“Science” in Huayan Buddhism: The Apologetic Discourse of Zhong Maosen (b. 1973)
Religions March 2, 2026 Saiping An
A contemporary Buddhist adherent, Zhong Maosen, uses modern physical theories—relativity, string theory, mass–energy equivalence, black hole and dark matter theories—to defend Huayan Buddhist texts, arguing that narratives in those texts anticipate these theories and even describe unrealized technologies. His approach is a creative reconstruction that blurs ontological and epistemological boundaries, recasting mystical narratives as prescientific insights to counter charges of being anti-scientific. Shaped by his identity as a former secular academic and ordained monk, this apologetic reconciles his own epistemic shift and fits within Buddhist modernism's engagement with scientific rationality. The case study fills a gap in scholarship on Huayan Buddhism's modern scientific reinterpretation.