Physics and buddhism: The problem of the beginning

Physics and Buddhism: The
Problem of The Beginning
by Ng Xin Zhao
aka The Evolution of Cosmology

Overview
•
Kalama Sutta
•
Problem Statement
•
Dalai Lama’s reply
•
Conventional wisdom
•
Physics Part
•
Conclusion

Kalama Sutta (AN 3.65)
The Buddha named ten specific sources which knowledge should
not be immediately viewed as truthful without further
investigation to avoid fallacies:
•
by revelations
•
by traditions
•
by rumour, gossip, hearsay
•
by scriptures,
•
by logical conjecture,
•
by it is a point of view, (common sense)
•
by having considered the reasons, (Philosophical dogmatism)
•
by agreement through One's own theories
•
by experts
•
by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.‘ (Authority)

Kalama Sutta (AN 3.65)
When you know for yourselves that,
•
These qualities are skillful;
•
these qualities are blameless;
•
these qualities are praised by the wise;
•
these qualities, when adopted & carried out,
lead to welfare & to happiness
— then you should enter & remain in them.

Problem Statement
•
From an inconceivable beginning comes
transmigration. A beginning point is not evident,
though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by
craving are transmigrating & wandering on. (SN
15.13)
•
There comes a time, Vasettha, when, sooner or later
after a long period, this world contracts. ….But
sooner or later, after a very long period, this world
begins to expand again (DN 27)
•
Plus the concept of Kalpas (measure of age of one
cycle of universe), infinite Buddhas, dependent co-
arising…
•
Implies beginningless cyclic universes
•
Contradicts current Big Bang Theory!

Dalai’s Lama reply
•
“Even admitting that there was only one grand
cosmic explosion, we can ask if this was the
origin of the entire universe or only the
commencement of our cosmic system in
particular. The fundamental question,
therefore, whether the big bang, which,
according to modern cosmologists, marks the
commencement of our current cosmic system,
was the beginning of everything” - The
universe in a Single Atom (page 103)

Conventional Wisdom
•
Analogy by the Buddha in reply to the question: “Is the
cosmos eternal? Etc…” by a monk who threatens to leave the
holy life if it is not answered
•
A man was shot by a poison arrow
•
'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the
shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow,
a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander
arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain
unknown to him.
•
"In the same way, if anyone were to say, 'I won't live the holy
life under the Blessed One as long as he does not declare to
me that 'The cosmos is eternal,'... or that 'After death a
Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist,' the man would
die and those things would still remain undeclared by the
Tathagata. (MN 63)
•
Don’t ask nonsense questions, just meditate

Unconjecturable (AN 4.77)
"There are these four unconjecturables that are not to be
conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to
anyone who conjectured about them. Which four?
1. "The Buddha-range of the Buddhas[1] is an unconjecturable that
is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness &
vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
2. "The jhana-range of a person in jhana...[2]
3. "The [precise working out of the] results of kamma...
4. "Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an
unconjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would
bring madness & vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
"These are the four unconjecturables that are not to be
conjectured about, that would bring madness & vexation to
anyone who conjectured about them."

This Presentation
By Kalama Sutta and the conventional wisdom this
presentation is a waste of time, but that’s what
cosmologists do
•
It addresses one important question too:
Physics says there is a beginning, the Buddha says there is
none, so is Buddhism wrong?
•
To inspire people who distrust religion as a whole and
trust science generally ...to come and see Buddhism.
•
To avoid clinging towards any particular viewpoint, be it
Physics or Buddhism as in accordance to the Buddha's
teachings, by seeing the various changes in the
evolution of cosmological model in Physics.

Summary
•
Buddhist cosmology demands a beginningless,
cyclic universe to be consistent with teachings
•
Current Cosmology model is the Big Bang
Theory, but with a Singularity that needs
quantum gravity theory
•
2 different quantum gravity theories produces
2 different cyclic universes
•
Many discussions and verification underway…

Overview (Physics Part)
•
Quantum & Gravity
•
From Copernicus, Einstein to
the Big Bang Theory
•
Problems of The “Beginning"
•
Inflation
•
Quantum Gravity theories
•
Eternal inflation
•
Cyclic Universes
–
Entropy
–
M-theory, branes
Widely
accepted/
recognized in
the field
Research
frontier and
different
contending
theories

At very small scales, due to
Uncertainty Principle, Virtual
Particles pair production happens:
Quantum Foam
Quantum
Happens
•At very small scales
•Everywhere
•Very fast

General Relativity: Matter curves spacetime,
spacetime tells matter how to move
Gravity adds up, most important consideration in
Cosmological scale
Gravity

Einstein’s Static Universe
1
2
R g R Tµν µν µνκ− =
1
2
R g R g Tµν µν µν µνκ− + Λ =
How space-time
curves
Mass-energy-
stress tensor
Einstein’s
equation for
General
Relativity:
Cosmological
Constant,
Antigravity
The Universe is
expanding!
The Cosmological
Constant is my
Greatest Blunder!

Cosmological principle
The Copernican principle can be extended to become the cosmological principle
Cosmological principle: Viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of the
Universe are the same for all observers. (in space)
Perfect Cosmological principle: Viewed on a sufficiently large scale, the properties of
the Universe are the same for all observers. (in space and time)

•
Aka. Infinite Universe theory or continuous
creation
•
The Universe has always been expanding,
matter always created to adhere to perfect
cosmological principle
•
Has no beginning and no end, the universe
looks the same at all times
Steady State Theory

•
Universe was denser and therefore different in
the past
•
We know (almost) everything until the Plank
time after the supposed singularity
•
(Conventional) There was a beginning, the end
depends on the curvature of the universe
Big Bang Theory

•
Forget about which one won in the end,
•
Which theory would you support if you were a
Buddhist at that era?
Poll

•
Discovery of Cosmic Microwave Background
Radiation favours Big Bang Theory
•
The relative abundance of the light elements
(H, He) is consistent with the Big Bang
nucleosynthesis
•
Age of stars not older than the Universe
•
Evolution of Galaxies
And the Winner is…

•
Singularity: point of zero Volume, infinite
density, infinite curvature of Spacetime
•
Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking wrote a
paper in 1970 proving that the there must
have been a big bang singularity provided only
that
–
General Relativity is correct and
–
the universe contains as much matter as we
observe
Inevitable Singularity

•
Problem: Unpredictability of Singularity, all
known physical laws breaks down
•
Singularities implies General Relativity breaks
down near the “beginning” of the universe
•
Quantum effects (science at the very small
scale) must be combined: quantum gravity
•
What’s before the Big Bang?
•
General trend of this presentation:
Beginningless universe
The Problem of The “Beginning”

•
The Universe expanded exponentially for a
short time, solving the:
–
Horizon Problem: The Cosmic Microwave
Background Radiation to be (quite) uniform, but
light has no time to travel from one end of the
universe to another
–
Flatness Problem: Our universe is close to a
certain critical density, it must be even closer in the
past, why is it so fined tuned?
•
Evidence: Fluctuations (due to quantum foam)
in the Cosmic Microwave Background
Inflation

Recap
•
Quantum & Gravity
•
From Copernicus, Einstein
to the Big Bang Theory
•
Problems of The
“Beginning"
•
Inflation
•
Quantum Gravity theories
•
Eternal inflation
•
Cyclic Universes
Widely
accepted/
recognized in
the field
Research
frontier and
different
contending
theories

•
Loop quantum gravity
–
Space is made of quantized loops
–
Quantum reformulated in the principles of
General Relativity
•
String Theory / M-Theory
–
Everything is made up of (very small) vibrating
strings (Gravity in terms of quantum)
–
11 dimensions for M-theory, add in branes (2D or
more dimensional object)
–
Our universe might be living in a giant 4D brane!
Quantum Gravity Theories

Several models of Cyclic universes,
Big Bounce:
•
The universe experiences Big Crunch and followed
by a Big Bounce, endless and beginningless cycles
of universes
Cyclic Universes
Possible because of loop quantum
gravity

•
Entropy (disorder) increases with each bounce,
size becomes bigger for each universes:
–
there must be a beginning, and
•
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9805201: 1998
discovery of accelerated expansion of the
Universe implies the end of the universe might
not be a Big Crunch
Problems for Cyclic Universes
1
2
R g R g Tµν µν µν µνκ− + Λ =
Cosmological Constant
is back! Dark Energy

•
If the Universe inflated, what’s stopping some
part of it to continue to inflate?
•
The universe will inflate forever forward, why
not extend this backwards?
•
No beginning, no end to the multiverse
•
http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.3706,
http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.1995: Evidence in the
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation of
collisions with other Universes
Eternal Inflation

In the Anguttara Nikaya (Vol. II, p. 142; The
Fours, No. 156), the Buddha says:
There are four incalculable epochs, Bhikkhus.
The four are:
the enveloping epoch;
the enveloped epoch;
the developing epoch;
the developed epoch.
The epoch, Bhikkhus, during which there is
cosmic envelopment is not easy to reckon as so
More from Buddhism

Dark energy in the form of phantom energy (w
< -1)
Universe accelerates so fast, Big Rip happens
Just before everything rips apart, there is a
turnaround, for a small piece of space
The Big Bounce that happens afterwards has
entropy reset and low
Possible problem: Each cycle produces more
universes, might there be a primordial universe?
Unless there is infinite Universes
The Baum–Frampton model

•
Universes exist on branes (infinitely big), two
branes collide, causing Big Bang, always
expanding, cyclically recurring, no need for
inflation.
The Steinhardt–Turok model

•
Mithani and Vilenkin argue that the universe
could not be past-eternal and must have had a
beginning: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.4658
•
Susskind replies for all practical purposes, the
universe was past-eternal:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.5385 (Both 2012)
Ongoing Discussions

•
Cosmology is getting more and more active
•
Experimental/Observational predictions by
models are to be tested
–
Scanning the Cosmic Microwave Background
–
LHC detecting extra dimensions gravity leak into
•
What’s the real motivation? To get rid of
singularity or the beginning?
•
The real motivation in Buddhist point of view:
Beginningless Cyclic Universe
Conclusion? (for Physics)

The Baum–Frampton model
•
Universe accelerates so fast, Big Rip happens
•
Just before everything rips apart, there is a
turnaround, for a small piece of space
•
The Big Bounce that happens afterwards has
entropy reset and low
Who knows what’s the next top model?
Only Consistent Model So Far…

•
"Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the
world is an unconjecturable that is not to be
conjectured about, that would bring madness &
vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
•
Impermanence of views
•
Yet, we are getting closer and closer to the
truth: practice so that we are closer and closer
to Nibbana
Reflection

Summary
•
Buddhist cosmology demands a beginningless,
cyclic universe to be consistent with teachings
•
Current Cosmology model is the Big Bang
Theory, but with a Singularity that needs
quantum gravity theory
•
2 different quantum gravity theory produces 2
different cyclic universes
•
Many discussions and verification underway…
•
Meanwhile drop all these and pull out the
arrow!
Shut Up and
Meditate!

References & Pictures sources
•
Wikipedia, google, etc…•
http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2011/01/albert_einsteins_brain.html
•
http://astronomylinks.wikispaces.com/Edwin+Hubble
•
http://www.learner.org/courses/mathilluminated/units/13/textbook/03.php
•
http://people.physics.carleton.ca/~watson/Physics/NSCI1000/Pseudo-science/Copernicus_vs_Ptolemy.html
•
http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/cas/cas2002/cas-projects/austria_milky_1/image013.gif
•
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/centre_of_the_universe.asp
•
http://magnum.anu.edu.au/~TDFgg/
•
http://www.trillek.net/blog/2012/4/21/article-why-remote-galaxies-are-lost-to-red-shift.html
•
http://ecoki.com/ngc-3603-and-rmc-136a/
•
http://beckyblack.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/writing-to-get-off-the-b-ark/restaurant-at-the-end-of-the-universe/
•
http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_timeline.html
•
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/media/080997/index.html
•
http://astronomyonline.org/aoblog/aoblog55.asp
•
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/imgast/ndecay.gif
•
http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/wp-content/blogs.dir/311/files/2012/04/i-b38c5bc027e5c0714e163f890e795fd6-PowerSpectrum512.png
•
http://www.sflorg.com/spacenews/images/imsn092106_01_05.jpg
•
A Brief History of Time-Hawking
•
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e43gaTXnl1c/TWJVjGYk3UI/AAAAAAAAB7U/cSXZopLVZA4/s1600/CMB_Timeline75c.jpg
•
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Horizon_problem.png
•
http://homepages.iitb.ac.in/~yajnik/publects/wdriv_pictorial/flatness.gif
•
http://universe-review.ca/I02-21-multiverse4.jpg
•
http://www.onset.unsw.edu.au/issue7/mutiuniverse.bmp
•
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/files/49771/Eternal%2520inflation.png
•
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mcdonald_origins.htm
•
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2686/26861501.jpg
•
http://www.zamandayolculuk.com/cetinbal/09/1Quantumfoam.jpg
•
http://files.myopera.com/easteinstein/blog/Agravedad_640_Gravity.jpg
•
http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~quantumgravity/loop_quantum_gravity_2.jpg
•
http://skepticalteacher.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/string-theory.jpg
•
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0133f574e52f970b-500wi
•
http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/thermeq/TE-images/entropy_not.png
•
http://www.aip.org/png/images/bigrip.jpg
•
http://www.treeincarnation.com/branes2.htm
•
http://what-buddha-said.net/gallery/var/albums/Graphics-%26-Comics/believe-nothing.kalama.sutta.jpg?m=1330775849
•
http://astrobites.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Dalai.jpg
•
http://www.findingtruthmatters.org/ebooks/5%20Proofs%20For%20God-eBook.pdf
•
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Images/feynman-richard-quantum-1.jpg

So what if there was a beginning after all? Would
Buddhism demand for multiverse to exist?
We had seen 3 types of Multiverse in the slides:
1. Inflationary Multiverse
2. Cyclic Multiverse
3. Brane Multiverse
There are 6 more different Multiverse according
to The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene, how does
each of these affect the Buddhist cosmology and
Philosophy?
Up next? Physics and Buddhism:
Multiverses

Physics and buddhism: The problem of the beginning

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