In a 1954 letter to the Buddhist monk and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh, Einstein expressed his admiration for the Buddha's teachings on compassion and nonviolence, writing: "The truly valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling. This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed. This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them! How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business."
Einstein also spoke about Buddhism in several interviews over the years, often praising its insights into the nature of reality and the interconnectedness of all things. For example, in an interview with the Japanese magazine Kaizo in 1929, he said: "Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity."
ChatGPT Mar 14 Version. Free Research Preview. Our goal is to make AI systems more natural and safe to interact with. Your feedback will help us improve.
