Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists

[Ensapa]

Cosmic energy from nuns! Now analyzed by scientists! Thought i'd share this interesting piece of news with you guys!

   
 

Home > Europe

Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists
Reuters, November 17, 2012
GENEVA, Switzerland -- A dozen kung fu nuns from an Asian Buddhist order displayed their martial arts prowess to bemused scientists at CERN this week as their spiritual leader explained how their energy was like that of the cosmos.



<< The 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, Jigme Pema Wangchen, (left) poses with kung-fu trained nuns accompanying him at CERN in Meyrin near Geneva November 15, 2012. - Reuters pic

The nuns, all from the Himalayan region, struck poses of hand-chops, high-kicks and punches on Thursday while touring the research centre where physicists at the frontiers of science are probing the origins of the universe.

“Men and women carry different energy,” said His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, a monk who ranks only slightly below the Dalai Lama in the global Buddhist hierarchy. “Both male and female energies are needed to better the world.”


 This, he said, was a scientific principle “as fundamental as the relationship between the sun and the moon” and its importance was similar to that of the particle collisions in CERN’s vast “Big Bang” machine, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The nuns, mostly slim and fit-looking teenagers with shaven heads and clad in flowing burgundy robes, nodded sagely.

But the 49-year-old Gyalwang Drukpa, head since the age of four of one of the new independent schools of Tibetan Buddhism centred in India and Nepal, stressed that their visit to CERN was not just scientific in purpose.

Gender equality

By taking the nuns around the world and letting people of other countries enjoy their martial displays, he told physicists and reporters: “I hope to raise awareness about gender equality and the need for the empowerment of women.”

The group visits the universe of particles exhibition at CERN. — Reuters pic
The nuns themselves — who star on YouTube videos — have benefited from this outlook, he said.

For centuries in Tibet — incorporated into communist China since 1951 — and its surrounds, women were strictly barred from practising any form of martial art.

In his homeland Himalayan region of Ladakh, the Gyalwang Drukpa said, women were mainly servants, cooks and cleaners to monks.

About three years ago he decided to break out of this pattern and improve the health and spiritual well-being of women by training them in kung fu and even allowing them to perform sacred rites once also restricted to men.

“And a very good thing too,” declared CERN physicist Pauline Gagnon, who recently wrote a blog study pointing to the low, although growing, proportion of women in scientific research around the world.

The visit to CERN, whose director general Rolf Heuer recently sponsored a conference of scientists, theologians and philosophers to discuss the tense relationship between science and religion, was not the first by a top religious leader.

In 1983 the sprawling campus on the border of France and Switzerland hosted the Dalai Lama, Buddhism’s most revered figure, who argues that most scientific discoveries prove the truth of the view of the cosmos expounded by his faith — sometimes dubbed by outsiders an “atheistic religion.”

Pope John-Paul II preceded him in 1982 and the present Pope Benedict has a standing invitation from Heuer.

[jessicajameson]

Science and Buddhism have both been often quoted as being compatible, especially in areas regarding evolution, quantum theory, and cosmology.

There are many cases where the world of science will discover something, only for us to realize that it matches inline with the Buddhist thought/philosophy. Or in many cases, the finding has already been discovered by Buddhist philosophers at a much earlier time.

E.g. The previous study of an atom was "confirmed" to be matter. However, scientists altered that finding to state that it's nothing but mere energy, and even the concept of energy is disappearing gradually and scientist don't even know what to call it. The concept of energy is nothing but a concept, and in extension, so too is everything around us.   

Sounds really familiar lol.

E.g. Previously, it was thought that Earth was the center of the universe. Now it is of general understanding (unless you've been living under a hole), that we are but a speck in the vast universe. As to the nature of the universe, the Buddha said that the beginning and ending of the universe is inconceivable. The universe is vast, and there are indefinite world systems and living beings.

For science, this doesn't even touch the topic of there being different planes of existence - although, paranormal events does help to entice the curiosity of scientists!

There are also many cases where science will turn to the Buddhist world. During the 1970s, several experimental studies suggested that Buddhist meditation could produce insights into a wide range of psychological states.

I found this article a while ago on how the brains of Buddhist monks were scanned in a study on meditation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12661646. The neuroscientist speaks about how there seemed to be an intrinsic and extrinsic way the brain functions. Sounds a little like the gross and subtle mind...

It's rejoicing to see the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, as well as Buddhist nuns, on Reuters news. It shows how compassionate they are... any way to get the Dharma to others.

Pretty awesome how the title of the article is "Kung fu nuns teach cosmic energy to CERN scientists". The world of science should open their minds up to Buddhism. It may speed up their findings much faster!

[Ensapa]

Until now, everything that science has discovered can be found in Buddhism as well. In fact, Buddhism is actually one step ahead of science when it comes to discoveries of such a nature because the Buddha did not teach anything that is not about this universe and how it can benefit us, he taught all that we need to get enlightened and to be permanently free of suffering and in a logical and systematic manner. In fact, Albert Einstein spoke favorably about Buddhism as it being a progressive religion.

[jessicajameson]

Ensapa, besides the Albert Einstein part, you just repeated every thing I said...

[Namdrol]

Ya, I agree with Jessica that although now we can go to the moon and beyond, we still couldn't figure out paranormal things like ghosts and other planes of existence. Everytime I  watched a haunting documentary, the most they can do it to bring out some gadget to measure temperature, electrical signal disturbance, record some ghost voice, very limited indeed, the paranormal researches can only vaguely detect the presence, but couldn't do anything about it, they couldn't exorcise the ghosts or anything, they can just say inconclusively that "there is something there".

There is still a long way to go for science, so scientists should humble down and learn more from Buddhism, then they will discover a whole new world that they have never known before.

[kris]

I think it is the nature of Buddhism where it is so encompassing that many aspects of Buddhism can be used for a better life, even if one does not "use" Buddhism from the religions point of view.

In this era, many people believe in spirituality but not religion; many people wants to have a peace of mind, but don't like to relate to a Buddha or God. As such, I think what they "kung fu" nuns are doing is very creative and has the ability to attract people to practice Buddhism through "alternative" methods, instead of forcing the concept of Buddhism down to someone's throat.

[Aurore]

I like what Gyalwang Drukpa is trying to educate the scientists which is gender equality through using nuns performing kungfu which is normally seen as a men's practice. There are other forms of energy other than what we know scientifically which is the male and female energy, or rather known as the Ying and Yang energy. They both are needed to create a balance in the world.

Our daily lives is made out of energy. Energy is created the moment we think of someone and feel emotions, when we dance and feel freedom, or when we sense negative vibes from someone. Energy is also in everything you see, smell, taste and touch. The computer you are reading from, your thoughts and feelings; these items are all pure energy. Even where there appears to be nothing, like empty space, there is energy. Everything in the universe and beyond is made up of chi—energy, the universal force. The mind is an energy and energy cannot be destroyed. However, energy can take from one form to another. Ice melts into water, water evaporates into air. Perhaps, the scientist can start to explore where does the mind go to after death.