About the Group

The 'Thousand Stars Buddhism and Science Group' (TSBSG) has been set up to engage in discussions and dialogs on Buddhism and science. The Group will consist of Buddhist practitioners and representatives of the other religions, religious scholars, philosophers, scientists, medical doctors, linguists and other interested members of society, and will be a part of the Thousand Stars Foundation (www.thousand-stars.org), a non-profit organization based in Thailand. Thailand has a vibrant tradition of Buddhism and is a fast developing country where the impact of modern science has been increasingly felt. Thus there is a widespread curiosity and concern on how modern science, which has hitherto largely been imported from the West, is related to the tenets of Buddhism. Many Buddhists believe that theirs is a 'scientific' religion, in that most of the teachings are perceived to be well in accordance with modern science. This is attested by the fact that in Buddhism there is no supreme God and that all events are explainable through the law of cause and effect. Nonetheless, many other tenets of Buddhism seem to have more difficulty with modern science, such as in the doctrine of karma and rebirth as well as different attitudes towards death and dying. What is particularly interesting is the interplay in various dimensions between Buddhism, as the source of intellectual understanding and moral underpinning of the Thai people for centuries, and modern science, which was part of the colonizing Europeans who came to the Thai shore only a little more than one hundred and fifty years ago. Thai intellectuals in the nineteenth century sought to reconcile the two, arguing, among other things, that Buddhism was in accordance with science, and was in fact superior to the latter in that it paid emphasis to the morality of the people, whereas science was 'value-free'. However, many of the tenets of Buddhism that did not accord well with science, such as the belief in karma and rebirth, was downplayed by these intellectuals. This attitude toward the relation between Buddhism and science has persisted in the Thai cultural milieu until today. Nevertheless, such attitude is not a healthy one, because it has now well recognized that science is not an entirely value free enterprise, and because the doctrines in Buddhism that were found to conflict with science (such as karma, rebirth and the cosmological system consisting of various levels of hells and heavens) are actually essential to the full functioning of the teaching as a whole. Thus the Group aims at gaining better understanding of this very important part of the intersection between science and religion, and especially at carrying on the works of the Thai intellectuals in the nineteenth century into the twenty-first one, when science (and technology) has become much more advanced and has an increasing role to play in all aspects of life. It would be very interesting to see how Buddhism could respond to what science has to offer in this century. There could well be a merger of sorts, as happens when the brains of monks engaging in deep meditation are scanned and are found to be in a unique state, pointing to a whole new way of looking at neuroscience and other related disciplines. Or the age-old conflicts may remain recalcitrant. All these are extremely important topics, not only for the Thai culture, but for the world community as a whole.

The Thousand Stars Foundation, which acts as the parent organization of the Group, was given a legal status as a non-profit organization according to Thai law in February 2005. As mentioned before, the main objectives of the Foundation are to promote mutual understanding between the various traditions of Buddhism, especially between Tibetan and Thai Buddhism. The kind of Buddhism prevalent in Thailand is called 'Theravada' meaning doctrine of the elders, or 'Hinayana' or lesser vehicle. As the latter term is quite pejorative, the former term is now more commonly used. Tibetan Buddhism, on the other hand, is in the 'Mahayana' or 'Vajrayana' tradition. The main difference between these two traditions is that the Buddhism in Thailand emphasizes that the goal of the practitioner is to liberate himself or herself from the cycle of death and rebirth, or samsara. The Mayahana or Vajrayana tradition, while accepting that achieving Liberation is also a supreme goal, nonetheless adds that the goal should also include the intention to liberate all beings in the world, and not just only oneself. There has not been much interaction or dialog between these two traditions, and as Tibetan Buddhism is gaining more popularity in Thailand, the Foundation seeks to promote this vital mutual understanding of the main traditions of Buddhism through a series of activities, details of which can be found at the website of the Foundation.

Furthermore, the Thousand Stars Foundation also aims at promoting knowledge and practices of Buddhism not only among Thai people, but also to the citizens of the world. This includes activities promoting not only mutual dialogs among the different traditions of Buddhism, but also between Buddhism and other areas of human intellectual activities, most notably modern science. On November 12 and 13, 2004, the Thousand Stars Foundation organized a seminar on "Death and Dying: Perspectives from Science and Religion" at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The meeting was aimed at promoting dialogs between scientists, medical doctors and religious practitioners and scholars on the topic of death and dying. It generated a lot of interests and was attended by more than 200 people from throughout Thailand. Among those who were invited to give lecture at the conference were Ven. Kunga Sangpo Rinpoche, a chief Tibetan monk and abbot from Yushu and Beijing, China, who gave a talk on the Tibetan cultural and religious attitudes and practices concerning death and dying; Ven. Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, a famous Bhikkhuni, or Buddhist nun in the Theravada tradition, who talked on her recent near-death experience and its spiritual connotation; Dr. Ruenrerng Leelanukrom, a professor of anesthesiology from the Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine, who gave a lecture on the physiology of dying and the brain death criterion; Ven. Kittisak Kittisobhano, a Buddhist monk and an activist, who talked about the need to be mindful of death; Dr. Puangphen Chunhapran, a professor from the School of Nursing, Chulalongkorn University, who led a panel on taking care of dying patients; Dr. Warayuth Srivorakul from Assumption University, Bangkok, who talked about the Christian attitudes toward death and dying; Dr. Pranee Lapanich, who presented on the Islamic attitudes; Dr. Siwalee Sirilai, a philosopher from Mahidol Univeresity, who talked about spiritual healing, and many others. A tangible outcome of this meeting is a edited book containing the papers presented at this conference, which will come out this year.

As a sequel to this very successful meeting, the Foundation plans to organize another meeting on "Dreams and Spirituality: Dialog between Science and Religion" on August 19 and 20, 2005. The aim of this meeting is to explore the multifaceted and interdisciplinary dimensions of dreams, sleep, and spirituality, and there will naturally be a dialog between scholars and practitioners of various religions, scientists, and medical professionals on the issue. The idea of holding a conference on dreams was actually a spinoff from the previous one on dying; as dreams share many characteristic with death, the topic seems a natural one. Furthermore, dreams hold many strong relations with spirituality, and Buddhism itself has many interesting things to say about the topic. Thus the meeting will be a very timely one and apart from the work of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama (Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness with the Dalai Lama. Francisco J. Varela ed. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997), not many works deal with the topic, especially ones that focus also on the Theravada tradition and its relation to science.

As with the previous conference in 2004, many prominent Thai scholars from various fields, as well as scholars and practitioners of various religious traditions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, will be invited to share their views in the meeting, together with Ven. Kunga Sangpo Rinpoche, who has a very good relationship with the members of the Foundation and the Group and who will again be invited from China; it is also expected that more than 100 people will also attend. Furthermore, the Buddhism and Science Group will meet regularly to discuss issues pertaining to the relations between Buddhism and modern science. At present there is a lively interest among the Thai intellectual community and the public on how Buddhism should provide answers to the problems generated by modern science and technology, such as human cloning, genetic manipulation of organisms, and so on, and the Group will be strategically positioned so as to bring together those who are interested so that verifiable outcome and impact can be produced.