Having mentioned that both non-luminosity and the quantum field are considered the foundational blocks of their respective universes, this post discusses where they first meet: the smallest epiphenomena of their respective fields.
Let’s have Dr. Frank Wilczek, a 2004 Nobel Laureate in Physics, tell us what epiphenomena are. In this episode of Closer to Truth, he said, “The most basic objects out of which to construct the universe are not particles but objects we call quantum fields. We think of them as space-filling ethers that create and destroy the objects, the particles. …….. We see particles as epiphenomena. They are kind of ripples on the deep structure.”
In other words, while quantum fields have replaced particles as the building blocks of the universe, particles have become epiphenomena, secondary phenomena derived from ripples in the quantum fields. As the image from Dr. David Tong below shows, epiphenomena are secondary epiphenomena because their existence depends conditionally on the fluctuating quantum field. Epiphenomena cannot exist if the fields they are in do not fluctuate.
As discussed in several earlier posts, all universal phenomena, from the ripples in the quantum realm to the giant galaxies in the sky, are epiphenomena. Everything in the universe exists as epiphenomena, ripples in a field that connects them all.
The concept of epiphenomena as ripples in a fluctuating field applies to non-luminosity because a fluctuating mentality also has ripples. However, as far as I know, deeming particles as epiphenomena and linking them to ripples in non-luminosity is not something Buddha provided in sutras. On the other hand, in Abhidharmakośakārikā (Chinese=阿毗達磨俱舍論), Buddha lists twelve dusts, where “Dust” is a term in Buddhism that corresponds to what science calls particles. Therefore, by describing particles as epiphenomena and associating them with ripples in a fluctuating field, Dr. Wilczek provides a critically missing link that makes it possible to understand that Buddha’s dusts are epiphenomena and are ripples in non-luminosity. However, while what fluctuates in quantum fields is quantum energy, mentality fluctuates in non-luminosity. Therefore, Buddha’s dusts are conscious, by the definition of consciousness as a fluctuating mentality.
Our discussion on where non-luminosity and the quantum field meet starts with Buddha’s lecture to Ananda, who was “the primary attendant of the Buddha and one of his ten principal disciples.” In Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=首楞嚴經), Buddha told Ananda, “Ananda, you still have not understood that all dust floating and sinking are illusional manifestations, born here and annihilated same here. (They are) illusions delusionally considered observable phenomena; their true nature remains enlightened and luminous. (Chinese=阿難！汝猶未明一切浮塵諸幻化相，當處出生，隨處滅盡；幻妄稱相，其性真為妙覺明體).”
Buddha’s lecture aimed to correct Ananda’s misunderstanding of reality. He wanted Ananda to understand that “all dust floating and sinking are illusions delusionally considered observable phenomena” because “their nature remains enlightened and luminous.”
Let’s look at Buddha’s lecture to Anada in some detail.
1) Their nature remains enlightened and luminous (Chinese=其性真為妙覺明體.).
As discussed earlier, “enlightened and luminous” is Buddha’s description of a quiescent mentality. However, while the true nature of the dusts was “enlightened and luminous,” they appeared to Anada as an “observable phenomenon.” Furthermore, observable phenomena are the only reality Ananda could see because he could not see their underlying mentality, given that mentality is inconceivable. Therefore, Buddha wanted to let Ananda know that his belief that the observable phenomena were real was delusional because he “still has not understood (Chinese=汝猶未明 ) that “their nature remains enlightened and luminous (Chinese=其性真為妙覺明體.).”
In other words, Anada’s misunderstanding of reality is a classical case of the Mind-Body Problem of seeing the “body” without seeing the “mind.” Buddha’s lecture aimed to correct that by reminding him both are mental.
2) All dust floating and sinking (Chinese=一切浮塵).
The dusts “floating and sinking” describes Buddha’s epiphenomena going up and down in the air as if dancing. In his video lecture, “Quantum Field: The Real Building Blocks of the Universe,” Dr. Tong said that quantum fields are “fluid-like substances which are spread throughout the entire universe and ripple in a strange and interesting way. That’s the fundamental reality in which we live.”
If one compares Dr. Tong’s description of a quantum field as a “fluid-like substance spread throughout the entire universe and rippling in a strange and interesting way” and Buddha’s “all dust floating and sinking,” one can surmise that both depict a fluctuating field spread throughout the universe. Indeed, given that the quantum field and non-luminosity are considered the only “field everywhere for all times” in quantum mechanics and Buddhism, the only field Dr. Tong can describe is the quantum field, and the only field Buddha can describe is non-luminosity. Therefore, we can surmise that Buddha’s dusts “floating and sinking” are epiphenomena of non-luminosity.
3) “Born here, annihilated same here (Chinese=當處出生，隨處滅盡).“
In his lecture to Ananda, Buddha discloses that the dusts “floating and sinking” are annihilated at the speed of “born here, annihilated same here (Chinese=當處出生，隨處滅盡).” In other words, the birth and annihilation of the dust happen so incredibly fast that they practically occur at the same location.
Since the “dusts floating and sinking” are the epiphenomena of non-luminosity, they should be the most fundamental dust of Buddha’s twelve dusts. Buddha’s most fundamental dust is known as “neighbor-to-emptiness dust.” (Chinese=鄰虛塵). It is also uniquely the only dust among Buddha’s twelve dusts without materiality.
In Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese: 首楞嚴經), Buddha provides details on “neighbor-to-emptiness dust,” as he said, “If the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” is analyzed further, would actually be emptiness (Chinese=更析鄰虛，即實空性.).”
As discussed in several posts previously, emptiness “is often equated with the absolute in the Mahayana since it is without duality and empirical forms.” While the absolute in Mayahaha is a quiescent mentality called Citta of the Ultimate Reality, emptiness can also refer to the fluctuating mentality of non-luminosity because all mentality is “without empirical forms.” So, “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” means the same as “neighbor-to-mentality dust.” Indeed, as the only dust without materiality in Buddha’s list of twelve dusts, the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” is the only dust that, if “analyzed further, would actually be emptiness.”
Therefore, “Born here, annihilated same here (Chinese=當處出生，隨處滅盡)” applies to the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust.”
Is there an epiphenomenon in quantum mechanics that gets annihilated at a similarly fast speed? Indeed, there is.
In the video presentation “Empty space is not Empty,” the host of the show, Veritasium, posted the following supercomputer-generated simulation by Dr. Derek Lienweber of the University of Adelaide of what an “empty space is not empty” looks like.
According to Dr. Lienweber, “empty space is not empty” because the “empty space is actually full of this quark-and-gluon field fluctuations. And, on average, it is possible to annihilate a quark from empty space ’cause it is not empty.”
So, how fast are the quarks being annihilated?
According to Veritasium, “The framerate of this simulation is one million billion billion frames per second. Now that is truly high speed.”
Indeed, the quarks being destroyed at the speed of “one million billion billion frames per second” is “truly high speed.” Without a doubt, it is as “truly high speed” as the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” being annihilated at the speed of “born here, annihilated same here.”
So, if we use the speed of their destruction as the measure of comparison, we can be confident that non-luminosity and the quantum field meet at the smallest epiphenomenon in the universe, which Buddha calls “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” and quantum mechanics calls a quark. With “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” being the equivalent of a quark, non-luminosity becomes the equivalent of the gluon field at this level of categorization of various particles according to the Standard Model of Physics.
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