Project Goals

SmD Logo The overall objective of the project, „Science meets Dharma“ (SmD), can be described as follows:

The SmD teaching for monks and nuns should ease internal Tibetan dialogue. Over the last few decades many Tibetan laymen have acquired an extensive education and stand confronted with the formidable task of reconciling “modern” knowledge with the “traditional” knowledge of their culture.
Students should learn how to enter a dialogue with representatives of non-Buddhist cultures, thereby broadening their own horizons. This ambition should facilitate the preservation and advancement of Tibetan culture. Furthermore, it should also serve a world wide interreligious and intercultural dialogue, which ultimately should benefit all mankind and enhance peace.

The SmD teaching should enable monks and nuns to:

gain an insight into the thinking and methods of western natural sciences;
gain enough basic understanding and to train their creative imagination to the degree necessary to enter into general conversations with secular Tibetans in India on scientific topics or on the relationship between Buddhist philosophy and western scientific culture;
lead conversations with people from the West on questions of importance to Buddhism and to natural science.