Clarifying the Truth with Science

The importance of showing that Falun Dafa is a science:

In Essentials for Further Advancement, in “Validation,” Master Li said,

“In the future there will then be many experts and scholars whose wisdom will be broadened through the Buddha Fa. They will become the new mankind’s pioneers in different fields of learning. Yet it is not for you to become a pioneer that the Buddha Fa has given you wisdom. You have attained it because you are a cultivator. That is, you are first a cultivator and then an expert. Then, as a cultivator, you should make use of all feasible conditions to spread Dafa and validate Dafa as a correct and true science, rather than preaching or idealism – this is every cultivator’s obligation. Without this enormous Buddha Fa there would be nothing – and this includes everything in the universe, from the most macroscopic to the most microscopic, as well as all of human society’s knowledge.”

To validate Dafa as a correct and true science is especially important now during the period of Fa rectification. The evil is using the label of superstition to mislead people into believing that Falun Dafa is false and is harmful to society. It is important to show that Falun Dafa is not a superstition. In order to do that, it would be helpful to have an understanding of why Falun Dafa is a true science.

Of course, there are many effective ways to clarify the truth without using science. This paper is mainly for practitioners who are interested in clarifying the truth using science. This paper will just focus on some issues related to that.

What is Falun Dafa?

Falun Dafa is not a religion and it is not a philosophy. Then what is it? Even practitioners can have a hard time explaining it to people. Actually, there is one word that seems to describe it fairly well: science. Falun Dafa is a science.

People are familiar with modern science since it is almost everywhere in our society. Many people also regard modern science as the most successful and highest form of science. Falun Dafa is very different from modern science, and this can make it difficult to show that Falun Dafa is a science.

What is science? Actually, that is not a simple question. Scientists and philosophers do not agree on what science is and what it is not. So, there is no strict definition of science. Although we may not be able to give a precise definition of science, we can have a general idea of what it is. In very general terms, science is a system that facilitates the discovery of truth. And practitioners of Falun Dafa know a great deal about the truth of the universe through their study of the Fa and cultivation practice.

Many people are attached to modern science:

In Essentials for Further Advancement, in “For Whom do You Exist,” Master Li said, “The most difficult things for people to give up are their notions. Some people cannot change – even if they have to give up their lives for false doctrines.”

For many people, modern science may be a very difficult thing to give up in their minds. Modern science is increasingly influencing important aspects of our lives, and people have become dependent on it. Over the years, many people have developed a strong faith in modern science. When pondering the truth of the universe, people consult the theories of modern science. It is what many people trust and believe in deep inside. It could take a long process of cultivation to fundamentally let go of such an attachment. Yet the people that we should clarify the truth to are not cultivators. Normally, we cannot make these people let go of their attachment to modern science with a few words.

Due to this situation, we must be careful when clarifying the truth to people through science. People will defend modern science when they are attached to it. If practitioners use strong words to criticize modern science, then people may form a negative impression of Falun Dafa. Then, since people may equate science with modern science, people can get the impression that Falun Dafa is against science. That would be very harmful to them. It may be best to not even give the impression that we are against modern science.

Instead of attacking modern science or using strong words to criticize it, we can use modern science to clarify the truth. Master Li even uses aspects of modern science to some degree to teach the Fa. There are, of course, many ways to clarify the truth. One does not even have to use modern science. The important thing is to not give the impression that we are against science.

Importance of a refined approach:

In China, “superstition” has become a very powerful and negative term to label things as being against science and harmful to society. On the other hand, in the west, there is the term “pseudoscience,” which is often used to label things that undermine science. A pseudoscience is a false science: it is something that pretends to be science on the surface, but it leads away from the truth. When using science to clarify the truth to western society, we should be careful to not give the impression that Falun Dafa is a pseudoscience.

Modern science originated in the West. Although many other cultures have adopted modern science, the influence of modern science still seems to be strongest in the western societies where it has existed the longest. At the very foundation of modern science is a system of methods intended to admit only the truth about this physical universe while keeping false things out. This is basically the idea behind the rigor and discipline for objectivity in modern science. The method isn’t a perfect one and mistakes are sometimes made. And if there are some mistakes, they are supposed to be corrected eventually. There is a sense of constantly improving and advancing towards some objective truth in modern science. On the other hand, pseudoscience is supposed to lead away from the truth while pretending to be science. This is why pseudoscience is considered to be so dangerous and harmful to genuine science.

For this reason, when clarifying the truth to western people, especially to mainstream scientists, it is important to do so with a refined approach. When clarifying the truth to such people, we should conduct ourselves with the highest integrity. In a formal setting, it is important to pay attention to details, and it may be best to not say anything that is hard for people to believe unless it can be rationally supported with compelling evidence. If we give the impression that we are admitting things into our belief that cannot be supported with reason while calling it science, then they can easily think that we are supporting pseudoscience.

One should be clear about the audience:

In effective writing and speaking, it is very important to know your audience. What we do and say should depend on the context of the situation, and the audience is a big part of that context. The audience will largely determine what one should say, what one should not say, and how one should say it.

For our purposes, there are mainly two kinds of people: practitioners and non-practitioners. Certain things that one should say to practitioners may be harmful to non-practitioners. On the other hand, certain things one should say to non-practitioners may be useless to practitioners. It is difficult to satisfy everyone when there are a mix of practitioners and non-practitioners in the audience. Usually, it seems best to target the audience for either practitioners or non-practitioners, not both. For the purposes of clarifying the truth using science, in general, it seems that the targeted audience should be non-practitioners. They are the ones that we need to clarify the truth to.

When addressing non-practitioners, we should know that certain things could be very harmful to them. We should try to not say things that are too far from what they are willing to accept. If we speak at too high a level, they may reject it along with Falun Dafa. Non-practitioners have never practiced genuine cultivation. How can we change their minds and make them let go of their attachments with a few words? We should work with what they are able to accept at their level.

Beyond the mainstream audience:

In Essentials for Further Advancement, in “The Teachings in Buddhism are the Weakest and Tiniest Portion of the Buddha Fa,” Master Li said,

“At the level of ordinary humans there is no actual Fa, but just a tiny smattering of phenomena on the boundary of the universe that can enable one to practice cultivation. Since everyday people are beings at the lowest level, they are not allowed to know the real Buddha Fa.”

Among non-practitioners, there are also many different groups that can be approached in various ways. Some people already recognize the limitations of modern science and are trying to go beyond it. Some of these people are professional scientists in various fields of mainstream modern science. Since these people’s minds are already opened about going beyond modern science, they may be a little easier to approach. We can pay special attention to these kinds of people. Maybe we can speak at a slightly higher level to them. However, because they do not know the actual Fa, they are still lost in this world. And because they are not practitioners and still have attachments of ordinary people, we should still be careful in what we say to them.

When we clarify the truth to people using science, we should not limit the audience to scientists only. Some scientists are too attached to modern science. Perhaps, many of them can never break free from it, especially those who have been very successful in it. Since almost everyone in today’s society have been affected by modern science to some degree, we can use this situation to clarify the truth to them using modern science. And at the same time, since there are some people who are already opened to going beyond modern science, we do not always need to use modern science to show that Falun Dafa can be a science.

Different levels of clarifying the truth using science:

There seems to be three major levels of clarifying the truth using science.

Level 1- Show that certain aspects of Falun Dafa are supported by mainstream science:

This is not proof that Falun Dafa is a genuine science. However, any piece of evidence that supports the truth is good. One piece of evidence may be weak, but together with other independent sources, the growing body of evidence can be very powerful and effective.

Level 2- Show that Falun Dafa is a science:

Basically, we can try to show that Falun Dafa is a system that leads to the discovery of truth in the universe. One possible way to start doing this may be to show how the underlying methods of what a practitioner does facilitates the discovery of truth. For example, cultivation can lead to an objective mind for a scientist, and this can facilitate the discovery of truth.

Level 3- Show that Falun Dafa is a higher science than modern science:

As a start, we can show that Falun Dafa does not have the fundamental limitations of modern science, and that Falun Dafa can do certain things better than modern science. We may be able to do this without criticizing modern science too strongly. We should still be careful about not harming those people who are attached to modern science.

The different levels are interdependent and also support each other. I think that practitioners have already started to work on each of these levels. Of course, this is not the only way to view various ways of clarifying the truth using science.

Inherent limitations of ordinary people:

In Essentials for Further Advancement, in “What is Wisdom,” Master Li said,

“People think that the renowned persons, scholars, and different sorts of experts in human society are great. In fact, they are all really insignificant, for they are everyday people. Their knowledge is only that tiny bit understood by the modern science of human society. In the vast universe, from the most macroscopic to the most microscopic, human society is exactly in the very middle, in the outermost layer, and on the outermost surface. Also, its living beings are the lowest form of existence, so their understanding of matter and mind is very limited, superficial, and pitiful. Even if someone were to grasp all off mankind’s knowledge, he would still remain an everyday person.”

Successful and influential scientists in society are only ordinary people. Perhaps some pioneers have had glimpses of the truth slightly beyond this world. However, no matter how capable they are, they cannot go much beyond the principles of this tiny world, and they are lost in a maze since they do not know the actual Fa. When we use materials from ordinary people to support certain aspect of Dafa, we should be aware of its inherent limitations. Any genuine practitioner, regardless of one’s educational and professional background, knows the principles that are far higher than anything that a non-practitioner can know. Who can clarify the truth of Falun Dafa better than a practitioner?

Practitioners who have been very successful in various fields of modern science can do very well in clarifying the truth to the mainstream scientific community in a highly refined way. Other practitioners who do not have such background and education can be just as effective in other ways too. In clarifying the truth, by far the most important thing that determines how well it is done is dependent on how well the practitioner has studied the Fa and cultivated oneself. One’s educational and professional background in the human world is always secondary.

Practitioners already have the Fa:

As suggested before, in general, the targeted audience should be non-practitioners. They are the ones that we need to clarify the truth to. On the other hand, practitioners already have the Fa, and they usually do not need to know much about science. Many practitioners are already very busy with other tasks, and we should be careful to not waste their time.

Clarifying the truth with science may seem different from other ways to clarify the truth. However, it is no more and no less important than the variety of other ways to clarify the truth. And in term of what a practitioner needs to do, it is basically the same. As always, we need to put emphasis on studying the Fa, cultivating ourselves, and sending righteous thoughts.