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See also C OMPLEXITY ; C HAOS T HEORY
Faye, Jan, and Folse, Henry J., eds. Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy. Dordrecht, Netherlands:
Kluwer Academic, 1994.
WILLIAM A. DEMBSKI
Folse, Henry J. The Philosophy of Niels Bohr: The Framework of Complementarity. Amsterdam: North Holland
Physics, 1985.
B UDDHISM
Honner, John. The Description of Nature: Niels Bohr and
the Philosophy of Quantum Physics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
Hooker, C. A. “The Nature of Quantum Mechanical Reality: Einstein vs Bohr.” In The Pittsburgh Studies in the
Philosophy of Science, Vol. 5, ed. R. G. Colodny. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1972.
Murdoch, Dugald. Niels Bohr’s Philosophy of Physics. Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Pais, Abraham. Niels Bohr’s Times: in Physics, Philosophy,
and Polity. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Petruccioli, Sandro. Atoms, Metaphors, and Paradoxes:
Niels Bohr and the Construction of a New Physics.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
HENRY J. FOLSE, JR.
B OTTOM - UP C AUSATION
See U PWARD C AUSATION
B OUNDARY C ONDITIONS
Physical laws are characterized by their mathematical form, the values of universal constants, and the
contingencies to which the laws apply—known as
boundary conditions. For instance, Newton’s Law
of Universal Gravitation is an inverse square law
(its mathematical form), employs the gravitational
constant (a universal constant), and applies to certain boundary conditions (like the positions and
momentums of the planets at a given time).
Boundary conditions, because of their inherent
contingency, hamper the physicist’s search for a
theory of everything. In addition, when the mathematical form of physical laws is nonlinear, as in
chaotic systems, slight changes in boundary conditions can lead to enormous changes downstream.
Originating with the life of the historical Buddha,
Siddhartha Gautama, born in present-day Nepal in
the sixth century B.C.E., varieties of Buddhism have
developed and spread across the globe for the past
2,500 years. Though Buddhism by no means presents a uniform face in all cultures and time periods,
Buddhist traditions do reveal certain common experiential contours, doctrinal themes, and ritual
practices. Speaking experientially, Buddhism emphasizes disciplined introspection through a combination of meditative, recitative, and gestural sequences. Doctrinally, Buddhist teachings call
attention to four primary themes: suffering, liberation, emptiness, and interdependence. And in
terms of ritual practice, Buddhists engage in a
combination of devotional offerings, initiatory rites,
and other ceremonies to mark important spiritual
and life-cycle transitions.
Buddhist history reflects three primary “vehicles” of Buddhist thought and practice: Nik1ya (Individual Tradition, of which Therav1da Buddhism
represents one strand); Mah1y1na (Great Vehicle);
and Vajray1na (Diamond Vehicle, also known as
Tantric Buddhism). However, from a contemporary perspective, it remains difficult to know the
extent to which these traditions operated autonomously from one another. It seems likely that
a great degree of overlap existed between Buddhist traditions, as, for example, when a practitioner espousing Mah1y1na precepts also may
have engaged in Tantric practices. Adherents of all
three traditions exist throughout the world, though
one traditionally associates Nik1ya (primarily
Therav1da) Buddhism with Southeast Asia;
Mah1y1na Buddhism with historical India, China,
and parts of Southeast Asia; and Vajray1na Buddhism with historical India, Tibet, Japan, and, since
the late nineteenth century, the West.
Buddhism concerns itself with science in, for
example, its Tantric Vehicle. Tantric Buddhist texts
occupy themselves with questions of cosmology,
astronomy, embryology, and physiology, and they
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B UDDHISM , C ONTEMPORARY I SSUES IN S CIENCE AND R ELIGION
concisely weave religion and science together into
a seamless fabric. An eleventh-century Sanskrit
Buddhist Tantric text, the 6r3laghu K1lacakratantra (or 6r3 K1lacakra [Auspicious short
K1lacakra Tantra] ), constitutes a primary example
of a religious text oriented toward meditative practice that also serves as the repository for highly developed scientific observations of the time. Divided
into five chapters, the 6r3 K1lacakra and its corresponding twelve-thousand-verse Vimalaprabh1t3k1 commentary contain five chapters in both Sanskrit and Tibetan redactions: (1) cosmology, the
realm-space section; (2) physiology, the inner-self
section; (3) initiation, the empowerment section;
(4) generation stage, the practice section; and (5)
completion stage, the gnosis section.
More specifically, the first chapter of the 6r3
K1lacakra, sometimes referred to as Outer K1lacakra, presents a cosmological alternative to traditional Buddhist cosmology as articulated in the
fourth century in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmako7a
(Treasury of manifest knowledge) and its Autocommentary, the Abhidharmako7abh1sya. The
second chapter, sometimes referred to as Inner
K1lacakra, outlines the physiology of the “subtle
body” (Sanskrit, 7uksmadeha), including its structure and function. This chapter also addresses the
time cycle of breaths taken by a person during a
day. According to this system, the vital-wind
processes, which Tantric practitioners seek to control, situate the temporal divisions of the universe
in the body. The third to fifth chapters of the 6r3
K1lacakra, sometimes referred to as Alternative
K1lacakra, include an explanation of the qualifications necessary for both guru and disciple and
also describe the activities that precede empowerment, which include examining the initiation site,
accumulating ritual materials, taking control of the
site, creating a protective circle, and constructing
the K1lacakra mandala. This third chapter also describes disciples’ progress through the mandala,
the guru’s conferral of empowerment, and the concluding rituals that follow the empowerment ceremony. The fourth and fifth chapters of the 6r3
K1lacakra focus on the practice of K1lacakra’s
six-limbed yoga. These practices include both generation stage and completion stage yogas.
See also B UDDHISM , C ONTEMPORARY I SSUES IN S CIENCE
AND
AND
R ELIGION ; B UDDHISM , H ISTORY OF S CIENCE
R ELIGION
Bibliography
Dwivedi, Vrajavallabh, and Bahulkar, S. S., eds. Vimalaprabh1t31 of Kalki 6r3 Pundar3ka on 6r3 Laghuk1lacakratantrar1ja by 6r3 Mañju7r3ya7as, Vol. 2. Sarnath,
Varanasi, India: Central Institute of Higher Tibetan
Studies, 1994.
Sopa, Geshe Lhundub. “The Kalachakra Tantra Initiation.”
In The Wheel of Time: The Kalachakra in Context, by
Geshe Lhundub Sopa, Roger Jackson, and John Newman. Madison, Wis.: Deer Park Books, 1985.
Zahler, Leah. “Meditation and Cosmology: The Physical
Basis of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions
According to dGe-lugs Tibetan Presentations.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 13, no.1 (1990): 53–78.
JENSINE ANDRESEN
B UDDHISM , C ONTEMPORARY
I SSUES IN S CIENCE AND
R ELIGION
Buddhist reflections on science are based on insights, doctrines, and practices that have evolved
from the teachings and life of Siddhartha Gautama
(c. 563–486 B.C.E.), the founder of Buddhism. The
assumption that reality is in constant flux, together
with the principle of prat3tyasamutp1da (dependent co-arising or interdependence), the primacy of
mind, and a holistic appreciation of health and the
world, are a few of the ideas from which Buddhists
have understood and critiqued science, its methods, and its conclusions. Prat3tyasamutp1da articulates the Buddha’s Weltanschauung and is the
basis for his teachings. The subsequent development of Buddhist thought and practice explores
different facets of this insight.
Prat3tyasamutp1da and science
A compound of pratitya (meaning “based on” or
“dependent on”) and samutpada (meaning “to
spring up together”), prat3tyasamutp1da affirms
the temporal efficacy between a cause and its result. This efficacy underlies the belief in karmic retribution and reward. The principle also recognizes
the importance of conditions or indirect causes in
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