What do quantum mechanics and Buddhism suggest about the astonishing worldview

最新の物理学より、古典哲学の方が優れていたと聞いたら、あなたはどう思いますか？ 人類史の中で、数多くの天才科学多くの科学者たちは、「これはいったいなぜなのか？」というような好奇心によって、科学を進歩させてきました。(English) What would you say if you heard that classical philosophy was better than modern physics? Throughout the history of mankind, many genius scientists have made scientific progress out of curiosity, such as "Why is this happening?"

[Science and Religion] What do quantum mechanics and Buddhism suggest about the astonishing worldview? [Abyss of the Universe]

1)

What would you say if you heard that classical philosophy was better than modern physics?

Throughout human history, many genius scientists have made scientific advances out of curiosity, such as, "Why does this happen?

2)

A million years after a primitive man began to use fire, humanity discovered the atom and eventually went into space.

Humanity has evolved to this point because of advances in science.

Quantum mechanics, a cutting-edge and mysterious field among the sciences that have advanced humanity, has shocked many scientists with an astonishing view of the world.

3)

However, the worldview of cutting-edge science was derived from a group of people 2,500 years ago. They're Buddhists.

Science and religion were initially as contradictory as water and oil, but why did they arrive at the same worldview after 2,500 years?

Today, let's explore the fantastic worldview from the latest science and classical philosophy.

4)

If you think you understand quantum mechanics, it proves you don't.

These are the words of Richard Phillips Feynman, an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.

As he said, quantum mechanics is notoriously difficult to understand.

The Danish physicist Niels Henrik David Bohr, who can be considered the father of quantum mechanics, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.

He was one of the most famous scientists of the 20th century, alongside the genius physicist Albert Einstein.

5)

One such genius physicist, Dr Bohr, described the mysterious world of quantum mechanics this way.

He said, "Observation establishes reality".

On the other hand, Einstein believed that "the providence of nature has an objectivity beyond human consciousness".

The mysterious world never convinced him of quantum mechanics.

6)

Later, however, various experimental results proved the world of quantum mechanics, and Einstein lost.

Bohr, who defeated the genius physicist by saying "Bohr was right", was recognised for various achievements in his home country of Denmark and was finally awarded a medal.

He needed a "family coat of arms" for his house and submitted the design.

There is a pattern that I have seen somewhere in the middle.

This is the "Yin Yang", a symbol of the ancient Chinese "Yì Jīng".

Dr Bohr was impressed by the idea that actual existence exists where Yin and Yang, the views of the I Ching, are mixed and incorporated this design into the medal.

7)

Why was the genius physicist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, the scientist who greatly influenced such religious thought?

This is where the mysterious world of quantum mechanics comes in.

Let's go to the cutting edge of science, quantum mechanics.

Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that describes the microscopic world of tiny particles such as atoms and electrons.

The world that quantum mechanics talks about has strange and mysterious properties that are entirely different from the macroscopic world that we experience in our daily lives.

Two central principles of such quantum mechanics are "superposition" and "quantum entanglement".

8)

First, let's talk about superposition.

This is the idea that a state has several possibilities simultaneously.

For example, according to quantum mechanics, electrons are thought to exist in several places at once until they are observed.

This is like being in Tokyo and Osaka at the same time. This is hard for our intuition to understand.

The famous "Schrödinger's cat" experiment explains this superposition principle.

9)

In this experiment, a cat and a radioactive substance are placed in a box and sealed.

A radioactive substance placed with a cat has a 50% chance of fission after 1 hour.

In the event of fission, a device that detects fission will release poisonous gas and create a situation where the cat will die.

It is probabilistic whether radioactive materials put together will undergo nuclear fission.

So the quantum mechanical view is that the cat is alive and dead until the box is opened and observed.

10)

Next, let's look at a feature of quantum mechanics called "quantum entanglement".

This is the idea that observing a particular quantum state determines that state.

Again, this is an extraordinary property. You might think it's obvious, but it is.

11)

Or, in the example of Schrödinger's cat I mentioned earlier, opening the box and observing the cat determines whether the cat is alive or dead.

But the point here is that the act of observation affects the result.

In other words, the outcome of the world is not determined until it is observed.

So quantum mechanics has an extraordinary and counterintuitive property.

But this speaks to the truth of the microscopic world.

12)

Many experiments have proved these properties, and they are used in quantum computers, which use the properties of quantum mechanics.

So these strange properties are now accepted as hard facts.

Superposition, or quantum entanglement, is very similar to the Buddhist concept of dependent origin in that things are deeply connected to other beings.

The "superposition" of an electron existing in several places at once is the concept of dependent origin.

It is very similar to the idea that all beings exist only for other beings.

13)

Quantum entanglement can also be seen as a scientific expression of the Buddhist concept of dependent causation, in which observation influences phenomena.

The American theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler said that the observer is not just an observer but a participant in creating the universe.

So we have seen a strange coincidence between the teachings of quantum mechanics and Buddhism.

It can be said that this is not a coincidence but the result of both searching for a profound truth from their respective perspectives.

14)

Let's now explore the essential principles of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, quantum entanglement and the closely related concept of dependent co-arising.

Dependent Co-Arising in Buddhism is an abbreviation of the Buddhist term. All things that exist in this world are created by cause and fate.

Everything in the world is related to the 'direct cause' called 'cause' and the 'indirect condition' called 'relation's cause'. It is something that arises.

In other words, it is the idea that there is not a single thing in this universe that has no cause or condition and exists by itself.

15)

Imagine, for example, a piece of cloth.

Each thread is interwoven to form a single piece of cloth.

If you pull a part of the cloth, the cloth will fray and affect factors other than the part pulled.

Similarly, if you cut a part of it, the whole cloth will crumble.

This is the concept of "dependent co-arising".

It represents the idea that all beings are deeply connected to other beings.

16)

Nagarjuna, a great thinker of Indian Buddhism born in the 2nd century AD, preaches the emptiness of dependent origination. The theory of emptiness says that he preaches conditional causation.

Add) What is auspicious heaven?

Heaven is nothing but another name for auspiciousness. Dependent origination is a fundamental theory of Buddhism that has been preached since primitive Buddhism, and it means 'things that happen because of fate'. Rather than the meaning of "occurrence due to cause", it means that all dependent things have no inherent nature.

17)

In the Buddhist worldview, all existence does not exist independently but is deeply connected with everything else.

Do you also know this word?

"Matter is emptiness; all is vanity. The illusion of the reality of matter".

(Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is formed).

This is a passage that appears in the Hannya Mind of Buddhism.

The Heart Sutra is the most concise Buddhist Sutra or the essence of Buddhism.

18)

Now let's talk about "Form itself is emptiness; emptiness itself is formed", which appears in it.

"Colour is visible, and the sky is invisible."

In other words, what is visible is invisible, and what is hidden is visible.

This is because the visible world is made up of the invisible. What is the point of this?

19)

It's a philosophical word, and it feels like a concept.

But if you read this passage, you will see it is logical.

What we see, visible objects, are made up of molecules that come together when they expand.

And molecules are made up of atoms.

I think we learnt this in secondary school science in Japan.

In other words, the visible is made up of the invisible.

Therefore, all visible things that exist in this way, including human beings, the earth and the universe, are made up of invisible things.

At that time, there was no microscope, and it is exciting to think that the roots of the world have been shown so far.

20)

Now, in 1930, when Einstein was discussing quantum mechanics with Bohr and others.

Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet and the first Asian Nobel laureate, visited Einstein's villa in Berlin.

By this time, Einstein believed that physical theory objectively described and predicted the world.

This belief led him to say, "God does not play dice with the universe".

21)

And Einstein was directly opposed to quantum mechanics, arguing that objects have specific properties whether we observe them or not and that physical theory predicts them by describing them mathematically.

During their conversation, Einstein once asked Tagore a question.

"Do you believe in God?"

The answer was.

"Of course I do." "What kind of God is this God?"

"He is the kind of God who unites man and God."

22)

"All truth cannot exist without man. But the universe would exist without man, wouldn't it?"

"No, it wouldn't. Who will confirm the universe's existence if there is nothing to feel it?"

"There shouldn't be because, without space, there is no science, right?"

"But humans created science itself. And it is also a man who feels science."

23)

"Scientific theories that refer to the world are nothing more than observations made by scientists."

"But the truth of the world exists independently of people. For example, the moon is there even if I can't see it, right?"

"That is true. But even if you are unaware of the moon, other people may know it. So the moon only exists in human consciousness? No, but I believe there are objectivities beyond human beings, such as the Pythagorean Theorem, a truth that exists independently of human existence".

"But science has proven that the moon also comprises countless atoms. Can it be called the moon?"

24)

The conversation went on like this but ended with a parallel line.

This conversation was fascinating, and the moment when the Eastern thought of Tagore and the Western idea of Einstein collided head-on.

However, it was later proved that Tagore was right at that time.

In 2019, the results of experiments have been published that negate objective reality, at least at the micro level.

Tagore argued earlier that everything in this world depends on human consciousness.

Talking about the laws of physics and objects is meaningless without a human observer.

25)

The worldview of quantum mechanics is that the world exists only stochastically without human consciousness, and the state is determined for the first time when human consciousness is present.

The idea of classical physics, to which Einstein adhered, was that human consciousness and the laws of all things were separate things, and later various experiments proved this idea wrong.

The worldview of quantum mechanics, the latest science, has puzzled even a genius like Einstein.

It is a world that is difficult to understand intuitively.

Moreover, many phenomena confirmed by quantum mechanics can be described as occult.

They exist but do not exist.

At the moment of observation, information is transmitted regardless of distance.

26)

There are many unacceptable phenomena in such everyday life.

These complex and bizarre phenomena are facts proven by ingenious scientists in various experiments, and we do not know the facts.

Chemistry will finally catch up with the world views discussed in classical philosophy and religion.

Finally, I would like to conclude my quest with quotes from various celebrities who refer to this worldview.

A)

14th Dalai Lama - Tibetan Buddhism Supreme

We create our future.

Our actions determine our future.

The actions of the present create the future.

B)

Henry Stup - American physicist

Our consciousness creates our physical reality.

C)

John Wheeler - Logical physicist

Our choices create a one-way flow of time from the past to the future.

D)

Frittjof Kapler American physicist

Observing the world is an integral part of its creation, and we are part of our imagination.

27)

Even with 2,500 years of Eastern thought, the worldview of a particular Buddhism, and the worldview derived from the latest science, quantum mechanics, and the many strange coincidences, I feel as if I have touched the abyss of this world. Until the end, thank you for reading.

[Science and Religion] What do quantum mechanics and Buddhism suggest about the astonishing worldview? [Abyss of the Universe] 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYALpDQhIIU&t=880s