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| Buddhism and Science |
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A group of over
10000 earnest intellectuals once requested the Buddha to explain the
manner and incidence of life and the universe. This was followed by
a series of daily lectures and demonstrations lasting three months.
The Buddha’s explanations were given to the complete satisfaction of
everyone present.
It is most
remarkable that when reduced to basic principles, many statements in
the Buddhists scriptures are in line with modern scientific
discoveries. Buddhism is scientific in that it combines objectives
observations, experiment and analysis in the spirit of free inquiry.
Buddhism is
beyond Science as it can contribute to modern life by providing the
moral and spiritual guide for the individual in our increasingly
technological and materialistic age, as the path to True Happiness.
As Einstein said, “Religion without Science is blind; Science
without Religion is crippled.”
YOU ARE SHOT!
In reality, the
Buddha never wished to spend time on speculative (or metaphysical)
issued of the Universe as they have little value for spiritual
development towards True Happiness. He only taught them out of
Compassion –either to bring out an underlying teaching, or to
satisfy the curiosity of those who would otherwise not hear His
actual teachings. The Buddha assured us that upon our Enlightenment,
all speculative questions will be answered, and that we have no need
to ask them now.
The Buddha
compared one who keeps asking speculative questions to a man shot by
a poisoned arrow, who refuse to remove it till he knows who shot
it, how it was shot, from where was it shot…..By the time these were
answered, he would be dead. Likewise, we are “shot” by the arrow of
impending death and constant dissatisfaction, and should never
forget our aim of attaining Enlightenment.
MATTER
The Buddhist
teaching, “Form is Emptiness; Emptiness is Form. Form is not
different from Emptiness; Emptiness is not different from Form”
refers to the fact that matter is neither truly solid no ultimately
different from the ‘emptiness’ of energy, as the material can become
immaterial with no “solid” core and vice versa. It is the Buddhist
version of the famous law E=mc² (E = energy, m = mass, c = the speed
of light.). The atomic bomb is an example of how a little matter can
be converted into matter. Though Science has yet to discover how,
the Buddha was recorded to have performed such “miraculous” feats.
He did so only out of Compassion, to humble the proud, that He knew
already ready to listen to His teachings, only being hindered by
pride.
MIND
The Buddha
declared that the primary factor and most powerful force of the
universe is the mind. Scientists today are seeing this truth-
realizing that the Mind of a person can create reality in what is
perceived. Mind energy is not yet fully understood by Science. The
Buddha however, teaches us in great detail about the dynamics of the
mind. The mastery of the Mind is of the greatest importance as it is
the key to True Happiness and liberation.
RELATIVITY
The Buddha, like
Einstein, discovered the truth of relativity-that space and time is
not absolute but relative, functioning independently. Space and time
are experienced differently by individuals in different worlds and
mind states. The world experienced in the sate of Enlightenment is
the vivid awareness of the interpenetration of space and time.
TIME
The Buddha
defined time as “the measurement of change.” This is scientific as
time is linked with the motion of matter (or energy) in space, which
creates force. The concept of time is meaningless when there is no
change. Time has no beginning or end in Buddhism as all things
(except the state of Enlightenment) under go constant change.
There’s only the present central moment of “now” that is meaningful
to our existence.
SPACE
In Buddhism,
space is defined as the void ness in between matter which allows
motion and interaction. As it extends infinitely in all directions,
any point in the Universe can be considered central. Likewise,
scientists look into outer space and discover our position in
universe to be just like any other point in space. There is no
special position in the Universe as it is filled homogeneously with
other world systems. There’s only the present central place of
“here” that is meaningful to our existence.
ATOM
As the atom
(pre-supposed to be indivisible) is recently proven to be divisible
indefinitely, it is therefore not the basic unit of matter. Thus, an
atom is not really an atom; it is called so far convenience.
Likewise, the Buddha says that when he speaks of the “Universe”
(made-up of energy and atoms), He does not really mean “Universe”-
he calls it so only nominally.
QUANTUM
PHYSICS
Scientists
discovered in quantum physics that atoms and subatomic particles do
not have definite locations or “meaningful motion, appear random and
unpredictable. This led them to conclude that the “building blocks
of reality” are “imaginary ghosts”. The way an observer chooses to
view an experiment determines the parts of the observed phenomena to
be manifested properties are nothing but intersection and
interaction of the observer’s Mind with the phenomena. The theory
also suggests that reality is not merely constructed by the Mind of
the observer, but that there are countless realities constructed by
countless Minds- each equally real or equally unreal. They may very
much resemble each other, or be virtually opposite in nature.
Likewise, in
Buddhism, it is the mind that constructs the indeterminate nature of
the manifestation of ultimate reality in a particular way. Given
particular conditions, the Mind constructs reality in a determinate
way, generally in terms of existence or non-existence and more
specifically in the form of the six realms of existence or the
thirty one planes of existence.
INTERDEPENDENCE
The constituents
of the material and mental Universe interact with one another and
are inseparable such that nothing (no single thing) exists
individually, each being equally important. The Buddha taught this
as the interdependent origination of all phenomena.
CHANGE
The existence of
any object is an illusion as the Universe is simply a complex
process of unceasing interconnected activities in which nothing
moves independently of the others. The Buddha taught this as the
constant fluctuation and transient nature of all conditioned
things-even to the level minutest atomic matter.
MICROORGANISM
The Buddha once
held up a cup and remarked that there were 84000 (a number to denote
“many” or “countless”) begins in it. No one understood what He
meant. Today, we use a microscope and see that He referred to
invisible microorganisms.
EVOLUTION
OF THE UNIVERSE
The Buddha taught
that the Universe undergoes two major periods of change that repeat
endlessly- expansion and contraction. This is like the model of the
Oscillation Universe, which says that the Universe began with a Big
Bang, when all matter explodes and expands, forming galaxies. When
the force of expansion is depleted, the Universe closes in on itself
through gravity with a Big Crunch, before expanding once more. Thus,
it is likely that there have been, and will be, infinite Universe is
a closed cycle-not unlike the water cycle where water evaporates to
form clouds before falling as rain and evaporating again. Thus, the
existence of water (and all other phenomena) does not require a
creator as it is a natural self contained process.
UNIVERSE
STRUCTURE
According to the
Buddha, the Universe exists in tiers, the smallest being the
Thousand-fold Minor World System- this describes a galaxy (eg: the
Milky Way), which contains million of stars and planets. The next
tier is called a Twice-a-thousand Middling World System- this
describes galactic cluster (eg: Coma Berenices). The Middling World
System consists of up to a hundred or thousand galactic clusters.
Next is the Major World System, formed by clusters of Middling World
System- this describes a Metagalaxy (eg: the Big Dipper that
“frames” at least a million galaxies). Though this is the farthest
that modern scientific instruments can observe only recently, the
Buddha taught this cosmic view long before the invention of the
telescope.
GALAXIES
The Buddhist
scriptures described that there are “worlds shaped like flowers”-
this corresponds to billowy intergalactic gas clouds (that contain
billions of stars) observed by radio-telescopes. “Some are vast as
the ocean, spinning like a turning wheel. Some are slender (eg:
galaxies observable in Cetus, Pegasus and Hercules). Some are small.
For they have countless forms. (Galaxies have countless shapes). And
they spin in various ways (Galaxies revolve around their
nuclei.)Some worlds are like a glowing wheel (some galaxies have
strong luminosity.)”
QUARSARS
Some world
systems (galaxies) are described in the Buddhist scriptures to erupt
violently like volcanoes. This corresponds to quasars that actively
explode, ejecting incredible amounts of matter from the nuclei of
galaxies.
BLACK
HOLES
Some cosmic
worlds are described in the Buddhist scriptures to be like the
“Lion’s mouth” which eat everything- this corresponds to black holes
that devour everything within its gravitational reach.
PLANETS
The Buddhist
scriptures describe that, “Many world-systems are full of rock-torn
earth-dangerous and destroying.” While this may be true of planets
of other star-systems, it is proven for our Solar System’s planets
such as Mars and Venus. The Earth was also described to have formed
out of a mass of heavy thick matter that gradually hardened to
solidify- this is agreed by Science.
EVOLUTION
The Buddha’s
teaching agrees with
Darwin’s
theory of Evolution and Natural Selection to a certain extent. It
teaches that that all sentient beings, by their instinctive will to
survive, continuously evolve either into higher (and more
intelligent) life forms or “devolve” into lower life forms (through
the force of Karma- in a single life or through rebirth). This
carries on indefinitely till one attains the highest state of
evolution, becoming a Buddha- having fully evolved both mentally and
physically.
The Buddha’s
account of how life arose and developed in our world is starting
similar to part of the theory of evolution as proposed by Charles
Darwin. In the Aganna Sutta, the Buddha relates the becoming and
re-becoming of the Universe over a period of countless millions of
years in relation to the evolution of Human Being, the arising of
good and evil in society, and how the first life formed on the
surface of the water of the earth, and again, over countless
millions of years, evolved from simple to complex organisms. All
these processes are without beginning or end, and are set in motion
by natural causes. In the Brahmajala Sutra, it is also recorded on
how the previous Universe ended and stabilized, re-evolved and
re-stabilized with the appearance of the being of the different
planes of existence.
ENERGY
Buddhism believes
in the indestructibility or preservation of energy. This is in line
with the law of conservation of energy, which states that energy can
neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed from
one form to another. The teaching of rebirth, is an example of the
transfer of Imperishable Mind or mental energy from one body into
another.
ALIENS
The Buddha
described worlds beyond ours in the vastness of outer space and
other dimension which are inhabited by many other intelligent
sentient life forms, many of which are not unlike ours. The possible
existence of extra-terrestrial life is highly agreeable among
scientists today.
CAUSALITY
The Buddha taught
that all physical and mental phenomena are brought about by the
combination of causes and conditions. The law of Karma (the Buddhist
law of cause and effect) is equivalent to the law of causality
(caution) in science. It is the belief that there is a cause for
every single thing (effect) that occurs or exists. With the right
conditions, every effect can in turn be the cause of another effect.
There are no unexplainable, random or supernatural phenomena in
Buddhism.
The supernatural
is only nature yet understood by the unenlightened.
PHYCHOLOGY
The Buddha was
the first to look in depth into the human psyche and its experience.
His teaching is a radical cure for mental dissatisfaction. The West
is discovering that modern psychology is but a recent extension of
Buddhism. Buddhist meditation undeniably offers the most timeless
yet advance methods for self healing and psychotherapy. |
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| Healthy nation |
| Buddhism make people understand and love to each other.. |
| posted by sameera@wwwdesign.net on 2007-07-31 21:54:37 |
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