Going against the grain of conventional thinking, Jampa Dhondup believes science and religion are part of the same ecosystem. “By developing a questioning mindset, we can take leaps in the spiritual sphere,” says the 19-year-old monk who migrated to India from Tibet in 2006.
The other student monks at the Sera Jey Secondary School in the verdant Bylakuppe Settlement, dotted with coffee plantations outside Mysore district, agree with Dhondup. Science is a way to advance Buddhist philosophy, they say.