I've just started reading a book by the Dalai Lama titled The Universe In A Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (Broadway Books 2005). Thus far it's a fascinating read. This topic in general, and the mention of Huston Smith in particular, spurred me to post.
The Dalai Lama met Smith in the early 1960s and continued meetings and discussions with him from time to time through the years.
Here's what the Dalai Lama writes in one passage:
I heard about the theory of evolution when I made my first trip to India in 1956 . . . Ironically, the first person to help me understand the theory more fully was not a scientist but a scholar of religion. Huston Smith came to see me in Dharamsala in the 1960s. We spoke about the world religions, the need for greater pluralism among their followers, and the role of spirituality in an increasingly materialistic world . . . However, the topic that struck me most was modern biology, especially our discussion of DNA and the fact that so many secrets of life appear to lie in the mystery of this beautiful biological string. When I count my teachers of science, I include Huston Smith among them, although I am not sure whether he would himself approve of this.
Although I'm only early into the book, I find it marvelously compelling.
Richard
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