Consciousness is everywhere

[camerata]

Quite an interesting article claiming that Buddhism and panpsychism are in accord, but failing to quote any Buddhist sources. It seems the scientist is sometimes talking about things like plants and bacteria, whereas the Dalai Lama is talking about "sentient beings." However, confusingly, they quote Dogen, founder of Soto Zen, as saying "All is sentient being," and "Grass, trees, land, sun, moon and stars are all mind." I'm not sure that saying all is mind is saying that "all is sentient being." Perhaps that is so in Mahayana, but in Theravada the Buddha talks about "breathing" beings. Inanimate objects, plants and beings too small for the eye to see are not considered sentient, AFAIK.

Leading neuroscientists and Buddhists agree: “Consciousness is everywhere”

by Sam Littlefair Wallace

New theories in neuroscience suggest consciousness is an intrinsic property of everything, just like gravity. That development opens a world of opportunity for collaboration between Buddhists and neuroscientists.

​"The heart of consciousness,” says neuroscientist Christof Koch, “is that it feels like something. How is it that a piece of matter, like my brain, can feel anything?”

In 2013, ​Koch, one of the world’s leading experts on consciousness, went to a monastery in India to discuss that question with a group of Buddhist monks. He and the Dalai Lama debated neuroscience and mind for a full day.

They had different approaches. Koch offered contemporary scientific theories on the subject, and His Holiness countered with ancient Buddhist teachings. Yet, at the end of their discussion, the two thinkers agreed on almost every point.

“What struck me most was his belief in what we in the West call ‘panpsychism’ — the belief that consciousness is everywhere,” says Koch. “And that we have to reduce the suffering of all conscious creatures.”

Panpsychism, the idea of universal consciousness, is a prominent thought in some branches of ancient Greek philosophy, paganism, and Buddhism. And it has been largely dismissed by modern science — until recently."

Full story

[VincentRJ]

Thanks for those links Camerata. I found the video of Christopher Koch's talk in the office of the Dalai Lama at the Drepung Monastery in India, fascinating, not just because of the subject matter, but because of the general scene and background, including the Dalai Lama's changing facial expressions, occasional swaying from side to side, and continual interruptions for clarification from his translator.

The surrounding audience of monks and lay people was also interesting, particularly the fact that one elderly monk sitting right behind Christopher Koch was clearly asleep, occasionally waking up, then nodding off again.

It's a long video, and I'm only halfway through it, but it's also fairly high resolution and shows good detail at full-screen size. I'd like to keep it if it's available for download.