1. Our Scientific Era and its
Doomsday Effect
I want to begin to write
this essay with mentioning Prof. Seonglae Park, who is the famous scholar in
the history of science. Prof. Park carefully explained in his heading remarks
of the quarterly journal, Gwahak Sasang(The Thought of Science) how the
West occupied the East, and how the moral civilization of the East has been
changed by the Western mechanic civilization and anticipated the situation of
the coming 21st century world as follows:
I dare to say that human
beings would be disappeared just before 3,000 years. As dinosaurs disappeared
in the past, human beings, who reigned during a few million or ten thousand
years and ruled this world with their absolute power, would be completely
disappeared in the earth too.1)
Even though what he said
suggests a direct warning for human beings who live in this modern world, his
warning must be seriously considered due to his thoughtful scholarship. He is
very cynical about the real contribution to our capitalistic and
individualistic society. He continues to say:
The coming 21st century
will begin in a chaotic condition with the fever of capitalism and
individualism. we tend to interpret the word 'ism' as an expression of will of
human beings....However, capitalism and individualism are not 'isms' by which
we, human beings, consciously remake our world. They are nothing but the results
of the thought in which we let our nature leave, namely, the give-up of our
will. In the past a thousand years, the fact that capitalism or individualism
has been survived among other thoughts means that we gave up our attempt to
improve our society with our will.2)
Any body would agree
that the crisis of our modern world occurs because of the unlimited enlargement
of human beings' nature, the unlimited economic development, and the
accompanying the destruction of environment and the falling-down of our natural
humanity. Of course, I do not ignore the advantage that capitalism and
technology have given us. In other words, its flourishing material growth. But,
the problem is the material civilization radically flourished, while the mental
civilization is decreased. Furthermore, men forget what nature gives us and
what freedom they really have to enjoy.
Karl Jaspers once pointed
that the modern history of the West has been made with a ¡°false enlightenment.
According to him, the spirit of the modern Europe
tended to go 'either-or' direction, namely, going into a mechanic view of
nature but not a harmonious view. Hence, the modern spirit of Europe
becomes falling into insincerity. 3) Here, the 'false enlightenment' means that
our knowledge, will, and act are based on the mechanic view of nature by which
our intellect becomes insincere.
According to Jaspers'
criticism, Descartes did not see the limit of science and forgot its practical
aim. And, he attempted to construct 'universal science.' However, his idea was
dogmatic and was based on a mechanic mythology. 4) In other words, in the
beginning the spirit of Europe aimed to a kind
of balance between organic and mechanic views of nature. But, Cartesian
'universal science' overemphasized the mechanic view and a technological
knowledge and finally mechanic control of natural environment. Hence, man, who
is often symbolized as 'the son of nature' or 'the humanity of internal
nature,' is buried with the destruction of external nature.
Today the limit of science
is shown in the world here and there; that is, the destruction of natural
environment and the collapse of humanity as well as the limit of science
itself. The American science critic, John Horgan, says how the limit of science
is going on as follows.
Moreover, science itself,
as it advances, keeps imposing limits on its own power. Einstein's theory of
special relativity prohibits the transmission of matter or even information at
speeds faster than that of light; quantum mechanics dictates that our knowledge
of the micro realm will always be uncertain; chaos theory confirms that even
without quantum indeterminacy many phenomena would be impossible to predict;
Kurt Godel's incompleteness theorem denies us the possibility of constructing a
complete, consistent mathematical description of reality. And evolutionary
biology keeps reminding us that we are animals, designed by natural selection
not for discovering deep truths of nature, but for breeding. 5)
Science itself does not give men
a complete truth but a partial truth by which men are destined to satisfy. In
his book, Horgan presents ten kinds of eschatology; eschatology of development,
philosophy, physics, cosmology, evolutionary biology, social science, neuro
science, and et cetera. For him, the radical development of science itself
shows the end of science. Quoting Gunther Stent, Horgan argues the paradox of
development and the end of science.
If there is a limit
of science and a difficulty by which there cannot be any development of
science, science will be developed in a very speed just before meeting such
difficulty. When science is shown successful, powerful, and effective, it means
the end of science coming close. Stent said in his book The Incoming of the
Golden Age that this speedy development of science makes us think such
development and will be stopped in our life or one or two generation.¡±
6)
The above quotation
predicts that the end of science is coming close in proportion to the speed
science develops.
Science has a double-value,
positive and negative. If science is employed in a negative way, for example,
the war using atomic bomb, the earth and our world would be ruined. In
addition, the moral consciousness of human beings would be crashed.
In modern society, the life
of men is getting comfortable and wealthy, but they are interested in seeking
after pleasure. What is worse, they make a mistake the effect of drug and
virtual reality for the true reality. Stent cynically ended his argument in his
book that sooner or later our scientific development will be stopped, ...and
all our attempt for art and science during 1,000 years finally will let our
life seem a true result by a just impromptu happening. 7) Although we do
not much need to worry all these negative phenomena, we still have to keep in
mind these phenomena because the negative phenomena are getting serious.
The principal problems of
our modern techno-scientific society are rooted from intellectuality,
measurement, quantification, symbolization as well as bureaucratization,
materialization, economicalization, business-making. Although the industrial
society has been developed by the above items, these items, which come from the
reason-based thoughts, are nothing but mechanic systems which are against our
true life. The systematic and mechanic power of the modern techno-scientific
society respects the dignity of humans, while such power debilitates the value
of life and is indifferent to the dignity of our human life.
Therefore, A. N. Whitehead
earlier found that although matter itself lacks sense, value and aim, the
mechanic and materialistic view of nature comes from the classical view of
physics because it is supposed that matter is absolutely real. 8) So,
Whitehead called such materialistic view of nature as a lose of value and aim,
and attempted to change it into a holistic view of nature.
Erich Fromm, who was the
greatest of psychoanalysis, realized that the mechanic power of modern
technological civilization wrongly guided our true life into senseless thing
and finally drew our life into a material death. 9) This disease of necrophila
is made by the external power of modern environment in which the bureaucratic,
technocratic information system consists. What is worse, school system and
education are easily involved in such a negative modern system.
Among all these difficult
conditions, the information society alienates and isolates human beings, and
finally transforms the moral men into the machines. Today we live in the period
of great change that we have not experienced. In the name of the frontier
science, the development of technology established the invention of new
materials with the super-computer and the satellite communications. Besides, by
the genetic science, we became to make a new kind of species and a radical
development of agriculture and livestock farming, and the medical science.
But, the unlimited flood of
mas media and the computer game guide young men to be given to the intemperance
for their sexual instinct and make them the playful murder. The problems of
information society are shown in other cases: for example, the problems of
virtual reality on the dimension of cyberspace, computer hacking, and the
outflow of information and etc: all these cases make us consider moral
questions we have not experienced in the past.
Especially we cannot
properly cope with our technological crisis, because we realize that with moral
treatment, we cannot well control the technological problems of computer. For
example, because the organism of long-range gun, missile or atomic bomb is
absolutely unhuman, even any coward can kill a million people at a moment only
using buttons without a serious conscience. In fact, in the modern automatic
machine, computer chips and automatic sensors are attached, and so we easily
forget our responsibility about the results when we operate the buttons of the
machines. Then alienation from using the machine is made. In next chapter, I
will discuss such alineation problem with the information engineering.
2. Information Engineering
and Alineation
The modern society
establishes its network system through autonomy, separation, or cooperation.
For example, each robot, which has relatively a simple tool functioning
independently and cooperating with other parts of it, establishes a given aim.
Since 1990s, people have
been interested in the artificial life (AL)
rather than the artificial intellect (AI). That is, beyond the artificial
intellect, they have researched making a kind of artificial life. The research
of AL goes a
step farther than the research of AI. Christopher Langton is the scientist who
used the word 'artificial life.' He presumed that if the ability of 'self-copy'
might be defined 'life,' with a relatively simple model an artificial life can
be made. In his model of AL
consists of a cellular automaton which is a two dimensional grid. Each grid
means a cell and each time transforms into a new cell responding to the mixture
of a current condition and others. At this moment, a collection of each
grid-cell is defined as life. 10)
The alive image through a
computer graphics is also considered as a kind of artificial life because
through the graphic image, real or unreal life can be depicted in a given
space-time condition without any difficulties. The live expression through the
computer graphics has an 'elementary meaning' among the several visualization
of simulation. For example, a high quality of technology is necessary in order
to express the move of human body with the computer graphics. If this
technology can be acquired, a high quality art can be made only by the computer
graphics. Then, a real machine like an alive animal can be an area of
artificial life.
Now we meet a new era
treating a life without a real life, namely, an artificial life. At the late
20th century, the leading technology is information by computer, while the
beginning 21st century will be laid with the science of artificial life as the
leading technology. Recently by the robot technology, a micro-precision machine
goes into the human body and then treat the disease of human body. DNA
simulation is possible even on the computer, and by the life information
technology, the reproduction of sheep becomes possible. At the moment,
agriculture and livestock farming and medical science contributes for human
welfare by the DNA simulation and the technology of reproduction.
On the other hand, negative
phenomena of life science happens to young generation: for example, a
possibility of virtual reality which harms their personality and make them be
in a chaotic state. The confusion of virtual reality and true reality are
paradoxically made by the development of science. Another example of the
negative phenomena is a third kind of life and an absolutely new kind of
bacteria which are produced by the extravagant use of the reproduction
technology.
The more urgent problem is
the human alienation by the increase of information system. Today most young
generation spend their time playing the computer game, and so they do not have
enough time to talk with their family. In a certain sense, computer is a
machine which helps to isolate humans. Computer, as a machine which is a phase
of a given game, offers an isolate space to people: personal computer offers a
series of discontinuous scenes. All these scenes are the thing given but not a
chosen by people consciously. In it, there is a given rule, but people operate
the given scene by a programmed rule.
By the development of the
information technology of the computer, labor is replaced by robot and plants
are robotized. According to this robotization, men's labor is restricted and
isolated by automation. Men work with a fixed order and a given information
which are already programmed by the production and sales fields.
Although all these programmed
information originally are set up for men's welfare, they feel, in a sense,
anxious to the given machine-like ordering. A reasonable question what nature
and humans are become meaningless by such development of science, in which
humans are proved as a limited entities. The anxiety was due to the development
of warfare, which was possible by the scientific civilization through the 1st
and 2nd World wars. Human anxiety is not due to a special object or event but a
limited existence of humans which is rooted from the power of science.
Furthermore, the anxiety comes from the increase of much freedom which is made
by the progress of industrialization and a misguided democracy.
For Kierkegard, men feel
anxious to the possibility of freedom, namely, the free choice of picking up the
fruit of good and evil, when Adam and Eve heard God's order ¡°Not to eat that
fruit.¡± 11) According to J. P. Sartre, man cannot escape from his existence
because he is a man. Hence, anxiety comes from man's existent choice. But,
nowadays people get losing the feeling of anxiety by the progress of
information society. 12) Such lose must be 'oblivion' which is different from
Heideggerian 'existence forgetfulness' or J. Derrida's. (which was mentioned in
his speech published in 1968's book The End of Man.) Men just act according to
the programmed order of computerized database. When they perform any work
depending upon computer, they are overwhelmed by it, and finally get forgetting
their existence and losing their personality.
In fact, insects and animals
do not feel anxiety. instead, it is right if they just live following their
natural equipment or their own information system. But, now men act by a given
programmed information when they use computer and cannot live without
computers. Hence, they do not feel any more existential anxiety and a sense of
death, and finally do not need to feel such assumed anxiety.
Men become busy with the
development of information media rather than taking a rest. They spend most
time using beeper and handphone, and invest more time watching television,
typing on the computer, sending facsimile to others. Although the development
of multimedia gives them a great advantage, such development take their
valuable time and energy.
Norbert Wiener, who
invented cybernetics, claimed that if the modern man is interested in
'know-how' by which a method of establishment is acquired and neglects
'know-what' with the question ¡°What is the value and aim of man's life?, he
won't help kill themselves. 13) He also warns: The time is too late, and the
choice of good and evil knocks at our door. Human atoms are knit into an
organization in which they are used, not in their full right as responsible
human beings, but as cogs and levels and rods.14)
In any way, in this modern information
society, men must choose from the programmed menu of computer. If most works we
have to treat are practical things in our ordinary life, we cannot have much
time the important problems, what the ideal life we must pursuit. What is
worse, we cannot escape from the network system because we spend a lots of time
for making program and using the given programmed data on the computer.
In a short word, the modern
man falls into a programmed system, like in a cage and alienates himself. The
question is how man can recover such alienation. It is possible through the Zen
meditation by which he becomes a 'true man.' The only way to become the true
man is acquired by the Zen meditation.
3. The Recognition of the
Quantum Theory
Although I have criticized
the negative side of the modern science and its culture, I also have to point
out a positive side. For the positive side, I will consider the philosophy of
the Middle Way
of Buddhism and the thinking method of quantum physics in terms of their
epistemic way. It is because the quantum theory can help for mediating religion
and science, and East over West: the quantum theory will present an absolutely
different thinking method from the traditionally existing causal determinism.
In the beginning of 20th
century, from the fact that the micro materials of electron and photon tend to
have a double qualities of particle and wave at the same time, the quantum
physicists began to understand the quality of quantum: that is, they realized
the quality of wave from that a quantum makes diffraction and an intereference
fringes. But, when they realized that a quantum reflected an electron from the
surface of metal by the photoelectric effect, they also must accept that a
quantum is a particle. When they found the double quality of particle and wave
of a quantum, they had to change their existing understanding of nature.
As you see, in the
beginning of 20th century two radical development of the relativity theory and
the quantum mechanics changed the traditional views of matter and world. Since
the quantum mechanics has been born, the opposed theories of particle and wave
are modified into a unified theory for a quantified particle and wave. That is,
the quality of particle and wave for light is not a separate character, rather
shows a double character of an identical substance: in other words, the double
character is considered as a 'wavecle.' Matter consists of the continuum of
particles which oppose and mediate each other, and matter finally reveals a
complementary property of micro material. Supposing the existence of a photon,
the wave of light is accompanied with a particle which holds a quantum units of
energy, and then matter and energy become to have a double character of wave
and particle. It is by the complementary function of the double character that
a new understanding of physics is made. In a macro way, both matter and light
consist of a continuous wave, while in a micro way they also consist of a
discontinuity of particles. N. Bohr's theory of complementation is the result
that men attempted to understand the double character of wave and particle
without any difficulty.
By this double character of wave
and particle, it is possible that an uncertain element lies in the micro world
of the photon, electron, and atom. In 1927, Heisenberg measured this
uncertainty in which he tried to measure the position and speed of the quantum
particle at the same time. We want to get an exact measurement of the position
of an electron, while we cannot get any knowledge about the momentum of the
electron. In the other hands, if we can measure the momentum of the electron,
we cannot do its position. This paradox happens because if an electron is fixed
in a certain position, the process of 'fixing the electron' makes an effect for
the momentum of the electron. The attempt to measure the momentum of the
electron also makes an effect for us to realize exactly the position of the
electron because the momentum shakes the position of the electron.
This paradox is due to the
original meaning of nature rather than the limit of human recognition
accompanied by technology. That position and momentum of an electron cannot be
measured at the same time shows that in a micro world a causal determinism is
meaningless. 15)
By N. Bohr and Heisenberg, we
become to know that the position and momentum of a particle cannot be measured
at the same time, because the atoms of matter and light are resulted as the
phenomena of particles in a certain experiment, and as the phenomena of waves
in the other experiment. Consider a more logical answer why these different
phenomena occur. Hans Reichenbach explains the problem of this paradox
mentioning L.V. de Broglie. While the classic physicists had been involved in
the two-valued logic for the double character of particle and wave, de Broglie
dared to think a possibility that light could consist of a particle as well as
a wave. For him, the two-valued logic, 'either-or' logic, must be replaced by
'both-and' logic in which a complementary theory would be made. He set up a
three-valued logic which consists of 'true (T),' 'false (F),' and
'indeterminate (I),' and then considered a true result by an experiment of a
momentum of a particle as an indeterminacy. What a particle is in a state of
indeterminacy means that when a momentum of a particle is determined, the
determinacy is uncertain. That is, when an utterance is true, the other
utterance must be in an indeterminate state from the given condition.
Furthermore, de Broglie's 'both-and' character of particle and wave makes us
interpret a possibility that particle and wave exist at the same time. Of
course, such existence does not mean that they are real in a certain condition,
rather real only in an interpreting condition. That is, both particle and wave
are true all the time. 16)
His argument is to divulge
a limit of human recognition, and makes us imagine the thought of the middle
Way in buddhism. For N. Bohr, it is meaningless to ask what the electron is.
And, according to Paul Davies, with the development of Bohr's idea, the Western
philosophical view of the whole and part, and the macro and micro world is
radically changed.
So the quantum reality of
the microworld is inextricably entangled with the organization of the
macroworld. In other words, the part has no meaning except in relation to the
whole. Thus holistic character of quantum physics has found considerable favour
among follows of Eastern mysticism, the philosophy embodied in such oriental
religions as hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Indeed, in the early days of
quantum theory many physicists, including Schrodinger, were quick to draw
parallels between the quantum concept of part and whole, and the traditional
oriental concept of the unity and harmony of nature.¡±17)
With the paradox of Schrodinger's
cat which is understood by Paul Davies and J. Brown, I will show a similarity
of quantum mechanics and Zen Buddhism. 18)
A cat is penned up in a
steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device. Suppose that the
probability of radioactive substance half in a given period. If the radioactive
substance flows out, the counter tube discharges, and moving a hammer by an
attached cord shatters the flask which holds hydrocyanic acid. Then, the
hydrocyanic acid comes out and the dies.
According to the quantum
theory, matter consists of a double-laid state in which radioactivity can flow
out or not. Then, we can suppose that the probability of life and death of the
cat is half. The probability of alive and dead state is half if we express the
cat in terms of the quantum mechanics. How to understand this strange state is
expressed by the paradox of Schrodinger's cat.
In our common sense, the cat
should be dead or alive. There is no choice between alive and dead. Because
each probability of alive and dead state of the cat is half, we cannot say that
the cat is alive and dead. If we, however, observe these states, one of the
states occurs in a real condition. If we suppose that the cat is alive, and
open the steel chamber, the cat is found alive, while if we suppose that the
cat is dead and open the chamber, the cat is dead. That is, according to our
chosen will, the cat is alive or dead. Technically saying, we can say that a
wave function is broken and each state has its own value.
Although all these results
happen in a micro state of an electron, when we understand nature, these
results have a significant meaning in which our subjective recognition works.
This curious relationship between particle and us is found as the spin state of
particle.
The particle of neutrino
and electron have a kind of internal rotation, namely, a spin (of course, all
elementary particles have a spin). If we make an experiment apparatus to find
the direction of spin and choose a certain direction for a co-ordinates, we discover
that the spin is pointing a field-direction. That is, the spin of the particle
is always pointing the direction we choose. A particle always points a
direction as we want to point. In the micro world of the elementary particles,
our subjective element is mediated. This state is very similar with the cases
of 'a smile with the flower shown' and 'an immediate communication from mind to
mind' in Buddhism in which people can intuitively feel a co-understanding
without any word. In the case of the quantum mechanics, particles of electron
work like human beings pretending to communicate by the mind. Of course, we do
not know why this happens.
Davies and Brown argues
that the significant role of observation in the quantum mechanics lies in
dealing with the relationship between matter and mind. That the wave function
suddenly changes when we observe the quantum shows the idea that mind is over
matter. This idea is similar with the Buddhist idea 'Buddha nature all over the
world': the physical state affects the spiritual state and vice versa.
P. Neumann uttered that
anything cannot 'break' the wave function. The wave function, however, is
broken when man's consciousness is involved. In other words, when a result of
measurement enters into man's consciousness, the complex pyramid organization
of quantum is easily shown as a distinct reality.
For Eugene Wigner, mind plays an
important role in which mind determines the nature of measurement and makes
happen an irreversible change of the quantum state of matter.
As Davies and Brown says,
the relationship of mind and matter in the quantum physics is very similar with
the thinking method of Eastern religion in many ways. In Zen Buddhism, there
are some important arguments: 'language beyond language' and 'a secret beyond
canon.' A true reality is understood only by mind from mind and the canonical
truth is understood just by our self-reflection but not by the Buddhist canons
themselves. All external things and events are only the mirror-like thing of
our original nature and all canonical principle are just the musical echoes of
our true nature. Therefore, we should not identify our original nature with
such a mirror-like thing or echoes. We can identify ourselves only if we
directly observe our original nature.
The reality of Zen Buddhism is
well understood by the relationship between Buddha and K??yapa. 19)
K??yapa is known as the founder of the Indian meditation. Originally 'dayana'
meant a concentrated meditation. On the other hand, the Chinese meditation meant
the sudden enlightenment. Hence, the real nature of meditation means the
revelation of self and self-proof.
According to D. T. Suzuki,
the Zen meditation presents a method in which we go into an object itself and
realize the object as it is. To know what a flower is a means for us to become
the flower, blossoming with the flower and getting wet with rain and being
exposed to the sun. Hence, the flower wants to talk with us and at the same
time I share, with the flower, joy and suffer. Now I can understand the phase
of the flower, namely, its life. Not only I know the mystery of the universe
with enlightenment but also I know the mystery of itself. 20) At this moment,
universe and I are unified: in this unity universe becomes me and vice versa.
Here, the Zen meditation
and the quantum mechanics meet each other. That is, the quantum mechanics
cannot be explained by the two-value thinking as the Zen meditation cannot do.
Although in a sense the quantum mechanics is a new way of recognition, it
indirectly is to show as what the Zen meditation is. In next chapter, I will
explain the Buddhist thought of the Middle
Way with 'language beyond language' of the Zen
meditation. When we understand that thought, we also can find the logical
ground of the intuitive world of the Zen meditation in which life and death are
unified as one.
4. The Epistemology of
the Middle Way
Nagarjuna unfolded his
philosophy of the Middle Way
by paramartha-satya and lokasamvrti-satya: Nirodha-?ryasatya belongs to the
param?rtha-satya and suffering, attachment, and way belong to
lokasamvrti-satya: that is, the paramartha-satya means a state of salvation,
while lokasamvrti-satya means its previous state or a means of the
paramartha-satya. Therefore, Nagarjuna said that paramartha-satya cannot be
required without lokasamvrti-satya, and without such paramartha-satya, we
cannot get nirvana. 21) The point we have to keep in mind here is
that paramartha-satya is divided into both an expressible absolute and an
unexpressible absolute, and that lokasamvrti-satya must be considered
reasonable as well as non-reasonable.
Paramartha-satya of an
unexpressible absolute is the true suchness beyond language' as a truth, while
param?rtha-satya of an expressible absolute is the 'true suchness depended upon
language.' The latter belongs to the lokasamvrti-satya because 'satya'
depending upon language cannot be an experience of salvation. The Hegelian
dialectics proceeds in a reasonable way depending on language. So, such
dialectics cannot deal with 'the transformation of reasonableness into
un-reasonableness.' Nagarjuna's 'dialectics of negation' does not accept
reasonable thinking. To negate reason, we have to be reasonable which is a
self-negation of reason. Through a reasonable thinking we discover a paradox
and throw it away. The self-negation of reason is performed by the
paramartha-satya which is expressible by language; that is, negating language
by language. Hence, T.R.V. Murti calls this form of logic as 'reductio as
absuridum.'22) Although the expressible stage might be reasonable,
this stage is still unreasonable because it has a paradox in which a reason has
to be explained by reason. So, we must reveal the unreasonableness and then we
can transcend from the limit of language and get nirvana.
Won-Hyo (617-686) said:
¡°To cut all kinds of problems of the world with wisdom is a secular law but
not a principal law. It is because in the emptiness there is no dying thing and
no making thing die, and so everything is empty and is in a state of nirvana.23)
In other words, for him there is no division between truth and falsity, which
are not different. His idea is analogous to the idea that 'stopping
observation' is two wings of birds and two wheels of carriage.
Although Won-hyo criticizes
some parts of the thought of the Middle
Way, his original idea of truth and falsity is
same with Nagarguna's. Truth and falsity (or secularity) are same, in which we
should not be attached to not only falsity but also truth. We have to throw
away the attachment for truth and falsity.
Won-hyo's idea becomes
clear if we research one of 'the first dialect' which explains Sung-lang's
thought that two different values reveal the Middle Way. His dialect might be
schematized as follows.
** Two different
values reveal the Middle Way.
1. Birth/Death..........the Middle Way for
Secular Value
2.
No-Birth/Death...........the Middle
Way of True Value
3. Not-birth/Death and
Not-(No-Birth/Death)............the Middle
Way of Revealing Two Different Values
24)
According to the above
schema, birth/death is set as the Middle
Way of secular value. Most people believe that
there in this world birth and death really exist. Hence, the law of birth/death
is considered a secular or false value and no-birth/death is considered as true
value. Since many intellects do not have any difficulty to understand the fact
that there is no-birth/death, in this schema birth/death and no-birth/death is
set to be responded to the secular or false value and the true value,
respectively.
If we, however, consider
birth/death as a real phenomenon and no-birth/death as a real phenomenon, our
consideration is also mistaken. We need a unity for two different values which
reveal the Middle Way.
Therefore, Sung-lang explains two
different values as follows.
"Those two values are
a mysterious teaching for the Middle
Way as well as a true sermon in which our culture
and language are searched. Being and non-being are discovered by a principle.
Although being and non-being are separate and cannot be recognized as a unity,
reality is found as one principle. Hence, with the ways of truth and falsity,
we can educate people to make them find a right way.25)
Won-hyo, in his
Sipmunhwajaengnon(ä¨Ú¦ûúîµÖå) said: ¡°When people, who had attained Buddhahood,
lived, their world was peaceful. However, in the future world, people are
involved in a vain arguments and fight each other, and finally they would not
escape from their inevitable retribution, namely, karma.¡± 26) So,
Won-hyo said that with the light of wisdom the world can be equal.27) He
continued to say: ¡°Like the difference of birds's marks in the air, the
example of the air accompanies with such difference. Although the birds's marks
once existed, we cannot differentiate the actual marks of birds.¡±28) After
all, enlightenment is attained by throwing away fancies which always occur. The
state without fancies is like the air.
Now we know that the quantum
mechanics and Zen meditation share with the thought of the Middle Way in terms of recognition of the
world. Although there must be more careful understanding about this argument,
I, at least, can claim that quantum mechanics and Zen Buddhism are in the state
of complementation.
5. The Contemporary
Meaning of Zen Meditation in the Era of Science
Today the scientific civilization
can be described as the civilization of machine, possession, ambition, and
competition. On the other hand, by the Zen meditation we can acquire culture
for life, non-possession, freedom from desire, and harmony. We, however, know
what the problems this techno-scientific world have. We also find a similarity
between the quantum mechanics and the Buddhistic thought of the Middle Way. Hence,
modern science tends to hold favorable and non-favorable view with Buddhism.
Then, we need a careful insight to discriminate the right and wrong points
about the effects of modern science.
As I said before, people
are not interested in recovering their natural humanity. They are losing their
mind just being interested in using computer, television, handphone, money and
enjoying sensual pleasure and playing golf and gambling. To escape from these
bad situations, we must consider the real meaning of the Zen meditation.
People often say that yoga
is for attaining ecstasy and Zen meditation for enlightenment. As the Great
master Seo-Ong once said, enlightenment is acquired when man becomes free
without having any discrimination against others. All critical situation is due
to our dualistic thought and unfair discrimination. The extreme materialism,
individualism, and egoism bring our world to a crisis and aggravate conflicts
and split. Zen meditation accepts all forms of State, nationality, religion,
thought, and culture. That is, Zen meditation provides a universal ground in
which all forms of societies are harmonized.
To prove the effects of Zen
meditation, I will explain Zen meditation summarizing its five steps (which are
read in Korean as follows.)
1. Jeong Joong Pyun.....the Pyun
in the Jeong (substance behind phenomena)
2. Pyun Joong Jeong.....the
Jeong in the Pyun (phenomena transitioning to substance)
3. Jeong Joong Lae.....coming
from the Jeong (phenomena coming from substance consciously)
4. Gyum Joong Ji....the arriving
in the Gyum (substance and phenomena coming together)
5. Gyum Joong Do.....the settling
in the Gyum (substance and phenomena harmonizing each other)
Suzuki said that "The sho
[Jeong in Korean] and hen [Pyun in Korean] constitute a duality like the yin
and yang in Chinese philosophy. Sho literally means 'right,' 'straight,'
'just,' 'level'; and hen is 'partial,' 'one-sided,' 'unbalanced,' 'lopsided.'
29) He explained the relationship between Jeong and Pyun in English as
follows.30)
1) Jeong is translated in
English as follows; ¡°the absolute, the infinite, the one, God, dark
(undifferentiation), sameness, emptiness, wisdom, and the universal. And, Pyun
is translated as follows; the relative, the finite, the many, the world, light,
difference, form and matter, love and the particular. I will quote Suzuki's explanation
for the five steps.
[Jeong Joong Pyun] means that the
one is in the many, God in the world, the infinite in the finite, etc. When we
think, the [Jeong] stand in opposition and cannot be reconciled. But in fact
the [Jeong] cannot be the [Jeong] nor can the [Pyun] be the [Pyun] when either
stands by itself. What makes the many [Jeong] the many is because the one is in
it. If the one is not there, we cannot even talk of manyness.¡± 31)
2) ¡°[Pyun Joong Jeong]
complements (1). If the one is in the many, the many must be in the one. The
many is what makes the one possible. God is the world and the world is in God.
God and the world are separate and not identical in the sense that God cannot
exist outside the world and that the one is indistinguishable from the other.
They are one and yet each retains its individuality: God is infinitely
particularizing and the world of particulars finds itself nestled in th bosom
of God.¡± 32)
3) ¡°We now come to the third
step in the life of the Zen-man. This is the most crucial point where the
noetic quality of the preceeding two steps transforms itself into the conative
and he becomes really a living, feeling, and willing personality. Hitherto he
was the head, the intellect, in however exacting a sense this might be
understood. Now he is supplied with the trunk with all its visceral contents
and also with all the limbs, especially with hands, the number of which may be
increased even up to one thousand (symbolizing an infinity) like those of
Kwannon the Bodhisattva. And in his inward life he feels like the infant Buddha
who uttered, as soon as he came out of his mother's body, this pronouncement:
'Heaven above, earth below, I alone am the most honored one.'¡±33)
The [Jeong in Jeong Joong Lae] is
not used in the same sense as in [Jeong Joong Pyun] or in [Pyun Joong Jeong].
The [Jeong] in [Jeong Joong Lae] is to be read together with following [Joong]
as [Jeong Joong], meaning 'right from the midst of [Jeong] as [Pyun] and [Pyun]
as [Joong]. Jeong Joong Lae is like the 'thunderous silence,' which is the eye
of the hurricane. The eye is the center of the hurricane and without the eye
the hurricane does not occur. The eye is what makes the hurricane possible. Eye
and hurricane conjointly constitute the totality. When the Gyum Joong Ji
arrives, it jumps in the hurricane escaping from the eye, namely, the center.
Here, both Jeong and Pyun are enfolded by the wind which comes from all over
directions. Then, man becomes the hurricane itself.
[Gyum] means 'both' and refers to
the dualism of black and white, dark and light, love and hate, good and bad --
which is the actuality of the world in which the Zen-man leads his life now.
While [Jeong Joong Lae] still reminds us of something in the preceding two
steps, [Gyum Joong Ji] has altogether left them behind, for it is like itself
shown of its intellectual paradoxes, or rather, it includes indiscriminately,
undifferentially, or better, totalistically, everything that is intellectual or
affective or conative. It is the world as we have it with all its 'brute
facts,' as some philosophers take them, irrevocably facing us. 34) The Zen-man
finally realizes that 'klesa' is Bodhi, and at this level experiences that
appearance which is reasonably understood, and substance is one. Furthermore,
appearance and substance cannot be separated and must be in a complementary
condition.
Let's continue to understand
Suzuki's explanation: ¡°We now come to the last step, [GyumJoong Do]. The
difference between this and the fourth is the use of [Do] instead of
[Ji]....But, according to the traditional interpretation, [Ji] has not yet
completed the act of reaching, the traveler is still on the way to the goal,
whereas [Do] indicates the completion of the act. The Zen-man here attains his
object, for he has reached the destination. He is working just as strenuously
as ever; he stays in this world among his fellow beings. His daily activities
are not changed.¡± 35)
In the fourth step, Zen-man
really wants to jump into the universe. His desire might be called a step of
meta-cosmic. On the other hand, this fifth state is the transmeta-cosmic state,
in which the Zen-man must come back to the condition unifying both appearance
and substance. Although he is described as a hero, now he discovers a paradise
in this world and becomes to respect all trivial things. He comes to be sincere
for himself and helps others and shows a life-model for them. He hereby becomes
a true-man.
Suzuki summarized all five steps
as follows: ¡°These five are divisible into two groups; noetic, affective or
conative. The first three are noetic and the last two are affective or
conative. The middle one, the third 'step,' is the transition point at which
the noetic begins to be conative and knowledge turns into life. Here, the
noetic comprehension of the Zen life becomes dynamic. 'The word' takes flesh;
the abstract idea is transformed into a living person who feels, wills, hopes,
aspires, suffers, and is capable of doing any amount of work. In the first of
the last two 'steps,' the Zen-man strives to realize his insight to the utmost
of his abilities. In the last he reaches his destination, which is really no
destination.36)
The American philosopher of
religion, Thomas Merton said in his book Mystics and Zen masters that ¡°If the
West continues to underestimate and neglect the spiritual heritage of the East,
it may hasten the tragedy that threatens man and his civilizations. If the West
can recognize that contact with Eastern thought can renew our appreciation for our
own cultural heritage,...then it will be easier to defend that heritage, not
only in Asia but in the West as well.
Now the time that religion and
Western science meet each other was made. I will specify such meeting of
science and religion, quoting a Korean newspaper.
Recently an attempt was
to find a commonality between two different thoughts. With using brochures,
television and making workshops, this great meaningful conference was given in Berkeley, California
with the topic 'Science and the meaning of mind.' Most scientists who
participated in this conference were Christians, Jews, and Islamics. For a long
time they attempted to solve the conflicts between religion and science. There
was a common sense in this conference in which the universe had a purpose and
by its purpose human beings would be really existed.
- Munhwa Daily (number 2054) July
20 -
6. Conclusion
Since 1970s, I have been
researching comparative philosophy as well as philosophy of science to
harmonize modern science and Eastern religion and ethics. Gwahak Sasang
(Thought of Science), the quarterly journal in which I have worked as a
chief-editor, has been published to harmonize Eastern religion and science.
In his Dharma teaching, the
Great master Seo-Ong once said that the real nature of man penetrates his
consciousness as well as unconsciousness, and does his free and easy state, and
finally enlighten himself without any limitation. Such unlimited penetration of
human nature is to attain the divine enlightenment.
According to Seo-Ong, men
have to critically consider their given civilization which has been affected by
modern science, and consider the relationship between their civilization and
the Zen meditation. When the relationship between them is well harmonized, men
can solve the problem how their future world must be guided. Seo-Ong presents
his idea as follows to solve this problem.
In Zen Buddhism, we can
find a principle of existence in which one and many is unified, and particulars
and universals are also unified. Without particulars, 'one' becomes
meaningless, and without one, particulars are split, lacking unification. Today
men are losing such a 'universal one' because of particularism due to the
modern science, and is taking conflicts. In a short word, our modern
civilization is implicated in seeking after particulars still losing 'one.' Men
can easily be fallen into a mental disease. To solve this problem, they have to
create a new kind of scientific civilization in which one and many are unified.
Then, men can harmoniously develop their civilization anticipating a peaceful
world.37)
The significance of Zen
meditation is found when it is the basis of harmony and unification of all over
things in the world, because by the meditation people can be in an absolute
freedom. As Seo-Ong said, the absolute freedom is accomplished by 'penetrating
freedom' itself. Furthermore, through the absolute freedom all conflicts
disappear and finally all antagonistic concepts of truth and falsity, the
absolute and the opposite, one and many, good and evil, beauty and ugliness,
and 'I and you' are harmonized in which 'one' belongs to 'two' and vice versa.
Erich Jantsch, who is the
Austrian physicist and one of the founders for Rome Club, said that ¡°Buddha's
thought is the best example of process philosophy, an that each man is the mind
at large and with evolution of his mind each participate with the sacred
principle and purpose.38) If we can say that the real meaning of the
Zen meditation is identified with the purpose of all universe through the Zen
meditation, we can actively participate with the dynamic state of the holy
universe.
Footnotes
1) In the ¡ºGwahak
Sasang¡»Vol.25, (Seoul: Bumyangsa Press, 1998) P.24.
2) ibid., pp. 24-25
3) Karl Jaspers, Rechenschaft
und Ausblick, R. Piper & Co. Verlag (Munchen), 1951, pp. 240-241.
4) Karl Jaspers, Descartes und
die Philosophie, (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter & Co., 1966), p. 97.
5) John Horgan, The End of
Science, p.13. Also refer to gunther Stent's The Coming of the Golden Age,
(Garden City N.Y.: History Press, 1969)
6) ibid., p. 20 Also Refer to
Gunther Stent's The Paradoxes of Progress, (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman,1978)
7) ibid., p.
8) A. N. Whitehead, Science and
the Modern World, Cambridge,
1938, pp. 61-68.
9) Erich Fromm, The Heart of Man:
Its Genius for Good and Evil, 1968, p. 59
10) M. Warldrop, Complexity, (New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1992). Refer to chapter 6.
11) Refer to The Concept of
Anxiety of Kierkegard.
12) Refer to Sartre's Being and
Nothing.
13) Norbert Wiener, The Human Use
of Human Being, Cybernetics and Society, AVON
BPPKS, 1967. p. 253.
14) Ibid., p. 254.
15) P. Brown and J. Davies, The
Ghost in the Atom, Cambridge
University Press, 1989.
16) Hans Reichenbach, The Rise of
Scientific Philosophy, University of California
Press, 1973, pp. 175-184.
17) Davis, Brown, op. cit., p. 12
18) Davies, Brown, ibid., pp.
29-35.
19) ò¦êÅÖâ(Zhiyuelu), Vol. 1, p.
11.
Buddha once delivered a sermon
for people. Ending his sermon, Buddha picked up a flower and showed it to
people without a word. People were embarrassed with his strange act and sat
with curiosity. Only K??yapa smiled. here, Buddha said: ¡°I know how the right
truth is saved and how nirvana lies in our deep mind. The real image pretends
to have no image. The delicate way to open the truth is to know 'the language
beyond language' and 'the secret beyond canon.' I hereby give you truth.
20) Erich Fromm and D. T. Suzuki,
Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis, Harper & Row, 1970. p.134.
21) ØÇÙÊ˧ÚÏ, {ÔÔåÇñýùê×âÞÖßÌ},
Ë»ÓÈÞä, pp.120-121, éÌâ§, {ñéÖå}, 8, 24, 10.
22) T.R.V. Murti, The Central
Philosophy of Buddhism, George Allen and Unwin, 1974, p.132 and p.140.
23) Junghee Un, Won-Hyo's Taes?ng
Kisillon So(ÓÞã«ÑÃãáÖåáÂ), IIjisa Press, p.211.
24) Naeseok Kim, 'Sung-lang's
Thought of Three-Principle,' in Anthology of Buddhistic Essays for honoring Dr.
Baek Seonguk, Dongguk University Press, pp. 43-67.
25) Refer to the same page of the
above book.
26) Refer to his introduction of
Sipmunhwajaengnon(ä¨Ú¦ûúîµÖå)
27) Refer to introduction of the
above book.
28) Refer to the introduction of
the above book.
29) Erich Fromm & suzuki, op.
cit., pp.60-61.
30) Ibid., p. 61.
31) Ibid., p. 61
32) Ibid., p. 61
33) Ibid., pp. 61-66
34) Ibid., p. 67-73.
35) Ibid., p. 74
36) Ibid., p. 60
37) Seo-Ong, The Collective
Essays of Dharma Teaching, Minjoksa Press, 1998, p. 196.
38) Erich Jantach, The
Self-Organizing Universe, Pergamon Press, 1980 (trans. by Dongsun Hong, 1989)
pp. 422-423.