Explore the nature of our material world in a unique sourcebook, conceived by the Dalai Lama, collecting the scientific observations found in classical Buddhist treatises.
Under the visionary supervision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics brings together classical Buddhist explorations of the nature of our material world and the human mind and puts them into context for the modern reader. It is the Dalai Lama’s view that the explorations by the great masters of northern India in the first millennium CE still have much that is of interest today, whether we are Buddhist or not.
Volume 1, The Physical World, explores the nature of our material world—from the macroscopic to the microscopic. It begins with an overview of the many frameworks, such as the so-called five aggregates, that Buddhist thinkers have used to examine the nature and scope of reality. Topics include sources of knowledge, the scope of reason, the nature and constituents of the material world, theories of the atom, the nature of time, the formation of the universe, and the evolution of life, including a detailed explanation of the early Buddhist theories on fetal development. The volume even contains a brief presentation on early theories about the structure and function of the brain and the role of microorganisms inside the human body. The book weaves together passages from the works of great Buddhist thinkers such as Asanga, Vasubandhu, Nagarjuna, Dignaga, and Dharmakirti. Each of the major topics is introduced by Thupten Jinpa, the Dalai Lama’s principal English-language translator and founder of the Institute of Tibetan Classics.
目次
Preface vii Introduction by His Holiness the Dalai Lama 1
Part 1. Overview and Methodology 33 1. Systems of Classifications 47 2. Methods of Inquiry 51 3. Reasoning in the Collected Topics 63
Part 2. Knowable Objects 71 4. Phenomena in General 83 5. The Essential Nature of Physical Entities 87 6. The Five Sense Objects 93 7. The Five Sense Faculties 113 8. Mental-Object Forms 119 9. The Casual Primary Elements 125 10. Nonassociated Formative Factors 141 11. Cause and Effects 151 12. Unconditioned Phenomena 159 13. Other Presentations of Ascertainable Objects 163
Part 3. Subtle Particles 195 14. How Subtle Particles are Posited 207 15. How Coarse Matter Is Formed 217 16. Analyzing Whether Indivisible Partials Exist 225
Part 4. Time 239 17. The Definition of Time 251 18. Positing the Three Times 259 19. The Shortest Unit of Time 267 20. Positing Subtle Impermanence 273
Part 5. The Cosmos and Its Inhabitants 283 21. The Cosmos and Its Inhabitants in Abhidharma 293 22. The Development of the Cosmos in Kālacakra Texts 307 23. How Worlds End 313 24. Motion of the Celestial Bodies 319 25. Measurement and Enumerations 325
Part 6. Fetal Development and the Channels, Winds, and Drops 337 26. The Birth Process 347 27. Fetal Development in the Sūtras 355 28. Fetal Development in the Kālacakra Tantra 369 29. Fetal Development in Buddhist Medical Texts 375 30. The Subtle Body of the Channels, Winds, and Drops 381 31. Channels and Winds in Buddhist Medical Texts 395 32. The Brain in Buddhist Medical Texts 405 33. The Relation of Body and Mins 417
Appendix: The Eighteen Topics of Chapa Chökyi Sengé 429 Notes 435 Glossary 465 Bibliography 481 Index 491 About the Authors 531
