12. Non-Luminosity (i) A Conscious Quantum Field

In this post, we discuss Rupa, one of the two realms of reality in Buddha’s three-body cosmos, along with Citta.

As discussed in Post 4, Rupa, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, is “in Sanskrit and Pali, ‘body,’ ‘form,’ or ‘materiality,’ viz., that which has shape and is composed of matter. More generally, rupa refers to the materiality, which serves as the object of the five sensory consciousness (vijnana): visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and tactile.” 

As mentioned in Post 9, Citta corresponds to the dark-energy slice of the NASA universe. Rupa, on the other hand, corresponds to the “atomic” slice of the NASA universe, which is usually considered “material.” However, according to Buddha, nothing in the cosmos is material. As he teaches in Mohe Zhiguan, discussed in Post 4, Citta and Rupa both “all are essentially citta (Chinese: 全體是心).” In fact, according to Buddha, considering anything in the cosmos material is a delusional misunderstanding of reality. The reason is that “citta gives rise to Rupa (Chinese:色從心造),” as he also teaches in Mohe Zhiguan.

So, in our discussion on Rupa, we begin by first focusing on non-luminosity, as it is how “citta gives rise to Rupa.”

So, let’s start with non-luminosity by understanding its origin.   

According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (Chinese: 道行般若波羅蜜經), Buddha teaches that “the thought of enlightenment is no thought since in its essential original nature is transparently luminous (Chinese: 光明).”

As discussed in Post 6, Citta, as a quiescent mentality, qualifies as “no-thought” and, therefore, is the enlightened and luminous mind of the Ultimate Reality, per Buddha’s definition.

However, according to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, in the Aṅguttara Nikāya (Chinese: 增一阿含經), Buddha stated, “The mind, O monks, is luminous, but defiled by adventitious defilements.”

 So, how can Citta change, and what does defilement mean?

As a quiescent mentality, the only way Citta can change is to no longer be quiescent. In other words, mentality fluctuates. However, according to Buddha, a fluctuating mentality cannot be enlightened or luminous. This is the meaning of defilement.

Thus, traditionally, the fluctuating mentality can either be called “unenlightened (Chinese: 不覺心)” or “non-luminous (Romanized Sanskrit: tamasa; Chinese: 無明).” In fact, both terms are used. While “unenlightened” generally refers to the unenlightened mental state of living beings (Romanized Sanskrit: sattva; Chinese: 眾生), “non-luminosity” typically denotes the realm of fluctuating mentality that permeates the universe, as does the Ultimate Reality. An example of non-luminosity used as a realm of fluctuating mentality is its role as the first link in Buddha’s doctrine known as the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination (Chinese: 十二緣起).

So, what is adventitious?

Adventitious (Chinese: 不定的, 偶然的, 外來的), by definition, means “associated with something by chance rather than as an integral part; extrinsic.“

• In Buddhism, when things are associated by chance, it means there is no causal relationship between Citta and non-luminosity.
• In other words, in addition to being “noncausal (Chinese: 非因緣)” with respect to external factors for Citta and Rupa, as Buddha teaches in Such is the Way of Dharma ( mentioned in Post 5), there is no causal relationship between them either.
• Extrinsic means that Citta and non-luminosity are separate, existing separately in their own realms, as already discussed in the Post on Such is the Way of Dharma.  

As a realm of fluctuating mentality, non-luminosity is equivalent to the quantum energy field in quantum mechanics for many reasons. Three of them are:

• As a field of fluctuating mentality, non-luminosity corresponds to the quantum energy field in quantum mechanics because thoughts are quantized.
• As the first link in Buddha’s doctrine known as the Twelvefold Chain of Dependent Origination, non-luminosity corresponds to the quantum energy field in its role as the foundational block of the quantum-mechanical universe.
• Given that non-luminosity and the quantum energy field are both fields of fluctuations, epiphenomena are also a shared feature between Buddhism and quantum mechanics.  

In this post, we focus on non-luminosity as a quantum field.

A) Non-liminosity as a Quantum Field

For non-luminosity to be equivalent to the quantum energy field in quantum mechanics, it must fit the scientific meaning of “quantum.”

A quantum, by definition, “is a discrete quantity of energy proportional in magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents.” It was discovered by Dr. Max Planck in 1900, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Examples of quantized phenomena include photons and electrons.

However, photons and electrons are themselves energy. Therefore, “a discrete quantity of energy of a photon or electron” is nothing more than “a discrete quantity of energy” of the “energy.” While it makes sense in the context of scientific investigation, it does not relate to what is quantized in nature.  

However, anyone who has attempted meditation would understand that their thoughts come and go rapidly in “discrete quantities.” However, in Buddha’s cosmos, “discrete quantities” of thoughts do not originate with humans; they first arise from the tiniest beings in the universe to have consciousness, an epiphenomenon in non-luminosity, known as “neighbor-to-emptiness dust,” as discussed in the Post Overview.

It is essential to understand that while an epiphenomenon in quantum mechanics is energy, an epiphenomenon in Buddhism, as ripples in mentality, refers to an individual thought, as shown in the image below.

The point to be made at this time is that, in Buddhism, as in quantum mechanics, quantization begins at the tiniest epiphenomena, indicating that the quantization of photons and electrons is also possible in Buddhism.  

B) Empty Space is not Empty

To understand the meaning of “empty space is not empty,” we turn to Dr. David Tong, “a British theoretical physicist,” and “a professor at the University of Cambridge.” In his video lecture, Quantum Fields: The Real Building Blocks of the Universe, Dr. Tong described “empty space is not empty” as, “Take a box, and take every single thing that exists out that box, take all the particles out the box, all the atoms out the box: what you are left with is a pure vacuum, and this is what the vacuum looks like.”

Then, he showed this computer simulation.

http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/theory/staff/leinweber/VisualQCD/Nobel/ActionAPE5LQanimXs30.gif.

Dr. Tong continued, “So, what you are looking at here is a computer simulation using our best theory of physics, which is called the Standard Model. It’s a computer simulation of absolutely nothing. This is an empty space, literally an empty space with nothing in it. This is the simplest thing you could possibly imagine in the universe. What you are looking at here is that even when the particles are taken out, the field still exists. ……..Even when there is nothing else there, the field is constantly bubbling and fluctuating in a very complicated way. These things are what we call quantum vacuum fluctuations. This is what nothingness looks like from the perspective of our current theories.”

In other words, a “space with nothing in it” does not exist in the universe, because “the simplest thing you could possibly imagine in the universe,” is already full of “quantum vacuum fluctuations.

However, if the simplest thing in the quantum-mechanical universe is full of fluctuations, so is the simplest thing in the Buddhist universe full of fluctuations. In fact, non-luminosity exists because it is a realm of fluctuating mentality. In Buddha’s cosmos, Citta and non-luminosity are separated because they have different fluctuating states. While Citta is a quiescent mentality, non-luminosity exists because it is already full of fluctuating mentality.

Given that consciousness is defined as a fluctuating mentality, non-luminosity, therefore, is a field of consciousness, in addition to being a quantum field.

C) One Field Everywhere For All Times

1. One Field

• In discussing “How is the Cosmos Constructed?,” the host of Closer to Truth, Dr. Robert Kuhn, asked Dr. Frank Wickek, a 2004 Nobel Laureate physicist, why “with all these particles, what 10 to the eightieth protons or whatever, why are they all the same (in the universe)?”
  • Dr. Wiczek responded, “That says something very profound about how the universe is constructed.” “The most basic objects out of which to construct the universe are not particles but objects we call quantum fields.” “There is something called an electron field that actually appears in our equations that creates electrons. Since there is only one such field, and it has the same property everywhere for all times, all the electrons it makes have the same property.”
    • It is essential to note that what Dr. Wilczek called the “electron field” is simply another way of describing a quantum energy field, as electrons are merely a way of describing quantum energy to accommodate its use in specific scientific theories.
  • In other words, saying there is only one electron field that constructs the universe is the same as saying there is only one quantum energy field that constructs the universe. If that is the case, then non-luminosity is also the only fluctuating field in Buddhism that constructs the universe.

1. For All Times

• In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra (Chinese: 勝鬘師子吼一乘大方便方廣經, English: Lion’s Roar of Queen Śrīmālā), “one of the main early Mahāyāna Buddhist texts belonging to the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras that teaches the doctrines of Buddha-nature and “One Vehicle” through the words of the Indian queen Śrīmālā,” Buddha describes non-luminosity as “non-luminosity without beginning (Chinese: 無始無明).”
  • • However, Purna (Chinese: 富樓那), a disciple of Buddha and the “foremost in expounding the Dharma,” did not understand the meaning of “non-luminosity without beginning.”
    • So, in Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese=大佛頂首楞嚴經), “a Mahāyāna sūtra that has been especially influential in Chan Buddhism,” he asked Buddha, “Where does non-luminosity without a beginning come from (Chinese: 無始無明是怎麼來的)?”
      • The logic behind Purna’s question is simple: if non-luminosity is the foundation block of the universe, then where does non-luminosity come from?
    • In this one-minute clip, Dharma Master Jing Kong said that Buddha told Purna, “It does not have a reason. It comes from nowhere, and goes to nowhere (Chinese: 它沒有來處, 也沒有去處).” In other words, non-luminosity does not have a beginning, nor does it have an end. It is eternal and has existed from immemorial times.
      • This, of course, is compatible with what Buddha teaches in Such is the Way of Dharma (Chinese: 法爾如是), where he teaches that the nature of the existence of both Citta and Rupa is “eternal” and “noncausal (Chinese: 非因緣).

D) The universe is a quantum mechanical wave function.

In this episode of “What Exists?”, the host of Closer to Truth, Dr. Robert Kuhn, asked Dr. Sean Carroll, “an American theoretical physicist who specializes in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and the philosophy of science,” “What are the most fundamental categories that we can classify reality in its total sense?” Dr. Carroll responded, “My best guess is that the universe is a quantum mechanical wave function, and that is all that exists.”

Indeed, if Buddha were asked the same question, his answer would be, “The universe is a non-luminosity wave function, and that is all that exists.” The only difference would be that non-luminosity, as a realm of fluctuating mentality, is conscious. Therefore, while everything the quantum mechanical wave function builds is energy, or a”quantitative property,” everything that non-luminosity builds is conscious.  

In a universe that is built by non-luminosity, not only can human babies be born with consciousness, but plants such as mimosas folding, unicellular organisms such as amoeba engulfing paramecia, and paramecia’s attempt to escape, minerals like memory in water, animals like a lion’s emotional reunion with a human who raised him, etc., are all conscious.

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