The buddhist tradition, to which I belong, doesn't believe in spiritual advancement over eons -- actually it believes the opposite -- everything is going downhill.

Also as a Buddhist, I agree with Peter... spiritual "advancement" is the wrong way of looking at it. My point is that the monks found no conflict between Darwin's theory of evolution and their own tradition or understanding.

Incidentally, Darwin's ideas were initially rejected by the Royal Society, only being taken up shortly afterwards by the infinitely more enlightened minds of the Linnean Society.

Zen