Evolutionary Buddhism

A replica of an ancient statue of Gautama Buddha, found from Sarnath, near Varanasi.

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion and philosophy dating back to the fifth century B.C. From its origin in India it has spread through Asia and now has followers worldwide.

Buddhism and God

Buddhism is typically described as non-theistic, although many Buddhists see Buddha Mind as equivalent with God and the many names of God: Allah, Brahman, Tao, Spirit and so on.

As Buddhism is maturing in the west, we see more of an alignment with theistic traditions, including koans such as "see everything as God" and Christian priests and Jewish rabbis studying Buddhism and applying it to their own ministry.

Buddhism can also be said to be aligned with panentheism, seeing God (Buddha Mind) as immanent and transcendent, or rather as beyond and including all polarities of existence and nonexistence, spirit and matter, and so on.

Buddhism and Science

Buddhism is seen as largely compatible with western science, and parallels and connections are being explored in a range of areas including psychology, medicine and physics.

Buddhism and Evolution

Buddhism does not have a creation story as we know it from theistic traditions. Creation is happening here and now.

Similarly, Buddhism does not appear to have a notion of evolution as we know it from modern science. At the same time, Buddhism is very much compatible with stories of how the world of phenomena unfolds in time, including evolution as told by science.

Buddhism and The Great Story

Stellar spire of the Eagle Nebula (NASA).

There are strong parallels between Buddhism and The Great Story.

• The largest whole is seen as beyond and embracing all polarities, including existence and nonexistence, spirit and matter, mind and body, nature and culture. In Buddhist terms, this is Buddha Mind in its aspects of formlessness and form.

• The world of phenomena is a seamless process from which we can discern subsystems such as galaxies, solar systems, the Earth, individuals and so on. This is the view of the whole (Absolute). From the view of the parts, we can say that the world is radically interconnected (Relative).

• The world of phenomena is flux, always new, different, fresh.

• Everything within the world of phenomena has infinite causes and infinite effects.

• From the view of the largest whole (Absolute), there is only the doing and no individual or separate doer within this whole. From the view of the parts (Relative), there is the appearance of a doer - although radically interconnected with the larger whole.

And there are aspects of the Great Story which appear compatible with Buddhism.

• The universe is evolving towards greater complexity.

• Humans are the universe becoming aware of itself.

Practices

Buddhist practices allow us to explore various facets of existence such as radical interconnectedness, impermanence, Big Mind, and so on.

Big Mind Process

Among the newer practices is the Big Mind process which comes out of a combination of Zen and Western psychotherapy. Through a series of questions, similar to a guided meditation, we are invited to explore how the mind functions on personal and transcendent levels, including Big Mind - that which is beyond and includes all polarities. It allow us a taste of this largest whole, temporarily functioning through and as a human self.

Resources

Metareligious Essay

• "A Zen Way into the Universe", by Prof. Paula Hirschboeck, is a moving personal essay about how it was possible for this modern feminist to embrace Buddhism only after she "universalized" ancient metaphors by way of an evolutionary spirituality gained by understanding cosmic evolution. It is one of many "metareligious essays" available on The Great Story website.

Books

• Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism by Stephanie Kaza and Kenneth Kraft (eds.)

• Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems by Joanna Macy

Videos

• Big Mind in Ameland - a free online video on the Big Mind process (30 min.) real player | windows media

Websites

• Big Mind process

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