In this post, we discuss the expansion of the universe and compare where it occurs in the scientific universe to where Buddha teaches it happens.
So, what is the expansion of the universe?
In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble was among the first to recognize that there is a universe of galaxies beyond the boundaries of our Milky Way. He helped astronomers see that we live in an expanding universe where the galaxies are moving away from one another, i.e., expanding. Furthermore, “on March 15, 1929, Hubble published his observation that the farthest galaxies are moving away faster than the closest ones.” In other words, the expansion of the universe is accelerating. By being the first to observe that the universe’s expansion is accelerating, Hubble occupies a “special place in the history of astronomy.”
As the image from NASA shows, scientists think the universe consists of two categories of dark and atomic slices. Furthermore, the dark realm comprises 71.4% dark energy and 24% dark matter. The remaining 4.6% belongs to the atomic slice.
According to NASA, “dark matter and dark energy are mysterious substances that affect and shape the cosmos, and scientists are still trying to figure them out.” Since Buddha never mentioned mysterious materials he cannot perceive directly in his teachings, we will not discuss dark matter but focus on dark energy because of its role in expanding the universe.
Dark energy is, “in physical cosmology and astronomy, an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe.” In other words, of the two categories in NASA’s universe, dark energy drives the expansion and acceleration of the universe.
The discussion of what Buddha teaches about the expanding universe begins with Nirvana.
Nirvana (Chinese=涅槃), according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit, “extinction,” the earliest and most common term describing the soteriological goal of Buddhism.”
According to The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen, there are debates about what exactly Nirvana extinct between and within both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhists. Additionally, Buddhists in the West and the East also differ. So, we do not discuss the controversial aspect of Nirvana. Instead, we will let Buddha’s words guide us where the expansion of the cosmos occurs between the enlightened Ultimate and the unlightened realm.
According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Buddha says the following about Nirvana:
“There is that plane where there is neither earth, water, fire, nor air, neither the sphere of infinite space…nor the sphere of neither perception nor nonperception, neither this world nor another, nor both together, neither the sun nor the moon.“
Here, O monks, I say that there is no coming or going, no staying, no passing away or arising. It is not something fixed; it moves not on; it is not based on anything. This is indeed the end of suffering.”
By separating the “there” from the “here” of Nirvana, Buddha confirms that there are two levels of Nirvana and clarifies which is and isn’t the “soteriological goal of Buddhism.”
A) The “There” of Nirvana
In Buddhism, earth, water, fire, and air are collectively known in Romanized Sanskrit as the mahabhuta (Chinese=四大), the four “great elements” that construct the physical world. Therefore, by saying that the “there” of Nirvana does not contain these four great elements, Buddha makes clear that our physical world, other worlds in the cosmos, and their various constituents, such as suns and moons, are absent from the “there” of Nirvana.
The Sphere of Infinite Space and the Sphere of Perception Nor Nonperception are, respectively, the first and last levels of the highest four of the twenty-eight celestial realms in Buddhism. The residents of these celestial realms have the highest meditative absorption (Romanized Sanskrit=dhyana, Chinese=禪定) of all the other residents in the remaining six lower destinies (Romanized Sanskrit=gati, Chinese=六趣) of reincarnation. By excluding the residents with the highest meditative absorption, Buddha excludes everyone with lower meditative absorption in the remaining lower destines of reincarnation. In other words, anyone who must undergo cycles of reincarnation, i.e., the enlightened, is excluded from the “there” of Nirvana.
The “there” of Nirvana, the first of the two levels of Nirvana Buddha mentioned, is for Arhats, who are liberated from their cycles of reincarnation. All Arhats, as Adyashanti, our contemporary enlightened American previously known as Stephen Gray, did, would experience a “void” upon their enlightenment. The “void” was there because, as Buddha described, the universe, the moon, the sun, etc., vanished, including his physical body. However, it was not bad because the vanishing of everything he previously deemed physical made Adyashanti understand that there is Nothing but Mentality in the cosmos. A link to Adyashanti’s description of his meditation leading to his enlightenment is included in this post. The Verification Category mentions two other enlightened Chinese from hundreds of years ago. They also witnessed the vanishing of the universe upon their enlightenment. You can find their experiences here.
B) The “Here ” of Nirvana
The “here” of Nirvana, having “no coming or going; no staying, no passing away or arising,” is without duality. It signifies the enlightenment level of Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteśvara, who liberated himself from his existential suffering by understanding the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates through achieving the Perfection of Wisdom. Indeed, after understanding the Emptiness of the Five Aggregates, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara showed his understanding of nonduality by saying, “There is no birth or death, no defilement or purity, no adding or subtracting (Chinese=不生不滅, 不垢不淨, 不增不減.”). By understanding nonduality and achieving Perfection of Wisdom, Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara was on his way to becoming a Tathagata, like our historical Buddha, thus satisfying his soteriological goal.
However, what does the seemingly contradictory description that the “here” of nirvana “is not something fixed; it moves not on” mean?
Let’s have science help us.
In this video lecture, A Universe From Nothing, Dr. Lawrence Krauss explained that Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding. When Hubble looked at the sky, he saw all the other galaxies moving away from him, indicating an expanding universe. At the same time, Hubble felt he was at the center of the universe, not moving while all other galaxies were moving away from him.
Dr. Krause then used a graphic presentation, starting about 9 minutes into the video, showing that this is true for any observer anywhere in the universe in any other galaxies. In other words, wherever an individual stands in the universe, the place he is standing on always feels like the center of the universe and “moving not on.” At the same time, however, he sees all other galaxies as “not something fixed” because they all move away from him. In other words, the description “not something fixed; it moves not on” describes what scientists call the expansion of the universe.
The fact that the expansion of the universe occurs in the Ultimate Reality means that the Ultimate Reality is equivalent to NASA’s dark realm, and Citta, the quiescent mentality of the Ultimate Reality, is equivalence to dark energy.
In How Do We Know What We Know, Fisch said the universe is conceptualized in human minds. Of course, while human minds can conceptualize, they certainly cannot expand the universe.
However, the best reason why the expansion of the universe should not happen in itself may be the Cosmological Constant Problem, “the largest discrepancy between theory and experiment in all of science and the worst theoretical prediction in the history of physics.”
In a future post, we will discuss how the Cosmological Constant Problem would disappear if NASA’s dark and atomic slices existed in separate domains. However, while the scientific method could never discover two realms of mentality in nature, Buddha did, for epistemological reasons discussed earlier.
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