Seeking the relationship between astronomy and religion

Dr. zhong

University

Queensland, Australia

This article was published in English at the academic conference of the Australian Association for Religious Studies on July 4-6, 2003. )

Buddhism and science often reveal and explain each other. Recently, I got some inspiration from space physics. Master Gong Jing (Master Kong Jinglao) mentioned many times when preaching Huayan Sutra that Buddhism is about the truth of life in the universe, and modern science has gradually confirmed the truth of Sakyamuni Buddha in the Sutra. These inspirations from Seiko people aroused my interest in exploring the relationship between space physics and Buddhism. I recently browsed the network files of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After the establishment of 1958, NASA became the world's leading space physics center. I read the literature of NASA scientists about the formation and development of the universe, which was very enlightening. In the study of the macro-world, modern science has confirmed many truths described in Buddhism's Huayan Sutra, Prajna Sutra and Mahayana Infinite Life Sutra.

Modern space physics studies the formation and development of our universe. This theme is based on Albert? Based on Einstein's famous theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, many discoveries come from advanced mathematics, which may be difficult for ordinary people without mathematical and physical background to understand. However, we don't need to delve into those mathematical formulas today. It is important that we get some information from these scientific studies. Let me give you a detailed analysis. These modern scientific discoveries are so strikingly similar to the truth about the universe told by Sakyamuni Buddha about 3000 years ago. Here, I will use easy-to-understand language, try to avoid mathematical deduction, and focus on letting everyone understand the ideas and make a comparative explanation with the Buddha's explanation of the truth of the universe. I will discuss the following three points:

1, time and space are illusions.

Step 2 make something out of nothing

3. The origin of the universe

1, time and space are illusions.

It is not easy to prove this phenomenon in physics. Although mathematical derivation is not overemphasized here, it is necessary to explain this idea with Einstein's theory of relativity. Relativity is a theory of uniform acceleration in "non-Newtonian system" put forward by Einstein at the beginning of the 20th century. Physics was founded by British physicist Newton from the middle of17th century to the beginning of18th century. It is suitable for the movement of objects in three-dimensional space, especially the movement of small and slow objects on the earth, such as cars, trains and planes in our daily life. Einstein's theory of relativity is a completely different system. In Newton's theory, space and time are absolutely constant, while in Einstein's theory of relativity, space, time, mass and energy are relatively variable. This theory has completely changed the direction of modern physics and laid a theoretical foundation for space exploration. Einstein himself won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922, and was later named as "the great man of the 20th century" by American Time magazine. He was honored as "the father of modern science" by later generations. (Note: He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to the photoelectric effect. )

Relativity has two levels of theories: special relativity and general relativity. Special relativity applies to objects moving at a uniform speed, and general relativity applies to objects moving at an accelerated speed. Einstein's first paper on the theory of relativity was published in 1905 in the academic magazine Yearbook of Physics. In the same issue, he also published a paper on Brownian motion and photoelectric effect, which won him the 1922 Nobel Prize in physics.

Einstein and several other scholars found that when an object moves at a speed close to the speed of light, many physical properties will change, such as the length and volume of the object. The relationship between the length and speed of an object can be explained by the following mathematical formula:

Lv is the length of the moving object.

Lo is the length of a stationary object.

V is the speed of a moving object.

C is the speed of light, which is about 300,000 kilometers per second.

This formula tells us that when an object moves at a high speed (close to the speed of light), its length will shrink in our eyes. The following figure describes the functional relationship between the length and velocity of an object.

Figure 1: the relationship between the length and speed of an object.

Therefore, when an object moves at the speed of light, then v = c → v ∕ c = 1, then. At this time, we will see that the object has no length and volume (LV = 0). That is to say, according to Einstein's formula, the size, length and distance of an object disappear at the speed of light. For example, under certain conditions, you can see that there is no distance between Australia and the United States. To put it another way, under certain conditions, you can appear on the Earth and Mars at the same time, because under such conditions, the distance between the Earth and Mars will be gone! Like space physicist Stan of NASA University? Dr. Dunvo said that objects can appear in different places at the same time. So the distance between far and near is not absolute, it depends on the state of the observer. Therefore, absolutely independent space and distance do not exist, it is just an illusion.

In the eyes of observers, when an object is at the speed of light, its volume, space, length and distance will all break through. If the observer is in a state of deep meditation, the space and distance in his eyes have also broken through. According to records, in modern China, there was an old monk named Xu Yun, who gained great success in meditation and listened to Maitreya's lecture. This true record has become a much-told story of Buddhism in contemporary China. Since ancient times, many people have broken through space and distance in meditation.

Both the Buddha and the Great Bodhisattva have this ability. Bodhisattva samantabhadra said in "Hua Yan Pu Jing Xian Wish", "I made a wish with Pu Xian, so the Buddhist temple has nothing to say, and the Buddhist temple is extremely dusty." Buddha Sakyamuni said in the Sutra of Mahayana, Eternal Life, Solemnity, Cleanliness and Equality that "Buddha (Amitabha) comes but does not arrive, and he also said:" The temples of all buddhas can manifest themselves and are different. "As can be seen from the above, breaking through space and distance is no longer a myth, which depends entirely on the state of the observer and can be explained by the theory of modern physics. So the Buddhist said, "This shore is pure land. The pure land is this shore, and the western paradise is now, which is completely understandable.

What is discussed above is that space distance is an illusion, and time is also an illusion, which is also well demonstrated in the theory of relativity of physics. A key assumption in Einstein's physics is that the speed of light is the highest in the universe and will never change. That is to say, in any case, light travels at a speed of 299,792 kilometers per second (about 300,000 kilometers per second), which is the highest speed that an object can reach. The special theory of relativity was put forward under this premise.

So, let's consider an example from everyday life. Suppose we are pacing on a fast-moving train now. We feel that we are walking slowly in the train because we take the train as a reference. And an observer outside the train sees that we are overtaking him quickly, because we are slower than the train, but faster than the observer outside the train.

Now let's consider another example. Suppose we board a spaceship, which is flying away from the earth at a speed close to the speed of light. Suppose now we use a special time instrument on the spacecraft to send optical signals to the earth observers once every second. In the eyes of us astronauts, the relative speed relative to the earth observer is extremely fast (close to the speed of light). In the spaceship, we saw that the light signal emitted by the clock signal meter per second was normal, and the length of time per second did not increase or decrease. For earth observers, the optical signals they receive are relatively slow, because it takes some time for light to return to earth from the spacecraft flying at high speed. In other words, the interval between each signal received by the earth observer is longer than one second on the spacecraft (that is, one second plus the time required for light to return to Earth). In this case, the time interval observed by earth observers per second is longer and the time goes slower. This phenomenon is called "time dispersion". In theory, you can extend a short moment to a very long time, and your own body is hardly aging. It is easy to understand what is said in the Infinite Life Sutra: "If you come to enlightenment, your wisdom is unpredictable and there is no obstacle. He can live in an endless space, and his body and roots will not increase or decrease. So what? If the Buddha comes to know wisdom, he will learn infinity and all methods will win. " So if we can prove the wisdom of the Tathagata, this ability to transcend time is natural.

Another famous example of time diffusion effect is Einstein's "twin brother". The spaceship mentioned just now should be running at a high speed far away from the earth for 20 years. Of course, these 20 years are counted according to our Earth Day. Suppose two twin brothers were born on the same day, and they were divided into two lifestyles. One stayed on the earth and lived an ordinary life, the other was put on this high-speed spaceship and returned to the earth twenty years later. What will happen in twenty years? We see that our brother on earth has become a young man of twenty years old, and the twin brother who returned from the spaceship is still very young, for example, maybe only three years old. This is because for twin brothers flying at high speed in space, 20 years has been shortened to 3 years, and the growth of physical function is relatively slow.

Furthermore, the return of space pilots to Earth is actually an act of entering the future (that is, from the age of three to twenty). On the other hand, for a space pilot, if the time can be further slowed down or even reduced to a negative number, then the space pilot can go back to the past from now on.

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have this ability to go back to the infinite past and enter the infinite future at the same time. "Hua Yan Putin's Immortal Wish" says, "I (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva) can go deep into the future and rob for one thought. The robbery of the third world is all for me to enter one thought. 」

To sum up, space and time are changeable illusions. Under certain conditions, space and time may be completely different. In fact, the recent discovery of cosmic black holes proves this idea. According to NASA's space physicist, time and space in a black hole may replace each other. This means that space may become like time, and time may become the shape of space. Buddhism says that time and space "don't correspond", which is an abstract concept and not true. Give another example that is most easily felt in life. For example, we take off from Hong Kong on the 20th and arrive in America on the 20th. So don't cling to the concept of time, because time is false! Recently, the master Jing accidentally mentioned a passage in Hua Yan Jing Hua Zang World Goods, saying that "if there is no coincidence, if you seek coincidence, you will seek help in the air" (the "coincidence" here refers to time).

Step 2 make something out of nothing

Speaking of this concept, let's first quote Stan, a space physicist at NASA University. Dr. Dunvo's conclusion is that "the physical phenomena revealed by nature are often far from what we generally observe and think." For example, people's aging methods in sports are completely different; Space can be deformed; Matter can be produced by pure energy; Matter will suddenly appear in a vacuum. As long as there is enough energy, matter will be produced from now on, the so-called "out of nothing." To prove this, we can borrow Einstein's law of conservation of mass and energy. According to this law, under certain conditions, energy can be condensed into matter with mass, and the mass of matter can also be decomposed into energy. This conservation formula is:

E=mc2

Here, c is the speed of light, that is, about 300 thousand kilometers per second; E is energy; M is mass. Energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light.

Conversely, mass can also be produced by pure energy. We just need to turn this formula upside down and become:

m=E∕c2

That is, under certain conditions, energy can be realized in a vacuum with nothing. In other words, things can be made out of nothing. In fact, in the quantum micro-world, we often see matter appear naturally in the void.

This discovery of physics confirms that "emptiness is color" in Buddhist scriptures ("color" refers to matter), and also reminds us of the words in "Infinite Life Sutra Foot Supplies": (Elysium) "Everything is rich. Palaces, costumes, fragrant flowers, banners and covers, solemn tools, whatever you need, are like reading. If you want to eat, the Qibao Bowl will naturally come first, and all kinds of food will naturally be full ... Things will disappear and reappear. " This comfortable life state of Elysium can be completely explained by modern physics. In other words, people in Elysium can convert energy into matter at any time, then convert matter into energy, and then into energy. Where does their energy come from? They release enormous energy from the mind of chanting Buddha, and can realize material things at will. As the "Infinite Life Sutra" said, "Everything is enough before thinking. 」

Some things can be made out of nothing, and some things can also be lost. According to modern physics, matter is just a "field". Einstein said that "matter is made up of a space with strong field strength". He also said that "field and matter do not both exist, because field is the only existence". He believes that matter is only an illusion of human beings, and the so-called "color is empty." This has been confirmed by many Buddhist practitioners. In 1950s, a monk in China, Master Dayuan Deying, walked through a locked door in meditation. This proves that matter is an illusion of human beings.

3. The origin of the universe

Physics believes that in the quantum world, matter can be created from scratch. Quantum here refers to the smallest unit of energy. So where did our universe come from? Scientists tell us that the universe is also from scratch.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration? Dr. Dunvo said: When physicists talk about the word "empty", they are working on a riddle, because we usually think that vacuum is "empty" and nothing, but in fact, physicists know very well that vacuum is not really "empty". In this state before the formation of the universe, there is neither time nor space, not even a vacuum. This state is not what we usually think of as emptiness and statelessness.

Dr. Dunvo admits that we don't have a complete mathematical theory to describe the state of the universe before, but we can infer that it is multidimensional. The ethereal state that produced this big universe is not nothing, nor is it anything we know today. We use the word "nothing", which is a last resort. In this way, the "nothingness" mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary and the "nothingness" we found today are completely different physical concepts.

Buddhists say that the original state of the universe is expressed by "self" or "Buddha" or "heart" in Buddhist scriptures. It is invisible, but it does exist. It is called "emptiness" because it is necessary. For example, this "emptiness" is as easy to understand as the magnetism of a magnet. Magnetism is invisible and intangible, but you can't say it doesn't exist. Anyone who has studied physics knows that magnetism plays a great role, whether it is a generator or a motor, it is because of magnetism that it shows its role. Buddhists use "eight noes" to express this state, that is, "no birth, no extinction, no difference, no coming or going." Buddhism believes that this ethereal spirit can be wonderful and can show the phase of everything in the universe. Buddha pointed out three thousand years ago that this ethereal spirit is our nature. The first Shurangama Sutra said: "All dharmas are born with idealism, all causes and effects, the world is dust, and the heart is an adult." The "heart" mentioned here is self-nature, which is the true nature. Recently, after eight years of microscopic observation of water, Dr. Jiang Bensheng, a scientist in Tokyo, found that the shape of water crystals can change with people's thinking and language. Be kind to water, the crystal shape of water is very beautiful. Bitter words are ugly to water, and the crystal shape of water is ugly. Prove that the ideal of universal law mentioned in Buddhist scriptures exists, but the knowledge has changed.

Now let's look at what scientists think the universe looked like at the moment it was formed. At present, the formation theory of the so-called "Big Bang" is widely accepted by the scientific community. According to the big bang theory, our universe was born in a big bang about 100 to1500 million years ago. Before the big bang, there was no space or time. That state is beyond our imagination. Even many laws of the universe didn't apply at that time. The Buddha described this state as "incredible", and scientists also admitted that we may never be able to understand this state with our thinking. However, the Buddha told us to use the meditation method of "thinking without thinking". When the mental will is highly concentrated, all thoughts are put down. At this time, everything that prevents us from knowing the truth has been removed, and then the true nature of the universe is completely revealed. This state is called "seeing the heart". So how big was our universe before it was born? According to scientists' calculations, the size of the universe is only 10-33 cm. That is, 0.00…00 1(33 zeros) cm. This tiny number is beyond our conventional thinking. For example, the diameter of a hair on our head is 0.0 1 mm, so how many such origins can be placed in parallel on the diameter distance of this hair by cutting the diameter plane of this hair and putting this cosmic origin into our hair? Through calculation, we can place 100 trillion such cosmic origins!

You know, all the information contained in our vast universe originally exists in such a small particle! This information includes all time and space in the universe, all galaxies, including the past, present and future, including you and me! It is shocking that a hair on our body can contain billions of universes! No wonder the Buddha told us that "the size is the same, the size is equal", and "one is more consistent" as stated in Huayan Sutra. There is no difference between infinity and infinitesimal. Buddha said that from a person's sweat pores, countless world lands can be revealed. We can also understand "different sizes" from the examples around us. For example, the library of Jing Zong College in Australia has more than 80 volumes of the Tripitaka. We know that the Tripitaka has only two CDs. More than 80 volumes of the Tripitaka are very large, and the two CDs are very small, but the information contained in them is exactly the same. This is also "different sizes".

Another incredible phenomenon is that it takes a very short time to expand from this small particle into a big universe. Space physicists tell us that within 10-33 seconds, this particle expanded by 1026 times. At this rate of expansion, in one thousandth of a second, this tiny particle has expanded to be larger than our current solar system! We usually watch movies, and the negative of the film machine is changed every 1∕24 seconds, so we can't detect the break of the picture. One thousandth of a second is many times shorter than 1∕24 seconds. How can we perceive it? The creation of the universe turned out to be instantaneous! Buddhists say that the world "suddenly appeared". So, when is the "moment"? Right now! At that time, the universe was there, and then it disappeared immediately. An example in life is easy to understand. Turn on the light in a dark hall, and the panoramic view in the hall suddenly appears, turn off the light and the panoramic view disappears. The first Shurangama Sutra said "born, everywhere destroyed", which is also called.

Therefore, the origin of the universe in modern science can be summarized as follows: the universe was originally "empty", and suddenly a particle was produced in the "empty", which instantly formed the universe and extended to infinity from then on. From the origin of the universe to the world. For this origin, modern science has only one mathematical description, and we don't know what it is. The Buddha clearly told us that this particle is an illusion of ignorance. There is nothing pure. Suddenly, I had an illusion, an illusion, so the fine illusion entered the rough illusion, and the world universe unfolded. And the whole universe is nothing, actually unavailable, and the present is empty after all.

Finally, when someone asked about other universes besides us, the space physicist of NASA in the United States replied: "According to the general theory of relativity, our universe represents everything, including time and space, including all galaxies and even space that we have not yet discovered. Other universes represent completely different dimensions of time and space. Those other universes can't communicate with us physically now or in the future. They are just on the other side of infinity and eternity, which is beyond our observation. 」

In Hua Yan Jing, Sakyamuni Buddha introduced us that the universe and the universe are endless, and the reason why we can't see other universes is because our delusions hinder our vision. If we can let go of all our delusions and obsessions, we can see all the universes clearly, and Buddha is a person with this ability. When you don't mind, don't think, don't separate, and don't persist, your mind is extremely pure. "The net aurora is accessible" means "this shore is the paradise, and the paradise is this shore."

Now let's sum up the main points discussed above:

First, space and time are only human illusions. Under certain conditions, both space and time can disappear. You can appear from different places at the same time, or you can enter the past, present and future at the same time.

Second, out of thin air. Matter can be created from nothing. Pure energy can be converted into matter and matter can also be converted into energy.

Third, the universe is instantly realized from a tiny origin. Physicists infer that the universe came into being suddenly.

Although the research of space physics has been quite in-depth, the vast space is still a big mystery for scientists. The more scientists discover, the less they know about the universe. Three thousand years ago, Sakyamuni Buddha not only revealed the truth of the universe for us, but also pointed out the way to know the truth of the universe for us.

It's a pity that modern scientists didn't study Buddhism, otherwise there would be more breakthrough progress in science. We firmly believe and earnestly hope that with the development of science, many truths about life in the universe that Buddha said will be gradually confirmed.

Finally, let me conclude by quoting Albert Einstein, the father of modern science:

"The religion of the future will be the religion of the universe. It should transcend the individualized God, avoid dogma and theology, and cover nature and spirit. Its foundation should be based on a certain religious consciousness, which comes from the experience that everything in the universe is one. Buddhism is the kind of religion mentioned above. If you ask which religion can meet the needs of modern scientific progress, then this religion is Buddhism. 」

I am a beginner in Buddhism and science. This article is only for attracting jade. If there is anything wrong, please criticize and correct it by the top ten great men.

References:

The Enlightenment Sutra of Buddhism on Mahayana's Endless Life, Solemnity, Purity and Equality.

Dafang Guangfo Huayan Classic

Shurangama Sutra on the top of the Buddha.

Acezel, Amir, 1999, The Equation of God: Einstein, Relativity and the Expanding Universe, Dell Press.

Ronald W Clark, 197 1, Einstein: Life and Times, published by Avon Books.

NASA Online Literature: http://www.nasa.gov

About the author:

Dr. Zhong, 1973 was born in Guangzhou, China; 1995 graduated from the Economics Department of Lingnan College of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China; 1997 received an MBA from louisiana tech university, USA; 1999 received a doctorate in finance. He was an assistant professor of finance at the University of Texas and Kansas State University in Brownsville. At present, he has published academic papers 12 in American and world financial magazines, 20 papers in American and world financial academic conferences, and won the best paper award in American financial academic conferences twice. He is currently a senior lecturer at the Business School of the University of Queensland, Australia. In his spare time, he likes to study Buddhism and studied under the guidance of Kong Jinglao wizard for many years.