In a previous post, we discussed the Buddha’s smallest epiphenomenon, known as “neighbor-to-Emptiness dust.” Furthermore, “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” is equivalent to quarks in science, and they are where Buddhism and quantum mechanics meet. For those who missed that post, the term “dust” in Buddhism is synonymous with “particles” in science.
However, the “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” is not the only dust Buddha mentioned in sutras. In this post, we discuss Buddha’s other dusts and compare them side by side with their corresponding scientific particles.
Buddha’s dusts are listed in two sutras, Abhidharmakośakārikā and Abhidharma.
Abhidharmakośakārikā (Chinese=阿毗達磨俱舍論), or Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma, “is a key text on the Abhidharma written in Sanskrit verse.”
Abhidharma (Sanskrit; Chinese=阿毗達磨) “are ancient (3rd century BCE and later) Buddhist texts that contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras.”
In the Abhidharmakośakārikā, Buddha lists twelve dusts, starting with the coarse “finger knuckle dust” and ending with the tiniest” extreme microscopic of microscopic dust.” Out of the twelve dusts, seven are selected for use in the side-by-side comparison table below. They are chosen either because they help explain the logic of how Buddha arranges his dust or for comparison with their corresponding scientific particles. The unselected ones do not serve either of these functions.
Listed on the two columns on the left are the Chinese names of the Buddha’s dust and their corresponding English translations. The rightmost column lists the corresponding particles or classifications of particles in science.
1) The three dusts on top of the list are cow hair dust (Chinese=牛毛塵), sheep hair dust (Chinese=羊毛塵), and rabbit hair dust (Chinese=兔毛塵).
They have no corresponding scientific particles. Instead, they are listed to help explain the logic of the Buddha’s arrangement of his dust.
Imagine cutting the hair of cows, sheep, and rabbits in cross-sections. The area of the cross-section of the cow hair is larger than the area of the cross-section of the sheep hair and, therefore, can accommodate larger dust. The same holds for moving from sheep to rabbit hair dust. The cross-section of the sheep hair is larger than the cross-section of the rabbit hair. In other words, Buddha arranges his dusts in descending order by size.
2) The next one from rabbit hair dust is water dust (Chinese=水塵), and water corresponds to a molecule in science. By definition, a Molecule “is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds.”
3) The next one after the water dust is gold dust (Chinese=金塵). The Chinese character for gold, 金, can also signify any metallic particles in the Periodic Table. However, whether it is gold or another metallic element, they are atoms. Therefore, gold or metallic dust represents atoms. By definition, an atom “is a particle that consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons.”
4) The next smaller one after the gold dust is the “microscopic dust” (Chinese=微塵). Smaller than atoms, “microscopic dust” corresponds to the Elementary particle group in the Standard Model of Particle Physics. By definition, an Elementary Particle (or fundamental particle) “is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles.”
According to the Standard Model of Particle Physics, there are seventeen elementary particles. However, among the seventeen elementary particles, there is a special elementary particle, which is listed separately from the others, as can be seen from the article mentioned earlier.
Known as the Higgs Boson, this special particle is named after Dr. Peter Higgs, who won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013 for discovering it. Higgs Boson distinguishes itself from the other sixteen elementary particles in the Standard Model because it gives a rest mass to all massive elementary particles of the Standard Model. Particles with mass are essential in physics because constructing the universe is impossible without particles having mass. For this reason, the Higgs Boson is often referred to as the “God particle.”
The uniqueness of Buddha’s “microscopic dust” is that, like the elementary particles in the Standard Model, it has a unique dust known as “microscopic dust where rupa gathers (Chinese=色聚之微塵).” While the Buddha does not specify how many “microscopic dusts” there are in the group, it is certain that “microscopic dust where rupa gathers” cannot be the only one. If “microscopic dust where rupa gathers” were the only one, it would be unnecessary for Buddha to list “microscopic dust” and “microscopic dist where rupa gathers” separately. Therefore, we can infer that “microscopic dust” represents a group of dusts and “microscopic dust where rupa gathers” is one of its members, just as elementary particles represent a group of particles and the Higgs Boson is one of its members.
We can also infer that “microscopic dust where rupa gathers” is unique from the other members of the “microscopic dust” group because it is “where rupa gathers. As discussed earlier, rupa refers to “in Sanskrit and Pali, “body,” “form,” or “materiality,” viz., that which has shape and is composed of matter.”
In science, mass was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a body until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementary particles, theoretically with the same amount of matter, have nonetheless different masses.” In other words, mass and rupa are related in that mass is a way of measuring rupa.
In other words, a Higgs Boson giving mass is equivalent to “microscopic dust” having rupa because mass is just a way of measuring rupa. Both represent that which “is composed of matter” and the “body,” “form,” or “materiality” of the world humans experience.
Additionally, just as the scientific universe cannot be constructed without particles with mass, Buddha’s universe also cannot be built without “microscopic dust where rupa gathers,” “Microscopic dust where rupa gathers,” is the first dust to have rupa in Buddha’s doctrine known as The Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination. Buddha’s dependently originated universe cannot be built without it. We will discuss this topic in the next post when we will cover namarupa.
7) The last and the smallest dust in Buddha’s list is known as “extreme-microscopic-of-the-microscopic dust (Chinese=極微之微塵).” Also known as “neighbor-to-emptiness dust” (Chinese=鄰虛塵), it was discussed previously and, therefore, it will not be discussed further here.
Three scientific theories are necessary to compile the list of scientific particles mentioned above: the atomic theory for atoms and molecules, the Standard Model for elementary particles, and quantum mechanics for epiphenomena. However, they all have deficiencies.
The atomic theory, which originated with the concept of atoms comprising a nucleus with protons in it and neutrons and electrons circulating the nucleus, like mini solar systems, has long been abandoned. While the standard model of particle physics is currently popular, it is considered incomplete because it does not explain gravity and requires modification; as Dr. Harry Cliff notes, it leads to “a cold, dark, lifeless universe with a few photons whizzing through.” Similarly, quantum mechanics needs the Copenhagen Interpretation to give it meaning. While some scientists believe in using Wave Function Collapse to describe the Copenhagen Interpretation, others argue that the Copenhagen Interpretation requires consciousness to have meaning, believing that “reality does not exist without an observer to observe it.” That, of course, is precisely what Buddha teaches.
In his investigation of nature, the Buddha did not need to make hypotheses, formulate theories, or conduct experiments. When he sat down at the Bodhi Tree to meditate until enlightenment, the only tool Buddha had was his conscious mind. By calming his mind to a state of “no thought,” the Buddha became enlightened. Enlightenment allowed the Buddha to perceive nature directly and understand it. Consequently, Buddha did not need hypotheses, theories, or experimentations to investigate and understand nature.
No modifications were ever needed and will never be required because the Buddha’s understanding of nature is gained by perceiving it directly. It is why the conscious interpretation of the Copenhagen Interpretation is not necessary to explain the concept that “reality does not exist without an observer to observe it” because a quantum field is a natural phenomenon. It is also why Buddha teaches in sutras that the Buddhas of the past and future are consistent in their teachings.
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