For this project that I call new science, I’m still just at the exploratory phase, dropping ideas down when I have some. This Thursday a student from Dharma Realm Buddhist University’s BA program on Classics gave an interesting Dharma Talk relating her biology class to meditation practice. I found it joyful to read and it’s relevant to this topic. The relationship between spiritual practice and physical body is one of my main interests too. Many people tend to think spirituality only brings benefit to one’s mind, but this understanding is far too limited. By calming one’s mind, his/her whole physical body also goes through a gradual change towards tranquility, purity and health. So I decided to share her Dharma talk here:
“…But first, my observation regarding the main theme that run throughout the classical texts is that we have a higher nature that we need to reconnect with. These brilliant minds also agreed that we are wasting our time seeking material wealth; they believe that we should live our lives in a simple manner and put our energy into enriching our spiritual life.
In ancient times, as now, people clutter their lives and minds with stuff. We attach to external things creating problems for ourselves just as the Buddha said thousands of years ago. We are learning that this dissatisfaction or suffering does become less noticeable and may be eliminated entirely when we give our attention to our higher nature and not material goods.
The great minds from the great books recommend meditation as a way to reconnect with our higher nature. While in science class a question occurred to me; how would a still mind affect the body on a cellular level? Luckily, the high school generously allowed our science class to use their laboratory and their equipment.
Through their microscopes we were able to view slides of human and plant cells. It was when I was looking at the human cellular structure that I realized how meditation could quiet all the cells in the body. My next thought was, “Is that why nuns and monks look so young?” They meditate, so their cells are not agitated.
I reasoned, if cells are agitated that may lead to disease and aging. Then the metaphor of turning on a light which is already on came to my mind. Coming into being because of ignorance would put anyone in an agitated state and that’s before we are born! Then we arrive in the saha world and dwell in an achy and leaky body—no wonder humans succumb to anger.
By looking at human cells through a microscope, the image of my cells in a tranquil state flashed through me and reverberated to my core. I knew I had to implement this insight into my meditation practice. The benefits of stilling the mind were reinforced by physical and logical reasons.
Meditation has always made me feel better, but through the Natural Science and the Buddhist classic courses at DRBU I was able to figure out the connection between stilling the mind and calming the cells of the body. Taking that idea further, during meditation, we could extend the tranquility from our mind and cells to our interconnected neighbors and make them feel peaceful as well.”
New Science 