A Spontaneous Discussion on Material Science and Buddhist Science of Mind

Transcript: www.rigzindrub...
These spontaneous teachings were delivered to a group of esteemed academics from the Mind and Life Institute. They took place on March 25, 2024, at Khandro Rinpoche's residence in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Presented below are some notable quotes from this teaching of Khandro Rinpoche (taken from the translator's translation - Thank you, Adam!).
- "The Science and the Dharma want the same thing - which is to understand the way things truly are. And this beautiful interdependence and dialogue between Science and Buddhism has come about due to His Holiness’ vision and connection with the scientific world."
- "From one angle, the physical body that we have is a product of the three poisons. Yet at the very same time, it's this defiled physical aggregate created by the three poisons that can completely accomplish the causes of happiness, completely abandon causes of suffering, achieve Liberation, and even achieve omniscience. These things are both true at the same time. It's such an outrageous thing if you really think about that." (Laughs)
- "It's amazing that the scientific community knows how the brain works to that degree, but if people were to think that's the story of the mind. That's as far as we can go, and they stop, what a shame that would be. A huge shame!"
- "They know that if you break it down and break it down, you can't find concreteness within matter. But they don't explore it experientially. They look at it from the outside. So even though they understand the nature of reality from the outside, that understanding is still arising in a confused mind. It has to go through the avenue of experience and practice. The Buddhist perspective that explores the Mind from the inside, through practice and experience, is essential. Just looking at it from the outside you can’t. It’s almost inaccessible."
- "Let's think about a thousand years into the future. For us to know, from a scientific point of view that's looking at material reality, what could happen a thousand years from now is completely impossible. Because every physical substance is momentarily changing every single moment. So how could you possibly know what might occur? However, for the mind, pure mind which is not constrained at all and doesn’t even rely on physical reality, with its own investigation could perhaps see and know what might happen a thousand years from now."
- "The Heart Sutra says Form is Emptiness. Scientists have got there. They get that. They understand that. But what comes after that - Emptiness is Form. Ask a scientist how Emptiness is Form, what are they going to say? Oh blah blah blah…" (Laughs)