Was Darwin a Buddhist, or was he influenced by Buddhist thought?

[alfredo]

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/16/was-darwin-a-buddhist/

“There’s always the possibility that two wise people looking at the same species will come up with the same conclusions,” said Ekman, who co-wrote a book with the Dalai Lama on compassion called “Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion.”

It turns out that Darwin’s friend Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, a botanist and explorer, visited Tibet in 1847. He became familiar with Buddhist views there. He also wrote letters to Darwin. This is just one of many ways that Darwin could have been influenced by Buddhist teachings, Ekman said.

For Darwin and Buddhists, the seed for compassion is in the mother-infant relationship — this is “simple compassion,” Ekman said. Then there’s global compassion — for example, sending money and clothes to victims of a natural disaster. Finally, heroic compassion means risking your own life to save another — and you probably don’t know if you have heroic compassion unless you’ve been in a situation like that, Ekman said.

The fundamental idea in both Darwin’s writings and Buddhist views of compassion is that “when I see you suffer, it makes me suffer, and that motivates me to reduce your suffering so I can reduce my suffering,” Ekman said.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. Interesting, but I don't think so.

His personal notes depict some sort of faith in the Abrahamic God (or perhaps something closer to a Deist God) and a deep respect for his wife's evangelical Anglicanism.

[WillParkinson]

2. However...

It's also possible that he incorporated some of the Buddhist views into his own life.

People tend to mold a religion to suit their needs and desires. And it seldom stays static. Instead it constantly evolves through life experience.

Or so goes my take on it.

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

3. ...and influenced, of course, by his parents' Unitarianism.

In fact I'd say that his "religion" was closer to Unitarianism and its science-friendly "Age of Enlightenment," naturalistic and evolutionary religious spirit than any other faith-tradition.

http://www.adherents.com/people/pd/Charles_Darwin.html

[alfredo]

11. There are Buddhist and Atheist at our local UU.

[alfredo]

5. Buddhism is agnostic. It's a philosophy, not a religion. You can be

Christian but apply the teachings of Buddha to your daily life. Buddha is just a person who found a technique to help you get your shit together.

You find yourself hooked on drugs, you decide to quit, so you enroll in a drug treatment program. After the program you apply what you learned to stay clean.

[Occam Bandage]

4. Darwin believed in a duty of compassion. Therefore, he was a secret Buddhist.

Hitler believed in a rigid social order. Therefore, he was a secret Confucian.

[alfredo]

6. Ha!

[ThomWV]

7. I do not know of one word in print that would suggest so.

[Romulox]

8. Compassion is empty.

The sort of Buddhism spoken of in the OP is essentially a mish-mash of writings attributed to the Buddha along with folk religion (as opposed to the more "philosophical" form.)

It's hard to see where there is room for a Goddess of Compassion in Darwin's world-view. :shrug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. i thought darwin was christian and his wife devoutedly christian

compassion is preached by christ too.

[NeedleCast]

10. He was for some time - good article on Wiki

Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin's_views_on_religion

Darwin had a very pragmatic take on religion. He didn't think the bible should be used as a historical reference. Darwin was, for lack of a better term, a thinking Christian. While most people at the time were satisfied by "God did it" as an explanation for anything, Darwin chose to question.

In a lot of ways, my views on relgion progrssed the same way as Darwin's. The older I got and the more I studied religion and how it relates to our world, the less sense it made, until I pretty much gave it up completely about six months ago.

Plus, look at the size of Darwin's huge skull! He's got to have like, at least three brains in there!

[Cleita]

12. I'd say both of them came to the same conclusion on separate paths.

Back before we had much that was labeled science it was regarded more as philosophical thought.

[alfredo]

15. My thoughts too. We don't have much idea how much his friend told

him about the philosophy.

[BlooInBloo]

13. (facepalm)

[backscatter712]

14. I'm sure the bible-thumpers will go apeshit over this...

Truthfully, hearing about this is pretty cool. I consider Buddhist philosophy to be part of my faith.

[alfredo]

16. It's basic problem solving.