The topic of this panel
is "Biotechnology: Boon or Bane for Spiritual Development." It has very
often been said that we are on the threshold of the biotech century, and I am
sure that all of you are very clearly aware that genetic engineering is going
to totally reshape life on this planet in many ways: economically, politically,
scientifically--particularly in terms of medicine, and also environmentally. Most
important for all of us is what the relationship of this incredible technology
will be to the spiritual nature of human beings. Although an enormous amount has
been written on biotechnology, very little has been written about the relationship
between biotechnology, particularly genetic engineering, and the human spirit.
Allow
me to mention two ways in which genetic engineering is profoundly affecting all
of our lives. First, at this very moment, the United States government is considering
a request for medical scientists to intervene in the germ-line of human genetics,
in other words, to change the human genetic structure in a way that would be transmitted
to future generations. This means that human evolution in its traditional meaning
is coming to an end. We will be taking over responsibility, not only for the evolution
of human beings, but also for the evolution of many other forms of life on the
planet, both sentient and non-sentient.
The second way in which of genetic
engineering is directly touching our lives that fortunately, insofar as we are
aware, is not yet operational, is the use of genetic engineering in bio-warfare.
As I am speaking, many governments are actively working on the use of genetically
engineered organisms in bio-warfare, and presumably so too are terrorist organizations.
These are two things, which are part of the "promise" of this new biotech
century that we are going to have to be dealing with in the immediate future.
Paradigms
are lenses through which we see issues that aid focusing, clarifying, and perhaps
also distorting how we look at issues. Professor Ted Peters and Professor Margaret
McLean are both going to be talking primarily from Christian paradigms. Professor
Huston Smith has already mentioned Scientism as the dominant paradigm of our culture.
That still leaves a whole wide range of important paradigms. As both a Buddhist
scholar and practitioner, I would like to briefly introduce some distinctive features
of the Buddhist paradigm's relation to genetic engineering.
Four aspects of
the Buddhist paradigm are somewhat different than the dominant paradigm of Scientism
and many of the paradigms that we find within Christian theology. The first aspect
that I'd like to mention is ahimsa, which is particularly appropriate to our gathering
here today. Ahimsa means non-harming; it is the principle of respect for the intrinsic
value of the life of all sentient beings, not just human life. This paradigm respects
sentient beings not merely for their usefulness to us as tools or means to ends.
Out of this principle of respect for life comes the notion of selfless compassion
as a guiding principle in our actions, so that, in terms of genetic engineering,
it would exclude any instrumental use of human or non-human sentient life. If
I had time, I would go into the horrific instrumental use of non-sentient life,
and sometimes unfortunately human and other sentient life, in the pursuit of profit
by biotech companies.
The second
aspect I'd like to discuss is transcendence. Transcendence refers to the potential
of all human beings for developing spiritual wisdom and liberation. Transcendence
cannot be couched in scientific terms. Nor there is any way to talk meaningfully
about transcendence from the point of view of Scientism.
The third aspect of
the Buddhist paradigm is the understanding that the cosmos is an open system.
In contradistinction, the scientific method operates within hypothesized artificial
and closed systems that are assumed to have some meaningful, but incomplete and
imperfect, correspondence with the "real" world. From the viewpoint
of paradigm of Buddhism, it is clear that scientific methodology cannot, because
of its inherent limitations, assess the full extent of the possible effects of
genetically engineered alterations on living creatures in a world that is an open
system. Thus no certainty or reliable risk assessment is possible using the scientific
model.
The fourth and final aspect of this paradigm that I would like to mention
is its non-Cartesian nature. In other words, our minds and spirits affect our
bodies, our bodies affect our minds and spirit, and body, mind, and spirit are
non-dual. Ultimately, they are neither mutually distinct, nor qualitatively different.
Because body, mind, and spirit interrelate with one another and affect one another,
the karma-based ethics of the Buddhist paradigm stresses the importance of the
purification of all three.
I hope that you have been able to follow the this
explanation, which has been very brief because of our time constraints, of these
four aspects the Buddhist paradigm, which is so different from the mainstream
paradigms of the modern world.
Finally, I would like you all to take a moment
to reflect upon the possibility, which exists because of the interrelation and
ultimate non-duality of body, mind, and spirit, that genetic engineering may adversely
influence the potential of sentient beings to achieve transcendence and liberation.
Because science deals only with the physical realm, no scientific experiment or
methodology can possibly assess this kind of risk. Even if there is only a relatively
small possibility of genetic engineering having a serious effect on the nature
of the human spirit and its potential for transcendence, I think many of you will
agree with me that it is a very serious cause for concern.