Page 50 - The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand Vol.XIII-2021

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XIII – 2021

to account for the reason why meditating monks can alter their brain functionings,
theory buildings in this area will take place, and it is likely that Buddhist
philosophical viewpoints will figure largely in these theories since there are already

many hints toward that direction in the Buddhist teachings.

In short, then, the relation between Buddhism and science appears to be
twofold. On the one hand, Buddhist insights could result in a revision of scientific
methodology itself. Varela’s work on “first-person science,” where the whole meth-
odological orientation of science is challenged and a new approach proposed, one
that emphasizes the first-person, phenomenological quality as a key ingredient in
the methodological makeup, points toward a revision of the way science itself is
conducted. Instead of relying solely on outward, third-person public ascertain

ability, first-person phenomenological report could be regarded providing
epistemologically justifiable basis for scientific knowledge. For that to be really
possible, scientists have to change their assumption and believe that the dichotomy
between the public and the private is not as strict as previously assumed. That
could point toward a new avenue of insightful findings in the longer run. On the
other hand, using strictly rigorous third-person point of view, Davidson and his
team have conducted experiments on the brain states of meditating monks and

found that the states do change significantly due to the meditation. This has
profound effects in both neuroscience and medicine. These are the two ways in
which the engagement between Buddhism and science could bear fruit. Consider-
ing that much of the tradition within Buddhism that has engaged the most with the
scientists is the Tibetan one and that the whole of Tibetan Buddhism owes its
philosophical sustenance from Nalanda University, the influence of Nalanda is
unmistakable.

Furthermore, retrieving the energies of Nalanda University in order to find
it as a source of inspiration does involve more than reinterpreting the key doctrines;

it also involves finding out how the institutional dynamism existed at Nalanda
could be used as a basis on which epistemic and cultural dynamism could be
further enhanced in Thailand. In order to begin this discussion, let us look at what
Amartya Sen has to say about the University. In his The Argumentative Indian
(Amartya Sen, 2005). Sen mentions the Chinese monk Xuanzang, who attended
Nalanda and stayed in India for many years in the early seventh century. During his
time at Nalanda, Xuanzang so distinguished himself that when he was about to

A Reflection on Nalanda Monastery as an Inspiration for Promoting Scientific and Technological Capabilities in
40 Thailand