The Scientific Approach To Buddhist Study - Human Life Science（I）

The Key to Genetics

Lecturer   /  Sun Don Lee (Leader of Forshang Buddhism)
Compiler  /  Chang-Ming Chern, M.D.（Attending Physician, Neurological Institute, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei）
Translator /  Helena Chou (Resident Instructor of Forshang Buddhism World Center, LA Branch)
Illustration / Aurora Chen . Shu-Hua Ting

Since ancient times, man has had unceasing longings and curiosities about life. In the course of the long stream of history, many great philosophers and men of religion, astounded by its abundant diversities, could not help but pause and ponder over the nature and meaning of life and expounded on various ideas and theories about it. These thoughts have greatly enriched human spirit and civilizations, enabling many souls continue to blossom even under tremendous pressure and leaving behind immortal chapters along the passage of time.

Since the Renaissance, with the rapid development of science, scientists have been trying various ways to explore the common rules of living subjects that might help reveal the mystery of the origination of and how it ends. However, despite their life long efforts, many outstanding scientists failed to understand the nature and meaning of life by observing the phenomena and ways of life. Men of religion often take a different approach. Although many of them might have only little or no understanding of the modern science, they keep immovable faith in the entity of life, taking as examples the belief in eternal life for Christians and the pure land and reincarnation for Buddhists.

As we review the history of Western civilization, it becomes obvious that religion and science often at odds. As science progressed, many infallible rules in religions were not spared from the fate of being thrown into the discard. For example, the religious theories based on the Ptolemaic system could no longer sustain when evaluated under the development of astronomy. However, these conflicts are not necessarily inevitable. As with Buddhism, Buddha represents perfect and ultimate wisdom as well as beings that testified the reality and truth, that should agree with the spirit of science which also aims at seeking the truth. For example, many of Sukyamuni's observations on the phenomena of universe and life have been validated by recent findings with the advanced technologies. Therefore, the scientific approach to Buddhist study led by Forshang Buddhism is going to be a justifiable and essential tendency. Buddhism and science will reach a perfect union.

With the next millennium just around the corner, Master Sun-Don Lee of Forshang Buddhism has been contemplating how Buddhism and human life science could be united to best contribute to the civilization and evolution of mankind. As a result, the Ninth Seal will begin from this issue to gradually disclose: The Scientific Approach to Buddhist Study - the Chapter on Human Life Science. This series of articles comprise Master Lee's explanation on human life science in answer to questions during his lectures of the Forshang doctrines, and are based on his own achievements in cultivation and insight from deep meditation. Whether they are about his revolutionary scientific theories on human life science, the physiological changes in our body and mental development in cultivation, or research directions in the scientific approach to Buddhist study, Master Lee has endowed the prospect of Buddhism and human life science with great vitality.

Human life science ranges widely from medicine, genomics, neuroscience, immunology, cytology, physiology, and so forth. Facing the rapid advancement of human life science and in recognition of the immense impact of its development on civilization and human evolution, the best way to guide human life science in the right direction is to disclose the Buddhist doctrines of Supreme Hua-Yen with the scientific approach and apply Forshang doctrines in validating its results. We are engaged in achieving that the scientific perspective of reality in the Supreme Hua-Yen will be directing human life science, which is currently inclined to seeking superficial phenomena. We are also engaged in the making of a new era in human civilization inspired by the perfect union of Buddhism and human life science.

We all know that most of the cells use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as their genetic material. DNA is a long, threadlike macromolecule made up of a large number of deoxyribonucleotides, each composed of a nitrogenous base, a sugar, and a phosphate group. The sugar in a deoxyribonucleotide is deoxyribose. The deoxy prefix indicates that this sugar lacks an oxygen atom that is present in ribose at the C₂ position. The bases of DNA molecules carry genetic information, whereas their sugar and phosphate groups perform a structural role (Figure.1).

The purines bases in DNA are adenine (A) and guanine (G), and the pyrimidines bases are thymine (T) and cytosine (C). Each DNA chain is polarized with its own direction: one end of the chain has a 5'-phosphate group and the other a 3'-OH group, neither of which is linked to the other (Figure.2).

In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick analyzed x-ray diffraction photographs of DNA fibers taken by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins and derived a structural model that has proved to be essentially correct. This brilliant accomplishment ranks as one of the most significant in the history of biology because it led the way to an understanding of gene function in molecular terms. The important features of their model of DNA are:

1. Two helical polynucleotide chains are coiled around a common axis. The chains run in opposite directions.

2. The purine and pyrimidine bases are on the inside of the helix, whereas the phosphate and deoxyribose units are on the outside. The planes of the bases are perpendicular to the helix axis. The planes of the sugars are nearly at right angles to those of the bases.

3. The two chains are held together by hydrogen bonds between pairs of bases. Adenine is always paired with thymine; guanine is always paired with cytosine (Figure.2).

4. The diameter of the helix is 20A (1A = 10^-10 m). Adjacent bases are separated by 3.4 A; along the helix axis and related by a rotation of 36 degrees. Hence, the helical structure turns after 10 residues on each chain, that is, at intervals of 34 A. The precise sequence of bases carries the genetic information. The most important aspect of the DNA double helix is the specificity of the pairing of bases. Watson and Crick deduced that adenine must pair with thymine, and guanine with cytosine, because of steric effects and hydrogen bondings.

We turn now from the storage and transmission of genetic information to its expression. Genes specify the kinds of proteins that are made by cells. However, DNA is not the direct template for protein synthesis. Rather, the templates for protein synthesis are RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules. The flow of genetic information in normal cells is from DNA to RNA to protein. The synthesis of RNA from a DNA template is called transcription (Figure.3), whereas the synthesis of a protein from a RNA template is termed translation. Cells contain several kinds of RNA: messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA).

RNA is a long, unbranched macromolecule consisting of nucleotides joined by 3', 5'-phosphodiester bonds. As the name indicates, the sugar unit in RNA is ribose. The four major bases in RNA are adenine (A), uracil (U), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). Adenine can pair with uracil, and guanine with cytosine. Most RNA molecules are single-strand. The smallest RNA molecules are the tRNAs, which contain as few as 75 nucleotides, whereas the largest ones are some mRNAs, which may have more than 5000 nucleotides. Different RNAs have different functions. mRNA is the template for protein synthesis. tRNA carries amino acids in an activated form to the ribosome for protein synthesis, in a sequence determined by the mRNA template. There is at least one kind of tRNA for each of the 20 amino acids. rRNA, the major component of ribosomes, plays a catalytic role in protein synthesis.

How the genetic information flow from DNA to mRNA? The answer is the base sequence of mRNA is complementary to DNA template (Figure.4). So that if the base sequence in DNA is GAATGGCTC, then the paired base sequence in mRNA is CUUACCGAG. Maybe someone notices that base sequence shows an opposite information in mRNA, however, one strand of the double helix is template, the other is called coding strand. In previous example, mRNA is complementary to template strand, and the coding strand has the same sequence as the mRNA transcript except for T in place of U.

The first transcribed nucleotide is denoted by +1. The adjacent nucleotide on the 5' side is numbered -1. DNA templates contain regions called promoter sited that specifically bind enzyme and determine where transcription begins. In bacteria, two sequences on the 5' (upstream) side of the first nucleotide to be transcribed are important. One of them, called the Pribnow box, has the consensus sequence TATAAT and is centered at -10. The other, called the -35 region, has the consensus sequence TTGAGA. The transcription stop signal is also encoded in the DNA template. There are a lot of sequences might never be transcribed and we have no idea about their functions.

So the genetic information is passed to mRNA, but these mRNA are primary forms. They have to be modified and spliced in cytoplasm so that they can translate to protein. Most genes in higher eukaryotes are discontinuous. Coding sequences (exons) in these split genes are separated sequences (introns), which are removed in the conversion of the primary transcript into mRNA and other functional mature RNA molecules. We have seen that mRNA is the template for protein synthesis.

How then does it direct amino acids to become joined in the correct sequence? The adapter in protein synthesis is tRNA. tRNA contains an amino acids attachment site and a template-recognition site. The template-recognition site on tRNA is a sequence of three bases called the anticodon. The anticodon on tRNA recognizes a complementary sequence of three bases on mRNA, called the codon (Figure.5). A three-base code can determine 64 kinds of amino acids (4³ = 64). Proteins are built from a basic set of 20 amino acids, and so that many amino acids are designated by more than one codon. In 64 codons, UAG, UAA, and UGA are the only three codons that do not specify an amino acid. The start signal for protein synthesis is more complex. AUG (or GUG) is only part of the initiation signal. In bacteria, the initiating AUG (or GUG) is preceded several nucleotides away by a purine-rich sequence that base-pairs with a complementary sequence on rRNA molecule. Thus, the genetic code is nearly universal. Proteins play key roles in biological systems. For example, specific macro molecules called enzymes catalyze nearly all chemical reactions in biological systems.

Specific proteins transport many small molecules and ions. For instance, hemoglobin transports oxygen in erythrocytes. And proteins are also the major component of muscle. Antibodies are highly specific proteins that recognize and combine with such foreign substances as viruses, bacteria, and cells from other organisms. Hence, proteins mediated a wide range of other functions, such as generation and transmission of nerve impulses, control of growth and differentiation. Proteins indeed play crucial roles in virtually all biological processes.

Note: For readers who are interested in obtaining related basic information, please refer to the following two books:

1..Campbell, N.A., J.B. Reece, and L.G. Mitchell.1999.Biology: chapter 21 and 22.The Benjamin/ Cummings Publishing Company. pp 344-387.

2.Msthews, C.K., and K.E. van Holde. 1990. Biochemistry: chapter 24-28. The Benjamin/ Cummings Publishing Company. pp 817-1032.

　

Since J. Watson and F. Crick reported the double helix structure of DNA and its duplication mechanism in 1953, scientists have, step by step, deciphered the hereditary secrets and the mechanisms of genetic expression. They have also developed many innovative techniques to expedite the gene researches. It is expected that within the next few years the sequencing of three billion base pairs and the 50,000 to 100,000 genes in the 23 pairs of human chromosome would be completed. A gene is a segment of base pairs in DNA, of which the hereditary message determines the amino acid sequence of a particular protein molecule or polypeptide chain. The base pairs in these 50,000 to 100,000 genes are approximately 5% of the three billion base pairs in somatic human cells. DNA between each gene is called intergenetic area, or junk, because of its function is still unknown.

In recent years, genomics has contributed tremendously to medicine. Thus many diseases with specific genetic defects have been discovered. The completion of the Human Genome Project will further widen the range where genomics can be applied in the field of medicine. The prospect of genetic therapy is becoming brighter and many illnesses will have the chance to get better treatment. Besides, since the cloned sheep, Dolly, was born, many other animals have been successfully cloned as was a human embryo. To face these major breakthroughs in human life science, many elite scientists, including Stephen Hawkings, predicted that the ideal evolution of mankind will soon be realized with the help of genetic engineering and the redesign of genes. Despite ethical considerations, the tendency, the scientists think, is perhaps inevitable.

Facing the rapid advancement of genomics while anticipating the next millennium, we have to consider the possible impacts this tendency will bring to human civilization and evolution. For instance, will humans reach the goal of evolution in this artificial way? Will the future society become a Brave New World stated by Aldous Huxley, where all humans are manipulated by technology so that everyone's fate (including social rank, wisdom, mode of thought, and countenance) is controlled and conditioned by technology beginning with the fertilized egg. Or, will it become what is foreseen in other science fiction where parents have to apply and purchase each newborn baby's genetic repertoire, pre-determining the appearance, height, wisdom, and personality of their children when grown up? Will the present humankind be superseded by the revised human species? Are there better ways for the evolution of mankind? Nothing but the highest wisdom will provide answers to these questions. Therefore, we would like to share with you Master Sun-Don Lee's elaboration on the evolution of human life. In these articles, he directly points out the future directions that human developments should take, providing a path to the true, the good, and the beautiful and guiding humans to activate the infinite potential within DNA to safely realize the evolution of mankind.

In recent decades, there have been many important researches on the human genes and the results are remarkable. However, with the current comprehension and definition of genes, the total amount of genes make up only 5% of the three billion base pairs contained within the DNA while the remaining 95% with unknown physiologic effects is called junk in jest. In fact, this 95% of the 3 billion base pairs is not useless but the unexpressed component of DNA. This part of DNA could be activated with the practice of Forshang doctrines. In the activating process, the related physiologic functions will also be expressed. Classic gene expression usually follows the central dogma, that is, DNA serves as the template for its duplication and RNA synthesis, and again, RNA serves as the template for protein synthesis. Expression of the genes in the intergenetic area does not follow this rule. The expressed genetic products and physiologic functions are beyond imagination from the current scientific point of views and will be a major research interest in human life science in the next century.

There might be other methods besides Buddhist practice that could activate DNA expression in some of the intergenetic areas. The problem is that you may never know what will happen afterwards and you dare not even to think of controlling the results, whether beneficial or disastrous. The greatest advantage of Forshang approach is that this practice helps and controls the DNA to express in a favorable sequence. This is because Forshang doctrine is structured on a complete cultivation system. The key point is the state of mind. A virtuous mental state yields good effects whereas an evil state yields evil effects. Let us take the practice of the Buddha Light of Innate Nature Empowerment Doctrine as an example. It initiates the activities of this 95% of the 3 billion base pairs in DNA with photons in a specific frequency. The Nine Word Zen Sound Dharani also has a similar effect on DNA but using sound/melody as the activator. There will be various physical and mental development in the process of initiating DNA activities, including transforming bio- energy to Chi-energy, to spiritual energy, psycho-energy, and then light energy. As in Buddha, his DNA had been thoroughly (100%) initiated and activated, and therefore he possessed the highest wisdom as well as immense energy and effect.

If Buddha represents the ultimate state of evolution of life, it is conceivable that evolution of life is indeed closely related to whether DNA activities could be accurately initiated. Biodynamic studies how a practitioner could generate various energy and effect in the process of activation, and its impact on the internal and external universe. Whether it is one's internal physical and mental well being or the energy and effect of Buddha nature (supernatural powers) being exerted externally, all can be reached through activating this 95% of the 3 billion base pairs in DNA. In addition, this can be verified scientifically with modern technology. Therefore, genetics and Biodynamic will be the two key areas in the study of human life science in the next millennium and eventually these two fields will be perfectly united.

(Excerpt from Master Lee's 6/26/99 and 7/16/99 class lectures in the Mental Doctrine Class in Taipei)

Figure 1╱The Structure of a Nucleotide. (Larger)

Figure 2╱The Model of DNA Structure. (Larger)

Figure 3╱DNA Transcription Synthesizes mRNA.

Figure 4╱An RNA-DNA hybrid be Formed.

Figure 5╱Symbolic diagram of an aminoacyl-tRNA.