The Dalai Lama in a group photo with the Taiwanese scientists. Photo: Handout
The Dalai Lama in a group photo with the Taiwanese scientists. Photo: Handout

Taiwanese media reported on Monday that exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama could visit the island in the near future to attend a science function.

The Dalai Lama was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a three-day dialogue with Taiwanese scientists and scholars in Dharamsala, India, that he would be willing to travel to Taiwan to inaugurate a new symposium on science and Buddhism “when the time is ripe.”

He said he hoped the new event would attract many scientists from China and Taiwan.

It was reported that the Dalai Lama discussed holding the event with Lee Yuan-tseh, the first Taiwanese Nobel laureate and a renowned chemist, who led a group of Taiwanese scientists to Dharamsala.

The scientists arrived in Himachal Pradesh in northern India last week for a meeting with the Dalai Lama to discuss quantum mechanics and quantum effects and their relationship with Buddhism, as well as ways to expand the scope of scientific studies to include the exploration of the inner mind, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

At the dialogue’s conclusion, the Dalai Lama put khata – ceremonial scarfs used in Tibetan Buddhism – around the shoulders of the participants as a token of gratitude.

Science means investigating reality without being content with belief, an approach similar to Buddhist teaching that emphasizes experimentation and not belief, the Dalai Lama said.

“It is time that people tried to understand their inner selves, as the wisdom of Buddhist writings should not just be contained in books, otherwise, the work of Buddhists would be reduced to praying, presiding over rituals and transferring merits,” he said.

The Dalai Lama also told a packed auditorium that a professor from the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing pledged he would explore ways to invite the Dalai Lama to attend scientific conferences in China as a “scientist” and not as a religious leader.

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