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whatsupelisabeth's review against another edition
4.0
I am delighted that this jumped into my queue right after Harari's Homo Deus. (I randomize what I read so to stay on theme, I am chalking this one being my next book up to potential intervention by higher powers beyond scientific analysis.) It was just what my sanity needed, a more compassionate view of the somewhat bleak and reductionist pure-science perspective of our future that I had been grappling with.
In addition, I do find this a remarkably thoughtful weighing of religious and scientific insight. There is no smudging of scientific facts here nor forcing of congruence where it doesn't exist. Rather, it is the perspective of a spiritual scholar who has deeply conversed with the scientific community, and can now find overlap, identify where religious teachings need to catch up with scientific insight, and point out potential synergies.
In addition, I do find this a remarkably thoughtful weighing of religious and scientific insight. There is no smudging of scientific facts here nor forcing of congruence where it doesn't exist. Rather, it is the perspective of a spiritual scholar who has deeply conversed with the scientific community, and can now find overlap, identify where religious teachings need to catch up with scientific insight, and point out potential synergies.
lizchereskin's review against another edition
4.0
The Dalai Lama fully embraces scientific discovery in this book, (which was really refreshing to hear from a religious leader) and shares how Buddhism aligns with current theories and where it stands on the ethical issues that are arising around us as a result of "progress." That being said, it'd help to come to this book with an interest and working knowledge of Buddhism and scientific concepts like quantum physics. (Even with both, I found myself a little lost every so often.)
I appreciated the Dalai Lama's voice, and his humility, in the face of these complex topics. He openly admits in points of the book when his knowledge on a scientific topic ends and when, for him, it began to get confusing. Considering there were times I was also confused, I was thankful he didn't get too technical.
While this book was dry at times, I really enjoyed the perspective the Dalai Lama brings to the constantly changing landscape of scientific discovery and how Buddhism can help enhance this understanding.
I appreciated the Dalai Lama's voice, and his humility, in the face of these complex topics. He openly admits in points of the book when his knowledge on a scientific topic ends and when, for him, it began to get confusing. Considering there were times I was also confused, I was thankful he didn't get too technical.
While this book was dry at times, I really enjoyed the perspective the Dalai Lama brings to the constantly changing landscape of scientific discovery and how Buddhism can help enhance this understanding.
jackgoss's review against another edition
3.0
I expected this book to be amazing and change my life and finally allow me to fully understand how Buddhism and atheism can play well together. Unfortunately, I was expecting too much. It's not the book I was expecting to read. I'd describe it as HHT Dalai Lama's memoir of science and how he resolves it with traditional Buddhist beliefs.
I remember when I first heard of The Universe in a Single Atom. In fact, I'm fairly certain that reading the book jacket in Powells was the spark for my interest in Buddhism over the past year or so. For no good reason, I didn't get around to reading it until last month. And it took me a full two months to finish it. I'm glad I didn't read it right away, I think it would have been too over my head had I not had the basic understanding of Buddhism that I have now. Yet, even so, some of the concepts were over my head!
It's tough text to sit down with.
The chapters on Buddhist psychology were the only that really interested me.
The rest was hard to get through. Example: the concept of Emptiness and quantum mechanics complementing each other: I don't get it. Maybe because I don't truly understand either topic. Or maybe because it's a stretch to compare them. Same goes for karma/evolution. I don't see the parallel and completely and totally fail to understand how reincarnation can jibe with science.
Additionally, I think he was grasping with the descriptions of ancient Tibetan explanations of the world. All cultures have stories and explanations on topics like the origin of the universe/Earth/life and the makeup of stuff (elements). They can't all be true, even if they are the basis of The Dalai Lama's home culture. He seemed to be trying to claim that science is proving the Tibetans to be correct- another stretch. Can we admit confirmation bias here?
In all, I hate to give a bad review, because I admire the Dalai Lama so much. So I'm lets call this a moderate review. Glad to have read it, maybe even will try again if I ever get to a point where I understand the Buddhist philosophy well enough. But definitely wouldn't recommend this as casual or scientific reading.
I remember when I first heard of The Universe in a Single Atom. In fact, I'm fairly certain that reading the book jacket in Powells was the spark for my interest in Buddhism over the past year or so. For no good reason, I didn't get around to reading it until last month. And it took me a full two months to finish it. I'm glad I didn't read it right away, I think it would have been too over my head had I not had the basic understanding of Buddhism that I have now. Yet, even so, some of the concepts were over my head!
It's tough text to sit down with.
The chapters on Buddhist psychology were the only that really interested me.
The rest was hard to get through. Example: the concept of Emptiness and quantum mechanics complementing each other: I don't get it. Maybe because I don't truly understand either topic. Or maybe because it's a stretch to compare them. Same goes for karma/evolution. I don't see the parallel and completely and totally fail to understand how reincarnation can jibe with science.
Additionally, I think he was grasping with the descriptions of ancient Tibetan explanations of the world. All cultures have stories and explanations on topics like the origin of the universe/Earth/life and the makeup of stuff (elements). They can't all be true, even if they are the basis of The Dalai Lama's home culture. He seemed to be trying to claim that science is proving the Tibetans to be correct- another stretch. Can we admit confirmation bias here?
In all, I hate to give a bad review, because I admire the Dalai Lama so much. So I'm lets call this a moderate review. Glad to have read it, maybe even will try again if I ever get to a point where I understand the Buddhist philosophy well enough. But definitely wouldn't recommend this as casual or scientific reading.
kait_unicorn's review against another edition
5.0
A valuable and worthy read. I particularly appreciate his definition of spirituality- not as something to do with the soul but recognising shared human spirit and the very human longing to be free of suffering.
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting in concept, but it felt a little too broad for me. While it gave a good general outline and was fairly easy to grasp, I strongly wished for more explanation and details on several points. HH the Dalai Lama did do a wonderful job explaining his ideas, if only he would have gone a bit more in depth. I felt that most of the chapters and the ideas within could easily have been expanded into their own books. Trying to fit so much into such a brief book caused some of the points to suffer as they felt a little too brief and like too much of an overview or an outline. So nice overall with interesting ideas, just not as much detail as I would have liked to have seen.
jmckendry's review against another edition
4.0
Ever since I was in middle school, I enjoyed reading books by the Dalai Lama. This book is no different. I love how he discusses the intersection of science and Buddhist spirituality, and how we can practice a more compassionate pursuit of science and knowledge in general. What a wonderful read, I always feel uplifted after reading his books.
misspalah's review against another edition
3.0
Although Buddhism has come to evolve as a religion with a characteristic body of scriptures and rituals, strictly speaking, in Buddhism scriptural authority cannot outweigh an understanding based on reason and experience. In fact the Buddha himself, in a Famous statement, undermines the scriptural authority of his own words when he exhorts his followers not to accept the validity of his teachings simply on the basis of reverence to him. Just as a sea. soned goldsmith would test the purity of his gold through a metic. ulous process of examination, the Buddha advises that people should test the truth of what he has said through reasoned examination and personal experiment. Therefore, when it comes to validating the truth of a claim, Buddhism accords greatest authority to experience, with reason second and scripture last. The great masters of the Nalanda school of Indian Buddhism, from which Tibetan Buddhism sprang, continued to apply the spirit of the Buddha's advice in their rigorous and critical examination of the Buddha's own teachings. In one sense the methods of science and Buddhism are different: scientific investigation proceeds by experiment, using instruments that analyze external phenomena, whereas contemplative investigation proceeds by the development of refined attention, which is then used in the introspective examination of inner experience. But both share a strong empirical basis: if science shows something to exist or to be non-existent (which is not the same as not finding it), then we must acknowledge that as a fact. If a hypothesis is tested and found to be true, we must accept it. Likewise, Buddhism must accept the facts - whether found by science or or found by contemplative insights. If, when we investigate something, we find there is reason and proof for it, we must acknowledge that as reality even if it is in contradiction with a literal scriptural explanation that has held sway for many centuries or with a deeply held opinion or view. So one fundamental attitude shared by Buddhism and science is the commitment to keep searching for reality by empirical means and to be willing to discard accepted or long-held positions if our search finds that the truth is different.
- Encounter with Science: The Universe with Single Atom by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
.
.
I am not a buddhist nor a scientist. I am not even someone that worked in industry that related to pure science. I went straight into the
book more out of curiosity with a little bit of wanting to quench my philosophical thirst. However, my buddhism knowledge is really basic and reading this book caused me to realise that maybe i should have learned more about the beliefs before reading it. The reason i said that due to how technical it was on both religion and science. Dalai Lama try to demonstrate the connection and parallels between buddhist teachings and the scientific theories. Hence There are many attempts to show how similar or close some science field like Cosmology, Quantum physics, The nature of matter and Evolution to buddhism’s core beliefs. While it hooked me right away on the first half of the book, the second half of the book is such a let down. Perhaps, asking western science to adopt buddhist practices in studying / researching of science matters were not the direction i expected this book to go towards the end. Be that as it may, The Dalai Lama’s writing still keep me pondering on certain things he mentioned particularly on Buddhism’s hierarchy of authority and how it went to personal experience first, then followed by reason and lastly, sacred texts. This was elaborated by him in a way that if science is correct and buddhism is wrong, then we will follow science. Before people claimed that i worded wrongly, let me back it up with his own quote.
- [ ] “My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.” - Dalai Lama XIV, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality
This quote alone already show how distinctive Buddhism is with other major religions in the world. The fact that we have one of the prominent religious figures said that to encourage and nudge others - specifically those who think science and religion must exist separately and shouldn’t meddled with each other. The way he reconciles both science and spirituality is truly admirable. While science have gone a considerable distance in achieving success but there are things that’s not yet possible by it. For example, spirituality, the nature of consciousness and even ethics that has no place in science field but somehow exclusively belonged to religion or faith. I know some parts of the book maybe seems like nitpicking (which a lot of people pointing out why they dont like this book) and he only choose whichever parts he thinks fit in both science and buddhism to show how they may overlapped but at least the discussion he brought forward are intriguing and can be refreshing at the same time. Many questions pertaining to our human existence such as the existence and the origin of life? How do you define mind considering how complex it is? Where does consciousness resides? and so many of it that somehow put us to see both sides - science and spirituality and his clarification tried to push us readers to see the whole picture. Overall, this is still definitely worth a read by anyone interested in the discourse of science and buddhism and how it can be intertwined in some parts of science. The only issue that i have with the book is how verbose it was. I wish it was more simpler so it did not feel like a laborious task to read it.
- Encounter with Science: The Universe with Single Atom by His Holiness The Dalai Lama
.
.
I am not a buddhist nor a scientist. I am not even someone that worked in industry that related to pure science. I went straight into the
book more out of curiosity with a little bit of wanting to quench my philosophical thirst. However, my buddhism knowledge is really basic and reading this book caused me to realise that maybe i should have learned more about the beliefs before reading it. The reason i said that due to how technical it was on both religion and science. Dalai Lama try to demonstrate the connection and parallels between buddhist teachings and the scientific theories. Hence There are many attempts to show how similar or close some science field like Cosmology, Quantum physics, The nature of matter and Evolution to buddhism’s core beliefs. While it hooked me right away on the first half of the book, the second half of the book is such a let down. Perhaps, asking western science to adopt buddhist practices in studying / researching of science matters were not the direction i expected this book to go towards the end. Be that as it may, The Dalai Lama’s writing still keep me pondering on certain things he mentioned particularly on Buddhism’s hierarchy of authority and how it went to personal experience first, then followed by reason and lastly, sacred texts. This was elaborated by him in a way that if science is correct and buddhism is wrong, then we will follow science. Before people claimed that i worded wrongly, let me back it up with his own quote.
- [ ] “My confidence in venturing into science lies in my basic belief that as in science so in Buddhism, understanding the nature of reality is pursued by means of critical investigation: if scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims.” - Dalai Lama XIV, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality
This quote alone already show how distinctive Buddhism is with other major religions in the world. The fact that we have one of the prominent religious figures said that to encourage and nudge others - specifically those who think science and religion must exist separately and shouldn’t meddled with each other. The way he reconciles both science and spirituality is truly admirable. While science have gone a considerable distance in achieving success but there are things that’s not yet possible by it. For example, spirituality, the nature of consciousness and even ethics that has no place in science field but somehow exclusively belonged to religion or faith. I know some parts of the book maybe seems like nitpicking (which a lot of people pointing out why they dont like this book) and he only choose whichever parts he thinks fit in both science and buddhism to show how they may overlapped but at least the discussion he brought forward are intriguing and can be refreshing at the same time. Many questions pertaining to our human existence such as the existence and the origin of life? How do you define mind considering how complex it is? Where does consciousness resides? and so many of it that somehow put us to see both sides - science and spirituality and his clarification tried to push us readers to see the whole picture. Overall, this is still definitely worth a read by anyone interested in the discourse of science and buddhism and how it can be intertwined in some parts of science. The only issue that i have with the book is how verbose it was. I wish it was more simpler so it did not feel like a laborious task to read it.