What is the definition of life according to Western Science

What is the definition of life according to modern Western science?

Life itself is a set of processes that are carried out by an organism causing it to survive.

A conventional definition elaborated on via Buddhist Ayurveda: Reflect on how this 7 point definition below and the five point definition following it can be explained and elaborated on using:

· Ayurvedic principles such as the five elements (pancha maha bhutas), 20 attributes (gunas), tridosha (vata-pitta-kapha), trigunas (sattva-rajas-tamas), ojas-tejas-prana, agni and ama, 7 tissues (sapta dhatus), 5 waste products (pancha malas - urine, feces, sweat, mucous, and khamalas), and channels (srotamsi)

· Buddhist principles such as the Five Aggregates [Pancha Skandhas] and their qualities Four Aspects of the Pancha Skandhas: suffering (Dukkha), impermanent (Anitya),
not-self (Anatman), empty (Akasha Shunyata Pratitya-Samutpada), four noble truths, five precepts (Pancha Shila), Four Unlimited Minds [Chatur Maha Brahma Vihara] and Twelve-fold Conditioned Arising [Dependent Origination, Pratityasamutpada).

Although there is no universal agreement on the definition of life, scientists generally accept that the biological manifestation of life exhibits the following phenomena:

Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, sweating to cool off.
Organization: Being composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.
Metabolism: Production of energy by converting nonliving material into cellular components (synthesis) and decomposing organic matter (catalysis). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.
Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of synthesis than catalysis. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. The particular species begins to multiply and expand as the evolution continues to flourish.
Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present.
Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun or an animal chasing its prey.
Reproduction: The ability to produce new organisms. Reproduction can be the division of one cell to form two new cells. Usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual (either asexually, from a single parent organism, or sexually, from at least two differing parent organisms), although strictly speaking it also describes the production of new cells in the process of growth.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life

Most of the accepted criteria for determining whether something is "alive" can also, at least individually, be applied to non-living things -- it's kind of difficult to say.  The main five points are:

·         CONSUMPTION (metabolism of pitta, agni, and tejas) -- does it eat or drink?  Does it take in nutrients in one way or another in order to survive, grow, and eventually multiply?  This implies waste products as well.

·         GROWTH (anabolic of kapha and ojas) -- does the organism develop over time, increase in complexity, until it reaches a mature stage?

·         MOTION (vata and rajas and prana) -- does it seem to move under its own power?  Does it move with some discernible purpose? (Toward food, away from heat, etc)

·         STIMULUS RESPONSE (vata and rajas and sattva and tejas) -- does the organism respond to external stimuli, i.e. has a nervous system of some sort to detect external conditions?

·         REPRODUCTION (kapha and tamas and ojas) -- does it have some way of making more of itself, either through sexual reproduction or by budding or fissioning in some way?

To qualify as a living thing, an organism must in one way or another meet each of those criteria.  After all, crystals grow in solution, and take on more material from the surrounding solution in order to do so, but do not respond neurologically if you poke them with a pin.  Of course, you don't often see mature Ponderosa pines strolling down Fifth Avenue either, so the criteria are open to interpretation.  Plants move through growth, except in special cases like the Venus flytrap; most plants follow the sun through a complex system which floods the side of the plant shaded from the sun with water, swelling the shaded side and causing the plant to lean toward the sun.

Even when all the criteria are met, it may be difficult to determine if something is alive or not.  Take a virus.  It is a strand of either DNA or RNA, and cannot move on its own power.  Yet when it attaches itself to a receptive host, it inserts itself into the cell and forces the host to make more of the virus, a clear reproductive plan.  It utilizes the host's cellular processes to do so, in a sense taking in "nutrients" in order to survive and multiply.  In some cases, exterior conditions cause the virus to integrate itself into the host DNA, in order to hide until conditions are better to reproduce, showing a response to external stimuli.  Is it alive?

Source: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99171.htm

(Additional Sources: Lad, 2001 and Anonymous Buddhist Monk, June 9, 2007)

(Original Source: Buddhist Ayurveda Level I Study-Guide)

See also: Ten Dharma Realms, Six Paths of Rebirth, the listings under the individual destinies: 1) Gods (Devas in Sanskrit); 2) Humans (Manushya in Sanskrit); 3) Asuras (Titans); 4) Animals or beasts (includes non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, viruses and bacteria, single-celled organisms); 5) Ghosts (also called "hungry-ghosts" or Pretas or bhutas in Sanskrit); 6) Hell-beings or Hell-dwellers (demons live in the narakas [in Sanskrit]);
Living beings, Life according to Buddhist Ayurveda, Life according to modern science, karma and rebirth.

(NOTE: Numerous corrections and enhancements have been made under Shastra tradition and "Fair Use" by an Anonymous Buddhist Monk Redactor of this Online Buddhist Ayurveda Encyclopedia Compilation)

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These Good and Wise Advisors (Kaliyanamitra) Dharma Master teachers include Arya Venerables Nagarjuna, Ashvaghosha, Aryasura, Kumarajiva, Shantideva, Chandrakirti, Chandragomin, Vasubandhu, Asanga, Hui Neng, Atisha, Kamalashila, Dharmarakshita, Tsong Khapa, Thogme Zangpo, Patanjali, Sushruta, Charaka, Vagbhata, Nichiren, Hsu Yun, Hsuan Hua, Shen Kai, Tenzin Gyatso, Kyabje Zopa, Ajahn Chah, Vasant Lad, and other modern day masters. We consider them to be in accord with Master Hsuan Hua’s "Seven Guidelines for Recognizing Genuine Teachers"

Nalanda Online University's teachings are based especially on the Dharma Flower Lotus Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, the Ksitigarbha Sutra, the Bhaisajya Guru Sutra, the Dharani Sutra, the Vajra Sutra, the Prajna Paramita Hridayam Sutra, the Guhyasamaja, the Kalachakra and their commentaries (shastras) by the above Arya Tripitakacharya Dharma Masters.

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See also: Tripitaka (1. Sutras, 2. Vinaya, 3. Shastras or Abhidharma, or Tantra), Taisho Catalog Numbering System, Dharma, and names of individual sutras (such as Shurangama Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra [Flower Adornment Sutra], Lotus Sutra [Wonderful Dharma Flower Sutra], Earth Store Sutra, Dharani Sutra, Brahma Net Sutra, Medicine Master Buddha Sutra, Sixth Patriarch Platform Sutra, Sutra in 42 Sections, Sutra on the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching, et al.

2. Moral Regulations School (Vinaya Pratimoksha Shila - Bodhisattva Pranidhana - Vajrayana-Samaya - Yogic Yama)

3. Esoteric School (Vajrayana - Mantrayana - Tantrayana - Dharani - Secret School of the Mahayana)

4. Meditation School (Indian Dhyana Samadhi - Shamatha - Vipassana, Chinese Chan, Japanese Zen,
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         Name Recitation of Buddhas Amitabha-Amitayus, Medicine Buddha - Bhaisajya Guru - Akshobhya,
         and Bodhisattvas: Avalokiteshvara-Guanyin-Chenrezig-Mahakala, Tara, Samantabhadra Universal Worthy,
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         Ksitigarbha - Earth Store Great Vows, Vajrapani, Vajrasattva,
         Chandraprabha Moonlight Radiance, Suryaprabha Sunlight Radiance, Medicine King Bodhisattva, Medicine Superior Bodhisattva
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Compilation Sources for the Above Material on the Teachings of the Buddha:

Primary Compilation Source: Epstein, Ronald B., Ph.D, compiler, Buddhist Text Translation Society's Buddhism A to Z, Burlingame, California: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 2003. ISBN: 0881393533 Paperback: 284 pages. www.BTTSOnline.org www.Amazon.com
http://www.bttsonline.org/product.aspx?pid=118 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0881393533/ref=ase_medicinebuddh-20

Secondary Compilation Source: The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism, 2nd ed., San Francisco, California: Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, 1998: www.budaedu.org.tw

Secondary Compilation Source: Muller, Charles, editor, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism [DDB], Toyo Gakuen University, Japan, 2007: Username is "guest", with no password.
http://buddhism-dict.net/ddb - Based in large part on the Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms with Sanskrit and English Equivalents (by Soothill and Hodous) Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997.

Secondary Compilation Source: Ehrhard, Diener, Fischer, et al, The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1991. 296 pages. ISBN 978-0-87773-520-5 www.Shambhala.com, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0877735204/ref=ase_medicinebuddh-20,
http://www.shambhala.com/html/catalog/items/isbn/978-0-87773-520-5.cfm

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(Like Ananda says in the Shurangama Sutra introduction to the Shurangama Mantra,
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Updated May 10, 2008