Some Thoughts about Buddhism

I recently spent a weekend at a Buddhist Monastery participating in a program to help develop mindfulness.  I came laden with notebook and pen, and was told to leave them at the door, and instructed to simply sit down and pay attention.  Basically that was it.  Instruction was at a minimum.  The mindfulness program instructed us to pay attention to our minds, and gave some simple techniques for doing so.  Quite frankly it was a wonderful program, and got me excited about Buddhism in a way that I never have been.  Only one moment in the program irked me, when our guide made some disparaging remarks about science, and then subsequently reading some books recommended to me, particularly   This Precious Life: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment by Khandro Rinpoche.   the founder of the monastery, I confronted the profound pessimism which is encapsulated in the four noble truths,  specifically Duhka.  Existence is Suffering.  Specifically the Universe as we generally know it, and as scientists study it is Samsara, an uncountable group of sentient beings, trapped in immeasurable suffering, with only one exit door,  the eightfold path of Buddhism.  In this context,  science is samsaric activity, and all such activity is futile.  More specifically such activity represents more of the same grasping attachment.  What does one make of The Dalai Lama's interest in science though.  He spoke a few years ago at the Society for Neuroscience.   His remarks seem inconsistent with outright rejection of science as a meaningful activity.
As I have been reflecting on this, I have been able to focus more clearly on what excites me about a Buddhist weekend, and what depresses me.   What excites me, is to find a community of people, living harmoniously, devoted to some big, and something benign.   I have struggled lately with the whole issue of what is meaningful activity for someone who has lots of free time, and is in constant danger of wasting that time in an orgy of self-indulgence.  (Which might only be the cherry on the sundae of a life of same)  Here are  people who mutually love each other, and reach out to others with love.  It is enough to turn you into a Buddhist.
At the same time,  Buddhism has a number of beliefs which serious buddhists say are essential, but which are not based in any experience that I have ever had, or for that matter anyone that I know.   Reincarnation is perhaps the most striking.   We are eternal beings with long histories in heavens, hells, as humans, and vermin, and the whole thing adds up to some big time duhka.  But what exactly is reincarnated, and what evidence is there for this?  I find myself lately reading a blog by a Buddhist Monk called Jayarava.  He presents what is to my mind a very cogent exposition of the history and  issues involved with supernatural concepts such as reincarnation, and rejects reincarnation, but still calls himself a buddhist.   I know that I will not in this life be rejecting the constructs of modern science, which I have been feasting on since my retirement, by way of fabulous internet resources such as the Susskind Lectures.  It is pretty clear that I am going to have to find meaning in what remains of my life,  outside the confines of monasteries, nunneries, or other ideal communities.