Important Questions!
Dear Paris, Thierry, David, Pastor Susan, Sharon, Khoo, Nadia, Moh Mei, Jean Ai, Dato’ Ruby, Adrian, Adeline Woon, Wah Ying, Mdm Lim Han Nee, Martin, Albert, Philip, Don, Steve, Daniel, Wai Meng, Wei Theng, Henry and Andrew,
Please see this video. It is very interesting. It shares the same thing as Buddhism which explains there is no beginning. Mind has no beginning and it is beginningless without time. That concept is hard at first, but don’t look for quick and fast answers. Slowly in time, things fall in place. Listen, contemplate, observe, gather information and digest… then knowledge arises.
Watch this video, contemplate:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/StephenHawking_DoesGodExist.mp4
I have watched it and will watch again. It matches Buddhism very well and also it makes me think deeper. I like that. I like things that helps us to think and become tolerant because of it.
After watching the video by Professor Hawking, I would like the above named people to give me your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below… after making comments refer back to it and see what others have written and then add more if necessary. Learn from each other. I put some sample questions below to help all of you which you can find in the video here.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama said Science and Buddhism are complementary. Not contradictory. As a result he meets many scientists to have discussions.
Tsem Rinpoche
Why is time still in a black hole? What is the big bang? What is before the big bang? Why is a creator not necessary when there is no time. Why is there no time? What is in a black hole? From what is black hole created? Buddha Shakyamuni said Mt Meru or all of existence can be contained within a mustard seed, any correlations here? What other questions arise? Does it put you in a bigger ‘dilemma’ or less? What else did you get from this? New ideas are usually suppressed by the current mainstream views (religious/secular)? How do ideas that work yet suppressed eventually reach the masses? Any other videos by Professor Hawking that you recommend?
For your extra ‘reading’ audio file by HH Dalai Lama called “The Universe in a Single Atom”. Should be interesting. TR
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4
- Part 5
“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”
–Albert Einstein
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If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
An interesting read…. Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author where he had contributed to the understanding of gravity, black holes and cosmology were truly immense. Stephen Hawking’s explanation that the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science. What he mentioned indeed had me open my mind all about the universe. Most scientists and astronomers had used the Big Bang theory to explain how the universe began. He was a highly creative scientist, pushing past and would be able to explain, using physics, the birth of the universe itself. Amazing…..great knowledge. Interesting read , I have yet to understand better and many more to learn.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
This is such a mind blowing documentary that shows us all that Budha had it all figured out before Mr. Hawkins came along and had told us all this. There is no begining there is no end… that is the nature of our mind… hence the concept of “time” does not exist does it? So this concept of time was created by man. So how can there be a “God” creator?
Buddha mentioned “it is from this ‘seed’ that the universe was born. Buddha Shakyamuni mentioned that all of existence could be contained within a mustard seed. According to physicists, the big bang began with the whole universe contained within a single atom… isn’t this an incredible similarities? This is probably why Buddhism is so appropriate for the thinkers of our age…because everything the Buddha has said and done is now be proven truth by science and there are I am sure many more theories to be discovered that Buddha has taught… imagine 84,000 teachings… scientist are merely just scrapping the top. Would be nice if Scientist join Dharma full time and learn the teachings 🙂
So if there was no beginning and no end… then this simply concludes that we are in constant flux and change, therefore impermanence…and what we become, evolve into creates the next thing, next us. So basically we are our own “God”. We create ourselves daily, every minute, every second according to “time” but continuously. To seize being created again and again (rebirth) is when one becomes awaken… enlightened. Perhaps like the “black hole” concept where by everything stood still and you can absorb everything simultaneously?
Thank you Rinpoche for giving me this assignment which I was avoiding to work on. Hence I am only posting it now since your request 2 months ago. I am sorry and please allow me to share my thoughts as follow.
When Stephen Hawking mentioned about the creation of an universe is the coming together of energy and space, he is saying that nothing is created from its own but dependent upon on different elements in order to be produced. This scenario of dependent co-origination is well illustrated by Hawking when he said “…endless webs of galaxies pulling on each other by the force of gravity…” I thought this matches well with the second verse of the ‘Twenty-Seven Verses On Mind Training’ composed by Je Tsongkhapa, which says: “Gaze calmly with the clear eye of Prajnaparamita upon universal manisfestation, this beginningless tapestry woven from vibrant karmic threads of conscious beings, and listen to the harmonious symphony of interdependence…”, where the ‘endless webs’ is similar to ‘beginningless tapestry woven from vibrant karmic threads’ and ‘pulling on each other by the force of gravity’ is similar to ‘harmonious symphony of interdependence’. The word ‘pulling’ and ‘vibrant’ represents motion, while ‘force’ and ‘symphony’ represents ‘impermanence’, meaning these elements are ever-changing and non-static. The problem is, however, space is permanent. It is actually the particles, atoms, molecules etc that is moving and changing freely. So it would be inappropriate to say that space is an element that contributes toward the formation of something, rather it is place that allow activities to take place, to create or to vanish.
Although a universe is created dependent upon different elements, Hawking suggested that ‘bing bang’ is the beginning point for a creation, it is the moment where things started to be formed, pointing out that time do not exist before ‘bing bang’. Here, the issue of ‘earlier time’ was brought in for further discussion by Hawking. He gave an example of a black hole floating in the space and mentioned due to the powerful gravitational field of a black hole, it warp and distort light as well as time. If according to Hawking a typical black hole is itself a star, and a star is created dependent upon different elements, how can time then be stopped or nonexistence when a black hole is constantly moving and changing? The issue of time is a complicated one. According to Arya Nagarjuna, time cannot be comprehended as a static entity but should be understood in relation to temporal phenomenality, meaning when there is ‘present’ time, there will be a ‘past’ and ‘future’ time, none of which manage to continue in existence without dependent upon each other. This does not means that time is a mode of action though, and it should not be regarded as a continuous flow through which the phenomena or events move, meaning when ‘past’, ‘present’, ‘future’—‘earlier’, ‘now’, ‘later’ in this case—are mentioned, the concept of ‘present’ only make sense in relation to ‘past’ and ‘future’.
Similarly, the idea of ‘middle’ only make sense when there is ‘above’ and ‘below’. If this is a case, then Hawking’s argument of time only begin at the moment of ‘big bang’ cannot be established, for the idea of beginning itself implies the mode of motion. Furthermore, the term ‘begin’ is used in contrast to the term ‘stop’, so when there is no beginning of time prior to the ‘bing bang’, time cannot be stop prior to that. Therefore, there is no beginning point as such, but ‘beginning less’ in a way. Similarly, this can be applied to how each of our life begin. The collapsing of the star is like the coming together of our father’s white semen, the mother’s red cell and the mind, while the black hole is the growing of our internal and external senses, organs, bones, flesh, and eventually the whole body. ‘Bing bang’ is the moment when we pushed ourselves out of our mother’s womb in order to be born.
If according to Hawking universe is born only when ‘bing bang’ take place, then it is similar in saying that our life were non-existence prior to being born. The mind could not have been started only at the moment of the joining of the semen and cell. So, where is the mind prior to that? The mind is basically everywhere, just that when we are focusing on, for example, our heart, our mind becomes totally ‘still’ there. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist and author of ‘Stroke of Insight’, studied her own stroke when it was happening. According to Taylor, when the stroke was taking place on the left side of her body, she manage to watch how the functions governed by this side of the brain shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-identity etc. Naturally, the right hemisphere took over, and that’s when she sees how immense and boundaryless the ‘self’ is. Taylor was amazed on how the ‘self’ was able to fit into her tiny little body, and realized the ‘self’ not only is part of the life-force power of the universe, but also the life-force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up her form, at one with all that is. What she has said is that the universe is full of beginningless web of energy force that is depending on each other to form matter.
Since our body is a phenomenon of becoming, dwelling, decay and emptiness, it is impermanence and is subject to change, subject to the coming together of causes to get a certain effect. These causes itself is no other than the combination of the mind, elements, energy etc. We can put a starting point for the beginning of this life precisely at the moment the joining of the father’s blood and the mother’s cell, but there is no way to find the starting point of the mind.
The best way I can explain the big bang is that it is the exposion that caused the universe to go from space particles(described in kalachakra) to all of the planets and stars. So before the big bang was space particles, before that stars and planets. So the universe is a beginningless cycle of impermanence that flucuates from space particles to a manifest universe. So there does not need to be a creator becauses nothing is created independently but on causes and condition which or not seperate from it, so it goes on back and back. A black hole is created by a star that explodes and collapses which creates such strong gravity that it sucks things in like a vaccuum. So my theory is that they just go down and down further and further, becasue ultimately space has no limits. It appears blank but really is like a hole going deeper and deeper. For time stopping i dont think it does, otherwise there would be nothing, however things dont really just dissapear. It is a bit puzzling but i think it is a physical manifestation of emptiness that ultimatley things are being truly existing and truly not existing and shows the inseperability of emptiness and appearance and dualism, like the yin yang fusion, the middle way, that ultimatley everything has the nature arise. Because things do not have independent existence which means they interact and arise. So nothing is seperate form anything, if it were nothing would exist or interact, so a black hole is like the universes way of showing us emptiness. Everything is in a mustard seed, because everything is of the same nature, whether looked at scientifically like Don described so well below or everything is inseperable from its true nature, and are a manifestation of that. Appearance is a manifestation of emptiness, and emptiness is a manifestation of appearance because they are inseperable. becuase all are interacting nothing can be fully seperate. Ultimately samsara and nirvana have always existed however only one is true, nirvana. Because it is attained by perceiving things right, samsara wrongly. so it is saying that ultimately everything has dependence on causes and conditions and impermanent in nature, yet manifest in so many arise, diverse and vast. Yet even this is only conceptual and the true nature of things is beyond that. if you make conepts you may not see its true nature. because we say we have to go beyond dualism. To me this is going beyond our incorrect perception, normally we paint everything with our mind. If we go beyong that then we see some actions as good and others as bad, however not conceptually but truely and this is discerning wisdom to see things as they are. So to me it does not make a dilemma because through dharma I can help explain science even greater, so they can help together to find the true meaning of existence, but only if we can cooperate. Normally science assumes solid perception, so as dharma practitioners we need to help the scientists to get a view of emptiness and impermance etc through science, and take HH Dalai Lama’s advice to cooperate and learn from each other, so that all can enjoy the splendor of dharma in its many ways. Because ultimately we can turn almost everything into dharma, seeing the impermanent nature of things or eating with good motivatin to benefit all. Because we cannot just leave things at wisdom, we need it to be inseperable with compassion, because if we are really wise we will be compassionate for all, and if we are compassionate we can naturally see the nature of things. We must also not get to conceptually, but calm the mind and use direct insight ultimatley if we are too develope wisdom. Yet even or true nature is always around us our buddha nature, we just have to realise that our own empty aware mind, awareness like a gust of wind self liberated is the nature of our mind. As we reach the top of the hill to see the open sky, we realize the sky has been all around us the whole time, and ultimately we are not seperated from anything positive because that is our true nature.
I hope this helps Rinpoche.
I bow at your feet glorious master Tsem Rinpoche.
Splendor of dharma in human form.
Wisdom mind, compassionate heart,
you radiate out the meaning of existence.
Thank You Tsem Rinpoche for your kind heart and your blessings for the world.
Colin Karma Gendun
The best way I can explain the big bang is that it is the exposion that caused the universe to go from space particles(described in kalachakra) to all of the planets and stars. So before the big bang was space particles, before that stars and planets. So the universe is a beginningless cycle of impermanence that flucuates from space particles to a manifest universe. So there does not need to be a creator becauses nothing is created independently but on causes and condition which or not seperate from it, so it goes on back and back. A black hole is created by a star that explodes and collapses which creates such strong gravity that it sucks things in like a vaccuum. So my theory is that they just go down and down further and further, becasue ultimately space has no limits. It appears blank but really is like a hole going deeper and deeper. For time stopping i dont think it does, otherwise there would be nothing, however things dont really just dissapear. It is a bit puzzling but i think it is a physical manifestation of emptiness that ultimatley things are being truly existing and truly not existing and shows the inseperability of emptiness and appearance and dualism, like the yin yang fusion, the middle way, that ultimatley everything has the nature arise. Because things do not have independent existence which means they interact and arise. So nothing is seperate form anything, if it were nothing would exist or interact, so a black hole is like the universes way of showing us emptiness. Everything is in a mustard seed, because everything is of the same nature, whether looked at scientifically like Don described so well below or everything is inseperable from its true nature, and are a manifestation of that. Appearance is a manifestation of emptiness, and emptiness is a manifestation of appearance because they are inseperable. becuase all are interacting nothing can be fully seperate. Ultimately samsara and nirvana have always existed however only one is true, nirvana. Because it is attained by perceiving things right, samsara wrongly. so it is saying that ultimately everything has dependence on causes and conditions and impermanent in nature, yet manifest in so many arise, diverse and vast. Yet even this is only conceptual and the true nature of things is beyond that. if you make conepts you may not see its true nature. because we say we have to go beyond dualism. To me this is going beyond our incorrect perception, normally we paint everything with our mind. If we go beyong that then we see some actions as good and others as bad, however not conceptually but truely and this is discerning wisdom to see things as they are. So to me it does not make a dilemma because through dharma I can help explain science even greater, so they can help together to find the true meaning of existence, but only if we can cooperate. Normally science assumes solid perception, so as dharma practitioners we need to help the scientists to get a view of emptiness and impermance etc through science, and take HH Dalai Lama’s advice to cooperate and learn from each other, so that all can enjoy the splendor of dharma in its many ways. Because ultimately we can turn almost everything into dharma, seeing the impermanent nature of things or eating with good motivatin to benefit all. Because we cannot just leave things at wisdom, we need it to be inseperable with compassion, because if we are really wise we will be compassionate for all, and if we are compassionate we can naturally see the nature of things. We must also not get to conceptually, but calm the mind and use direct insight ultimatley if we are too develope wisdom. Yet even or true nature is always around us our buddha nature, we just have to realise that our own empty aware mind, awareness like a gust of wind self liberated is the nature of our mind. As we reach the top of the hill to see the open sky, we realize the sky has been all around us the whole time, and ultimately we are not seperated from anything positive because that is our true nature.
I hope this helps Rinpoche. I am not realized thus most likely made mistakes, may this not contribute to the suffering of any being.
I bow at your feet glorious master Tsem Rinpoche.
Splendor of dharma in human form.
Wisdom mind, compassionate heart,
you radiate out the meaning of existence.
Thank You Tsem Rinpoche for your kind heart and your blessings for the world.
Colin Karma Gendun
Why is time still in a black hole?
依照爱因斯坦的相对论，重力会使时间慢下来。因此当我们接近黑洞的时候，由于受到极强的重力效应，时间确实会缓慢下来，甚至有可能在我们接近到黑洞某个范围内，当经过一秒钟时，外界已过了100年。根据相对论的预测，黑洞的强大重力会使时间延缓下来。
What is the big bang?
宇宙大爆炸是宇宙起源理论。大爆炸形成了时间、空间和物质。但大爆炸之前宇宙的图景如何，天文学家们至今莫衷一是。从本质上讲，这一理论指出，宇宙是从初始点或奇点开始，它经过数十亿年的扩大或膨胀，形成了我们现在所知道的宇宙。即大约在150亿年前，宇宙中什么也没有，所有的东西都集中在一个高温、高密度的点上。后来，这一点发生了爆炸，宇宙开始向四面八方膨胀，慢慢形成星云、星系、恒星……成为我们今天看到的星空世界。
但是，大爆炸理论无法回答现在的宇宙在大爆炸发生之前到底是什么样，或者说发生这次大爆炸的原因是什么？按照大爆炸理论，宇宙没有开端。它只是一个循环不断的过程，从大爆炸到黑洞的周而复始，便是宇宙创生与毁灭并再创生的过程。
尽管宇宙大爆炸理论已被绝大多数的物理学家所接受, 但仍然还有一些涉及宇宙大爆炸的一些次要问题，比如：大爆炸前存在些什么？什么原因造成了宇宙大爆炸？我们的宇宙是不是仅有的一个？
What is before the big bang?
宇宙大爆炸的起点是奇点。奇点是一个没有维度的点，没有空间维度也没有时间维度，甚至没有大小没有长度没有时间的概念。因而在宇宙诞生之前只有奇点，不要问奇点存在了多久，因为时间还没有诞生，更别说奇点之前又是什么了。
所以奇点没有外面，没有里面，空间也还没诞生。更不用说分子、原子、夸克了。
Why is a creator not necessary when there is no time.
天主教会充分利用了大爆炸模型，并于1951年正式宣称这一模型与《圣经》相一致。相信大爆炸理论的人认为，上帝为“宇宙大爆炸”上发条、选择启动方法，上帝允许宇宙按照一组科学定律演化，以及上帝并不干涉宇宙演化进程。
霍金说，只要宇宙有一个奇点的开端，那就可以假设它是由某个外部力量创造的。但是如果宇宙确实是完全自足的，它没有边界或边缘，那它就既不会被创造，也不会被消灭。那么造物主的位置
在哪里呢”？
Why is there no time? What is in a black hole?
在最底下的地方，所有的质量和能量都被浓缩为极小的点，空间消失了，时间也停止了。黑洞内应用于外界的一切物理定律都宣告终止，因此我们无从得知黑洞裡到底是何种光景。
From what is black hole created?
一个光亮的恆星为什麽会变成黑洞？因为恆星衰老了。不过恆星年纪一大就开始变冷。由于没有了热能，这个老迈的庞然大物无法产生足够的内部压力以抵抗重力的收缩，因此开始崩溃并缩小。但如果恆星的剩馀质量够大(约达我们的太阳质量的一点四倍) 那麽这些仅存的物质可能会变成黑洞。当一个恆星被压缩到直径只有一英哩时，此时表面上的重力强得连它自己的光都无法逃脱。那个天体还在原地，再也看不到它了。任何接近它的物体都会被 吸进去，然后消逝在「黑洞」中。黑洞就变得像真空吸尘器一样。
黑洞到底是怎麼形成的？到底這個宇宙有沒有所謂的創造者？若有創造者的存在，那這創造者在哪裡？若沒有的話，那麼宇宙是怎麼形成？霍金教授的黑洞論，震撼全球，然而霍金卻無法改変自己的命運，每天都被病魔吞噬。。。這似乎挺諷刺的。今天，你所定下的論說，改變了全人類的看法，可是卻改不了自個命運的坎坷劫數。
當然，從有人以來，到底宇宙存在了多久？到目前為止，再偉大的科學家都沒有辦法很自信地說出或計算出一個所以然來。
因為這股民間的邏輯傳說被打破了，人們才開始醒悟，佛陀的因果論與宇宙的開創，都有著密不可分的關係，彼此依賴和支持，在人道立場或學佛的角度，都有著极大的關係，每個角都重要，絕對不可以偏向任何一方。
Why is time still in a black hole? Hawkins and Einstein’s conclusion that time does not exist in a black hole due to its gravitational mass distorting both time and light is interesting and I believe inconclusive. Firstly, we’ve never been in a black hole so until then it is a hypothesis. Secondly, these great minds would probably agree with the assessment of the newly discovered Higgs Boson or God Particle, which I believe is also inconclusive. Science is looking for a way to go past the speed of light. How can we go faster than the speed of light when EVERYTHING IS LIGHT? The existence of this particle, in essence, confirms what the Kabbalists have been saying all along that everything is light.
Thirdly, since the brightest minds of science and the church believed before Galileo that the earth was the center of the Universe, the above theory may evolve with time (pun intended.)
They are concluding that mass affects time? In quantum physics it is said that we coexist simultaneously in 10 different dimensions; meaning all of time is happening. If time is thus happening simultaneous than mass may not in such control of time. Does mass affect light? According to science yes. And, maybe black holes are the paradox that when something become so large it returns to a state that is infinitely small or negative in size.
What is the big bang? The way in which scientists explain that the universe was self-created thru matter, energy and space.
What is before the big bang? According to Hawkins there was nothing before the big bang. Using the example of the black hole, there was no time. And, since there was no time, there was nothing before the universe self-created. While the above three elements of matter, energy and space are necessary. There is clearly another element that is necessary and that is intelligent design or overriding consciousness.
Using the clock example, if a clock’s internal parts were not connected (inside a clock) and constantly lightly shaken, how many thousands or millions or years would it take for these parts to come together as a perfectly working clock or machine?. The chances of this occurring are nearly impossible without the hands and mind of clock a maker.
The Universe according to Hawkins is a machine and to have a working machine there needs be an engineer. The building of a simple, wooden desk requires a carpenter, thus a grand designer of a universe is also self-evident.
Why is a creator not necessary when there is no time? I don’t believe this accurate. Some overriding consciousness needs to play a role in this grand design. From the microcosm from cells in the body, the growth of trees to the movement of the planets; consciousness plans the expansions and contractions.
What is in a black hole? A star who’s mass was so large it collapse on itself.
From what is black hole created? A massive star.
Buddha Shakyamuni said Mt Meru or all of existence can be contained within a mustard seed, any correlations here. Yes and no. Does massive size bend light, maybe yes. Consciousness can certainly bend light and also time. While the black hole example could correlate with this example, I believe he was He was speaking more about consciousness.
How does science explain beings with consciousness without form, like a Buddha? Do they not exist because their mass was so massive they imploded on themselves? Would scientists consider Buddhas to be a black hole? We obviously know this is not true, since Buddhas and great beings broadcast their light so freely.
Form is energy and energy is form and requires it some sort of consciousness to change it.
As Professor Hawking said, he did not or intended to deny the existence of God, “God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator”. (上帝可能存在，不過科學可以解釋
宇宙，而不須要造物主)
However, scientists still yet to get the answer of the purpose of or why does universe and human exist.
Many issues or doubts in science that cannot be solved would be filled in by the notion of the existence of God to fill up the gap. But with new knowledge and new discovery, human will have better knowledge to understand universe around us, or better know about ourself.
I guess as long as you are here you will have doubts and have to live with your doubts. But we move forward based on the belief we believe in at the moment, together with our doubts and answers which would or may or may not reveal one day.
How to deal with new knowledge/discovery that challenge our belief? I guess it’s not easy; however with open mind prepare to relearn, unlearn and move together with time will be a better choice. This not only make one’s life less suffer but may be open another window of a whole new world.
I like also Professor Hawking talks about time travel, so fascinating: http://news.discovery.com/space/stephen-hawkings-time-machine.html
I also found a basic discussion of the idea of Black Hole and how other scientists think about Hawking’s idea on Black Hole, time and existence of God related issue in this article (in Chinese). Wuite easy to digest. If you are interested can log on here: http://crrs.org/images/book/1212011125810PM.pdf (檢視霍金的科學形而上學
──評霍金關於宇宙起源與上帝存在的理論)
TIME does not exist theory kind of make sense to me.
Example of time does not exist, People growing older because of the passing of time.
People growing older because of causal events in our body. “Time passing” has nothing to do with my aging. Time causes nothing.
Man invented time, but not by any conscious process. It is just the way we tend to think, like we once did that the world was the center of the universe, sun going arround, etc. (“natural assumptions”, formed prior to knowledge) Without education, science and math we would still have more of these naturally assumed truths and hold them strongly. Slowly, one by one, man is gaining a more correct view.
Time cannot be observed. Time does not cause or modify anything that can be observed. Time is not necessary for a complete description of the universe or the changes of its state. Time’s existence is a “natural assumption” of most humans and a very useful parameter in the equations of physics.
Many people think that science and faith tell conflicting stories about how the universe began. But the scientific picture is of a definite moment of creation in a vast cosmic explosion (the ‘Big Bang’), which had to be carefully adjusted for human life to be possible.
Professor Hawking have such an amazing brain. Even though he knows he is dwelling on such a thorny issue, he went with it all the way showing us his theories based on solid facts.Long ago, many people have been banished or jailed for saying God did not create this universe. What is so much more amazing is that what Lord Buddha taught more than 2500 years ago is so aligned with modern science. There is one point that contradicts Buddha teachings when Prof. Hawking mentioned that there is no heaven or after life. I would like to read Prof. Hawking’s theory on where the soul goes after death.
I watched this video over and over again but i do not know where to start with. But i must start somewhere. Is this reason alone enough to cause a Big Bang. Why there is a Big Bang? Why is there a universe? What is a purpose of this universe? Why are we here? I totally agreed upon Prof. Stephen Hawking questioned, Does God exist? If there’s a Mighty being who created this universe and us, what is the purpose for us to be on this Earth? Living our live suffering so that we have faith in the religion which taught us ultimately we will go to “Heaven” if we believed. Why not just have everyone on this so called “Earth” to be in “Heaven”? Why make us suffer? You are the Mighty “One”, why not just make everyone to be equal? Just like positive and negative equals to “0”. Why make us in the first place?
Why create the Laws of Nature as you have all the Mighty power? Why do we have merits? Why do we have so many types of religion as You claim who you are? Why do we have a religion call Buddhism which realized the Laws of Nature or we call it Cause and Effect or Karma? Which is so logical and familiar with just as a game of tennis. To serve and expect a return.
Scientifically, it explained that Big Bang happened due to the Laws of Nature, which Buddha Himself have said 2500 years ago. When Buddha Shakyamuni mentioned that all existence can be contained within a mustard seed. That our universe it is so small just like a tiny little seed we can also said that we are just in one little tiny universe among all the universes. Perhaps the existence of us in this universe is due to our accumulated karma which triggered the Big Bang hence our karma evolves into proton and us. By me saying us is not physical but mentally as well. Everyone have their own identity which defined who we are. Why is that so? Where do we came from actually? Where are we going next? Perhaps another universe? Do we simply have our own ‘Big Bang’ since the reason we existed was due to the Laws of nature?
We also learned that there’s a Black Hole in the universe before time existed. But Prof. Stephen Hawking also mentioned the Black Hole it is in fact a star before it became a Black Hole, does it mean there was more than one Black Hole in the universe? Remember i said BEFORE a Black Hole existed, it is in fact a star. So there’s is before and there’s a time. What is time? Time has a different value to all of us. Just compare the value of time of an ant to a successful business person. An ant, i believed it didn’t realize the existence of time but to the business person, time might be not enough in a day. So the process of the Laws of Nature is time. We need some time for The Big Bang to occur, don’t we?
I have watched and listened to the video a few times and I still don’t understand it thoroughly. I am going to watch again and again to have a better understanding because it is really interesting. Thank you for the wonderful video.
The big bang is when the entire universe full of energy came into existence together with space like a balloon being blown up. When the big bang happened, it produced a vast amount of positive and simultaneously created negative energy in space and thus both adding up to zero. The black hole is a star that is so massive that it is collapsing on itself and not even light can escape its gravity. It doesn’t only distort light, it also stops time. If a clock is suck into it, the time becomes slower and because it cannot withstand the gravitational forces, it would actually stop. Time does not exist in the black hole. The whole universe is a black hole itself. Time didn’t exist before the big bang hence there is no creator to create it. As Buddha mentioned, there is no beginning nor end and it correlates with the big bang theory. Something as small an atom can create something as big as the big bang and black hole just like the mustard seed mentioned by Buddha.
I would recommend these videos which has 5 parts. Talking about the universe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd1tgLQg4ZU
I am revisiting this blog post after having studied and responded to another blog post on Jesus as “a Buddhist monk” and after last night’s blog chat on Stephen hawking’s “Does God Exist”.
Rinpoche began this blog post with a statement “Mind has no beginning and it is beginningless without time”.I now find myself pondering this statement and also asking why the Buddha himself did not directly explain the origin of the universe(if it were such an important phenomena that required explanation by him).
Instead ,on the night of His Enlightenment, he focused on the Mind.Hence it came about that , in a state of meditative absorption, he ‘discovered’ the answers to the questions for which he left his palace and became a renunciate to discover. And his questions had revolved around why man must suffer the sufferings that flesh is heir to.The most important issue to address which the Buddha addressed was and is the fact of suffering and how to attain peace and happiness.
All other issues pale into insignificance compared to these.The Buddha himself had explained why he chose to focus on important (life-and-death)issues (instead of on other trivial issues) by his use of the analogy of a man who has been struck by a poisoned arrow, wasting time(when his life was fast running out) on trivial questions like the race, caste and color of the man who had shot the poisoned arrow at him as well as the make of the arrow, when he should be letting the surgeon pull out the arrow!
The Buddha discovered that everything stems from the Mind. The Mind is the ‘creator’ of our own suffering and our own samsara; it is also the ‘creator of our own peace/happiness and our own Nirvana.
Hence, on the night of His Enlightenment, He found the answers he had set out to find in the first place and these answers are contained in His first turning of the Wheel – the four Noble Truths, as well as in His second and third turning of the Wheel of Dharma. He also gave us the answers (he had discovered) in His teachings on beginningless time, Impermanence,the Law of Karma,the profound and correct view of emptiness, and other phenomena. From his teachings, Buddhist saints and scholars ,like Nargajuna, Asanga and Dharmakirti then went on to infer and deduce how time was beginningless with the universe and its origin, and how there cannot be a Creator of the Universe because he would be the First Cause and that would be self-contradictory.
I think that (like Lord Buddha and all Buddhists), all religions are focused on the all important issue of addressing suffering and finding peace and happiness. Hence, the Four Gospels were focused on Jesus’ teachings on these. Hence ,like in the case of these two blog posts, I feel it is a vain and insignificant endeavor for science and metaphysics to try to prove that god does not exist or that Jesus did not die on the cross and did not rise again from the dead on the third day. If we find, in our respective Faiths,the Path to true peace and happiness, realizing these through the practice of kindness and compassion and peace and harmony among fellow beings, then we have found the meaning to life and why we are here on Planet Earth.
The existence of God is a rather perplexing statement. And because it is perplexing, it also draws out many layers of our thoughts, potential and realizations, which forced us to step out of our preconceived notions. Ultimately, it was never about whether a creator God existed or not because it was all about our mind, intention and motivation in pursuing this question. The practice of religion like the exploration of a creator God reflects our mental state. It is about the one who worships and not the one worshiped. The practice of science is the same. What was the motivation and intention of the scientist? If an opinion is already formed that we require logic to prove God then, the mind will attract such theorems from the black hole to quantum physics. Alternatively if an opinion is formed that everything comes from nothingness, then, God becomes science fiction.
However a discussion of this nature invites us to question our opinions, theories, knowledge and ideas. When Lord Buddha or the then Prince Siddhartha embarked on his journey, it was also to answer certain questions that perturbed him. It did not matter to him whether the methods he used were from the faculties of science, religion or philosophy. It worked for him. Prince Siddhartha did not seek enlightenment but enlightenment came upon him because his mental state was perfect. Similarly, if our pursuit of God, creation and cyclic existence is merely an academic exercise then, this knowledge acquired lacks wisdom. On the other hand, like Prince Siddhartha, if our pursuit for certain answers come from a realization that flowers from within, then, the existence of God has its intrinsic value and meaning.
This documentary is extremely thought provoking and logical. I never understood what “beginningless time” meant. Mr Hawking’s explanation that in the black hole, nothing moved. There was no “time” as time is relative. Therefore, there was no beginning. Made me understand how we’re just an insignificant speck of the universe’s existence.
God was not needed to create the Universe. It was a phenomena that just occurred. I’m still pondering over this after watching this video. Love it!
Wow, its mentally challenging for me to watch this. I admire Stephen Hawkins for his brilliant theories. He has accomplished far more than any normal person can do.
My simple mind find it hard to grasp that there is no time before the big bang, therefore there is no God. Then where did it all began or is it true there is no beginning?
I find the laws of nature fascinating and applicable in our modern lives. Where there is man-made rules which can be changed and there are fixed rules which governs what happens. In life, many of us have fixed views on how or what a person or situation should be, but it does not really matters if we can just make the best out of the situation and let go of any unpleasant feelings.
Coming from a religion that belives in a creator and I still do, I am still open to the explanations and theories of stephen hawkings. However I find that he solely believes in science and there is nothing greater, spiritually or otherwise that supercedes science and that I cannot accept.
Our ancestors believed, with a mixture or awe and fear, the unseen forces and spirits existed and were in control of the universe but the scientists have proved them wrong by providing different measurements that the universe is not created by God. In this universe, we are just very insignificant specks that all began with a bunch of particles popping in and out of existence. Our consciousness and physical existence as we know, are created from nothing. We started with nothing then became something, in the end, there will be nothing again.
It’s really open my mind with what Stephen Hawking explained. Never really look into scientific point of view. The logic explanations really blow my mind and some were so similar to what Buddhism believed. It really makes me think deeper and I have not even really thought of it before.
Law of Nature is a description of how things actually work in the past, present and future. It’s unchangeable and universal and can never be broken. This just sound like cause and effects which always stay true for what happen later is always due to what we have done before that created the cause for the later effect.
It’s really fascinating to know that there 2 components energy and space to make the universe.
These energy and space spontaneously created by the Big Bang which materializes out of nothing. When the Big Bang produces a vast amount of the positive energy and at the same time produce the negative which eventually add up to zero. This really sounds like emptiness.
This is the principle happen right at the beginning of the universe. It’s another law of nature.
God always come to the pictures as the creator which personally the easiest way to claim the existent of everything because we never think of the logical reasoning of existence. But with Stephen Hawking theory says that we can’t get to a time before Big Bang because there is no before Big Bang. No time for a cause to existence so no possibility for a creator to have existed.
For me if there is a creator why created the world with full of suffering? If the creator able to create why not just change everything to a perfect world and everybody enjoy?
I’m still doubt about the “creator” but understanding that everything happened must be cause by something that occur at the earlier in time, this matches what Stephen Hawking says that know one direct our faith because we choose what we want now for our future.
“大爆炸之前是没有任何时间，因此存在的，万物是没有时间，这意味着万物是没有创造者的，如果时间不存在，看来，宇宙就是自然现象变化无常
至少对我来说，就像佛教里所说的生命是变化无常，没有任何时间的等待。
Buddha has said before there is no beginning and no ending, this phrase has verified by Stephen Hawking where the universe started from a big bang, but what is before the big bang? No one can find out the answer until now.
Being in Samsara, we naturally collect negative Karma even when we just sit down and not doing anything, the reason is very valid simply because in this video, it says that the space is the negative energy, in the universe, it is full of negative energy, so when we stay in this space, we are no different than soaking ourselves in the negative energy. This is my thought, materialism is our negative karma, when we engage into our spiritual practice, it does purify our negative karma, so both of these karma and Dharma is just like the hill and hole, when both met, it went back to zero.
The law of nature is undeniable, the water is flowing downward, we can’t force it to flow upward, this is exactly the same as the low of impermanence, everything is not permanent, no matter how hard we try to restrain, it does not work, because the law has said it goes anytime, so nothing we can do to change this law of nature and the law of impermanence. Both of this is permanently enforced in this universe.
Many people who can’t explain why, they would put up with creation of God, God is the one that created all these, so we do not question god how is these created, we just blindly believe in the creater, God. But my doubt is, where is god from? Who created the god? When does god exist? Since before the big bang, there is no time, everything stays stagnant, nothing exist, so how does god exist?
Stephen Hawking is the life example of our mind has no limit, his body may not move, his age may be old, but his mind is far greater than many of us here, only the mind, he explores so much that proving the existence of this universe, and with his explanation, it matches so much to what Buddha said. Can Buddhism be wrong? Can Buddha be wrong? I think instead of denying this truth, Scientist is proving Buddha is right.
There is another video here where Stephen Hawking asking how the universe begin? Are we the only civilize being in this universe? Stephen Hawking may be handicap, but his handicap never stops him from questioning more and to find out more, what a great person he is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBIsp8mS-c
這個紀錄片在介紹宇宙的形成及一些自然現象的形成上，可說是相當完整且易懂的。我認同影片以開始便解剖古人對自然現象而表現出的反應……由於缺乏認知，因此古人便以為一些現象，皆為看不見的神靈、創世者所造。直到學者指出自然法則是無法被改變的，然而古人卻認為，神、創世者可以改變自然法則。
然而針對這一點，我覺得事實上又可沒那麼絕對。世間上依然還有很多東西、現象仍被世人所辯論、研究。例如，性取向，是不是天生的，而其中的原因又是什麼呢？同性戀？異性相吸是自然法則？男人與女人天生體力必然有差？這一些，都是自然法則，不能被改變的嗎？當然我的出發點，並不是因為我相信創世者或神，而是這自然法則不能被改變的定論，我們可要小心使用。自然法則，或許就是人類經過研究分析等之後歸納出來的東西，但隨著時間的流逝，又必然出現更動。不能被改變，確實絕對了點。
個人對宇宙大爆炸沒有太深的認識，但我的立場非常簡單，即這個宇宙不是由神或任何一個創世者所造。就人類而言，若我們皆由神所造，為什麼我們跟其他人會有那麼大的差異？若我是幸福的，那就是神的祝福？若我是不幸的，那就是神的詛咒？那如果我一半幸福，一半不幸福呢？再來，我非常喜歡紀錄片中使用建起小山丘和挖洞的例子。這用來形容與開始的形態，可說是相當合宜。我們要建起山丘，就需要泥土。泥土往哪找呢？挖土吧！挖了土之後，必然留下空洞。山丘即是洞，洞即是山丘，不增不減，正好是佛教的道理——不來不去，不生不滅。宇宙由此而生，這已間接告訴我們，這個世界的本質亦是如此。
當宗教與科學不謀而合，我相信這不僅是巧合般的奧妙，而是我們能借助科學的理論，對宗教的說法，有更深一層的理解和見解。感謝仁波切的分享。這絕對值得一看，或是重複多次觀看！
這用來形容*與（宇宙）開始的形態
I watched this video a few times. What they postulated was that time did not exist before the big bang. I assume they believed that at any time only one big bang happens at any time. But what if there are remnants of big bang in some other part of the universe? If that is the case then time is moving on in another part of the universe. I mean the universe is so vast and neverending so can the universe fit more than one big bang I believe so.
I also liked the way the video was presented, that many phenomenon can be explained and there is nothing mystical about it. Our existence in samsara is cyclical so the universe we live could also cyclical in nature and the universe expands and then contracts over and over again.
This is a very interesting video. I have been going through a few times and there are some questions arisen and still looking into more details on Stephen Hawking’s research. Stephen Hawking mentioned two laws that he believes:
1. The law of nature
2. The law of cause and effect.
I fully agree that the law of nature and the law of cause and effect where the universe are created by the law of nature rather than there is a creator. He also mentioned about the law of nature where there is positive and negative energy that at the end equals to zero. I understand that there is the positive and negative energy, where there is the negative energy are stored in the space. However, I think there is still energy, regardless of positive or negative. So, I still could not understand his point on there is nothing at all.
In Buddhism, we can always hear about the saying of “Emptiness”. What I understand for emptiness doesn’t mean “nothing” at all. Like Mdm Han Nee said, ‘Emptiness’ is ‘empty of inherent existence’. ‘Emptiness’ is also to be understood in conjunction with understanding ‘interdependent arising’ and ‘dependent origination’. There might be changing from A to B, A is not B and B is not A, but there is still a transfer of energy. Maybe just like Paris mentioned earlier, Stephen Hawking is just referring to our own current universe but there maybe other multiple universe also.
He mentioned that there is no time before the big bang. Time does not exist. Is it things just be created spontaneously and out of no where? It is a bit contradicting to what I know about the law of cause & effect. Maybe there are other things, causes and conditions that we do not know now and he think it is just pop-up from no where?
I am still searching for more of his videos and talks. One of the videos that might be interesting and with Chinese subtitle would be : 我們的宇宙如何開始？“How the Universe starts?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2muY-lTzt0
I admire Stephen Hawking a lot. The first time I read “The brief history of Time” when I was 18 years old, and though I don’t understand a lot of what he wrote, it still fascinated me.
I have assumed that “time” has always existed, and according to him, time does not exist before the big bang. This is kind of difficult to grasp, but it is sure interesting.
Whatever discovered by science, to me, is still very shallow in terms of the complexity of this universe. I look forward to more interesting discovery from Stephen Hawking as well as other scientists.
I now wish I had paid more attention in science classes! This has been quite mind-blowing and I have indeed ended up with more questions now than answers!
I had watched this with the Dharma teachings in mind, trying to place parallels between science and what we have been taught in Buddhism. So first: there is a statement that before the big bang, there was nothing, no space, no time, nothingness. In this case, in a Buddhist context, where were sentient beings before the big bang? and did they suddenly just pop out of nowhere? Does the mind just pop out of nowhere? I asked Rinpoche this and he explained that this speaks only of our own universe, but there can well be many other multiple universes out there also.
In which case, would that mean that our universe (in itself such a vast and huge “space”) exists just within a pocket within something else?
(A brief aside: something I’ve always wondered… is the universe infinite? And if it is, then that’s a mindblowing thought that this place we’re in can go on infinitely. Then again, it’d be even more freaky if the universe was finite – because then, what would be OUTSIDE those parameters?!)
I still don’t really get that whole explanation about time. A thought: according to Hawkins, there was no time before the big bang, which is why God could not have existed in order to create the universe. But perhaps the big bang occurs within a black hole that exists within something even much larger than what we perceive right now. So let’s say it’s a giant version of the black hole that was illustrated in the documentary. So yes, there may not be time without that “space”, but there could well be time merrily ticking away beyond that space, in other universes. And therefore, “god” could very well be existing within those other universes, in the time that occurs there. Could this not be a possibility? And if not, why not?
Also, those protons that just appear, disappear, reappear. Now that just doesn’t make sense to me – how does something just appear out of nothing? And how does it disappear back into nothing? Where does it go? Or come from? How does that work? And in that case, how does it translate on a larger scale? Is that what happens with our minds / existences too? Is this what it means for us to “appear” in certain emanations (when we are “born” into whatever form it is) and “disappear” back into nothingness when we die?
Thank you for Rinpoche for linking me this video.
I do feel bad for Steven Hawking in a way; I do not understand the necessity to address God in every juncture of his scientific explanations. When he writes a book, which must have taken ages since he types with one muscle in his cheek, many people immediately set their scopes on the topic of God. Then he is forced to patiently use his method of communication to explain what is, to be frank in my mind, such a tiny insignificant human attachment. I feel that as humans we should be all here to learn, which means keeping open, not setting definitive “this ways” or “that ways” in the mind — even if that applies to some of Steven Hawking’s conclusions (for example, he leaves no room for phenomena like pujas and so forth).
The topic of impermanence came up in my mind; the concept that negative energy balances out the matter which we see right now. The universe is a stretching “time bomb” and our world, bodies, trees outside, are subject to annihilation instantaneously, never mind “lesser” phenomena like super novas or black holes, never mind “lesser lesser” phenomenas we dread (no offense) such as earth quakes. We use all of these human analogies, like the narrator in the video, that planets are “floating,” or what happens if we “send a clock” into a black hole, or the universe is a “free lunch.” It is quite pitiful actually. The infinite chains of cause and effect and interrelativity of every single subatomic particle of a planet, which can burst and completely change into energy, or make new planets, and we say “that’s Saturn up there.” Or we say “what does the Bible say about this??” Just letting projections cascade out and define all of these phenomena in the simplest terms which ultimately relate to “me.” Like the narrator eventually said/implied, when a clock enters a black hole it is completely annihilated in ways in which we have no comparison, not even fire or nuclear explosions. Its molecules mix everywhere. When we breathe our molecules mix with people who are exhaling. There is no tiny fragment of anything which isn’t interrelated and ultimately of the nature of emptiness.
How time relates to black holes is (I am no expert) gravity affects time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation). This means in some way that every molecule of our bodies has some gravitational pull on everything else, and also slows down time in some tiny degree. Right now time on earth is different than satellites orbiting. The gravity of planets bends light. The only thoughts that come to my mind are the lack of inherent existence, and the futility of our conceptual thought (though is the basis of scientific discoveries haha).
How cause and effect relates to the Big Bang? Knowing so little about Cosmology or Physics… I do know there are different theories about parallel universes, the universe not coming from “nothing” but (hopefully for our cases) a previous moment of something, etc. Universe A seeds universe B and A collapses and creates C? Who knows. What causes protons to suddenly “randomly appear?” Everything has a cause. Who knows how spirits, consciousness, and other phenomena relate to different planes of existence. It seems sort of rigid or fatalistic of Steven Hawking to use the phrases “comes from nothing” or protons “randomly appear,” if that accurately reflects what he said or believes.
I think it’s very beneficial to view things from these large scale perspectives and to perhaps even apply time to think deeply about it. Imagine how drastically our world would change if some alien race contacted us — then everyone is forced to immediately rethink everything. These small religious or God matters are blown out of the water, never mind online arguments about Android vs iphone.
By the way, I remember reading Steven Hawking saying that if an alien race encountered us they would take over the planet and consume our resources… rather grim!
是神创造了宇宙吗？这里已证实了!不是 ！！还没有耶稣之前已有了这一切，这一切已存在，这一切来自大自然，早前古时的人类，因没知识，没研究，发生的所有解释不了的事，就说是神赐的，神处罚的！就这样一代传一代，就有了这个传说。
而到了现在，因有人去再出答案，才能解开这些谜底。
当人类当时的知识无法填补揭开某个疑惑的时候，会（暂时）把上帝放进去那个还无法解开/接受的“缺口”里，这里承认了人的知识是有限的。中间也不尽然是无知，可能还涉及提出“上帝存在/创造”相关理论的科学家，有本身的议程，或者支持这个理论背后的集团，为了巩固本身的地位而倾入人力物力大力支持这样一个理论。
These are my thoughts.
Amazing indeed is Stephen Hawking’s explanation of how this universe came into being in beginningless time. The logic is neat and fantastic.
Yet , I still find some things baffling here(perhaps because I find many parts quite abstract to my non-scientific mind).
Puzzle number one.
“If the universe adds up to nothing, there is no need for a god to create it”.The notion of “nothingness” troubles me, because it is a conclusion derived by applying the Laws of Physics and by using very complex Mathematical formula and calculation, a balancing of total positive energy and total negative energy.It’s all very abstract and the validity of the conclusion is founded on the basis that the formula/equation is correct and all laws of Nature/Physics are absolute truths.
Hence if I don’t agree that the universe is nothing just because mathematically it adds up to nothing, I won’t then accept that “there is no need for a god to create it”.
“Nothingness” here in no way, I think, compares to the Buddhist view of emptiness(especially the Middle View propounded by Nargajuna). In Buddhism,”Emptiness” does not mean “Nothingness”. ‘Emptiness’ is ’empty of inherent existence’. ‘Emptiness’ is also to be understood in conjunction with understanding ‘interdependent arising’ and ‘dependent origination’.(However, mine is only a little intellectual knowledge of ‘Emptiness’).
Puzzle No 2.
“According to quantum mechanics, when we go down to a subtle level- the level of particles, like protons – things can appear from nowhere and stick around for a short while”. It’s on the basis of the postulation of this phenomena happening that the universe coming into being is explained.On the basis of this phenomena happening, the universe came into being out of nowhere “without violating the (inviolable) Laws of Nature”.
Puzzle No.3
“Something wonderful happened with the Big Bang: Time began”.What follows this statement is an explanation of how the universe had a beginning in a Black Hole that was so infinitesimally small.
“THe Laws of Nature dictate something quite extraordinary. They tell us that here(in the black hole as it floats in space), time has come to a stop”.Thus when the Big Bang occurred in this Black Hole, time began.
Hence, beginningless time is explained scientifically here as time not having existed before the big bang.(But then it’s also stated earlier on,that before the Big Bang, time had “come to a stop” in the Black Hole???)
To me, this is a contradiction. How can time be “beginningless” and yet, at the same time, we are told it began with the Big Bang?
Thus I am inclined to agree with Martin that “the cosmos, as the Buddha saw it, is still beyond the grasp of Science”.
The Buddha’s mind is a fully awakened mind, free of all obscurations to omniscience and liberation, a mind that took 3 eons to cultivate.Only the truth can issue from His mind. Hence, on the night of His Enlightenment, when, in meditative absorption, he ‘discovered’ the Law of Karma and the fact that the mind is beginningless, how can these discoveries ever be refuted?
The Universal Law of Karma must surely come into the picture regarding the origin of the Universe.Quoting from the Dalai Lama’s book – ‘The Universe in a Single Atom'(p.84): “Asanga understood the origins of the universe in terms of the theory of dependent origination. This theory states that all things arise and come to an end in dependence on causes and conditions…..Asanga (also) rejects the possibility of the universe being the creation of a preceding intelligence, arguing that if one posits such an intelligence, it will have to transcend cause and effect. An absolute being that is eternal, transcendental, and beyond the domain of the law of causality would have no ability to interact with cause and effect, and therefore could neither start something nor stop it”.
Again from the same book, p.86:
“Buddhist cosmology establishes the cycle of the universe in the following way: first there is a period of formation, next a period when the universe endures, then a period when it is destroyed, followed by a period of void before the formation of a new universe”.
I would also like to quote the Dalai Lama in his book, ‘The Universe in a Single Atom: “the fact that science has not proven the existence of God does not mean that God does not exist for those who practice in a theistic tradition”. His Holiness came to this conclusion by applying a major methodical principle in the Tibetan Buddhist philosophical tradition known as the “principle of the scope of negation”. According to this principle, there is a fundamental difference between that which is “not found” and that which is “found not to exist”(You can read more about this in Pp.35/36).
Professor Hawking is a true example to everyone, he show us that the mind is the most powerful source of energy. I am truly inspired by the determination of Professor Hawking. Although almost completely paralyzed and confined to an electrical wheel chair, using only one of his cheek to control a speech generating device, he is able to share his remarkable thoughts with the world.
The video explained how an entire universe was created. The Big Bang was the supposed cause of the entire universe but what really happened before the Big Bang? The only closest and logical answer here is the Black Hole. The Black Hole is the reverse of the Big Bang, which means the entire universe as we know today, could have been in fact contained within a Black Hole started from a single atom where time does not exist before the Big Bang occur.
It is really amazing that Buddha said that Mount Meru and all existence can be contained within the space of single mustard seed. This is similar to the scientific explanation of the Black Hole where the entire universe collapsing into itself until all energy and space becomes a single atom.
Buddhism also does not teach of a creator GOD, nor of a beginning to man or the universe. Buddhism teaches that the CREATION is cyclical, having no beginning and no end. For Buddhist, it is part of the wheel of suffering to which we are attached through rebirth. Creation is seen as just part of this wheel, governed by the laws of Karma (the laws of cause and effect). The universe is infinite and everything in it just runs in a cycle.
Time in Buddhist cosmology is measured in Kalpas. During a Kalpa, the universe comes into BEING, EXISTS, then DESTROYED and a period of EMPTINESS ensues (to my thinking when this happen, maybe at that particular time, the KARMA of the entire universe has been exhausted, meaning no more KARMA). Then it all starts again.
This is again in sync with the theory of a Black Hole where all the energy and space remains in a contracted or a state of transition before another Big Bang. The Buddha said form is emptiness and emptiness is form. From the state of EMPTINESS, EVERYTHING ARISE (just like the Big Bang) and it has NO BEGINNING and NO END because ENERGY is constantly in a state of transformation.
An example I think makes sense to me is the cycle of Death and Rebirth, when we die, our energy (MIND) leave behind our body which have ceased to function. During the period of Bardo, inactivity or nothingness, the energy (MIND) is actually in space, a transition period before it takes on a new form. When the transition is complete and the energy is transferred into a new form (then a mini Big Bang has occurred).
世界那么大， 万五千奇万有！ 如果我是神，我希望一点瑕疵都没有！让世人朴素生活，把他们的脑袋设计的简单一些，那就不会有战争与奋争！
从小我不明白要烧香供佛！我问妈妈， 她答我， 是神给我们安乐稳定的生活。我不明白， 但是无处可答！ 让我渐渐的觉得宗教是迷信！
我觉得这一切，都是一些无形的控制！你觉得呢？
来到克切拉，让我解决了这些疑问！让我对宗教从新认识！要不让，我会慢慢地觉得更加厌恶信仰！
宗教信仰，是一个模范， 让我们朝着他的好，出发！而不是麻木的抄袭！
Professor Hawking 残而不废，用尽一生去找答案！是神，创造世界吗？
他一个一个的把所有的谜题以科学的角度解开，不让更多的人受这些无形的伤！
其实与佛教的理念非常相同，有正，必有负！ 有好，就有坏！ 有因，必有果！ 这是大自然现象，定律。无法改变，也只好改变自己去适应。
I am in agreement that Gods are not the creators of the universe. A question I would like to throw back to those who said God is the creator, why can’t we look at it as God is just part of the universe like us and not the creator?
I thought about it if God can be a creator and here are my thoughts. Firstly, if God is the creator, then why do we have natural disasters, or even so many mishaps in the universe/world? Example if I am the creator of an object, I will be able to control the object to go the way I want it to be isn’t it? But clearly this isn’t the case.
So if God is the creator of the universe and God loves us all and would never want anything bad to happen to us, why is it that God cannot stop the natural disasters we face today? Did God lose grip of his creation?
This is where on a personal opinion, I think Buddhism is amazing. Buddhism never focus on the creator but also never denied the existence of Gods and other superior beings like the Buddha. We are the cause of whatever we do or have done. Natural disasters are the result of our actions. This shows the existence of cause and effect, karma.
Which also mean our destiny is in our own hands. To look at it on a longer term, who created all the problems we face today? Ourselves or God?
On another point mentioned in this video regarding time. Time does not exist in the blackhole simply because nothing exist in the blackhole. Our lives and everything around us are delusions we think exist. In this case, time is a concept. A concept which only exist with existence. In movies, we see that when time stops, everything stops, vice versa. This is the same case. Without anything moving, do you think time will still exist?
As we grow older, doesn’t time seem to be slower and slower to us? I believe this is because as we get older, our movements are slower hence time is slower too and at the time of death, everything stops for us, on a physical level. When this happens, there is no time, no day and no night for us.
I don’t know if this make sense, but is this also the cause for our body to decompose? I say this because, when time stops, everything starts to fade away and disappear eventually.
New ideas like these are usually suppressed by the conventional thinking but not for long as eventually the truth will prevail. As ‘time’ goes by, people will start to come out with more evidence to support the ‘new ideas’. And eventually whatever has been taught will no longer be applicable no matter how hard we try simply because it will not work.
An interesting read on scientists attempt to create Big Bang. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/large-hadron-collider/8116226/Large-Hadron-Collider-creates-mini-Big-Bang-with-lead-ions.html
of course they live together becase we all of us 7.2 billion people fail to catch up and kill all of the evidence that is behind us so it can not catch us up in the future
Buddhism is a logical belief with basis that can be supported by science. In this video, clearly Stephen Hawkings is an atheist, he does not believe in God. However, he does agree with:
1) Law of nature
2) Law of cause and effect
He mentioned law of nature and law of cause and effect is fixed, whether it is a tennis game or relationship between different objects in the universe, this law will not change. These laws are also explained in Lord Buddha’s teachings which is Karma.
The he explains the existence of a Universe that is a result of a Big Bang. Positive energy and negative energy are created when Big Bang happened and thus created the universe. And in effect, universe does not exist because +1+(-1)=0! This seems to correspond with Emptiness in Buddhism.
The black hole scenario explains about the beginningless and endless time concept in Buddhism since time does not exist at all in black hole. Therefore, it is quite impossible to trace the beginning of an existence.
I watched the videos three times and remains as baffled as when I started . I suppose I am one who is not interested in the past but focuses on the present and future for I can not make right my past but my future is dependent on how i wish to steer it.
What stood out in these videos is that our mind is as vast as the universe.I like what Stephen Hawkings said in the beginning about being free in mind and how his mind is free to explore the deepest questions of the universe.
Looking at him and what a successful physicist he is is a living proof of the vastness of our minds if we do not put barriers on it and that our mind is separate from our body.
Professor Stephen Hawking’s finding is consistent with the Buddhist principle of universal law of cause and effect. There is no Creator God to this world and human existence but merely we are our own creators. Scientific discovery and Buddhist fundamentals can be conjoined to understand reality. No other religion is as profound as Buddhism.
After watching this video multiple times, I have more questions than answers. The only conclusion I do agree with Hawking on is that the question if God exist makes no sense, just like trying to look for the end of Earth which is a sphere is a futile exercise. The questions I want to ask is or I have always been intrigue about is what is time, where did it go and where is my next thought formed, where did it come from?
In some way it is not hard to accept what Hawking is saying as it is but at the same time it is extremely hard to grasp this two ingredients Energy and Space that are spontaneously created by Big Bang, let alone tied them to Buddhism. I know very little about Buddhism, being only a Buddhist for a few weeks but here are some of my thoughts.
1. Energy and Mass/Matter
– Einstein says Mass/Matter and Energy is like the two sides of the same coin.
– Hawking used an excellent example of a man digging a hole to make a hill to show as an analogy to show that positive and negative energy amounts to zero in the universe
– If Einstein theory is also true, both the positive and negative energy should also have mass/matter, or rather can be mass
– My understanding would be that the mass/matter we can see, Earth, Moon, Sun, our human form is the manifestation of the positive energy
– So what would the manifested mass/matter form of the negative energy? Or does negative energy on exist as energy and there is in fact no negative matter or anti-matter?
– Theoretically, mater and anti-matter should also cancel out each other, just as positive and negative energy
– Negative energy is described as the force of gravity that is pulling on one another in an endless web of billions upon billions of galaxy
– The Earth has gravity field but is primarily matter
– The black hole has a gravity field so strong that not even light can escape it, but does this really mean it has no mass/matter?
I feel it is important to first understand the first ingredient of Energy/Matter before moving on to the second ingredient Space which I find is even harder to understand
2. Space and Time
– another one of Einstein theory is mentioned here that space and time in the universe are fundamentally intertwined
– As space was spontaneously created along with energy at Big Bang, so was time
– Black hole itself would have been a product of Big Bang along with all the other visible galaxies and planets, hence would also exist within the space-time “dimension” and subject to the same law of nature?
– while time may be distorted in the black hole just as light would be distorted, does it really mean time does not exist within the black hole?
3. Where does our mind/consciousness fit into this two ingredients that make up the universe
– Is our mind an energy as described by Hawking, it is the positive energy or negative energy or it is both or it is part of space?
– Or perhaps our mind is neither of the two ingredients energy nor space?
– If it is neither, then our consciousness must have existed before the beginning of the universe. Then how exactly we first get “trapped” into this universe as we know today?
– This universe as Hawking described is has time as it has space and time came into existence at the start of the universe.
– Buddhism talks about beginningless time and emptiness. If I want to tie it into Hawking’s video, I can still draw the analogy emptiness being the positive and negative energy amounting to zero and how time does not exist in black hole and hence there is no time before the Big bang.
– I think Buddha existed before the Big bang and from the little dharma knowledge I have learnt in the past few weeks, compassion and ego are both timeless, spaceless and dimensionless
– If this is so and all existed beyond the universe, then what is the significance of the universe? The question of how the universe begin would become irrelevant.
I am a great admirer of Mr. Stephen Hawking. The most important and defining “proof” provided in this documentary is that time does not exist in the black hole and thus there will not be time before that where a creator God can create a universe.
According to my understanding and it can easily be verified on the Internet, time “does” exist inside the black hole. This is according to Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, which says as applied to this case; to the person inside the black hole time does exist as per normal, but relative to the observer outside the black hole, time does not exist inside the black hole. To explain, lets say we are inside a spaceship inside the black hole and in that spaceship there is a clock, the clock WILL still be ticking. But to the observer outside the black hole the observing the same clock, the clock would have stopped. This has to do with the finiteness of the speed of light according to an observer. So clearly, time does exist inside the black hole. This explanation of time negates the premise of this documentary. That means based on this documentary, we cannot proof that God do not exist.
Based on this documentary and taking into account that time does exist; then we can deduce that there is a “time” before the big bang. There is “time” for a creator. But wait! Then who created the creator? How did the creator come into being? These are universal questions that have caused many debates and is futile.
The Buddhist concept I find to be closest to this phenomena is perceptions. In the documentary, it mentioned cause and effect and negated the “creator cause” of the universal based on the premise that time do not exist inside a black hole. But if time does exist inside a black hole then there would be a time before the black hole. But if we extend the law of cause and effect to the time before the big bang and also that of a creator do not exist, then we are only left with the law of cause and effect. Then we can ask, “to whom the universe (being the effect) is connected most to (the cause)”? The only answer is WE. HUMANS!!!
There are many definition of what is time from Newtonian absolute time (our normal perception) to relativistic time and cyclical time. From this one can deduce that time is a perception. Without humans, there is no one to perceive. Thus the creator of time and hence the universe is humans or more correctly, karma of beings.
Cool. I never thought Professor Stephen Hawking has an explanation of the big bang theory and the ever expanding universe. The antimatter which has been talked about by the scientific community, and suspected to exist in ‘space’, Stephen Hawking has put it as the negative, while the form object we see is the positive, it balances out to be zero.
I am thinking what is TIME that we are referring to? My opinion is, TIME is a concept by human seeing the effects of energy. When we see energy’s work, like when someone moved from one place to another, sunrise and sunset, things decays, etc we relate it to what we called TIME. If energy doesn’t function in the Black Hole, then the TIME is still or doesn’t exist. This is how I think.
About what created the Big Bang, I am thinking of how human create the Cyberspace. Cyberspace is the linking of many computers’ storage together. These storage were built from other material such as the magnetic disc and some mechanism. So, could it be the Big Bang is also create from the other mechanism from another universe? Since there is also a theory of multiple universe, called multiverse?
But that again lead to the question of what created the other universe?
Here is a link to a 10-part video of Hawking dealing with similar subject. Its called Master Of The Universe and provides more insights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcyhqvptlJA
Thousands of years people has been nonstop exploring what is really going on in the sky, on earth and on what we can see and cannot see. Then we realized that everything fall into place just because of the Law of Nature.
When the unknown is revealed, the fear will be gone. The universe is not under control by god or any super natural power but our own karma. Karma is part of human natural behave.
Then do you still believe in God? Do you still need God? May be you should check your mind why are you believe in God at the first place. Is that because he created the world or he is someone that you believe can take you to Heaven when you die?
Then how do we explain about miracles? Is miracle part of Law of Nature too? Does it have to do with science?
We have come to the stage that we can test the existing of spirits using science and technology. Just a reminder, science and technology is very important for improving and supporting the well being of mankind but not in control of mankind. That’s how I feel for now.
A friend of mine Moh Mei and I stayed up one late night to discuss about this video. More questions surfaced as we talked and we came up with varied possibilities of what “could be”, what “is”, and more. I enjoyed the discussion very much as Moh Mei has a scientific mind and this has been one of her favorite topics. I thought how enlightening it would be for us all if Galileo, Einstein, Steven Hawkings analyzed and “experimented” buddhism in such precise, scientific way 🙂 What intrigues me is seeing the parallels between science and buddhism. I still have much brewing in my mind (more questions than any form of solution or conclusions) but here are some thoughts for now…
1A. LAW OF NATURE – Buddhist perspective
In one of Prince Siddharta’s life, he went back on forth a river and from observing the river, this was what he learnt from nature :
” … the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future?”
If I was to ask who and what am I, by using the analogy of the river,..then I really can’t identify or specifically point out who am I. The reason is the “I” now existed prior to this second as I’m typing and the “I” in the next second is dependent on the “I” now. This “I” showed itself in relation to its many push and pull factors. Is this “I” the mind? If i were to put the mind aside since i can’t quite observe it with my naked eye, I can draw a parallel when i analyze how this body is just like the mass in the universe. This body looks very different in shape from anything else which our eyes can see, yet it really is not that different in its mass and energy!
1B. LAW OF NATURE – Scientific perspective
Hawkings observed and made intelligent conclusions about the Law of Nature and to find the answer if God Exists. Instead of needing God to explain the universe, he “preferred to think that things can be explained another way by the laws of nature”. Hmm…that different Buddha’s previous life..
From the game of tennis example, Hawkings described various factors at work but his statement was that law of nature are description of how things work in the past, present and future, unchanging but universal. These laws cannot be broken that’s why they are so powerful.
2A. LAW OF NATURE – Is there a need for God to be in the Picture : Buddhist perspective
I’ve learnt that in Buddhism, there is no need to even address this question. How does it affect us to know if God was in the picture all along from beginning…which by the way, Buddhists doest believe there is a beginning to start with as the mind is beginningless. I have yet to comprehend this and more in my head and reflects on The Heart Sutra. I read that the Heart Sutra belongs to the oldest Mahayana texts, presumed to have originated in India around the time of Jesus Christ! Basically, the few extracted lines from the Heart Sutra is another way of describing the law of universe which is very similar to science.
“Form is empty; emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form; form also is not other than emptiness. Likewise, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness are empty.”
“Shariputra, like this all phenomena are merely empty, having no characteristics. They are not produced and do not cease. They have no defilement and no separation from defilement. They have no decrease and no increase.”
“Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness. There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no tactile object, no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so forth up to no mind element and also up to no element of mental consciousness. There is no ignorance and no exhaustion of ignorance, and so forth up to no ageing and death and no exhaustion of ageing and death. Likewise, there is no suffering, origin, cessation or path; no exalted wisdom, no attainment and also no non-attainment.”
2B. LAW OF NATURE – Is there a need for God to be in the Picture : Scientific Perspective
As far back as science can observe, beginning is timeless. the universe is timeless… and of course Hawkings explained clearly about the beginning of the universe, Big Bang, the formation of the universe, the big black hole, the laws of nature and positive and negative energies adding up to zero. If this is the case, how can there be a creator when there was no beginning… thus there is no need for a God to explain creation.
Question : If the Universe ADDS UP TO NOTHING as Hawkings deduced, then is GOD NOTHINGNESS yet holding the energy as in the little proton where everything in our universe began? Is God this proton? If God is this proton, then why are we worshiping this proton but rather to observe its workings and live our lives in harmony with these laws?
Buddhism is about understanding these laws at work, very similar to how Scientists observes the universe,..very much based on establishing there is a Universal Law of Nature and in its simplest form which everyone experiences on a daily basis – cause and effects.
I appreciate this post very much and look forward to learning more from everyone. I believe there is this law which exists … “governing” all of existence/non existence. What Hawkings are able to tell us came from 3000 years of studies by great minds. Buddha’s omniscience and total freedom came from 3 aeons of virtuous living… and if we are smart, we would certain keep an open mind to what these great beings have to say.
Question : How would science describe the state of an Enlightened mind?
In the vast cosmic of things, how does the vast accumulation of merits as Buddha collected for 3 aeons fits into the observation science offered about the universe.
Hey that’s a good question about what God (hypothetically) would be in this equation of positive / negative and nothingness.
That’s another argument for why he couldn’t have existed, because before the big bang, there was nothing – there was no positive or negative to balance anything out, so what could god have been? If there had been god (say a positive), then there necessarily have to have been an opposite (a negative). And if that was the case, then there would be space and time – which of course is completely incongruous with the big bang.
this is mind boggling! (and I should have paid more attention in physics classes at school)
There is such an interesting video and it gets interesting when Hawking starts to question the Cause(s) of the Big Bang. So where most theories of the creation of the universe takes the Big bang as the starting point, Hawking goes beyond that looking for a cause and from there the concept of creation from a non-existent state to an existent state is called into question because once you identify what caused the Big Bang, it follows to ask what caused the cause of the Big Bang.
Here it becomes clear that the cosmos as the Buddha saw it is still beyond the grasp of Science. We can instantly forget the god-creator theory not only from the perspective of Time (i.e. there was no Time within which a god could have created the universe) but even before that, the question of who/what created god.
Although I do not yet fully understand the entire logic this subject matter (and may never) what I find very exciting is the exploration of the Black Hole as a perhaps a precursor to the Big Bang. (Hawking’s example of creating a mountain of soil from digging a corresponding hole to fill the mountain is very clever and useful). The idea that before the Big Bang the “universe” was an atomic singularity (which incidentally matches the “universe in a mustard seed” idea as well the Dalai Lama’s “universe in a single atom”) and that atomic singularity is also the “final effect” of the Black Hole i.e. the entire universe collapsing into itself until it becomes reduced into an atomic singularity.
To my simple mind this makes a lot of sense especially when we approach this idea from what Buddhism teaches about the 4 periods (kalpa) i.e. (i) a period of expansion, (ii) a period that remains in the state of expansion, (iii) a period of contraction and (iv) a period where the universe remains in the state of contraction (or state of being contracted, I am not sure). And all these 4 periods have neither a beginning or and end. In one of the periods which is the period where the universe remains in the contracted state (one dot or one small atomic singularity perhaps) I imagine there to be a total absence of everything. No Light, no Time, no Space, no Matter. Nothing at all except for the potentiality of something or everything.
In that sense the Big bang is merely an episode in an on-going continuum without a start and a finish. Nothing is “born” and nothing “dies” and everything is perpetually in a state of transformation. Incidentally in that situation of complete nothingness as stated above, where or what then is god and if god is part of that nothingness how can nothingness create the universe when it is more logical to think of god (and all life) being episode or the effect of the mechanics within the continuum.
There is still so much to think about and understand for example the worldly phenomena as explained by Vasubandhu which speaks of a one-world system with Mount Meru at the centre. I cannot quite get that as yet.
I also cannot help but think where karma comes into the picture? Does the collective karma of all sentient beings trigger the “big bang” and the also cause the commencement of the “big hole”?
Sorry, i meant to say Black Hole instead of Big Hole. 🙂
It is interesting also to imagine ourselves as our own “world system” within a greater universe and when we die our Mind becomes that one atomic particle waiting to be transformed into a new life with our own “big bang”. And that the state after we die when we reached nothingness, except for that one singular particle, is bardo perhaps?
That’s an interesting thought. Would that mean then, that we all implode on ourselves and become mini black holes for a moment, before we BANG into our next existence? But that would imply that there is a discontinuity in our existence / energy field. It would mean that we go into nothingness and then arise from nothingness again. So what happens in that interrim, in the nothingness?
I didn’t quite understand what Hawkins said right at the end about how there is no life after death and that we have only this one life. How does this correlate? If we are all existing out of energy and matter, that energy and matter doesn’t just disappear into nothing after we die. It balances out eventually through that positive / negative fields of energy. So surely we don’t actually ever really disappear, but just morph into different forms? So we take on new forms, just as it is stated within the laws of reincarnation. So how does this correlate with what Hawkins has said about there being no life after death? I’m not sure I understand that.
I think Hawkins is saying that after Thierry passes away there is no more Thierry.
In that sense there is no life after death if “life” is Thierry, his work, his crap humor, his good look, his funny car, etc… Then there is no more of that after death.
But the energy that animated the matter making “Thierry” in a coherent organic way is going on, because if the energy was there it only means it was there before in some form and will be there after in some form, for energy transforms but does not vanish.
The energy can even transform into non-energy like a black hole…. let’s simply imagine how powerful an energy can be to stop time…
A black hole could not exist without its opposite.
“No-time” could not exist without “time”.
So there is no such thing as “no-time” in the way we may conceptualize it from an experience of “time”, like if time had stopped…
It is because there was no time before the big bang that time is limitless.
Or to say it differently: if there was a beginning, then there must have been something before (such as a “no-time” thing), and therefore there cannot be a beginning, there cannot be a MOMENT that is the beginning…. Or at least that is something that I cannot conceptualize…
What do you think?
Dear Rinpoche,
I am so amazed by this video because it shows once again that science proves what Buddhism has known all along. Hence, it makes me feel proud to be a Buddhist.
Why is time still in a black hole?
Time stands still in a black hole because of its immense gravitational pull that nothing can escape it, not even light. Hence, a black hole is always perfectly black in color and the gravitational distorts light and time – effectively stopping it.
What is the big bang?
The big bang is a theory of the creation of the universe. According to scientists, the universe sprang into existence through a massive explosion. It is from this explosion of energy and matter that stars were born and they eventually gathered into clusters called galaxies. According to physicists, the universe is still expanding.
What is before the big bang?
There is no before the big bang because time didn’t exist at the time of the big bang. At the time of the big bang, the gravity was so immense that time stood still and so, there was no before the big bang. Everything sprung from that explosion including time. It seemed that time was created along with the universe when everything exploded.
Why is a creator not necessary when there is no time? Why is there no time?
A creator is not necessary because time stood still and there was no time before the big bang. Time stood still because the whole universe was pulled into a space smaller than an atom. The gravitation force just stopped time just like a black hole today.
What is in a black hole? From what is black hole created?
A black hole is a massive star that collapsed upon itself. The massive gravitational force pulls everything into itself, including light and stopped time. Hence, a black hole looks perfectly black.
Buddha Shakyamuni said Mt Meru or all of existence can be contained within a mustard seed, any correlations here?
According to physicists, the big bang began with the whole universe contained within a single atom. That’s the incredible similarity. It is from this ‘seed’ that the universe was born. Hence, it is just incredible that Buddha Shakyamuni mentioned that all of existence could be contained within a mustard seed. This is amazing!
What other questions arise?
I know that time stops at the beginning of the big bang and there’s no time before the big bang for an almighty creator being to start creation because time stood still. However, I am still not completely clear about how that negates a creator god. Perhaps, I am missing something here.
Does it put you in a bigger ‘dilemma’ or less? What else did you get from this?
Yes, it does put me in a bigger dilemma. The whole concept of a ‘timeless’ beginning is slightly mind-boggling. I love it though because what was mentioned matches what the Buddha had said. When the Buddha said it, nobody knew what he meant but today with the advent of quantum physics, we are able to figure out what the Buddha had said matches science. Nonetheless, this scientific discovery is able to help us to figure out our place in this universe. We realize that our ego, problems, aspirations, needs and wishes are really so small when one contemplates this in relations to the larger scheme of things.
New ideas are usually suppressed by the current mainstream views (religious/secular)? How do ideas that work yet suppressed eventually reach the masses?
Yeah, I think certain religions are insecure and they are afraid that the truth of religion will undermine the spiritual authority of certain belief systems. To me, this is utter evidence that such a religion is man-made and has little basis because it does not match reality. At one point, the western world believed that the earth was flat and when a new view that the earth could be in the shape of a sphere, people who promoted such views were branded heretics. Hence, great thinkers like Galileo were persecuted due to innocent scientific discoveries that would later revolutionize science and the way men relate to the world/universe we live in. I think idea that are suppressed eventually reach the masses through great thinkers who push the boundaries and not allow conventional beliefs to hold them back.
Any other videos by Professor Hawking that you recommend?
I love this video that Prof Hawkings talked about the Big Bang in greater detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-yWMuBNr4
Buddhism explains perfectly Cause and Effect which is also mentioned here by Stephen Hawking. When Buddha Shakyamuni mentioned that all existence can be contained within a mustard seed, I think he was referring to what is now called the Black Hole and the Big Bang theory that created the Universe. And it took scientists more than 2500 years later to explain how the Universe was formed. When Buddha said that there was no time and no beginning, I think he was referring that time did not exist before the Big Bang as mentioned here in the video.
The Laws of Nature mention also how things work in the past, present and future. I relate that to karma, of actions done in the past, present and future, and their results. It also relates to a past and present life and reincarnation.
Since science said time did not exist before the Big Bang, I often ask if God is the Creator and who created God. Questions include where he came from and when, his gender, did he have a father and mother, where he resides? Is there a heaven where God resides? I guess no one can yet prove the existence or non existence of God and it boils down to inferential logic and faith.
I think religious leaders use the God theory to instill goodness in man, which is good, but it may be not so good if it instills fear. Yet there are brave men and women who will dedicate their lives and risk persecution to uncover the mystery of the big question and debate, “Is there a God, the Creator?”
This is another interesting article: Stephen Hawking: God did not create Universe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11161493
The idea of time stood still in black hole is interesting. We know that there’s so much gravitational force in black hole that even light is unable to escape from it – which means the gravity pull is faster than light’s speed. As there are so much gravitational force, nothing will be able to survive the pull when they enter the spherical surface – everything will be shred into nothingness, like going into a black void and everything just disappeared. The enormous gravity distorts one’s perception of space and time. To someone observing from afar, it’ll appear that time begins to slow down. For the object that enters the sphere of black hole, they are unaware of any changes – everything comes still and crushed by the gravity. Time will cease to exists in black hole. Everything will cease to exists in black hole.
In modern day, when a star, like our sun in our solar system, is dying, the core of the star collapses and erupts, blowing the outer shell, which gives off light, away, but the core remain intact in what is called white dwarf. When a star relatively large than our sun is dying, it collapses even further and releases so much energy called supernova, and forming a very small, but very dense remnant called neutron star. And for very large stars, the supergiants, when they die, the remnant cores so dense that even light can’t escape it. This massive remnant is called black hole.
When we travel back in time, we find the universe gets smaller and smaller to the point of it become so small, it’s smaller than a subatomic particle. So small and so dense, it’s a super tiny black hole. Time doesn’t exists before this. With this universe so hot and dense, it expand rapidly and causing Big Bang, the start of universe, releasing vast amount of energy. At subatomic stage, particles can pop into existing from nothing.
If we believe in Creator’s theory, if Creator exists, travel back in time, who created the Creator? Since time doesn’t exists before Big Bang, there’s no Creator for the universe. Nothing causes the universe comes into existence. Looking at containing Mount Meru and all existence in a mustard seed, things, ideas, effects can come from something very, very tiny, a cause that come into existence. An entire cosmic universe that comes into existence from a tiny subatomic particle that rapidly expand into the universe we known today.
The lack of knowledge and understanding puts us into fear and blindness. The Earth was once thought to be flat. It’s also thought to be the centre of universe – seems to me like self-centered, selfish mind at work that human thinks we are the most important thing in the entire universe. Any ideas that challenge our believe, is viewed as radical, and efforts put in to suppress the ideas and keep us in our blind comfort zone. But having the knowledge and understanding can take us out of this fear and gain the truth.
If we do not want to contradict God is a Creator with the the view of Buddhism,we have to have the opinion that God’s mind itself is illusion.It is by accident or purposely that God’s mind has create earth and heaven.God’s mind, in this case has some form of energy projected from ‘His Mind’ that triggers the creation of heavens and earth.God itself, according to the view of Buddhism, are still subjected to karma.Everything is made up from the mind alone in the Universe and empty space.We too.
Doeasn’t sound so right after I wrote it. LoL. I meant to say if time doesn’t exist, prior to Big Bang, then there couldn’t be a Creator, since for something or someone to create something, itself has to be bound to space and time, as the Creator need to exist. As we can’t trace time back before Big Bang, the theory of Creator isn’t valid.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis)
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis)
Hovering over the water, make mankind in our image. So God in this sense has form/matter, which will be bound by space and time.
Buddhist texts often refer to “beginningless time.” Is this wrong, like the flat earth with Mt. Meru at the center? Or perhaps it is only symbolic.
For academic discussion of whether the concept of a creator-God is compatible with Buddhism, see Perry Schmidt-Leukel, “Buddhism, Christianity, and the Question of Creation: Karmic or Divine?” (Ashgate, 2006). A number of Buddhist writers identify some problematic aspect of theism, without really doing justice to the responses of Western theology. In fact, some understandings of “God” resemble some Buddhist views of the ultimate reality.
I am told that asking “What happened before the Big Bang?” is a bit like asking “What happens if you go farther south from the South Pole?” In other words, a wrong question.
There is a story that someone asked St. Augustine what God was doing before he created time. St. Augustine replied, “Creating hell, for the people who ask that question!”
What Stephen Hawking has explained is mind blowing.
As he has established that “There was no time before the big bang, therefore there is no time for a cause to exist, it means there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed”, this finding is consistent with the Buddhist concept of “Mind has no beginning and it is beginningless without time”. Definitely, Buddhism and science are working hand in hand!
I like what you say Paul, you turned it around by saying that it is because time did not exist before the big bang that time is beginningless… And indeed, without time itself, there could be no beginning at all… For if there was a beginning, there could possible not be a “no-time-before”…. uuuhhh!
As far as i know from Buddhism and the way i interpret it i think somehow it is like this.The earth is form from matter.The earth itself is impurity.As we go further and further into space,we can find purity.In the space, especially some regions like Black Hole,time is slow down and does not exist.Time does not begin and does not end here.Blackhole actually does not have lights in it.It sucks everything including time and space.In Buddhism, Buddha Mind also called the True Mind which is beginningless and unending is somewhere in this regions of space, i guess.The true mind can be found on earth, but it is very rare,only the Buddha has true mind and not sentients being.The Buddha did says everything comes into existence from the mind.From absolute nothingness into ultimate existence.False minds cannot perceive the true mind, but the true mind can perceive the false mind because of its purity.The Buddha is an enlightened beings.Being enlightened,Buddha has achieve the Perfect Bright enlightenment,which is the state of purity.This brightness of enlightenment triggers everything to come into beings to form earth,sun,moon, and all the matters in space which is impure.Our state of mind is impure which makes us cannot see the reality.The reality of everything,from hell,earth to heaven and to other pure realms in space.
My brother once gave Mr. Hawkins’s book “The universe in a nutshell” to be as a birthday gift. This video, which is based upon the book is much easier to digest. I can now comprehend “the no time” at the beginning of the universe..
Rinpoche, a few thoughts that arose as I was watching the documentary:
absence of time means:
– there could be no cause for the big ban, because there is no time for a cause to occur, there cannot be any sequence of event happening in a timeless setting.
– but also it means there is a beginning of time, for time did not exist prior to it ???
-therefore there must be an end too, as the “beginning” validates the “end”.
It may also mean that time does not exist as we think it does, and then all of my above observations are being made irrelevant. That is there is no energy and mass, but there is energy and mass as THE SAME. And in the same thought, there could not be time / energy and mass but a single powerful one-ness of time/energy/mass.
Thus before energy, there can be no mass, nor time… etc
Yet, GOD may be as well beyond time, energy and mass, making “Him” relevant to the faithful still! The concept of GOD, which as a Buddhist I understand as the sum of all things as a whole and as add-up of all parts, as more than karma, as me, as all, as everything, as everyone, as a totally encompassing whole, as a conceptual thought to name the inconceivable. Thus GOD is the black hole, is the big bang, is timeless, is the whole and the nothing.
Amazing!
Watching this reminds me of the cosmic wonders described in the Avatamsaka Sutra.
I’m not sure I can answer any of your questions, Rinpoche. But I’ll attempt to give my thoughts on a few – starting with all of existence being contained in a mustard seed.
Western scientists once believed in very different concepts of the atom than we know today. Very small, but solid, particles was the original concept. As scientific knowledge progressed, we learned that atoms were small particles, but they contained smaller particles, and they, in turn, contained even smaller particles.
So, perhaps, everything we know in the universe is simply the small particles in some larger “atom”.
On a different topic, one thing we can know is that the matter that makes up our bodies, cities, cars, etc…all came from the same place. We are, in a way, star stuff. There is, fundamentally, no difference between anything that exists in our universe. At the level of the basic matter that makes up everything we see – there is nothing different, in any way! The interconnectedness that the Buddha taught is very well proven by this scientific fact!
If time did not exist, and time will cease to exist, it seems, to me at least, that the Buddhist concept of the birth, existence, death, and rebirth of the universe is completely justified. After all, if the universe is expanding, like a balloon, eventually it will “burst”. Leaving nothing. And from that nothing, as in the beginning of our universe – another could burst into life.
Watching this video comforts me – it doesn’t raise any dilemmas. Knowing that the Dharma meshes so well with modern science only enhances my faith in what the Buddha taught. Because, if you study the Sutras carefully, you will see that very little contradicts science. In fact, it would be the truth to say that our modern “discoveries” are, in fact, just re-discoveries.