The following are dialogues of those those who follow Mathematical Buddhism with its author. They consist of parts of private email correspondences of the author and the indicated parties whose real names, titles, and locations are either withheld or displayed in accordance with their desires. All published parts of the correspondences have been approved by the related parties and some very private contents have been omitted in some cases according to their wishes. [The author's email address is mathbuddhist@gmail.com.]
Monday, April 30, 2012
I have gone to read your blog. It is very interesting. I would like you to consider mentioning the goal of using mathematical formulas in explaining Buddhist principles and the expectation of results different from those obtained from the existing methods. Importantly, will it help people understand Buddhism more easily than the old methods since we, Buddhists, all want to reach the highest ideal?
Yuttaroj Suwansumate
CEO, Green Life fitness
Bangkok, Thailand
The goal of Mathematical Buddhism is to provide a precise and systematic development of Buddhism. Although no prior knowledge of Buddhism is assumed, some knowledge of mathematics, such as basic set theory, is essential to appreciation of the material. The approach should be particularly attractive to those who are mathematically and philosophically inclined. The advantage of making Buddhism mathematical with all terms and concepts defined precisely is the unambiguous nature of mathematics. The validity of a vague, enigmatic, or even equivocal statement can easily be determined within the mathematical system. For example, to determine the validity of the statement “Everything is mental” or “Nothing exists without the mind” within the framework of Mathematical Buddhism developed thus far, one can easily see that such a statement amounts to saying that X = Ø. As shown in The Worlds of Senses that if we were to stipulate that X = Ø, we would have an anthropocentric partition for D. Furthermore, it is pointed out therein that an argument in support of this stipulation is plausible in view of the existence of the sixth sense in Buddhism. However, as stated therein as well, we choose not to make such an assumption, which does not imply in any way that X ≠ Ø either. There are simply no sufficient evidences to conclude one way or another. In fact, it is fair to say that many people in the world today, especially physicists and particularly astrophysicists, believe that X ≠ Ø. It should be noted in this connection that observations both in nature and in experimentation of western science in general and of quantum physics in particular are still based on only the (physical) five senses. In light of this limitation of western science, as quantum physicists have come to realize for the last almost 100 years*, Mathematical Buddhism may provide a setting or framework for incorporating the sixth sense into western science. With such an extension of the (western) scientific method, if possible and done properly and rigorously, our body of scientific knowledge may expand far beyond any imagination that can be made presently.
Finally, concerning Buddhists’ “highest ideal”, Buddhists need to reexamine what they have held as the “highest ideal” really means and to see if it is at all plausible or attainable. “Nibanna” (Pāli) or "Nirvana" (Sanskrit) is commonly taken to be the Buddhist highest ideal or ultimate goal and generally believed to belong to A, and thus making A not empty. The approach of Mathematical Buddhism is to take neither the position A = Ø nor the position A ≠ Ø, as stated in The Nature of Things. Buddhism is a religion of reasons and not one that is based on faith. Therefore, the highest ideal (whatever it is) should not be just a wish or belief. Buddhism is a practical religion and Buddhists must see clearly how the highest ideal is to be attained procedurally. “The Full Buddhist MBA”, a future chapter in Mathematical Buddhism, will be one such procedural technique for the CEO’s mental business administration (MBA).
*See for example:
Where Science and Buddhism Meet PART 2
Where Buddhism and Science Meet pt. 3
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