Tricycle | Awake in the World

When I first began to meditate, I considered the Buddhist approach to things to be completely separate from the scientific. But over time, that changed. At the beginning of my practice, I associated spirituality with transcendence. Eventually, though, I realized that meditation was about being right up against things, in an intimate way. This was a surprise; suddenly, both my scientific work and my Zen practice were aiming at the same sort of inquiry. That realization has propelled a lot of the stem cell research I've done in the last few years. When I ask, What is this body' What is its function' What are its limits' I am asking the same questions in my scientific work that I am in my sitting practice.