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Mixing dharma with science online
Mixing dharma with science online
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/19/byteline/byteline_30021912.php
Phra Maha Krieng Krai believes scientific knowledge can enhance an understanding of the principles of Buddhism. Pongpen Sutharoj reports.
It's time to blend scientific thinking processes with the Buddha's teachings. At Wat Boon Yuen School in Nan province, 150 novices in grades 6 to 12 found their study of dharma was no longer difficult when science was introduced as a key part of the school's learning system two years ago.
Wat Boon Yuen School is one of 12 Buddhist secondary schools in Nan province which are part of a project of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to build Buddhism students to further spread dharma.
The project has received assistance from the National Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, to use scientific knowledge to complement the school's teaching system, as it's hoped that learning science will help children, and novices, to have more systematic thinking processes.
For the two years that science has been involved in the school's teaching scheme, novices at Wat Boon Yuen School have developed better and more logical thinking processes and this is an important way to help them learn dharma principles.
"As science and dharma are based on the same principles, once they blend together, children and novices can better understand both worlds," said Phra Maha Krieng Krai, the school's manager.
At the school, novices not only study Buddhist principles but they also have to attend normal secondary school classes to learn about science and how to initiate scientific projects.
With more scientific knowledge, novice students begin to change the way they think. They can better see the problems around them and try to adopt scientific methods to help solve those problems.
When fruit from Bengal almond trees fell around the temple, a new idea was sparked by a group of young novices. Instead of cleaning the ground and throwing all the fruit away, they thought they could use the waste to make something better. Then came a new science project to use the fruit to produce plywood. The fruit, which was once just a waste, was hammered and mixed with mucilage and then compressed into a wooden sheet. Once the sheets were attached together, plywood was produced.
The outcome of the young novices' idea is now in real use at the school.
"We have used the novices' plywood as a material to make blackboard erasers," a science teacher said proudly.
Not only were science projects initiated from little monks, Phra Maha Krieng Krai observed that learning science also stimulated the young novices to understand more of the core of the Buddha's teachings.
With science, they can map the teaching with scientific thinking processes so they can make better analysis and understand clearly the dharma they've just learnt.
For example, they can use scientific knowledge of human anatomy to blend with meditation theories, and this helps them know a better way to control their minds and bodies when they meditate. Once they explain the meditation theory to others based on scientific principles, it becomes much clearer and easier for people to understand.
To create Buddhists who can combine dharma and science, a project called Science-Buddhism Camp was initiated. The camp, held last August at Wat Boon Yuen School, was the first camp in Thailand to bring 120 novices from 12 Buddhism secondary schools in Nan province to learn and conduct activities related to Buddhism and science.
There, novices were able to learn to apply dharma principles to scientific processes and this helped them make a strong link between the two worlds so they can get much closer to the truth of dharma.
Phra Maha Krieng Krai said thinking processes which could link dharma principles and scientific theory would be a key to success for the next generation of Buddhism students to spread the Buddha's teachings.
"If we can teach people by explaining dharma principles physically, it helps them get more understanding of the principles and be more eager to learn dharma," the monk said.
Phra Maha Krieng Krai said that for a new era of dharma teaching, science would become a tool for monks to demonstrate to people the Buddha's principles more easily and clearly.
"Since science and Buddhism are based on the same logical principles, we can bring physical characteristics from science to dharma-teaching. In the meantime, we have to realise that we should not cling to physical characteristics for too long. If we can control our mind and understand this, it will be a successful combination of science and Buddhism," the monk added.
The Nation
Nan
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/19/byteline/byteline_30021912.php
Phra Maha Krieng Krai believes scientific knowledge can enhance an understanding of the principles of Buddhism. Pongpen Sutharoj reports.
It's time to blend scientific thinking processes with the Buddha's teachings. At Wat Boon Yuen School in Nan province, 150 novices in grades 6 to 12 found their study of dharma was no longer difficult when science was introduced as a key part of the school's learning system two years ago.
Wat Boon Yuen School is one of 12 Buddhist secondary schools in Nan province which are part of a project of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to build Buddhism students to further spread dharma.
The project has received assistance from the National Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, to use scientific knowledge to complement the school's teaching system, as it's hoped that learning science will help children, and novices, to have more systematic thinking processes.
For the two years that science has been involved in the school's teaching scheme, novices at Wat Boon Yuen School have developed better and more logical thinking processes and this is an important way to help them learn dharma principles.
"As science and dharma are based on the same principles, once they blend together, children and novices can better understand both worlds," said Phra Maha Krieng Krai, the school's manager.
At the school, novices not only study Buddhist principles but they also have to attend normal secondary school classes to learn about science and how to initiate scientific projects.
With more scientific knowledge, novice students begin to change the way they think. They can better see the problems around them and try to adopt scientific methods to help solve those problems.
When fruit from Bengal almond trees fell around the temple, a new idea was sparked by a group of young novices. Instead of cleaning the ground and throwing all the fruit away, they thought they could use the waste to make something better. Then came a new science project to use the fruit to produce plywood. The fruit, which was once just a waste, was hammered and mixed with mucilage and then compressed into a wooden sheet. Once the sheets were attached together, plywood was produced.
The outcome of the young novices' idea is now in real use at the school.
"We have used the novices' plywood as a material to make blackboard erasers," a science teacher said proudly.
Not only were science projects initiated from little monks, Phra Maha Krieng Krai observed that learning science also stimulated the young novices to understand more of the core of the Buddha's teachings.
With science, they can map the teaching with scientific thinking processes so they can make better analysis and understand clearly the dharma they've just learnt.
For example, they can use scientific knowledge of human anatomy to blend with meditation theories, and this helps them know a better way to control their minds and bodies when they meditate. Once they explain the meditation theory to others based on scientific principles, it becomes much clearer and easier for people to understand.
To create Buddhists who can combine dharma and science, a project called Science-Buddhism Camp was initiated. The camp, held last August at Wat Boon Yuen School, was the first camp in Thailand to bring 120 novices from 12 Buddhism secondary schools in Nan province to learn and conduct activities related to Buddhism and science.
There, novices were able to learn to apply dharma principles to scientific processes and this helped them make a strong link between the two worlds so they can get much closer to the truth of dharma.
Phra Maha Krieng Krai said thinking processes which could link dharma principles and scientific theory would be a key to success for the next generation of Buddhism students to spread the Buddha's teachings.
"If we can teach people by explaining dharma principles physically, it helps them get more understanding of the principles and be more eager to learn dharma," the monk said.
Phra Maha Krieng Krai said that for a new era of dharma teaching, science would become a tool for monks to demonstrate to people the Buddha's principles more easily and clearly.
"Since science and Buddhism are based on the same logical principles, we can bring physical characteristics from science to dharma-teaching. In the meantime, we have to realise that we should not cling to physical characteristics for too long. If we can control our mind and understand this, it will be a successful combination of science and Buddhism," the monk added.
The Nation
Nan
0
Comments
Many religions crumble when science teaches them that the myths they've believed for centuries are really just "myths". Or, these religions struggle to continue to believe these untruths to support a religion and man-made writings that don't care what they think.
-bf