Saffron Robes and Lab Coats

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

In contrast, David Spiegel, of the Stanford medical school's psychiatry department, explained the neuroscientific view of suffering as 'an activation of neural subsystems that trigger emotions associated with distress: pain, fear, sadness, depression, anxiety.'

These neural subsystems, he said, can be stimulated by external sensory stimuli and exacerbated by reverberating circuits involving internal stimuli, such as anxiety and depression. 'Western scientific notions of suffering, including pain, depression, and anxiety, treat suffering as a problem to be eliminated by reducing noxious input or the brain mechanisms that perpetuate it,' Spiegel concluded.

While their approaches to suffering may sound different, Mobley said, neuroscience and Buddhism both acknowledge the Four Noble Truths regarding suffering: There is the fact of suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path to end suffering.

'The traditional Western approach to end suffering is to block the inputs' that cause it, said Spiegel. 'But that's not the whole answer.' Spiegel noted that there are more neuronal connections in one person's brain than there are stars in the universe, and that focusing on compassion, for instance, makes it possible for those connections to 'reset' the brain. 'Reverberating circuits can amplify or dismiss pain and depression,' he said.

How those circuits get reset is where Buddhism can inform science, said Ricard. 'It is possible to change the content of the mental construct,' he said. 'Practicing altruism and compassion can alleviate your own pain.'

The Dalai Lama appreciates how science can inform religious belief. Western science, he said, teaches people how to investigate and ask questions, which Buddhism values. 'Questions bring about investigation, and investigation brings better understanding of reality,' he said. 'Modern science is much more advanced than Buddhism. We have much to learn from scientists.'

Similarly, Mobley said, Buddhists have methods for introspective inquiry of the mind that might inform science -- provided science is willing to listen.

Reprinted from Science & Spirit (Jan./Feb. 2006). Subscriptions: $26/yr. (6 issues) from Heldref Publications, 1319 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036; www.science-spirit.org.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print