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The Scientific Buddha: His Short and Happy Life (The Terry Lectures Series) Hardcover – September 25, 2012
by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
Part of: The Terry Lectures (18 books)
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Preface
Acknowledgments
ONE. A Purified Religion
TWO. The Birth of the Scientific Buddha
THREE. The Problem with Karma
INTERLUDE. A Primer on Buddhist Meditation
FOUR. The Death of the Scientific Buddha
Notes
Index
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How Western notions of the Buddha have come to misrepresent his teachings and the traditional goals of Buddhist practice
This book tells the story of the Scientific Buddha, "born" in Europe in the 1800s but commonly confused with the Buddha born in India 2,500 years ago.
The Scientific Buddha was sent into battle against Christian missionaries, who were proclaiming across Asia that Buddhism was a form of superstition. He proved the missionaries wrong, teaching a dharma that was in harmony with modern science. And his influence continues. Today his teaching of "mindfulness" is heralded as the cure for all manner of maladies, from depression to high blood pressure.
In this potent critique, a well-known chronicler of the West's encounter with Buddhism demonstrates how the Scientific Buddha's teachings deviate in crucial ways from those of the far older Buddha of ancient India.
Donald Lopez shows that the Western focus on the Scientific Buddha threatens to bleach Buddhism of its vibrancy, complexity, and power, even as the superficial focus on "mindfulness" turns Buddhism into merely the latest self-help movement.
The Scientific Buddha has served his purpose, Lopez argues. It is now time for him to pass into nirvana. This is not to say, however, that the teachings of the ancient Buddha must be dismissed as mere cultural artifacts. They continue to present a potent challenge, even to our modern world.
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168 pages
September 25, 2012
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"This edifying and often witty book is not only about busting myths. It also ventures what Buddhism – now purged of the apocryphal “scientific Buddha” – might indeed teach the world today about altruism and the self."—Janet Gyatso, Harvard University -- Janet Gyatso Published On: 2012-05-29
“There could be no more appropriate book for the Terry Lecture Series because this one so meticulously compares contemporary ‘sciences’ with what most of the world would acknowledge as an important and influential ‘religion.’”—Dale B. Martin, author of New Testament History and Literature -- Dale B. Martin Published On: 2012-04-11
“Donald Lopez’s light-hearted biography of the Scientific Buddha sets the record straight by exposing the false resonance and pious misunderstandings between Buddhism and modern science. An eminently readable book, and a must for anyone interested in the convergence (or lack thereof) of these two traditions.”—Bernard Faure, Columbia University -- Bernard Faure Published On: 2012-05-29
"The Scientific Buddha is a welcome and timely intervention in the religion-and-science debates. In this eloquent and exquisitely crafted volume, Donald Lopez takes on the ill-begotten notion that Buddhism is a "science of happiness" that prefigures, and is fully consonant with, the findings of modern science. But the book is much more than a critique of slipshod appropriations or representations of Buddhism; Lopez goes on to argue that the real contribution of Buddhism may lie precisely in its critique of contemporary scientific hubris. Lopez's analysis is grounded in impeccable scholarship and a deep appreciation for Buddhist doctrine and history. It is also an absolute delight to read."—Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley -- Robert Sharf Published On: 2012-05-29
“…offers a new and original perspective on how to understand the comparative relationship that has formed between Buddhism and science among the interested, educated public—in the ‘West’ as well as increasingly across Asia—over the last two centuries."—Todd Lewis, co-author of Sugata Saurabha: A Poem on the Life of the Buddha by Chittadhar Hridaya of Nepal -- Todd Lewis Published On: 2012-04-11
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The complete review's Review:
The Scientific Buddha is based on the 2008 Dwight H. Terry Lectures delivered by Lopez. The book is not, as he notes in his Preface, a comprehensive consideration of the history of claims of the "compatibility of Buddhism and science" (unlike his book, Buddhism and Science (2008), devoted to that subject). Rather, he is here concerned with what he sees as an artificial incarnation of Buddha that has recently (over the past century and a half or so) flourished -- the 'Scientific Buddha' of the title -- and what he considers the mistaken interpretations of such Buddhist concepts as 'karma' and meditation over this period.
Lopez is suspicious of efforts to broaden Buddhism to even scientific-theory-of-everything proportions: as he notes, it's odd that even as science has changed -- from, say, a Newtonian worldview to a quantum mechanical one -- many insist on twisting Buddhism to explain whatever the prevailing theory of the day is. The breadth of Buddhism itself -- with such a: "wide range of doctrine and practice across historical time and geographical space" that it is difficult to speak with the necessary specificity of a single 'Buddhism' -- complicates matters, arguably allowing a mix-'n'-match approach to fit many scientific theories -- but Lopez argues that even at a fundamental level it would be better to separate the two: it is not so much that Buddhism and science are incompatible, but rather that they simply address entirely different things.
The Buddhist doctrine of karma is one example he examines more closely. Apparently, it has frequently been seen: "as somehow analogous to the theory of evolution". In considering the Buddhist conception of karma (and the Darwinist theory of evolution) more closely, Lopez shows that there is obviously a fundamental misunderstanding here; as even the Dalai Lama acknowledges: "natural selection is at odds with the doctrine of karma".
Lopez's broad, historical approach makes the impact of some of his points -- such as the fact that meditation was not widely practiced until relatively recently, and that it gained great popularity in a specific time and place (early twentieth-century Burma) -- particularly powerful: many 'scientific' points take on a whole different look when considered in the proper larger context.
The nature of some of the concepts of Buddhism means it lends itself to a variety of (mis)interpretations (and misapplications). Lopez argues for abandoning the 'Scientific Buddha' that has been entirely to popular and influential for the past century and a half, and returning to a (or rather, the) more traditional Buddha. As he suggests:
The Buddha does not need to be preserved in aspic, all of his wondrous aspects kept intact, frozen in time, the founder of a dead religion. At the same time, the Buddha does not need to be brought up to date, his teachings do not need to be reinterpreted into terms utterly foreign to what he taught, or what his tradition says he taught.
The Scientific Buddha offers an interesting and quite detailed look at the rise of the 'Scientific Buddha', and where those embracing the concept have gone wrong, and Lopez makes his point well. It is a subject that lends itself to more in-depth discussion, but Lopez does convey and dissect many of the significant points and issues here.
- M.A.Orthofer, 22 September 2012
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Links:
The Scientific Buddha:
Yale University Press publicity page
Dwight H. Terry Lectures
Donald S. Lopez, jr.:
Faculty page
Other books by Donald S. Lopez, jr. under review:
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Other books of interest under review:
See Index of books dealing with Religion
See Index of books on Science and Technology
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About the Author:
Donald S. Lopez, jr. teaches at the University of Michigan. He was born in 1952.
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© 2012 the complete review
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Customer reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
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c.a. leibow
5.0 out of 5 stars RIP Scientific Buddha...
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2015
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Very instructive and insightful. A good companion to Buddhist Modernism. I love the play with the title. The topics covered are things that every "secular" Buddhist should be aware of.
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James A. Knight
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2015
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Excellent work in the history of science.
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Sean K. O'Brien
4.0 out of 5 stars Lopez is clearly brilliant, and his perspective is worth a look
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2014
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Haven't finished it, but the historical first half alone is worth the price of admission. Lopez is clearly brilliant, and his perspective is worth a look. Withhold criticism on every point & idea, because he sometimes takes his time coming around to the opposite side of an argument or idea. Bright author, valuable book, regardless of your personal point of view.
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Sandy
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and clearly written
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2013
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Donald Lopez does a brilliant job of discussing the limitations of the view of Buddhism as a science. I am a scientist and a Zen practitioner and very open to scientific explanations -- but many are not founded on scientific reasoning - Lopez shows why.
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Amarcadia
2.0 out of 5 stars An academic text or a claim. Nor is it a text on cultural colonialism.
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2020
I'm going to write in Spanish because it's my native language. It is not clear to me who the text is directed to.
There is little depth in terms of the treatment of sources about religious movements that emerged in this process of secularization of so-called modernity. From a stroke he deals with the Theosophical Society, I do not read about Deism, nor is it mentioned other authors who have dealt with this period in depth. In my opinion, they should at least be mentioned, if it is an academic text.
I haven't finished the book, but I am also amazed at the treatment of Kamma's concept. In a paragraph or two, analyze the Sutta Culakammavibhanga Sutta from Majjhima Nikaya.
I am also surprised at the tone in which it is written, as a claim or scolding, rather than with curiosity and interest.
The processes of cultural appropriation are complex. That's what the author knows. Buddhism itself with its history proves it.
What is the intention of this text? I don't know.
As a Buddhist, as well as many Western Buddhists, the path has been arduous, the reading that I have done over 21 years, has often been eclectic. Being Latin American, I could say that the difficulties are even greater.
It's not about prosecuting, it's about understanding processes, that's what I expected. Not a scolding people who appropriated a religion from their own limitations framed in a culture perhaps even opposed to the Buddhist worldview.
I'm a social anthropologist.
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A reader
5.0 out of 5 stars A helpful and long-overdue corrective
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013
It's telling that this book has garnered two negative reviews which are completely unjustified. Given the proliferation of dubiously-credentialed "dharma teachers" and "Buddhist teachers" attempting to make careers out of teaching supposedly "Pragmatic Buddhism" or "Secular Buddhism," it's no surprise that a book which exposes the fundamental absurdity of those enterprises is most unwelcome to some and subject to a smear campaign.
Lopez is very effective in providing the broad context of the centuries-long effort to present Buddhism, or various iterations of it, as somehow "scientific" and "pragmatic" and "secular." Reviewer toronto, in giving the book two stars, upbraids Lopez for his supposed failure to note that the "original Buddhism teachings" are miraculously "in accord with contemporary scientific understanding" whereas everything discordant was "larded on later." He or she clearly did not read this book very carefully (or at all), because as it happens Lopez very thoroughly demonstrates that this assertion is propoganda, flatly untrue. To the extent that we can ascertain what the "original teachings" of the "historical Buddha" are--and that extent is limited to nonexistent--they are just as pervaded with magic and religiosity and fantastical unscientific assertions as everything that followed. "Secular Buddhism" is as fundamentally oxymoronic as "Scientific Astrology," and efforts to assert otherwise have been either badly misinformed or willfully dishonest.
Lopez, however, is very careful to spell out his respect for the Buddhist traditions, and offers some reasonable comments on the ways in which people in the modern world might fruitfully engage with those traditions -- on their own terms, and not after they have been distorted beyond all recognition by opportunistic wishful thinking.
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Phil
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2013
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Really good book. Thanks very much. Thanks again for all of your assistance. This is much appreciated. Would recommend to others.
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Jenna
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read!
Reviewed in Canada on August 23, 2016
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Very easy to read, but offers comprehensive explanations correcting common misconceptions about Buddhism. A must-read for anyone interested in Buddhism or the study of religion. I will definitely pursue more books by this author.
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Nick rated it really liked it
Shelves: buddhism-meditation
This is a follow up Lopez's earlier book "Buddhism and Science". Recommend reading that first for a fuller picture of the Scientific Buddha premise. This book is a push back against a modern conception of the Buddha's teaching as the only religion compatible with science. Statements about the compatibility of Buddhism and science go back to at least to the 1860s. But, "it is clear that the Buddhism that is compatible with science must jettison much of what Buddhism has been, and is, in order to claim that compatibility."
After the introduction, part two describes some of the history of how Buddhism was received by the West. For example, some thought the Buddha a Black African due to the the hair style on statues. Later, William Erskine (1773-1852) compared Buddha to Epicurus. This is around the time the Buddha begin to be seen as a man rather than a god. This demythologizing and humanizing phase was an important step toward scientific acceptance. Also important, scholars began to be able to read the source texts rather than simply judge based on what they saw. Lopez also points out several influential modern texts and reformers.
Part three presents an overview of Buddhist philosophy and how the central tenet of karma is at odds with natural selection. Next, an interlude considers the place of mediation. Lastly, part four "The Death of the Scientific Buddha" wraps up the story of the Scientific Buddha as an idea born in the nineteenth century that is a "pale reflection of the Buddha born in Asia". While science was once used by Christian missionaries against Buddhism, over time Buddhism has gained more scientific support. It is the translation of meditation states into scientific data that is key, but also so far rather inconclusive.
Lopez's gloss of Buddhist philosophy can certainly be picked at, and ideally better cited. I would rather Lopez focused on the more historically relevant Nikaya Buddhism. I largely agree that often how Buddhism is presented as science compatible is dubious. Still there are a range of reasons Buddhism is seen as compatible with science and Lopez hardly touches on many of them. Of course there will be some clash since Buddhism is basically pre-scientific. But, myths still have power and meaning. And what is considered science has changed over time. "If an ancient religion like Buddhism has anything to offer science, it is not in the facile confirmation of its findings." You can skip this one unless you have interest in the development of Buddhist modernism. Just read a summary article here:
http://www.tricycle.com/special-secti... (less)
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Khang Diep
Dec 13, 2018Khang Diep rated it really liked it
Shelves: social-science
This book is not what I expected to find but the history and the author's writing style got me hooked. For a while, I had fallen into the conviction that Buddhism is a Science, and that the Buddha was a Natural Philosopher - or what we used to call scientists. Well, this book challenged that very perspective, in which I naively picked up the book thinking it will confirm my own bias. The narrative that Buddhism is a Science was first introduced to the West by Buddhist elites in the 19th century as a counter-claim from Christianity's attacks on Buddhism. European missionaries asserted that science is what powers "Western civilization" - a reason for conversion - something which Buddhism lacks. Later on, as Western Orientalists learned more about Buddhism, they portrayed it as a scientific religion due to its assymetric nature with Christianity. Buddhism has no creator, it uses reason instead of faith, philosophy instead of dogma, meditation instead of prayer, and the Buddha is a human instead of a divine power. Despite all of that, equating Buddhism with Science is not only ignorant but also misleading. Buddhism as a Science is merely one perspective on a vast and ancient tradition. Ironically, that perspective was engrained by Christianity, therefore it's also a product of colonialism. Buddhism might win the contest of "which religion is the most compatible with Science", thanks largely to the Buddhist elites and Western Orientalists from the 19th century. However, it should not be the only religion that's compatible with science. It all depends on how we choose to view religion and science, for each has their own place. Whereas one can use the similarities between Buddhism and Science to further enhance one's attitude and understanding to both disciplines, one should refrain from equating both as a singular entity. One should aim to pursue both religion and science and do not take side. Like Einstein had said: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind". (less)
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Carlos
Nov 22, 2020Carlos rated it liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, religion-mythology
Lopez seeks to dispel the myth of the correspondence of Buddhism with any particular scientific theory, whether in neuroscience or quantum physics. He goes back to the beginning of this myth, to the 1800s of the Orientalists, and chronicles how it evolved out of colonialism and Christian missionary’s philosophical attacks on Buddhism. He similarly shows the respectability obtained for Buddhism in the West by claiming it to concord with the latest science and how that game has sometimes been played by Buddhist leaders themselves. Lopez analyzes how the Buddhist doctrine of karma was read into Darwin’s theory of evolution and shows how shoehorned that comparison was. He then goes on to survey the wildly varied Buddhist practices that have been lumped under “meditation” in the West, and argues for a better understanding of what neuroscience can and cannot tell us about this practices. Lastly, he makes the argument for recognizing the value of the Buddhist insights on the human mind regardless of whether they agree or disagree with the latest science. (less)
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Bodhidasa
Feb 03, 2018Bodhidasa rated it it was amazing
Shelves: buddhist
This series of expertly researched and argued essays has broadened my understanding of the Wellness Proliferation. This slow building movement to remove all that was 'unscientific' from the Buddha's biography and champion him as almost the template of a scientist began in the late 18th century. The public perception of the Buddha, at least among many ill-informed western minds, is that he jjst helped people feel better by removing stress. Donald Lopez argues that this is not, in fact, the historical Buddha but a new hybrid figure invented by those who were uncomfortable with certain truths that were not in line with the new scientific rationalism. A fascinating read. (less)
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P. Es
Dec 30, 2015P. Es rated it really liked it
Shelves: hidden-history-convergences, selfrealizationrevised
Very enlightening read, and one I would share. I know the author doesn't intend that i leave the book feeling blanket skeptical of the value of Buddhism for more than a nice set of notions with no truth claim value that lead me to ethical, orthoprax behavior - and not simply (as he probably intended with the mind he may or may not 'have'...;-) ), cautious when engaging representations of "modern buddhisms" - but that's how I left it.
A quick thought (since I would say more about the book but only a bit now) the only substantial comparison he makes between Buddhism and science to other "religion and science" conversations is a quick superficial quip about how the interaction between Christianity and science, specifically, has been represented as one of conflict; science was born in the West precisely because of Biblical and Christian presuppositions, and the Church was long a handmaid of science as it grew - however much over time people came to - as Lopez says - *present* the relationship as one of conflict. There were other opportunities for comparison to be made in the social sciences and others; to the degree manuscript evidence matters for historical, empirical questions about "what X-teacher really taught" to then think about 'scientifically' - it matters that most of the Gospels (the main sources of "what Jesus really taught"), are evidenced within one lifetime of Jesus' death [and Resurrection, etc - so far as is claimed by Christ and by extension, Christianity]. The same can't be said of the teachings of Buddha, which vastly post-date the life of the Buddha. That does not mean anything for the truth claim value of Jesus' teachings or The Buddha or the antiquity of the sources relied on to account their teachings, but when comparing "X-religion and science" - especially where Christian critics of Buddhism early on were responsible for the birth of the "scientific Buddha" - actual comparison matters. (less)
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Ben
Oct 31, 2016Ben rated it liked it
Shelves: buddhism
I picked this book up because I'd noticed I was becoming slightly annoyed at the recent and increasing proliferation of 'mindfulness', and I wanted to read what a Buddhist expert might have to say about that.
Lopez starts from the beginning. He briefly traces the history of the West's encounters and interaction with Buddhism, from early utter misunderstanding to the invention of, as Lopez calls it, the 'Scientific Buddha', the West's idea of who the Buddha was, what he stood for and what he taught.
The Buddha of Asian tradition, Lopez shows, is not so merely human, not so scientific. There are conveniently ignored supernatural powers and associations, which place Buddhism more in-line with what we think of as religion, not science. But the Scientific Buddha, with attendant mindfulness and focus on the relief of stress (not a Buddhist preoccupation!), now nearly 200 years old, has come to supplant the Buddha of the Asian tradition in the West - and even, to some extent, in the East.
There's a good 'primer' on Buddhist meditation here, and contained in chapter 2 is one of the the clearest articulations of the Buddha's dharma I've ever read (Lopez's knows his Buddhism and can express it clearly, as previously shown in his illuminating introductions to Penguin's collection, Buddhist Scriptures, edited by Lopez). Yet the comparisons for compatibility with science aren't very enlightening and the conclusions drawn are hesitant and limited, making this a modest contribution. But it has confirmed, for me, my previous convictions that mindfulness, as it has come to be known in the West today, bears very little resemble to proper Buddhism, and I think that's an important thing for people to know. (less)
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Peter
Oct 11, 2014Peter rated it liked it
The first part detailing the history of the interaction between the Westerners and Buddhism is quite interesting, as his explanations of basic concepts of karma and meditation. His thesis though -- that the push to make Buddhism more palatable to science and to Westerners over the past 200 years (e.g. trying to show how karma resonates with evolution, or using mindfulness meditation as a self-help technique) distorts the historical Buddha and traditional teachings of Buddhism -- seems to go too far.
Though he states that it "is not the role of the scholar to protect, preserve, and defend the religion that he or she studies," (p. 78), he seems to be doing just that. Though there will always be orthodox or fundamentalist (I'm not equating the two) traditions, it is in the nature of all religions and philosophies and their adherents and practitioners to evolve. Of course, I think he can point out where new innovations might be in conflict with traditional doctrines, but at times, his writing seems more polemical than historical.
But this demonstrates that there are several Buddhisms, not one. Just as there are various forms of Christianities and other religious traditions.
Nevertheless, it's an interesting read. As always when I read non-fiction books, I would have preferred more footnotes. (less)
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S. Kumar
Apr 29, 2014S. Kumar rated it did not like it
An exercise in illogic resulting from a forced attempt to connect superficial knowledge of the subject (both Buddhism and Science). Still useful if you are interested in developing an understanding of how misplaced intent can lead us astray. Conclusions drawn in the book are as valid as the theory of African origin of Buddhism.
Looking for a simple introduction to Buddhism - try What Makes You Not a Buddhist. Looking for a simple introduction to Quantum Mechanics - try Quantum Enigma. (less)
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Graham
Apr 26, 2013Graham rated it it was amazing
Make sure you read Lopez with a playful grin on your face, this is fun history with a point to make. It's pleasurable to see him craft such a truly original argument while telling the story of our "Scientific Buddha". This is a true cultural critique that crosses swords with both scientists and Buddhists, both historians and practitioners. Lopez gives us cause to give more serious attention to reconsidering how we approach colonials, Buddhisms (of all times and places), and the westerners who write about them; not forgetting our place in it all. (less)
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Lisa
Mar 29, 2013Lisa rated it it was amazing
Pay attention to the title: "the Scientific Buddha: His SHORT and Happy Life." Lopez argues that buddhism is no more scientific than any other religion - despite our desire and current fascination for it to be so. Close scrutiny quickly eliminates the delusion. Its a good read -- but disquieting if you are of a western scientific bent and seek congruence between that world view and the buddhist world view. (less)
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Josh
Mar 23, 2014Josh rated it it was amazing
Lopez right on point, as he tends to be. A very sharp cultural critique sure to stir up emotions in those who view Buddhism as a refuge from the choice between religion and science. Dr. Lopez' prose makes for another very captivating read, and while his arguments are sure to challenge many, his extensive knowledge on history and doctrine also provides a very thorough primer into Buddhism(s) as they exist textually and culturally. (less)
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Karl Nehring
Oct 16, 2012Karl Nehring rated it really liked it
Shelves: buddhism, religion, history
A refreshing overview of the development of the Western understanding of Buddha and Buddhism. Lopez writes clearly and concisely, making the book a bracing read for anyone interested in Buddhist thought.
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