Cosmology and Buddhist Thought is the result of a conversation with astrophysicist and television celebrity, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, that took place in New York at the end of May, 2011. While cosmologists look at the outer space with massive instruments and difficult calculations using mathematics, Buddhists look at inner space with mindfulness and concentration. Both paths lead to insights about fundamental questions about why and how we got here, what we are doing here, what are our connections and interactions with the universe, and what is our destiny. Cosmologists study life on earth from an objective point of view and examine its causes. Buddhists study life on earth with regard to understanding its challenges and how to resolve them. Both Buddhism and cosmology recognize that we live in an emerging, evolving, and impermanent universe - everything is changing. Dr. Tyson's insights into the origins of life on earth, time scales, ecology, and religion are inspiring, to say the least, and extremely wise to read and contemplate. His responsiveness to Buddhist ideas of co-dependent arising, interbeing (interconnectedness), impermanence, the self, nirvana, and consciousness demonstrates much more than a "Reader's Digest knowledge of Buddhism." A close reading of the conversation reveals that Buddhist thought does not have much to contribute to cosmology. Cosmology, on the other hand, has a lot to contribute to Buddhism. Excerpts from Cosmology and Buddhist Thought recently appeared on the Lion's Roar Blog.

CONTENTS DEDICATION III CONTENTS I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS III PREFACE V 1 INTRODUCTION 7 2 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE COSMOS 13 THE BIG BANG 13 THE SOLAR SYSTEM 14 THE EARTH 14 LIFE 15 3 FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHIST THOUGHT 17 INTRODUCTION 17 THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS 18 THE EIGHTFOLD PATH 19 Right View 20 Right Speech 21 Right Thought 21 Right Action 22 Right Livelihood 22 Right Diligence 22 Right Mindfulness 23 Right Concentration 23 CO-DEPENDENT ORIGINATION 24 INTERBEING 25 EMPTINESS AND NON-SELF 25 4 THE STORIES WE TELL 27 5 ORIGINS AND THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE 31 6 EXOPLANETS 35 7 CO-DEPENDENT ARISING, INTERBEING, AND IMPERMANENCE 39 8 TIME SCALES 45 9 BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND THE SELF 51 10 NIRVANA 55 11 ECOLOGY 59 12 CONSCIOUSNESS 61 13 RELIGION 65 14 MINDLESS CONSUMPTION 71 15 DON'T DISPAIR - TAKE ACTION 79 16 CLOSING REMARKS 81 17 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 83 Also by Dr. Freedman 84 Guided Meditation Recordings 84