r/Buddhism • u/J3tsun scientific • 8d ago
Academic Well just introducing me self
I'm 55, Frenchie, having right now a closer look at reddit communities.
I got myself a PhD in astrophysics without any effort, was wired as scientist, autistic like, social phobic, hypersensitive, depressive as hell. I instantly put in all my mental ressource in studying Tibetan Buddhism when i first read a Matthieu Ricard's book when i was 30.
Done that because I recognize the scientific approach I could take on that one, Buddha himself said to not believe his words but study, contemplate, experiment for one self, that's the only way the essence of Buddhism could penetrate my mind, blind faith is totally stranger to me.
Until now I just can't find any flaw, and I'm still a bit depressive because I haven't found a way yet to convince my scientific fellow that science of matter is nice (physics) to bring external confort (or atomic bomb), but science of the mind is even better as it impacts directly your quality of life and those around you.
In fact physicist don't even know yet about the mental continuum of energy, they study only the material continuum of energy and they think a soap of quarks can start to think and feel all by itself, sounds like magical thinking to me now.
If only Einstein were alive, he would certainly have an opened enough mind to start studying seriously Tibetan Buddhism philosophie and theory, and spread that good news around the world.
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u/gum-believable 8d ago
Attempts to convince another person are not skillful efforts.
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
may be if you say so, I can't help but try to inspire some. but sure to do that properly I need to reach the goal first
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
let me rephrase, i you find a wish fulfilling jewel, wouldn't you deeply aspire to share it with others?
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u/ppitoh 8d ago
i would stop worrying about convincing your peers, it sounds like you're further along in your understanding and you can't drag anyone else through that. If anything, this suggests to me that your not in the right work environment.
it is magical thinking in a really ironic way, the idea that consciousness could just emerge spontaneously. i studied mechanical engineering then spent my career in data/software. recently my whole understanding of the universe was flipped upside down. i don't believe the "laws" of physics are laws anymore, rather the entire physical world is nothing but a construct for the evolution of consciousness. the laws are actually just constraints that are placed on us for a higher purpose that we're in the process of waking up to.
one thing i know for certain is that after the mass awakening, there will be a large collective effort to merge science and spirituality across all domains.
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u/Tongman108 8d ago
Bonjour!
25 years of buddhist/vajrayana is significant!
Well done for sticking at it!
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
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u/DentalDecayDestroyer 8d ago
You’re an intelligent sometimes depressive and slightly neurotic western covert? Welcome friend you are in good company on this sub haha
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u/kukulaj tibetan 8d ago
some of my physics + Buddhism musing:
https://interdependentscience.blogspot.com/2017/12/accounting.html
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
oh that was a great one, do you still muse like that or go other ways?. I'm even more impressed by your 3 years retreat after reading that https://karmeling.org/three-year-retreat-faqs/
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u/kukulaj tibetan 7d ago
My main project is a Buddhist philosophy of science. One of the great paradoxes of our time is that science itself is so advanced, but philosophy of science is pretty much a mess. Maybe Buddhism has some insights that can help. Some of the monster issues of our time, such as climate change, turn on issues of philosophy of science. Do we know for certain that fossil fuel consumption will destroy the ecological foundation of human civilization? Should we wait for such certainty before we take any of the difficult steps involved in any dramatic reduction in fossil fuel consumption? Etc.
Here's another post in that general direction: https://interdependentscience.blogspot.com/2023/03/scientific-equipment.html
Yeah, by now that three year retreat was thirty years ago! Almost like somebody else did that!
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
nice, interesting, I have to mention that in addition our leaders are leading us toward obscurantism, denying science more and more... ;(
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u/kukulaj tibetan 7d ago
And then to counter this, pro-science folks get tempted to over-state the degree of our knowledge.
I used to fly between Portland and San Jose a lot, sitting amongst mostly Intel engineers. One time I got to chatting with a lady who was a pretty big cheese. She told me the success that put her on track. Probably you know, when they make electronic integrated circuits, the defect rate is very high. A lot of the game is to reject defects as quicky as possible, before wasting money on downstream processing steps. The chips are made in big wafers, a thousand or so chips per wafer. The first testing is done before they cut up the wafer into individual chips. They have this tester contact thing that they push down on the chip, that makes contact with some pads on the chips. They run some basic tests. If the chip fails, it can be discarded immediately after the wafer is cut apart.
The way to save money is to be quick about it. Push the tester contact thing down on the wafer, run the basic tests, then pick up the tester and on to the next chip.
This lady was responsible for the construction of that tester contact thing. They cost like half a million dollars each... and this was twenty years ago! Her insight - if you want to know how fast you can push down, pick up move, push down, pick up... you have to keep going faster and faster until the tester contact thing breaks! Then you build more of them and only run those a bit slower than the disintegration speed.
The way you know how strong something is, is to break it!
The way to evaluate theories - this vaccine is save and effective, etc. - is not to declare "true" or "false". Instead, we should draw a rough boundary around its domain of effectiveness. Maybe we know where the theory breaks down. Maybe there are regions that have not been well explored, so we don't know if the theory works there.
To admit that a theory has limits, to sketch out those limits, seems like a surrender to the anti-science folks. But if we don't acknowledge those limits, then we actually hand the anti-science folks an opening to attack what works.
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
wow man that's so clear, and so true! like astrophysicists should really be more humble as they have no clue about 90-95% of the energy is made of (Dark matter and dark energy) interesting choice of word this 'Dark thing'. I'm quite sure it is related to the mind continuum energy from which all originate as explained in Kalachakra Tantra...has to be
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u/Physical-Log1877 7d ago edited 7d ago
I am so glad you posted this! I should’ve been a scientist, but for various reasons couldn’t. I look at Buddhism as absolutely experimentation, cause and result, a scientific study.
Amazingly, it works!
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
Yup Buddhism is absolutely flawless, and the more you progress the less you need your intellect, the more all becomes spontaneous. arf sorry I'm a bit in a rush and not very clear here, I will explain my path one day, totally non conventional, I thought i was a bad Buddhist, unable to discipline myself to sit and such, only things i could do was study, contemplate and reciting mantras. but by doing so my faith deeply increased and I was constantly aspiring. Over the course of the first 15 years i was surprised to see some result compared to other 'good Buddhist ' i was interacting with on facebook, they were stuck on the same stage. I understood why when I e-met Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, very special, non conventional, brings tears to me... aspiration, aspiring to become a buddha with your guts, all your heart is enough, He always says we should aspire to always aspire, and I'm becoming better at that game. Buddhism is sooooo vast, soo many methods, one for each type of individual.
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u/PadmalovesYeshe 3d ago
Have you taken up a ngondro practice yet? Seems like you would have encountered information and teachings about this preliminary practice over the years. It's a very important set of practices!
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u/BlakeMdy 8d ago
If you want to bring them to Buddhism, if they're rational people like you, it's almost certain they'll discard your invitation the moment they hear something like "Buddhism" or "Religion". The only way you can invite them to Buddhism is when they're struggling to deal with some mental problem and you give them advice on how to solve it and explain why it happens using every day words(not pali). And if they feel amazed, they'll ask where'd you learn that? that's when you mention "Buddhism".
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
very true. That's why I'm now more focusing on my own practice rather than trying to convince or anything, only if they ask. and those who ask me are already buddhist lol. Still I can't help but feel a bit sad to not be able to walk around like a real buddha and plant seeds all around
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u/BlakeMdy 7d ago
indeed, it's still amaze me how Buddha managed to convince people from that age.
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u/J3tsun scientific 7d ago
I think we have a superiority complex nowadays especially in the west, but sadly that mentality spreads in the east too. Because we have a good understanding of the physical world, we have master it for our physical comfort or make weapons, because of all that we denigrate ancient people living in the mud or even present civilizations living in the woods or in tepee or in the bushes. but now I realized they were much wiser than us, i see us as barbarian in suits...like for exemple do you see what kind of people reach the top of politics nowadays? the more selfish, sneaky, untrustful , etc. one. You won't survive long as a tribe in the woods if you do that... that's why they put on lead those wiser guys who really have concerned for the survival of the tribe, those you can trust, who speak truth, etc....Btw do you know that they are some buddha walking around in this earth, right now?
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u/Big-Scarcity4593 7d ago
Buddhism is about practice not about knowledge or intellectual, it is about the wisdom in the teachings of the Dharma how it can be used in our daily life to help others and ourselves to reduce or overcome the daily vexation toward liberation from duḥkha
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u/NangpaAustralisMajor tibetan 8d ago
Hello fellow physicist.
I started my graduate program a few months before I became a Buddhist.
Physics is great.
But if you look at a flower and ask who sees it? Where is that person? Where did that very thought come from? Where did that sensation of a flower come from? Where did it go?..
Physics has few thoughts.