From The Origin of Species to the Extinction of Self

But among all branches of science, it is evolutionary biology - rather than his theory of relativity or modern physics' other main pillar, quantum physics - that gives Buddhism a run for its, well, mantra.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origins of Species", which hit the Middle Earth of biology like the massive asteroid that ended the reign of the dinosaurs. The impact of the theory of evolution by natural selection emitted shock waves that can still be felt in fields such as cosmology, robotics, anthropology, philosophy, economics and even politics.

Evolutionary biology has, in the last few decades, greatly deepened our understanding of the human condition, reiterating many of the Buddha's teachings. In "Potaliya Sutta", the Buddha compared sensual pleasures - of which we can never get enough - to meatless bones smeared with blood that the butcher tosses to a hungry dog. Now evolutionary biology tells us that pain and pleasure are genetically engineered sticks and carrots gearing us toward what our genes compel us to do.

To shed light on who's really in the driving seat, Richard Dawkins, today's most famous Darwinist, wrote in his 1976 groundbreaking book "The Selfish Gene": "They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines."

Scientists have found a genetic basis for all kinds of human behaviour, although the effects of genes are admittedly far from being unmodifiable by will, education and culture. Still, these discoveries pose difficult questions for policy-makers. Can someone be held responsible for a crime if he is more genetically predisposed to violence? What to do with repeat drug offenders with a predisposition to addiction? These questions are just the beginning of things to ponder.

But even more interesting is how, in the survival of the fittest, "selfless" things such as cooperation, empathy, morality and altruism arose - being traits open to exploitation by social predators and parasites. To say that culture is responsible begs the question of how culture itself arose and, more importantly, persisted.

Recent studies have yielded insights linking "altruistic" animal behaviour to benefits such as reciprocity, punishment avoidance, far-sighted self-interest, reputation and status enhancement and, tellingly, increased reproductive success. Amotz and Avishag Zahavi's groundbreaking explanation of competitive altruism among Arabian babblers showed that strong birds have higher status and more reproductive opportunities - a biological equivalent of "nice guys finish first". This helps us make sense of the way many human societies work. Most cultures have long found it best to bestow power upon those with the highest moral standards. Although not exactly wrong, Uncle Ben in Spiderman got it backwards when he said, "Remember, with great power comes great responsibility".

These evolutionary explanations, however, raise an even bigger question. If even the noblest of our actions is not free from self-interest, is human kindness just a genetically-wired ego trip? Is pure altruism humanly possible? More importantly, do we have a free will to achieve it?

Western philosophy has long thought of free will as an all-or-nothing issue - it's either that humans have absolute freedom in decision-making power, or the world is an all-scripted show where moral agency is just an illusion. But philosopher Daniel Dennett, another evolutionist, recently argued in "Freedom Evolved" that human freedom of moral choice must have evolved in a piecemeal fashion like the freedom of flight in birds.

However, from a Buddhist perspective, the presumption of free will is putting the cart before the horse. That pure altruism is achievable is agreed - as expressed by the Bodhisattava ideal. In the Thai language, there's an expression, pid thong lang phra (applying gold leaf to the back of a Buddha image where it's hidden from view) to symbolise good deeds done without the need of recognition.

The freedom to achieve that, however, is not to be taken for granted, but is itself no lesser a goal. It is, in fact, the ultimate goal of enlightenment (nirvana). In "Maha Assapura Sutta", the Buddha compared peace and freedom from worldly desire and associated suffering by saying, "Suppose a man was imprisoned, but later he would be released, safe and secure, and suppose a man was a slave but later would be released from slavery as a free man, able to go where he wants; on considering this, he would be glad and full of joy."

Even Prince Siddhartha, the would-be Buddha, was a product of biological evolution. Although our genes have evolved "in nature, red in tooth and claw", we are no longer straight-jacketed by these blood-stained genes. We are equipped with "elbow room". More than any other animal, our genetic warden has handed us a capacity for self-reflection (yonisomanasikara).

This is as far as evolutionary biology can take us on the road to freedom, but we are not on our own. Providing the roadmap ahead in "Kukkuravatika Sutta", the Buddha categorised action (karma) into four kinds: Dark, bright, both dark and bright, and neither dark nor bright. Although the first three come under the ethical rubric as right or wrong or greyish, the Noble Path said by the Buddha to be neither dark nor bright action leads to enlightenment.

Having said that, some evolutionary thinking comes remarkably close by pointing in the right general direction. At the end of "The Selfish Gene", Dawkins wrote: "We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth … We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism - something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world. We are built as gene machines … but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators."

Compare that to the Buddha's proclamation in "Dona Sutta": "A lotus, though born in the water and grown in the water, reaches the surface and stands there unsoiled by the water. Born in the world, grown up in the world, having overcome the world, I abide unsoiled by the world. Take it that I am a Buddha."

Paisarn Likhitpreechakul wrote "Buddhism Seen Through the Darwinian Lens" for the bicentennial celebration of Charles Darwin's birthday (Opinion, February 11).