Collaborative or Independent? Buddhist Monks’ Perceptions of Nonconflict Between Religion and Science
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Few studies have explored religious professionals’ interactions with scientific authority in work settings. Fewer still examine professionals outside Western contexts. We analyze the science‐religion interface as it exists in Shaolin Temple—an ancient Chan Buddhist temple with a worldwide reputation for Shaolin Kungfu. Drawing on a near‐exhaustive survey within Shaolin monastery and 23 interviews with Shaolin monks, we discern and differentiate two modes of nonconflict operating in monks’ psychic lives. One group understands Buddhism and science as comprising independent realms—nonconflictual by virtue of their noninteractivity. Another views science and religion as being interpenetrative and nonconflictual in the sense of being mutually constitutive. These differing orientations, which reflect established categories of “transcendentalist” versus “immanentist” religion, further correlate with different facets of religiosity: Monks with high religious knowledge tend to view Buddhism and science as independent, while monks with high levels of piety tend to see them as collaborative or mutually constitutive.
DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12915
Authors: Yulin Lu, Paul Joosse
Institution: University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4393344196