June 15, 2003
Einstein and Buddhism
I have begun suspecting that Einstien had either studdied Buddhism, or independantly arrived at many Buddhist conclusions on his own, or most probably both (like me).
The following quotes of his tend to lead me to believe this:
A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compasion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
This is almost exactly the foundation of Buddhist thought.
And of course:
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. The religion which is based on experience, which refuses dogmatism. If there's any religion that would cope the scientific needs it will be Buddhism…
In The Zen
Posted by Josh Staiger at 10:35 PM
Comments
Posted by: Leslie Gunatilleka May 1, 2005 03:32 AM | Permanent link
Where did you get those quotes?
Posted by: Clay March 23, 2006 01:53 AM | Permanent link
Both quotes can be readily found on pages listing Einstein quotations.
According to this page the first quotation was attributed in a book called Mathematical Circles Adieu.
I can't seem to find the source of the second quotation, but it is mentioned in many places, such as here, as being attributed to Einstein.
Posted by: Josh Staiger March 23, 2006 08:00 AM | Permanent link
Thanks for the answer. I'm writing a paper for a graduate course I'm taking, so I'm trying to be anally retentive about my footnotes...
Posted by: Clay March 28, 2006 01:21 AM | Permanent link
I found this article very usefull, This note is to encourage the further devolpments of the research.
Posted by: josh cole December 7, 2006 04:15 PM | Permanent link
that's the problem with the net - any moron can say anything, with no evidence or facts to back it up.
wait - that's the not the problem - that's called freedom.
the PROBLEM is that any old moron will BELIEVE that Einstein said something just because they read it on ANOTHER moron's website. lol.
If you don't know the book and page number of the man's words - then don't humiliate the poor dead genius by misquoting him.
Thank you for seeking the truth, Clay.
Posted by: me January 19, 2007 11:16 PM | Permanent link
For what it's worth, I agree.
It was very sloppy of me to post this and I apologize.
I recommend taking this entry with a *very* large grain of salt, unless someone can investigate the source of these quites more thoroughly.
Posted by: Josh Staiger January 24, 2007 10:21 AM | Permanent link
A 4 years thread :)
Somebody try to explain in http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApJMVLpiXvHsCi96031bg9wjzKIX?qid=20060924212025AAERJT1
And the writer wisely commented, "However, we must remember that this was not WRITTEN by Einstein and only attributed to him by a biographer."
Hope this will help anyway, here i copied her answer:
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity"
This quotation is often cited as appearing in Helen Dukas & Banesh Hoffman, Eds., "Albert Einstein: The Human Side," Princeton University Press, (1954). It looks like something he could have written or said. It resembles the type of language found in other religious and spiritual material that Einstein wrote.
Posted by: eddy February 1, 2007 05:54 AM | Permanent link
Was Einstein a Buddhist