Thanks Cyber friend(s).

VOTE: ((( Warmth Peace Love Rock nRoll nRap Mitt Mrs. & Mr. ROMNEY for Prez 09 YEA! )))))))))))

Thank You me fellow Eclati-ON(s) & not OFF(s)!

< ?: +)/ Ya Ya!

And, you know, JJ, the 'Intelligent Design' people could learn a thing or two from this.

Saying 'Photon' a lot doesn't make it *science.*

Oh, and btw, JJ:

""Science w/out Religion is Blind and Religion w/out Science is Lame." [similar said]?????"

Actually, the reverse. Religion without science is blind, and science without religion is lame.

That's what he said. :)

""i" believe, that as a HUMATE, HE did! And Here's why:"

Well, whatever you believe, you could... look it up.

"POLY (more than One) THEISTIC (deity's & Supernaturals) are man made MYTHS (opposite of TRUTH) SYSTEM(s) & Zero genuine creator eponymous ECLATi made Of the Holy Cosmic FIAT-LUX!"

Or, they are myths that teach us things about ourselves that could come in useful while others are screaming and fighting about what the 'One Truth' is...

In fact, even as uncharitably-cast in Christian schools, the Gods may teach us that squabbling over authority isn't the best thing for human situations, ...not even for Kings.

"This includes POLY PAGAN's God(s)/Goddeses & Poly WICCANS & SHAMANS & IDOLATARY's & Worshippers of the Dead, Cannibals & Vampires & JUDEO's, Christians, Musloms, Hindu's & Buddhists et al!"

Call back when you can see the difference. You're a little behind the curve on this.

ALL are in Fact, (Please do not be in denial or in ALLOGORICAL refutation with self nor others, especially loved ones) POLY-THEO 'competing' G-D systems!

Actually, JJ, Einstein considered his rejection of quantum theory, (never mind entanglement, which I'm pretty sure he couldn't have known a word about) on the theological basis that 'God Does Not Play Dice' to *be* his greatest scientific blunder.

Pretty much sidelined a great mind for his entire adult life, that idea.

Ooppsssa

Eclati-On R.ELIGION knowledge is APOCALYPTIC in Nature. not

Pre-Apocalyptic in Illusions/Delussion of the selfish Mind.

Hint: You are a Butterfly. not a Caterpillar Mon!

And you aien't seen nothing yet!

HARK: We are come to take Back S.pace-S.hip Planet EARTH.

aka S.S. GEOID. aka S.S. GAIA, aka S.S. TELLUSng something.

WAKE-UP!

Well, Mr. Mark:

"1. When has religious teaching/belief/dogma ever refuted that which science has asserted to be a proven fact?"

See, I don't think it's about it being the place of religion to 'refute' anything: certainly not by making factual statements about the material world, as many who claim books as literal authorities have been prone to.

Still, Buddhism isn't really prone to do this.

Certainly, many products of mysticism and a lot of Pagan religious thought have been somewhat *vindicated* by increasing scientific knowledge, especially compared to the completely-mechanistic models of Newtonian physics and, really, the cultural presumptions that went with it, namely, of a universe that's like an engineered artifact:

In fact, we find it's a universe where there are (presently-)unknowables and uncertainties on the most basic levels of reality... things to the world which are unseen, ...that in fact the visible world is but the *visible part* of a much deeper universe.

The idea of 'ecosystems' in fact, was almost ignored, and had been greeted as so much hocus-pocus gobbledygook by science for a very long time, when presented in terms of aboriginal religions:

The still-infant science of psychology, in fact, is learning much from spiritual points of view that have been around for a long time, which is a long way from the idea of 'neurosis' and comparing consciousness to some ideal of how things 'should' be.

To see what a religion has 'refuted,' one has to look at the history of both science and religion, look back to the things that were once taken *for granted as nonsense* that now are close to accepted and vigorously-tested scientifc knowings.

It's not all about backward Biblcal literalists and lingering models of 'sin and normalcy,' (for instance, people trying to study homosexuality still tend to fall down right from the base premise that it's an aberration or a problem, looking for 'causes' instead of studying how it *functions* among social animals such as ourselves.)

When religion *functions well alongside science* is when it's *not* set up as a rival authority, trying to refute or supplant or even, in the case of 'Intelligent Design' Creationism, *corrupt* it, ..it's when it informs our experience.

Buddhism is a great study and practice for scientists, in fact, because it teaches us how to *account for our own point of view* in ways that authority-based presumptions can fail to.

Certain religions tend to overstep this proper relationship, and in doing so, can also provoke an overstepping by science-people: when they get baited past simply saying, 'You can't claim this is an objective fact because it's unobserved and unproven that way' ...and into saying, say, 'God or Gods don't exist.'

To science's credit, it is perfectly *capable* of being a good tool for the spiritual, subjective creatures we are, and in fact benefiting from this perspective.

Many religions, including the Dalai Lama's, by his stated intent, are also perfectly capable of getting along with *science.*

Newton, himself, was quite an alchemist, after all, though theologically-conflicted by his Christianity in places.

What I call 'book-religions' can be very conflicted *because the books substituted for scientific learning so often in their history, and are often in fact based on a need to believe the book overrides reality.*

But, as more and more find out, and as others find *frightening,* this kind of literalism is neither necessary for faith, nor satisfactory as a substitute for science.

Apocalyptic thinkers of "MODERN MORALITY" are 'superior' to ALL, EVERY & ALL Pre-Apocalyptic "BIBLICAL-MORALITY"!

Hence:

"a Pre-Apocalytarian is Inferior, in comparison, to Us American Made APOCALYPTARIAN-NATION!"

Also known as "HUMATES" [each immortal is an always-on frequencied Citizen/Denizen of Sweet Sweet S.pace-S.hip Momma poppa EARTH! Aka

S.S. GEOiD or S.S. GAiA or S.S. TELLUSng something.

AND by many [Pre-Apocalyptic & Apocalyptic] names of O.U.R. many planetary Hoppings.!

Zero REBIRTH is a Curse! Just the ESCHATOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES of O.U.R. SELVES!

Note: O.U.R. can mean both our or "O.ne U.niversal R.eligion" Book of TRANSFINITY (O.U.R. Holy Cosmic Reality on the Un-Stopable Move. Both Cycled & re-Cycled at each Eternal, but finement, re-Appearence via commonality!

Eclati-ON(s) are Together forever with SOURCE-ONE, the Not-Jealous & thus Fearles Holy NO-MON Creator of O.U.R. Holy Cosmic & Miraculous (zero Sin/curse/suffering etc..) "F*i*A*T---L*U*X"!

Hint: ALL, EVERY & ANY Major Five Pre-Apocalyptic ancient INFIXUS-BOOK(s) mentions the Holy Cosmic "Fiat-Lux" of Many Harmonic Convergences , therein & thereof, via the Holy Cosmic WARMTH of the Almighty, aka "EPONYMOUS-E*C*L*A*T*i" and So,

"IT"'s (also 'Eclati' is not a He nor a She) AVOiDiNG LONLiNESS via US-ALL things & stuffs, animate & inanimate! And That

The "UNIVERSE", not CHURCH, is the ECLATi-On's genuine Holy "CONSTiTUTiON" and O.U.R. "CLAUSES" of the "IT" being ITSELF (Eclats Work) is IT's LAW(s) OF IT's NATURE"! Note: The Holy Made U.S.A. Constitutions, even though a Miracle (zero Biblical Sin/Curse) and a Accident (like in Scientific Discovery's, aka Serendipity) is second Constitution, according to the Knowledge of the Eclati-ON "Laws of MAGNITUDALS!"

1) Constitution = O.U.R. genuine Holy UNIVERSE,

2) Clauses = LAW OF NATURE! to Magnify, Uphold & Make Honorable forever TRUE (opposite MYTH)

3) G-D = Eponymous ECLAT + "i" = LIFE/PHOTONS Philosophy & NEW-SONG coming from all O.U.R. ancient Oldy's, but goody's, so to speaketh.

UNIVERSE/NATURE = "I" + "i" = PHOTONS! aka LIFE on the Holy Cosmic Move of O.U.R. Holy Cosmic HEARTBEAT of LORD eponymous ECLATi, not KRISHNA et al nor BUDDHA et al. SO;

Eclati-On(s), not Off(s), are Students Forever of Source One's UNIVERSE (not CHURCH) and WE "THE APOCALYPTARIANs" never Graduate!

VOTE: At the UNITED NATIONS (aka League of Nations), via Mandate & Creation of The "WORLD-FAITH-XCHANGE" bdy or Assembly aka the "PEOPLES-EXCHANGE" , that

will Establish, for Us Frontal-Lobe HUMATE-Kinds , to MAGNIFY, Uphold & Make Honorable, until Space-Ship Momma Poppa Planet EARTH, of Many, also dies or goes "POOF-TIME" in 7/8 Billion Years From Today!

The Era & Epoch's of Ending the "MY G-D" Jealous Psychosis & Behaviours Syndromes of, will END!

This way the "O.ne U.niversal R.eligion Book of [O.U.R.] TRANSFINITY [Reality] , OUR-BOT for short, will materialize for the "Future Bound & Space-Forth thinking MEMETICal Kids, as their HOLY-COSMIC-FEELER(s)-FAITH", a Belief, that is Better than Pre-Apocalyptic Religion's like!

Oooppppsssa

Please see "GAIA" movement. Thanks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_philosophy.

Happy Every Day!

< ?: +) / Ya Ya!

"The Dalai Lama is well-known for his remark that if science conclusively disproves aspects of traditional Buddhist concepts, then Buddhists will need to modify their beliefs accordingly."

All well and good, but when has any religion ever done so? Science explains the world, and religion takes the scientific explanation and shoehorns it into its existing dogma. Suddenly, the long-accepted definition that a "day" is 24 hours is tossed away when contemplating the Biblical week of creation. Now, a "day" might mean a billion years! We read Genesis in the "new light" that science has provided, but only to the extent that we can aver quite fantastically that "science has proved the Biblical account if we simply adjust our understanding of what the Bible REALLY meant when it said X." The religionists NEVER throw out the Biblical account entirely because to do so admits to the Bible being a highly fallible document, and documents that get SO MUCH wrong aren't to be trusted.

Before science deigns to enter into such a partnership, the following questions need to be asked openly and answered honestly:

1. When has religious teaching/belief/dogma ever refuted that which science has asserted to be a proven fact?

2. When has science refuted that which religion has asserted to be a proven fact?

You can't find an answer to the first question.

Everyone reading this had at least 3 examples in mind to answer the second question before their eye reached the question mark at the end of said question.

Ergo, the question is begged: why would science bother looking to religion for any insights whatsoever? Science looks to explain reality, not the fantastic. Where is there an intersection between science and religion?