Modern
science useful to traditional teachings: Dalai Lama
New
Delhi: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on
Wednesday that Buddhist teaching should inculcate more of
modern science even as controversy brews over the exiled leader's
proposed lecture at a neurosciences conference in the United
States. The Dalai Lama will later this month address some
30,000 scientists from around the world at the conference
in Washington, where more than 17,000 neurology-related research
presentations and over 50 symposia are expected. But some
700 members of the Society for Neuroscience have raised objection
to the address by the Dalai Lama, who will speak on the Buddhist
theories on using mediation to generate positive emotions,
saying a non-scientist cannot lecture them on such issues.
The
Tibetan spiritual head and winner of Nobel Peace Prize has
for long been seeking scientific proof of the benefits of
meditation, including its ability to induce some degree of
neural changes. "Modern science is very advanced and it is
very useful to learn from it. That's why we have already introduced
science in our monastery institutions, but so far, only to
selected students in the last few years which has interested
our scholars. Now they have started appreciating it, though
at the beginning they were skeptical," the Dalai Lama told
a seminar on Buddhist teaching in New Delhi. The spiritual
leader's US visit has also sparked a diplomatic row with China
opposing the trip of a "separatist with an intention to split
national unity."
The
Dalai Lama is expected to meet US President George W Bush,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and key Congressional
leaders during the high profile visit. Beijing sees the icon
as a rebel who is unlawfully campaigning for Tibet's independence.
The Buddhist god-king fled to India after a failed uprising
in 1959, nine years after China's People's Liberation Army
marched into Tibet to establish Beijing's rule. Though he
has since renounced independence and softened his stance to
wanting only more autonomy for Tibet, China has questioned
the claims saying the Dalai Lama's reaching out to foreign
governments for support was proof he did not want to find
a peaceful resolution to issue. The Dalai Lama also condemned
the New Delhi blasts this weekend urging people to pray for
the innocent victims. "We should make some kind of prayer
for the people who suffer from natural disasters...the hurricanes,
the different hurricanes as well as the earthquake and man
made suffering just a few days back in Delhi and some other
part of the world. Daily a lot of innocent people suffer,"
he said.