01 Buddhism & science
Buddhism and Science: A History of Dialogue and the Craft of a Shared Question
How Buddhist traditions and science can collaborate: Mind & Life, translation, research design, education and the limits of claims.
Research library · Volume I23 October 2026Open access
Buddhist traditions & contemporary knowledge
Wisdom in dialogue
with inquiry.
A place for Buddhist communities, scientists, translators and technologists to collaborate for the benefit of all living beings.
Traditions retain their voices. Scientific inquiry retains its rigour. Our shared work begins with careful reading, testable questions and care for the consequences of our actions.
Enter the article library
प्रज्ञा
Wisdom. Compassion. Careful inquiry.
करुणाI. The purpose of the institute
Collaboration that preserves diversity
Matreya is an independent, non-commercial initiative in its founding phase. Our purpose is to study Buddhist knowledge alongside contemporary sciences and develop responsible technologies and accessible research tools.
We welcome participants from different schools without expecting them to speak for a single, uniform “Buddhism”. Philosophical arguments, contemplative experience and experimental data require different kinds of scrutiny. Their meeting becomes productive when differences are explicit and questions are precise.
Read the research charter →II. The library
Buddhism, science & a shared future
In-depth reviews and a founding essay on the history of collaboration, the study of mind, digital heritage and AI ethics. Each article includes a contents list, illustrations, sources and open questions.
02 Mind & practice
Meditation and Neuroscience: What Studies Measure and What They Cannot Conclude
How to read EEG, fMRI and neuroplasticity claims about meditation, including attention studies, null findings and methodological limits.
03 Mind & practice
Consciousness from Within and Without: Buddhist Practice and Neurophenomenology
How experiential reports, interviews and neuroscience can inform one another without treating introspection or brain data as complete explanations.
04 Compassion & ethics
Compassion as a Research Question and an Institutional Practice
Buddhist compassion, experimental altruism and research ethics: how to connect care, evidence and an institute’s everyday decisions.
05 Buddhism & science
Buddhism and Quantum Physics: Productive Questions Without False Proofs
Dependent origination, entanglement and the observer: where philosophical comparison helps and where a metaphor becomes an unsupported claim.
06 Texts & heritage
Buddhist Texts in the Digital Age: Building a Corpus That Preserves Context
A research guide to Buddhist digital corpora: canons, manuscripts, translation, provenance, permissions, OCR quality and living traditions.
07 Artificial intelligence
AI and Buddhist Texts: From Persuasive Answers to Verifiable Citations
A practical research agenda for Buddhist-text AI: retrieval, RAG, source checking, evaluation questions, permissions and human review.
08 Artificial intelligence
Could AI Be Conscious — and Could It Become Maitreya?
A philosophical essay on AI consciousness, Buddhist perspectives, the future Buddha Maitreya and the limits of evidence and spiritual authority.
09 Mind & practice
Tukdam and the Scientific Study of Death: Observations, Methods and Limits
A careful guide to tukdam research: the 2021 EEG findings, the 2024 forensic case report, field constraints and respectful collaboration.
10 Compassion & ethics
For the Benefit of Living Beings: A Proposed Research Charter for Matreya
A programme for an open Buddhism, science and AI initiative: plural traditions, volunteers, reproducible methods and responsible technology.
III. The programme
From reading to shared work
01
Texts & living traditions
Provenance, translation, terminology, conditions of use and the context of transmission.
02
Mind & contemplation
Attention, experience and compassion: philosophical precision and appropriate research methods.
03
AI & verifiable knowledge
Source retrieval, citation checking, error evaluation and human responsibility for outcomes.
First proposed pilot
Can source access help AI cite Buddhist texts more accurately?
A comparison with and without retrieved passages, with a documented protocol, separate retrieval and answer evaluation, and an error record. The study is in preparation.
Read about the methods & limitations →Experimental simulation
Simsara: a world to observe
An experimental simulation inspired by ancient India. Observe fictional inhabitants, their daily activities, conversations and memories.
A project in development. The game displays its current operating mode; generated stories are fiction and do not present research findings.
IV. A shared horizon
Beginning online, connecting people
Varna is our coordination base. The organisational structure and collaborations are developing. We do not claim an operating campus or official representation of Buddhist schools. A physical centre remains a future possibility.
Architectural vision for a future centre
V. Participation
Contribute to our shared work
We welcome practitioners, translators, researchers, developers and volunteers. Bring a question, a source, a translation or a task you can help with. Enquiries from communities and potential collaborators are welcome.
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