Breaking the Illusion (破相) of Local Realism: Bridging Classical and Quantum Physics Through the Lens of Buddhist Doctrine (original) (raw)
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The Intersections of Buddhism and Quantum Physics and Their Implications
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the realm of science underwent a revolution, most of which was propelled by the discovery of quantum physics. (Heisenberg 1925, Schrödinger 1926) This discovery has significant implications for the ongoing attempt to bridge the gap between science and spirituality. Modern Buddhist scholars and scientists have come to find striking similarities between the philosophical concepts articulated by Mahayana Buddhism, such as the teaching of emptiness by Nagarjuna, and that implied by quantum physics (Kohl 2007). Most significantly, both suggest the absence of a stable, fundamental core to reality and that the universe is made up of nothing else but systems of interrelationships. In this short article, the intersection between Buddhism and quantum physics will be explored, with a focus on the doctrine of Emptiness and the Two Truths as taught by Nagarjuna.
THE INTERSECTIONALITY BETWEEN BUDDHISM, CONSCIOUSNESS, AND QUANTUM PHYSICS
This study illuminates the intriguing parallels between Buddhism, consciousness and the principles of quantum physics. It engages in a nuanced exploration of the Buddhist concept of pratītya-samutpāda or 'dependent origination' and its resonance with quantum theory's elucidation of the interconnectedness and non-locality in the universe. The paper presents a cross-disciplinary dialogue, bridging the spiritual wisdom of Buddhism with quantum theory's frontier understanding of reality through observation and consciousness and discussing consciousness's place within this nexus. By doing so, the study endeavours to enhance our comprehension of the subjective 'self' in relation to the temporality of the objective 'reality' as portrayed in both spiritual and scientific discourses. This intersectionality offers new insights and perspectives on the nature of consciousness and reality, potentially stimulating further research in physics and philosophy.
Scientific GOD Journal, 2016
The metaphysical implications of the Yogācāra-Vijnanavada ‘consciousness-only’ school of Buddhist psycho-metaphysics has become an issue of some debate amongst some Western philosophers with an interest in Buddhist philosophy. The ‘canonical’ view amongst many significant scholars is that, as the name suggests, this perspective asserts that the ultimate nature of the process of reality is nondual primordial consciousness/awareness. On this ‘Idealist’ view the external apparently material world is considered to be a mind-created illusion. However, some contemporary Western philosophers are offering seemingly more materialist, or non-committal as to the existence of an external material world, versions. This article examines such claims and exposes their deficiencies. A quantum-Mind-Only Yogācāra-Vijnanavada perspective is explored.
2015
The metaphysical implications of the Yogācāra-Vijnanavada ‘consciousness-only’ school of Buddhist psycho-metaphysics has become an issue of some debate amongst some Western philosophers with an interest in Buddhist philosophy. The ‘canonical’ view amongst many significant scholars is that, as the name suggests, this perspective asserts that the ultimate nature of the process of reality is nondual primordial consciousness/awareness. On this ‘Idealist’ view the external apparently material world is considered to be a mind-created illusion. However, some contemporary Western philosophers are offering seemingly more materialist, or noncommittal as to the existence of an external material world, versions. This article examines such claims and exposes their deficiencies. A quantum-Mind-Only Yogācāra-Vijnanavada perspective is explored.
In scientific knowledge, meaning-ascription is usually identified with representation-making. But quantum physics challenges this view. It has consistently prevented scientists from providing a unified narrative about the world, thus making them fear falling into non-sense. Few of them have accepted restricting their attention to the apparently nonsensical surface of micro- phenomena, together with the efficient predictive formalism of quantum theory, rather than telling a tale about putative depths behind phenomena. One wonders, then, whether taking representations as a paradigm of sense-making, even in cases like quantum physics where this looks problematic, is connected to a bias of Western culture. An alternative cultural stance, that of Zen Buddhism, is found to accommodate more easily the kind of non-representational epistemology that makes sense of quantum physics.
Physical, Epistemological and Metaphysical Perspectives on Quantum Theory: Constructed Experience?
Philosophy study, 2017
This paper will present questions from three perspectives about Quantum Mechanics (QM): physics, epistemological, and metaphysical. The quantum phenomena do not fit with the parameters of classical physics, so a daily intuition on macroscopic world is dispensable when it is the quantum object investigated. This physical domain induces a new thinking, which requires also new concepts to describe such object. The QM is disturbing and stimulates epistemological reflections, as the issues of access about what is known; and metaphysical theme are not to be left behind with regard to QM: What would the quantum object to? What is apprehended when this object is perceived, once considered the disturbing characteristics that constitute its physical description: interference and non-separability? What is its nature? This paper focuses briefly on the analysis of B. d’Espagnat in Veiled Reality, which would represent the physical perspective of QT; for epistemological questions, one will resort...