Underneath the peace: Shaolin monks’ views on the relationship between Buddhism and science

This study explores Buddhist monks’ views on the religion-science relationship in contemporary China. Drawing on survey data, interviews with monks, and participant observation within Shaolin Temple – famous for its antiquity and its export of Shaolin Kungfu – we discern and theoretically account for two forms of ‘non-conflict,’ between science and religion, that shape monks’ mental lives. One group holds an ‘independent non-conflict’ perspective, which sees religion and science being at peace chiefly because they are seen as being wholly non-interactive with of one another. Another group holds to ‘collaborative non-conflict’ perspective, which sees religion and science as existing in a mutually corroborative relationship because they tread on the same epistemic and sociocultural territory. Despite this bivalent amiability, we nevertheless encounter three tensions – relating to enchantment/disenchantment, epistemic authority, and technologically-induced secularization – that persist ‘underneath the peace’ between science and religion at Shaolin Temple.