Topic: Buddhism and Science —— A Study Based on Buddhist Literature
The original price is 29.00 yuan
Author: Ma Zhonggeng
Publishing House: China Social Sciences Publishing House
Release date: July 2007-1
abstract
Buddhism has gradually evolved from a foreign religion into a basic part of China culture, which has had a great influence on the primitive culture of China, including the ancient science and technology of China. Only in modern times has Buddhism and science been specifically discussed, but the number is small and the research is not comprehensive and in-depth The discussion is mostly from the perspective of philosophy and religion. The view is nothing more than that Buddhism is anti-scientific, scientific and has nothing to do with science. This book systematically examines China's Buddhist literature from a historical point of view, and comprehensively and systematically studies the historical issues of Buddhism and science from a multidisciplinary perspective with a scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts. There are few contents about mathematics in Buddhist classics, but there is a relatively complete counting system in algebra, and decimal counting method is mostly used, involving series and power. In physics, Buddhism believes that matter consists of four basic elements: earth, water, fire and wind, and their interaction forms the emergence and development of things; Matter is not infinitely divisible, and will eventually decompose into "emptiness" at the micro level. Buddhism believes that time and space are inseparable and time is relative. There are many descriptions of physical measurement units such as time and length and their mutual conversion in Buddhist scriptures. Buddhism has a certain understanding of the nature and function of light, and has speculated on the formation of lightning, which is also closely related to the invention, improvement and spread of timers with time-telling function. In terms of chemistry, the chemical content in Buddhist literature is very scattered, and the part of Buddhism-including crystallization, distillation and brewing, dyes and other related contents. There are also clues that some Buddhists have mastered considerable knowledge of chemistry and mineralogy, and participated in activities such as alchemy and making longevity drugs. There are rich astronomical contents in Buddhist and Tibetan documents. Regarding the composition of the world, Buddhism believes that the universe is composed of countless but limited "worlds". The small "world" is the smallest unit in the world system that constitutes the universe. Its structure is based on Mount Sumi, surrounded by the eight seas, four continents, the sun, the moon, the stars and so on. Buddhism has also carefully conceived the composition and conditions of various celestial bodies such as the sun and the moon. Buddhism believes that the orbits of the sun and the moon change all the time, which leads to the alternation of cold and warm in different seasons and the alternation of day and night. How to divide day and night, seasons and astronomical calendars is also discussed. Buddhism has also discussed and explained various natural phenomena and disasters in the world, including the formation of rivers, why seawater is salty, and the causes of earthquakes. Buddhism believes that everything in the universe is constantly producing, developing and dying. Finally, it falls into an infinite cycle of emptiness, which Buddhism calls "being, living, being bad and being empty". The Buddhist cosmology is a life cosmology, which regards the world and even the whole universe as organic life. The composition of space is not only high and low, but also good and bad. Also, a considerable part of astronomical contents in Buddhist scriptures appear in the form of stars. Buddhism's theory about the composition of the world is very different from China's traditional theory of the universe. There is evidence that it may have had a certain influence on ancient astronomy in China. Buddhism has no systematic exposition of biology, only some sporadic related contents. Buddhism believes that all living beings have four modes of production: oviparous, viviparous, moist and metaplasia, which is completely different from the original biological classification system in China. The Buddhist scriptures describe in detail the developmental characteristics of fetuses in different periods, and admit that there is a "food chain" relationship between organisms. Buddhism has a unique understanding and speculation about "insects" as small as microorganisms, and also has a deeper understanding and understanding of some plants including their roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits. Buddhist medicine is relatively rich in content and complete in system, including basic theory, clinical practice, medical hygiene, health care and many other aspects, covering internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, gynecology, ent and so on. Treatment methods include medication, surgery, dietotherapy, bathing, etc. And the classification of drugs is relatively systematic. There are many Buddhist medical classics, not only in Buddhist scriptures, but also in the "medical affairs" section of the Ministry of Law and Tibet. There is a clear description of human physiological anatomy in Buddhist scriptures, and Buddhism has a complete set of pathological theories: there are detailed requirements for patients, doctors and nurses, unique views on their relationship, and detailed analysis of etiology and pathology. Buddhism generally divides drugs into four categories: seasonal drugs, dressing change drugs, seven-day drugs and life-saving drugs, among which plant drugs are the most; It is believed that the most common diseases are wind, cold and heat, and the most commonly used drugs are oil, crisp, honey and sugar. Buddhism has a special discussion on conception mechanism, pregnancy care, infant diseases and so on. Buddhist scriptures also preserve a lot about daily life and diet health care, such as the maintenance of oral hygiene. There are also many descriptions of medical deeds and clinical cases of some Buddhist doctors in Buddhist literature and Tibetan literature. In a word, in the rich content of Buddhist medicine, various diseases and their treatments are often the coexistence of deficiency and excess, the integration of body and mind and the curse of medication, but they are closely related to Buddhist teachings. As a concrete example of the relationship between Buddhism and technology, there is evidence that Buddhism is closely related to the invention of block printing and its early popularization and application. Although it is found through statistical analysis that the proportion of Buddhists who made great contributions to ancient science and technology in China is very small, the facts also show that Buddhism did have an important impact on ancient science in China, with both positive and negative effects. We need to think deeply and study the relationship between religion, Buddhism and science from a new angle. On the basis of a comprehensive understanding of Buddhism and ancient science and technology in China, we should re-understand Buddhism, religion and science from the perspective of human nature and look forward to the future of Buddhism and science.
catalogue
Introduction Chapter I Mathematics in Buddhism Chapter II Physics in Buddhism Section I Composition and Separability of Matter Section II Expression of Various Metrics Section III Timing Tools Section IV Relativity of Time and Integration of Time and Space Section V Understanding and Utilization of Optics Section VI Understanding and Application of Lightning and Fluid Chapter III Chemistry in Buddhism Chapter IV Astronomy in Buddhism Section I Understanding and Description of the Universe in Buddhism Section II Buddhist Understanding of Various Celestial Phenomena, Understanding of Climate Section III Catastrophe and the Birth and Death of the World Section IV Introspection of Buddhist Astronomy Chapter I Mathematics in Buddhism Chapter II Physics in Buddhism Section I Composition and Separability of Matter Section II Expression of Various Metrics Section III Timing Tools Section IV Relativity of Time and Fusion of Time and Space Section V Optical Understanding and Utilization Section VI Lightning, Understanding and application of fluids Chapter III Chemistry in Buddhism Chapter IV Astronomy in Buddhism Section I Understanding and description of the universe in Buddhism Section II Buddhist understanding of various celestial phenomena, Understanding of Climate Section 3 Catastrophe and the Birth and Death of the World Section 4 Reflections on Buddhist Astronomy Section 5 Biology in Buddhism Section 1 Understanding of Biology in Buddhism Section 2 Understanding and Speculation of Microbes in Buddhism Section 3 Species Change and Others Section 6 Buddhism and Medicine Section 1 Overview of Buddhist Medicine Section 2 Buddhist Medical Classics Section 3 Physiological Anatomy Section 4 Pathology Section 5 Medical Biology in Buddhism Section 6 Sexual Knowledge and Pediatrics Section 7 Nursing in Buddhism Section VIII Health Care in Buddhism Section IX Buddhist Doctors and Clinical Cases of Buddhism Section X Reflections on Buddhism and Medicine Chapter VII Invention of Buddhism and Printing Section 1 The earliest printed matter Section 2 Reasons for spreading Buddhist scriptures through printing Section 3 Buddhist skills and archaeological discoveries Section 4 Material, technical conditions and political environment in China at that time Chapter VIII Buddhists who contributed to ancient science in China.
Namo amit Ba