Buddhism, Modern Science & Cosmology:
Modern cosmology have recently found
out that the universe is not
in a steady state but undergoes
periodic expansion (big bang) and
contraction. The blessed Buddha told of
this > 2500 !!! years ago:
He said
"He recalls to mind his various
temporary states in days gone by -
one birth, or two or three or
four or 5 births, 10 or 20, 30 or 50,
a 100 or a 1000 or a 100.000
births, through many cycles of cosmic
contraction & cosmic
expansion...
Now there comes a time, friends, when,
sooner or later, after the
lapse of a long, long period of
contraction, this world-system passes
away. And when this happens beings
have mostly been reborn in the
World of Radiance, and there they
dwell made of mind, feeding on
joy, radiating light from
themselves, traversing the air, dwelling in
glory; and thus they remain for a
long, long period of time. Now there
comes also a time, friends, when,
sooner or later, this universe begins
to re-evolve by
expansion.
Digha Nikaya 1: Brahma-Jala Sutta
Time & space are not
universal!
Albert Einstein presented the special & general relativity
theory
almost a hundred years ago. Still the philosophical
implications
is only known by a very few mathematicians.
Mainly
Einstein's relativity theory points out that time & locality
in space
cannot be regarded independent if the observer & object
is moving fast relative to each other. Differently moving
observers
will experience different speeds of time even when
using the same watches.
They will disagree on the order of
different events. A 'Universal' time do
not exist:
Buddha also told about this > 2500 years ago � :
'Bhikkhus,
50 human years is one night & day to the four guardian gods.
500 of those divine years are the life span of the four guardian
gods.
�
Bhikkhus, 1600 human years is one
night and day to the gods with
power over other's creations. 16
thousand of those divine years
are the life span of these gods.'
(Paranimmita-vasavatti-devas)
Anguttara Nikaya III.71: The Roots of the Uposatha
Matter is quanta of discrete
events!
Another implication of both Einstein's theory & also of quantum
mechanics is that matter cannot be regarded to be continuously
existing
in time nor in space. A movement of a body is therefore
absolutely speaking
events of disappearance in one place & its
rearising in the next place.
This process is though so incredible
fast, that we experience it as
continuous existence. Exactly so do
the Higher Buddha-Dhamma ie: The
Abhidhamma consider movement
of matter to be serial vanishing & re-arising in adjacent
locations...
So modern Science even regarding physical phenomena (rupa)
is not so
'Modern' after all!!! Most seem to rediscovering of what was
known already 2 millenniums ago but ignored & forgotten as
usual...
Hihihi ;-)
