Underneath the peace: Shaolin monks’ views on the relationship between Buddhism and science

Abstract

This study explores Buddhist monks’ views on the religion-science relationship in contemporary China. Drawing on survey data, interviews with monks, and participant observation within Shaolin Temple–famous for its antiquity and its export of Shaolin Kungfu–we discern and theoretically account for two forms of ‘non-conflict,’ between science and religion, that shape monks’ mental lives. One group holds an ‘independent non-conflict’ perspective, which sees religion and science being at peace chiefly because they are seen as being wholly non-interactive with of one another. Another group holds to ‘collaborative non-conflict’ perspective, which sees religion and science as existing in a mutually corroborative relationship because they tread on the same epistemic and sociocultural territory. Despite this bivalent amiability, we nevertheless encounter three tensions–relating to enchantment/disenchantment, epistemic authority, and technologically-induced secularization–that persist ‘underneath the peace’ between science and religion at Shaolin Temple.