I am often told by teachers and staff at my Buddhist center not to believe everything I read and hear. Okay, I’ll run with that, but my conclusions might not please people who think myths are teachings. While I do believe many Buddhist teachings, I just need to remind myself that Buddhism, like all religions, has been embellished with a lot of myth. All opinions expressed here are mine alone, and I will strive to separate facts from myth. I am also going to mix science and religion freely. I have read the warnings1 that science and mysticism (spirituality) can’t easily be combined, but who is going to sue me?
My approach will be non-theistic, which means that no beings whatsoever will be credited, blamed, paid, or sued for samsara, which is our reality. Non-theism is not the same as atheism, which can be the disbelief that any deities exist. Buddhism does not deny the possible existence of deities, as advanced beings, who have little or no influence in our lives. Non-theism says that, no matter how desperate or tragic our lives might be, no external savior will ever come to our rescue, to relieve us of our personal suffering. This includes deities, aliens from outer space, superheros, governments, churches, friends, spouses, and so forth. Everyone is responsible for their own despair.
This is in direct opposition to the theistic idea of salvation, which often claims that eternal, benevolent life in heaven will be gained for those who take proper vows and pray to God.
I have had problems with theism all my life, so I have followed the writings of questioning theistic scholars, who created a new philosophical endeavor called Process Theology2, early in the twentieth century. Process Theology has allowed self-declared members of this movement to postulate models of God that more closely match our reality, instead of those in the Bible. Process Theology borrows heavily from science and Buddhism.
I have been overtaken by crazy wisdom, due to my endless insights. I have a Buddhist-inspired theory how creation happened. I know this is ambitious, especially since the word happened only makes sense after creation, not before. Just like the analyst that I am, I will list all the ingredients for a creation event:
·Nirvana, the stateless state.
·An intelligent longing for creation.
·Karma, the roadmap.
·A trigger event.
Samsara is roughly translated as the coming into existence as mortal creatures, that experience cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. The reason for this creation is said to be the impersonal desire, based only on possibility, to have a physical living body, with which experiences can be differentiated from the whole of reality.
Samsara is material existence, while nirvana is the primordial stateless state that precedes all creation. Samsara has other names, such as reality, the universe, and phenomenal existence. Nirvana is not equivalent to anything, and it is not a nihilistic state of nothingness; it just can’t be categorized, because it has no rules or constructs. The appearance of rules and constructs is the creation of a reality, such as the one we live in. Are samsara and nirvana really different? Well, no, but we and other beings love to create distinctions called dualities. In truth, we have never left nirvana.
Nirvana is often said to be basic intelligence that allows possibilities to take form. Just as quantum mechanics requires observers for anything to exist, so do the emergent states of samsara also require observers. Observers can see or sense phenomenal reality and make it real. Of course, everyone wants to know how this kind of creation works, since both science and religion have been stymied in their search for a suitable set of a priori conditions that match what we see and feel. Faith and even science3 have been plagued with lazy circular-logic. As a physicist, I like to have cause and effect, along with emergence, without any circular-logic. I think desire and karma represent the appropriate causes. I don’t believe that it is possible to create something from nothing.
My model emphasizes intangibles over tangibles. I think all tangible things are created through processes of cause and effect. I don’t want to believe in tangibles as a foundation for my faith, because created things are impermanent, subject to death and decay. I believe that intangibles, such as love, compassion, wisdom, empathy, and so on are more important to believe in. This is why I study the Mind-onlySchool of Mahayana Buddhism. All branches of Buddhism teach that reality is illusory, but the Mind-only School teachings take it to the limit, by saying that all things, including us and other beings, are illusions too, as projections into our minds. These ideas were eloquently put forth by the great second-century Buddhist master, Nagarjuna4, as well as contemporary Buddhist masters5. This is not a popular idea, since no beings, including us, want to be told that that our existence is not real or solid. Our quest seems intended to prove we are actual, separate, individual beings. There is a saying many in body, but one in mind. Perhaps the concept of one mind,subdivided an infinite number of times, is where many derive their belief in one GodA.
The Mind-only School meshes with my concept of samsara and nirvana. Due to having an Asperger background, I often sense that the things I see don’t actually exist. However, when I carefully read Nagarjuna, I find that he never said anything like this. Instead, he reminds us that the Buddha described the true nature of nirvana, which like the nature of all other phenomena, cannot be described existent or non existent, because it is beyond all conceptual fabrications.
Interestingly, some physicists now ponder the question that we might be part of a computer simulation5a. This might match the Buddhist notion, if one considers nirvana (in a real stretch) to be like a quantum computer, and karma the program.
I think everything happens for a reason, and the reason is karma6. Karma is like a memory of events and feelings (for living beings.) Karma is not like original sin, since all beings have the selective ability to ignore troubling portions of karma in their subconscious minds. Karma is information, and it can be shown that information and energy are equivalent7. It is an axiom of modern physics that information can only be transformed, but never lost or destroyed.
Realities have not been created from scratch for a long time, if ever. Karma supplies the momentum for creation, as tasks that were never finished. The desire for experiences drives reality, and it is this drive that will spawn a new reality (universe) when on old one has perished.
What did the Buddha actually teach?
While I think reality is truly awesome, and somewhat magical, I don’t believe it is supernatural. For me, problems will arise if I view myself as having been created separately from reality. The Buddha gave many profound teachings; especially, that everything we see and feel is an outcome of various causes and effects. Yet, the Buddha never personally wrote anything down. Starting from the time of his death, the Buddha’s followers spent the next four centuries putting his teachings to text. The sequence5 supposedly started with the Hinayana8 (the lesser vehicle,) the Mahayana9 (the great vehicle) about one hundred years later, and the Vajrayana10 (the secret vehicle) between three hundred and four hundred years later.
It was also said that the Buddha was an ordinary man who achieved enlightenment during one lifetime, and that he did not invent the philosophy he taught, but rediscovered it through meditation. Myths have endowed the Buddha with supernatural attributes, such as that his feet never touched the ground, and fantastic previous lives. It seems contradictory to say that the Buddha was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. All humans are said to have the power to discover the nature of reality through meditation. The Buddha was supposed to have reached total enlightenment, the highest possible state of being in our universe. I think this is a myth too, which I will explain shortly.
The true teachings of the Buddha were probably inconvenient to follow. I suspect the Buddha said that escape from our problems was impossible, no matter where we should be reborn. I think the Buddha’s followers invented the total enlightenment myth, as an escape from suffering, to lure people to meditate. I am not saying that enlightenment is not possible, but I don’t think the over-the-top kinds are.
The bulk of teachings created after the death of the Buddha were very basic, which meant they did not contain a complete story of karma and the creation of higher realms. It seems obvious to me the Buddha would have been reborn in a celestial realm, which is not any kind of escape from samsara.
People want to escape, whenever they feel they are stuck in samsara, suffering from emotional frustrations. Many religions, including Buddhism, offer monasticism as a way form of escape. I think it’s overrated, because it can be an escape that does not really confront life’s problems. In reality, the Buddha probably taught as many house-holders as monks and nuns. I think monasticism was an early way to contain troublemakers, who might have become too aware for the royal states to handle. If these people had had children, there might have been way too many rebellious people for the states to have survived. Monasticism also violates what I think is the real primary directive given by the Buddha: to live in the Middle Way, avoiding all extremes of existence.
Samsara
For us, samsara is the entire universe. I use the word entire, because we see only a fraction of its extent. Physicists, and Buddhists alike, study the universe. Physicists say it began over 13 billion years ago as a creation event, akin to a giant explosion. Moments after the intensely-hot creation, it is said that the universe inflated so far, that light from the most distant galaxies has not yet had time to reach us. Early, super-massive stars were created, that lived fast and furiously and became black holes, which formed the seeds of galaxies, which in turn led to star and planet formation. Large structures formed as self-organizing11, emergent components of matter.
Buddhism deals with life created during these processes of emergence. In sheltered pockets on various planets, some organic chemicals reached a critical mass that allowed replication to take place; then life appeared, and it begin to self-organize and evolve in a similar manner to all the large physical structures that were already present. Living and non-living structures expanded and collided; creating what became known as cosmic landscapes12. Over time, all objects have become interdependent with too many complex threads to unravel.
Buddhism also says that the processes of creation are cyclical, and that it has happened repeatedly throughout eternity. While science deals in objective facts, Buddhism describes the subjective part that living things experience. Besides all the stellar pyrotechnics, there are space wars, ground wars, anger, revenge, and delusion. There is beauty, serenity, peace, love, and sex. It is everything that beings--including the most advanced--can imagine. Somebody should make a movie of this; wait, it may already be a movie. There are even reruns. Universes are like shark’s teeth, when one wears out, another unfolds to replace it.
Whose idea was this? Was it some omnipotent god? No, I believe that the abstract possibility for having bodies for interesting experiences was the cause. No beings preceded creation, except for the record of beings preserved as karma. Actual being was only possible after creation, which means all beings have the same kind of derivation. This holds for all beings, from those in hell to those in lofty celestial paradises. I dislike paradoxes inherent in models that allow beings to exist before there is a place for them to exist. I think physics and Buddhism agree that it is impossible to set up a viewpoint outside the universe.
Now, all life born is simply trapped in place, with no escape. The inmates are running the asylum.
Samsara is said to be conditioned into components of cause and effect by the creation of dualities, differences that were not present before. Some forms of cause and effect are physical laws, matter and energy, biology, and karma. Large-scale macro entities, such as galaxies, stars, planets, and multi-cellular life continuously evolve, thus creating newer emergent states and whole systems of cause and effect. Karma is evolutionary, since it maintains past memory. Without this memory, it would be difficult for evolution to proceed, since it could not easily start from scratch.
There is a special variation of karma for living things, can be considered somewhat equivalent to spirit, intuition, instinct, soul, or even the subconscious. I don’t think any of these allusions reference actual solid things; karma is much more like an abstraction. Karma and biology are always in such a close dance that it can be impossible to separate them. All forms of life end up dependent on life that went before them.
Cosmic evolution was crucial in creating places where life-forms could develop and evolve. Biological evolution requires environments that are relatively stable for long periods of time. There are likely billions of worlds in our galaxy alone that can sustain some type of life. Living things are not accidents; rather, they are a crucial part of samsara, since samsara was created as a place where dreams of blissful physical existence can come true , at least, in principle.
Humans, or humanoid beings, arose from animals due to processes of evolution. Being passionately self-aware, we humans want to justify our existence. Animals are also subject to the rules of karma, and many can produce negative karma as well as positive. I don’t believe any tired religious dogma that claims that humans have souls, while animals do not. The human advantage is brain-power and the ability to use technologies that can enhance our comfort zones. We are the world’s most successful invasive species. In theory, our skills can relieve us of suffering, so we don’t get stuck like many animals. Such a gift is not of much use, if we constantly squander it by getting stuck anyway.
As humans, we only see and experience a fraction of samsara, but we still strive to classify everything. Buddhism has taken classification to the extreme, by dividing all of samsara into three sections named the base level, the celestial level, and the advanced celestial level. Many concepts here are not unique to Buddhism, since all religions seem to share some of what I am discussing here. I think that these concepts are buried deep in everyone’s subconscious mind. Suffering is caused by wishful attachment to things believed to be real and eternal; however, all the parts of samara are impermanent—they change and wither.
We start in the base level, characterized by anger, greed, and delusion. It includes the lower realms of hell beings, ghosts, animals, humans, demigods, and worldly gods. As humans we are touched by all six lower realms, both physically and metaphorically. Our lives are often marked by suffering, due to the trials of birth, sickness, old age, and death. Demigods are envious of worldly gods, and worldly gods are brimming over with pride for supposedly having made it to the top. However, there is no top, just an endless hierarchy of much higher realms. Our world currently seems beset by demigods and worldly gods, and they can scarcely be called metaphorical.
The celestial level contains many paradises that roughly correspond to theistic views of heaven. Paradises are said to be populated by a variety of advanced Buddhas that might be compared to angels. There are no dark angels here, because dark angels would reside in hells, instead of paradises. The advanced celestial level contains paradises that are too sublime for humans to envision.
Karma is the key to entering higher realms; if it contains too much greed, anger, and delusion; it will be locked out. Many religions often tout paradises as havens of escape from the lower six realms, but all realms are subject to the ravages of birth, sickness, old age, and death. Higher up, the scale is different, but it is just as impermanent as the lower six realms.
Biological Karma
I think it is karma that binds all life to the various possible realms. Karma is actions that lead to causes and effects. As humans, I believe we are born with karma, and we generate it all our lives. I don’t think it is just cause and effect. A major chunk of our karma must make us human, since most humans appear to be remarkably the same.
In the manifestation of karma as our subconscious minds, there also appear to elements of hatred, jealousy, selfishness, love, empathy, and all the other emotions we experience. Reproduction is like a prime directive, when karma and biology link together extremely closely. I think there is an additional directive: the creation of bodies for future karmic rebirths. I believe too many people structure their lives around the momentum of reproductive karma. Much of this can persist even after children grow up and leave home. People need to learn to give up their attachment to reproduction; otherwise, they might not be flexible enough to enjoy their retirement years.
Buddhism can’t be studied without encountering the concept of reincarnation, which is a product of karma. Just mentioning this subject can make many people feel uncomfortable. Most of us have grown up under the influence of theistic religion, even if we don’t believe in it. Theistic religions push salvation, while a religion such as Buddhism claims there is no such thing. However, many people often say that they feel reincarnation to be true , especially since there is so much circumstantial evidence.
I personally do not believe anyone is ever reincarnated. Officially, Buddhism only preaches rebirth6. People do not tend to like the idea that our conscious minds, or egos, probably die with our bodies. Unavoidable death can be frightening, so we often look for ways to avoid this. Strictly speaking, Buddhism only teaches that our karma, our soul, or our subconscious will get a new body in a new life. In this context, karma is not a solid, indivisible thing, and rebirth is not an auspicious event, since the old issues and frustrations, that were never managed, reoccur again. Still, nothing exists in isolation, since our conscious minds are always adding new information to our subconscious. Who we really are is a subject for much contemplation.
In our human realm, war, blame, revenge, killing, punishment, suicide, and even execution are some of the usual methods for dealing with problems. These methods only provide temporary relief. They don’t actually work, since they don’t treat subconscious habitual patterns. Meditation is considered the only tool that can lay bare our subconscious minds to analyze all our habits13. In this context, I was taught that subconscious thoughts do not come from anywhere, making them not as real and pressing as we think they are.
Conclusion
If our part of samsara needs fixing, we are the only ones who can do it. Celestial beings and aliens from other worlds can’t come to our rescue, since it would be unlikely that they would have managed all their issueseither. Human beings like to gamble and hunt for easy shortcuts, but samsara is the house that can never be beaten.
Enlightenment is not so much a euphoric state, but the simple ability for one to embrace life with love, generosity, and wisdom, regardless of all the obstacles that are encountered. One can acquire the courage to go against all the cultural shortcuts that create a society filled with poverty, inequality, and sexism. One could give up all those illusory comfort zones that don’t actually exist.
The good news is that we could do this if we all got together and worked everything out. The bad news is that we probably don’t have a chance in hell. Most beings seem to refuse to admit there is no escape from samsara, so we have to quit passing the buck.
However, all is not lost. One can start by not viewing samsara in terms of good and evil. It has always been like this, and it always will be. One can realize that our emotional and physical health is inextricably linked to the environmental and physical health of the world as a whole. If greed, anger, and delusion continue to be the way of the world, our environment will become uninhabitable, more diseases will plague us, and we will get angrier, looking for people and things to blame.
One would need to rethink privilege, and envision a better balance of masculine and feminine, and to stop playing destructive cultural gender games. If people came together based on relationships, rather than dating fantasies, the world would be a different place. If women ceased to marry men who poison the world and relationships, the effect would be immediate.
One should see that individual contemplation and awareness are necessary tools to change the world by first changing oneself. This kind of change means reducing all kinds of extreme attachments to things and concepts. One should give up the idea winning, especially if one’s actions cause others to suffer. One needs to soften notions of personally ideology, especially any attachment to the idea that so-called true stories14 determine our lives for us. Any strongly-held beliefs can blunt one’s spiritual growth.
If the Mind-only School is even only partially correct, it should be enough to remind one that extreme actions might be embarrassing, or even useless, given the possible extent of illusion. If no one has any inherent existence, blaming others for our problems does not make any sense. Worse, using anger or violence against others turns out to be a major blunder. Existence is not real, but suffering is.
References
1. Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World’s Greatest Physicists
In today’s secular environment the two worlds of science and spirituality are alien worlds, distinguished primarily by a deep-seated antagonism in which the principles of spirituality and the pragmatism of modern science exist face to face in a peren
A story with original photography, digital art, and illustration, about Son of Waves, 12 Dolphins to save the planet, David The Visionary on the beach in Tel Aviv, a digital messiah, and an internet of Love. Free PDF download.
