Tag Archives: Quantum physics

Buddhism, Metaphysics, Quantum Mechanics

Newton’s Third Law of Karma?

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I almost always focus on Quantum Physics but for a change, I have decided to delve into, if even for an instant into some Newtonian Physics.

Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, or in other words, if Ido something there will be a direct measurable result to my actions. I don’t know about you but this sounds a lot like Karma or cause and effect to my very Buddhist ears. How so, you ask? Let us jump right in.

As I push on the wall with my finger the wall exerts an equal force back onto my finger. The result here is balance unless one force overpowers the other. This is relatively easy to understand.

Now, if I hurt you, you likely will hurt me this is also clear. If I hurt you, do I by default also hurt myself? I think so, at the very least from an emotional or psychological standpoint. Even on an interpersonal level Newton’s third law still stands. And the proof is in the pudding. The residual effect of violence is that one has mental imprints of guilt, sadness, and hate. Positive actions function in exactly the same way. Acts of kindness perpetuate more acts of kindness and positive emotions. I remember the “pay it forward” idea in the early 2000’s. In the drive thru lines in Canada people were paying the food bills for the others in the line with no expectation of anything in return other than a good feeling of doing something nice. This phenomenon continued for some time.

It seems that even Newton knew about Karma at least on a physical level. If it’s true that on a psychological or interpersonal level that a similar law exists we would be wise to begin treating every being as we ourselves would like to be treated or at least stop planting weeds in our own minds. If we don’t the wall will begin to push back on us in ways we will not like.

QP

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Buddhism, Meditation, Metaphysics, mind, Neuroscience, Psychology, Quantum Mechanics

Coemergence of Subject Object and Action

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The hard question of consciousness asks us to consider where consciousness arises from.

I believe that this question is fundamentally flawed and should be restructured. Instead of asking where does consciousness come from, what we should be asking is, what arises from consciousness?

Many of my subscribers are familiar with the theory of panpsychism, which presupposes that consciousness is omnipresent. It is everywhere, even your chair under you or your screen that you are reading or watching this on is in a small way conscious. Does this seem far fetched to you? The only other explanation is that consciousness is nothing more than a biological and chemical reaction limited to somewhere in the brain or body.

So if we presume that consciousness is everywhere and all things are conscious, then we could extrapolate that consciousness is the cause of everything. That the simple act of observation or awareness collapses the wavefront of all the possibilities of particles in superposition into our everyday world.

Now the stage is set for some more questions. The Buddha Dharma talks a lot about the unity of subject, object, and action. This is one of the many ways of expressing non duality. Let’s explore this, we have three things. A subject, (you or me), and an apple (object) that we would like to enjoy (action). So now, what good is a subject (you or me) without an object (apple) to enjoy (action)? What good is an object (apple) without a subject (you or me) to enjoy (action) it? And finally what good is action like enjoyment without a subject ( you or me) to do it to an object (apple)? This system of codependent existence is very interesting to play with. to understand what I mean here is that it is simply not meaningful or logical for one of these things to exist without the others.

Co emergence or co arising are two terms that are often used when comparing our very dualistic experience to a non dual reality. A general understanding of this would be that both good and bad, light and dark, and up and down only exist dependent on each other. We are pointing at the unity of two extremes and saying that what we want or what we perceive is actually in the middle somewhere, but we do not naturally perceive this. We see or understand only the separation or the borders between, in fact our total understanding of the world is based on an ontological seperation of all things. We project the idea of separation on to all that we see. The Buddha Dharma shows us otherwise.

Are we starting to see how all of this is connected?

Now if we ask both questions 1. How does consciousness arise? and 2. What arises from consciousness? at the same time, we begin to close the gap in understanding the conditioned physical world of particles and form, and the unseen world of forces, waves, and our conscious energy. Understanding that some things are not mutually exclusive but rather inclusive or both and, makes our world of experience full and complete. There is a lot of freedom in this understanding.

Wave particle Duality verses Non Dual Buddhism

I want to close with two thoughts. Firstly to quote Albert Einstein when he was speaking about the famous double slit experiment, detailed in the link above. “It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either” Einstein knew that a “both and” understanding is optimal for complete understanding of the very strange world of particels and waves.

And secondly that, consciousness is the universe’s way of seeing and understanding itself. What is an object, the universe, without a subject, our consciousness, to enjoy or perceive it?

QP

Buddhism, Metaphysics, mind, Quantum Mechanics

Wave particle Duality verses Non Dual Buddhism

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Waves and particles seem to the unlearned to be two very different things. But as we look deep down the quantum rabbit hole we begin to see how words like Non dual and unity have a very big place in the quantum world of the tiny and unseen and Buddhism alike.

Although demonstrated by Thomas Young’s famous double slit experiment in 1801 Wave-particle duality only became widely accepted in Quantum physicists in the mid-1900s. It is very interesting that the theory states that particles can exist as waves, waves can exist as particles, and sometimes they exist as both at the same time.
Young discovered that when shooting particles or photons at a steel plate one can observe either an interference pattern that indicates a wave function or individual spots indicating particles. The experiment seems to get weird when we understand that particle patterns were observed when a detector was placed on the screen to track the particles and when no detector was there the wave pattern was observed. Even stranger was when a single proton was fired it spit into two at the slot only to combine once again at the screen displaying qualities of both waves and particles.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying:
“It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. We are faced with a new kind of difficulty. We have two contradictory pictures of reality; separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do.”

 
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Buddhism not surprisingly has some 1000-year-old insights that compare almost exactly to this modern quantum phenomenon. In roughly 1320 the 3rd Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Dorje wrote his crowning treatise on Mahamudra. Written in song or poetry like stanzas he tries to show us how things are not perceived as they really are and the connection of mind in our experience of how things truly are.
Verse 6 says “The nature of the ground is the dual truth, free from extreme views of a permanent reality and of nihilism” Karmapa states here that our reality is the dual truth that is free from any reality of permanent or unchanging existence and free from the nothingness of nihilism. I would draw the comparison here to Einstein’s words that point to the contradiction between our materialistic world of particles and the unseen world with wavelike properties or even possibilities. Einstein goes further to say that sometimes we need only one of the theories sometimes we need both. Young’ experiment would support both here by demonstrating how sometimes we are seeing particles and sometimes waves then sometimes both.
In verse 11 Karmapa goes on to clarify this in case we did not catch it the first time, “May we recognize mind’s essence, which is free of any extremes. It is not existent, for even the buddhas do not see it. It is not non-existent for it is the basis of everything, of conditioned existence and of the state beyond suffering. This is no contradiction. It is the middle way of unity.” So what Einstein initially proposed to be a contradiction is countered by Karmapa’s conviction that the middle way of unity and ultimately agreed to by Einstein “separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do”. Young would again agree when he observed particles splitting acting as waves and then reuniting to a particle once again. This to me is a very clearly non-dual co-emergent reality.
Verse 18, my personal favourite, Karmapa clarifies once more for the doubters among us, “Observing phenomena, none is found. One sees Mind. Looking at mind, no mind is seen, it is empty in essence. Through looking at both, one’s clinging to duality naturally dissolves. May we recognize mind’s true nature, which is clear light”. In complete agreement Einstein and Karmapa both recognize that a complete unified understanding of the seen and unseen or the particle and wavelike worlds between Quantum Physics and Buddhism leads to the truth of our existence. Moreover one cannot ignore the fact that Young and Einstein were both talking about light waves and particles called photons. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see this clearly?

Meditation helps us to see more clearly or likely even completely clear. Once the veils of our emotions like jealousy and anger are cleared away we see our world free from their constant blurring effect. Our newly developed wisdom transforms suffering into joy. In the double slit experiment, we see the evidence of particles when our attention or the sensor is turned on, this is what we see now normally. If we can train ourselves in meditation maybe we can see the world of waves and their functions, maybe we can even understand or see our consciousness in action and watch as our awareness interacts with the collapsing wavefront into our particle material based world. It sounds a bit crazy, I know, but why not it might be really amazing.

So it seems to me that my three friends seem to agree on quite a lot, maybe the only thing that Karmapa, Young, and Einstein might disagree about is the path one takes meditation versus mathematics. Do both roads lead to Rome? Why not do both, that’s why people like me are here.

 
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QP

 
Buddhism, Meditation, Metaphysics, Quantum Mechanics

Was Schrodinger’s Cat Enlightened?

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Schrodinger’s famous thought experiment illustrates an important Buddhist teaching. Although Schrodinger originally created this experiment to illustrate the absurdity of applying Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics being applied to everyday objects, it’s genius can be used to show us other things and challenge our individual experience of reality. In the experiment, Schrodinger places a cat in a closed steel box where a deadly poison stands ready to be released by a Geiger counter and an atom that decays at an unknown rate. At any time during the experiment, the cat is either dead or alive. We do not know the status of the cat until we directly observe the situation in the box. This illustrates the idea of superposition as the cat technically exists in all possible states until the observation.
What can we learn from this that can be applied to a Buddhist practice? None other than that we are already enlightened and we just don’t know it yet while we have not been able to observe it properly. Many Buddhist teachers explain that enlightenment is closer to us than our skin. This is due to the understanding that we all have the potential to be a Buddha, the fact that we all have the Buddha nature. This means that because the Buddha, also a man, realised enlightenment so can we. We are simply in a state of superposition until we begin to observe, look deep inside with meditation and learn to see ourselves as the perfect beautiful beings that we already are. We need to look inside the box of our minds with trust and purposeful dedication that what we see and what we are is nothing short of amazing. We need to learn to think inside of the box long before we begin to think outside of the box. Most of us have reversed this process only to miserably fail at whatever it is that we are trying to achieve. Do we try to teach someone something that we cannot do ourselves? Are we putting the cart in front of the horse? Can we be of good use to others when we are suffering in an uncontrollable way ourselves, or can we be of best use to all when are in a position of surplus and wisdom?
A well-composed meditation practice shows us our natural beauty and divine essence that we have had since beginningless time but have unfortunately due to our own ignorance we have learned to forget it. Let us, therefore, learn to be fully alive whether we are in Schrodinger’s box or not. It is really a choice that we must make to either wallow in our own sorrow or chose to realise our full potential for the benefit of all beings.
In any given moment in any given situation, anything is possible. Superposition gives us a gateway to understanding our unlimited potential and what we see and how we see it is what we receive. And here we can choose to see a comedy or a tragedy it is up to us. Meditation gives us the chance to do this not only on the meditation cushion but perhaps more importantly in daily life.
So was Schrodinger’s cat enlightened? Yes, but he may not have realised it, much like us.
Let’s choose to be amazing…

Buddhism, consciousness, Meditation, mind, Quantum Mechanics

Niels Bohr and the Buddha “Awareness or Creation”

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Bohr_real_vs_unreal

“Everything we call real is made up of things that cannot be regarded as real” Niels Bohr. What exactly did Neils Bohr mean here? In modern Quantum Physics, we begin to understand that what we have learned such as particles or atoms to be nothing more than probabilities and potentials. We don’t actually know what an atom looks like or exactly where they are and we likely never will. We guess as to their exact positions and properties with complex mathematical equations and complex experiments some costing billions of dollars. To a Quantum Physicist, the idea of a Ven Diagram showing how oxygen and carbon atoms react is like teaching the Dalai Lama about the Buddhas birth. Quantum Physics has completely changed how modern science looks at the reality in which we think we live. To a Buddhist, this is music to our ears. It sounds very much like the teachings of emptiness. To some, the concept of emptiness is troublesome and it can be hard to wrap your mind around it. It has been described by some very early Christian translations to mean nothingness. This makes us Buddhists sound like nihilists. This was likely done on purpose as to discredit, to falsely portray, or confront Buddhism and further the creation myth by the Church and her missionaries. However, Buddhism is as far from nihilism as Christians are from hell. We define emptiness by saying that all phenomena have no intrinsic or independent existence of their own. To detail this teaching classicly we need to discuss the twelve points of dependent origination. But to make things easy I will simply try to answer that age-old question “if a tree falls in the forest does anyone hear it?” For example, let us take something beautiful like a rose. Does a rose really exist? Another way to ask this is to say does the rose exist independently in and of itself? In Buddhist Philosophy for something to really exist it must be independent of all other phenomena. The answer is no, the rose does not exist independently of anything, it is as we know dependant on sunlight for example. One step further and we see that there is no sunlight without the sun. There is no sun without the sun’s ongoing nuclear reactions and no reactions without Helium and Hydrogen. We see here that rose is empty of independent existence. Or as some might say the rose is an expression of emptiness or empty in nature or essence. We agree with Niels Bohr and we understand the rose to be real but it is not.
Is there another way that we can understand the rose to not exist independently? Yes, if the rose is to be considered to be real and independent it must exist as it does now without changing. It cannot grow, bloom, and we could not even cut one from the plant as it would die and rot away. We know this independence to be false because the rose changes in every moment fully dependent on all the conditions it requires to be as it is. This is also understood as impermanence, as no thing lasts forever.

Now if I stop here I can imagine that some of you might say, “see this is Nihilism no things exist in Buddhism. And you might be right, however, I am reminded of a quote from a famous Buddhist Philosopher Nagarjuna, who said “If you think things are real you are as dumb as a cow, if you think they are not real you are even dumber” If you think trains are not real please do not stand in front of one that’s moving, as you will be suddenly surprised. We know phenomena are there because we can perceive them and be aware of them, they are however dependent on our perception and awareness. The famous double slit experiment is good evidence of this. Our observation imparts a temporary existence to them as we observe them. Just as the waveform collapses into particles that we can perceive as we observe them. They arise, exist, and dissolve back into the space or the field where all information exists as space is information. It would seem that we give phenomena their essence or that our observation is responsible for their creation. When we look around and see the sheer complexity and beauty around us it is clear that life is amazing and so full of potential and joy. We just need to slow down and simply pay attention to it; this is what we learn in meditation. So clearly Buddhists are not nihilists. Now for one to think that the traditional biblical creation myth we talked about earlier as the truth, one needs to assume that all of creation was finished after just 6 days. I firmly understand that it is preposterous and hubris to think anything other than, that creation is continuous and infinite. And when you come this far you might just see yourself as an integral part in all of it.

So the falling tree in the forest is dependent on the sun, the rain, and many other conditions around it not the least of which is us. Without someone to notice it there simply is no meaning or reason for the tree to exist in the first place.

“If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” Niels’ words here are truly inspiring, I would expand to say this: If Buddhism hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. The more I learn the more I am shocked by the Buddha Dharma. I am often moved to tears when concepts like emptiness finally begin to sink in and are understood on deeper and deeper levels. I am convinced that Niels Bohr must have understood things in a similar fashion or he would not have said what he said.

QP

Buddhism, consciousness, Meditation, mind, Quantum Mechanics

Adhyatma Vidya The Science of Mind

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Adhyatma Vidya (skt.) is traditionally known as the knowledge of mind or true self or in a more modern sense the Science of Mind. The rich and fantastically elaborate culture of the ancient Indians were perhaps the first civilization to study, theorise, and test mind. And since the time of the historical Buddha, followers of the Buddha Dharma have been studying it ever since within the ever modern laboratory of meditation.

“Remember that there are many religions in the world. They can not be put under one heading since not all of them presuppose faith in an immaterial and immortal soul. Some of them – for example, Buddhism – may appear to be quite close to the concepts of modern science.”
Francis H.C Crick

What is the laboratory of meditation? And what experiments are we doing when we meditate? Quite simply we are looking for the self or the observer. We are looking for that through which hears through our ears and sees through our eyes. We are looking for that part of us that has been with us since beginningless time that which has no colour, shape, or form, the part of us that never dies and was never born, but that part of us that we just seem to know or understand to always have been there.

“For a parallel to the lesson of atomic Theory regarding the limited applicability of such customary idealisations, we must, in fact, turn to the other branches of science, such as psychology, or even to that kind of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like Buddha and Lao Tsu have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence.“
Niels Bohr

Many great treatises have been written about Buddhist Epistemology (theory of perception), Nagarjuna’s Prajnaparamitas, and the processes that take place when we experience and interact with phenomena. It is understood that when we thoroughly examine all the relationships and dependencies (theory of dependent origination) we can find no thing that is truly independent or exists in and of itself. This could be a good way to explain the Buddhist idea of emptiness; empty of its own existence. In Sanskrit the word used is Shunyata. It is extremely important to note here that Emptiness or Shunyata is not “Nothing or nothingness” the root “Su” denotes a great swelling of possibilities. Wow, that sounds very exciting to me how about you? We live in a world of limitless possibilities and endless joy that arises from it. Space is rich and beautiful beyond our wildest imaginations.

Buddhism, consciousness, Meditation, mind, Quantum Mechanics

Meditative or Quantum Entropy?

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equilibrium2000 1000.jpg

Are Buddhists meditating in order to reach a human equivalent of zero-point energy or quantum entropy within their personal energy fields, realms of experience, existence, or in mind? Buddhists often talk about reaching a point, between attachment and aversion. We understand that we use a tremendous amount of energy striving for the things we desire and want, and running away from and avoiding the things that cause us difficulties. Our battle against our likes and dislikes as dictated to us by our personal concepts literally takes up all of our time and energy. This constant attraction and aversion to all our thoughts is simply so much work and effort we hardly have the time to stop and notice its effects let alone do anything about it. When beginning to meditate most of us become acutely aware of just how many thoughts we have and how much time we spend thinking or daydreaming. We think wow I had no idea how many thoughts I have, wow I am so confused and distracted, or even I cannot even begin to meditate because we are so overwhelmed. So if we can come to this state or point of no longer battling between the two extremes, and can rest in the middle, the present, in mind or mindfulness, how might one view it? Where does this energy go, how is it used and could we put it to better use?

We could call this liberation, great joy, highest bliss, or even enlightenment. One might even use the Tibetan word “detong” here may be defined as the union of emptiness and joy. I would explain further that all the energy we use to run away from or to things would simply be transformed into joy when we realize this state of “meditative entropy”. I use the word entropy here to highlight that this energy that is defined as being unavailable in the system of our existence or the random chaos of thoughts that may be observed may just be the basis of all that was, is, and will be. The inert uniformity is also very interesting here. From a Buddhist perspective, one might point to the union of subject, object, and action; or a state of non-separation of all beings. All this points to an existence of entropy in all areas of our lives or quantum entropy of our life in all its many facets and interactions with all beings, all at once, and for all times.

When we talk about the ground state in quantum mechanics and the chaos that that arises from or within it, I cannot help but think of all the possibilities. Think about this, is the “process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder, chaos, disorganization, or randomness a bad, good, or neutral thing, when it happens in mind? As with most if not all things in the Buddha Dharma it is neutral, it all depends on how we see it or interpret the battle of our likes and dislikes to all the possibilities of the wide open space of mind. Next time our bus is late or we have a seemingly difficult situation lets keep in mind once the situation relinquishes itself to impermanence and dissolves, we become free of its effects and all we had to do was to be patient and wait for quantum entropy to once again balance out in our lives. We can once again focus upon or see the beautiful and wonderful. I find this potential energy completely enthralling and inspiring. I want some of it, and not just some but all of it. Of course, I will share it with you all.

How do the laws of cause and effect and Quantum Entropy interact? When karma matures and arises it goes through a process. First, we do an action or have it done and then we experience the actions and their immediate results. This action leaves an impression in mind that will arise at a later date and result in an effect in our lives. Much like Newton’s third law that states for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, the actions that we undertake and complete in daily life result in an equal reaction, in our minds ( I am not sure about an opposite reaction here). For example, when we hit someone with a left uppercut to the chin, we should not be surprised when someone hits us back in much the same way or in a similar fashion. This equalizing out of our actions is entropy at its best on a relative level in mind. Call it what you will, “you reap what you sow”, or some form of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, or the timely ripening of Karma, everything we say or do comes back to us in much the same form as that with which we sent it out with. And the result is always a tie game or Entropy. If this is true maybe we should only focus sending out the good stuff?

One of the most wonderful parts of my practice is to recite the four immeasurables. They are as follows: 1. May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness. 2. May they be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. 3. May they experience happiness which is totally free of suffering and 4. May they remain in the great equanimity which is without attachment and aversion. The fourth one that details a state between attachment and aversion is exactly the balance we are seeking in our meditation and our lives. Here I would apply the second part of the definition “the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity” The ultimate state of uniformity how much more beautiful can this get? When everything is uniform, even, or level and totally in balance in the physical world. Would that not include us human beings as complex, unpredictable, and emotional as we are? There would be no yours or mine, no black and white, not even a here and there. What would we have to fight about? We could finally fully and totally relax and not have to worry about what the next guy is doing and work for the benefit of all. Equanimity or entropy take your pick the differences are small and the similarities are enormous.

Whether we are experiencing meditative detong, the equilizing out or the return of our actions (Karma), or equanimity; Quantum or Meditative Entropy will have its effect and even the score out. No matter if we are relating to one another on the relative or the ultimate level, our natural state is one of equilibrium, with all and within all, and in all times and directions. Our only choice is, do we choose to realise this and work with it or not? Do we have the courage to be responsible for our actions and live with the results, even if they affect us all on a quantum level?
Let’s choose a better path for ourselves, one that stands the test of time, endures the strictest of scientific evaluation, and models only the very best of our values and virtues. Do well, be well, and meditate well.

 

The following as of September 2016 were the definitions I have quoted in this entry:

entropy
noun en·tro·py \ˈen-trə-pē\
1: a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system’s disorder, that is a property of the system’s state, and that varies directly with any reversible change in heat in the system and inversely with the temperature of the system; broadly : the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system
2a : the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity
b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder
3: chaos, disorganization, randomness

source:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entropy
Zero-point energy, also called quantum vacuum zero-point energy, is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may have; it is the energy of its ground state.

All quantum mechanical systems undergo fluctuations even in their ground state and have an associated zero-point energy, a consequence of their wave-like nature. The uncertainty principle requires every physical system to have a zero-point energy greater than the minimum of its classical potential well. This results in motion even at absolute zero. For example, liquid helium does not freeze under atmospheric pressure at any temperature because of its zero-point energy.

The concept of zero-point energy was developed by Max Planck in Germany in 1911 as a corrective term added to a zero-grounded formula developed in his original quantum theory in 1900.[1] The term zero-point energy is a translation from the German Nullpunktsenergie.[2]:275ff

Vacuum energy is the zero-point energy of all the fields in space, which in the Standard Model includes the electromagnetic field, other gauge fields, fermionic fields, and the Higgs field. It is the energy of the vacuum, which in quantum field theory is defined not as empty space but as the ground state of the fields. In cosmology, the vacuum energy is one possible explanation for the cosmological constant.[3] A related term is a zero-point field, which is the lowest energy state of a particular field.[4]

Scientists are not in agreement about how much energy is contained in the vacuum. Quantum mechanics requires the energy to be large as Paul Dirac claimed it is, like a sea of energy. Other scientists specializing in General Relativity require the energy to be small enough for the curvature of space to agree with observed astronomy. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle allows the energy to be as large as needed to promote quantum actions for a brief moment of time, even if the average energy is small enough to satisfy relativity and flat space. To cope with disagreements, the vacuum energy is described as a virtual energy potential of positive and negative energy.[5]

The ground state of a quantum mechanical system is its lowest-energy state; the energy of the ground state is known as the zero-point energy of the system. An excited state is any state with energy greater than the ground state. The ground state of a quantum field theory is usually called the vacuum state or the vacuum.

If more than one ground state exists, they are said to be degenerate. Many systems have degenerate ground states. Degeneracy occurs whenever there exists a unitary operator which acts non-trivially on a ground state and commutes with the Hamiltonian of the system.

According to the third law of thermodynamics, a system at absolute zero temperature exists in its ground state; thus, its entropy is determined by the degeneracy of the ground state. Many systems, such as a perfect crystal lattice, have a unique ground state and therefore have zero entropy at absolute zero. It is also possible for the highest excited state to have absolute zero temperature for systems that exhibit negative temperature.

Zero-point Energy definition source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-point_energy

Buddhism, consciousness, Meditation, mind, Quantum Mechanics, Superposition

Superposition

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Quantum Superposition

Superposition may be defined as The quantum mechanical property of a particle to occupy all of its possible states simultaneously. This property of multiple coexisting states of existence persists until the superposition is measured, observed, or interacted with. Superposition is classically explained by Schrödinger’s Cat. A cat is imagined as being enclosed in a box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be released when the source (unpredictably) emits radiation, the cat being considered (according to quantum mechanics) to be simultaneously both dead and alive until the box is opened and the cat observed. Its kind of a funny thing to think about, but it begs a few important questions.

  1. What role does the observer play not only in science but in perception in general?
  2. What roles do subject, object, and action, the three subparts of observation, really play in our awareness in meditation?
  3. What are Buddhists attempting to observe in meditation, is this all the same thing?

The Buddhist perspective might be that everything in the universe is constantly in superposition until mind perceives it or consciousness collapses the wavefront and all the possibilities condense into one. One might even say that to a Buddhist all possibilities exist in every situation we experience.

We can say that all possibilities exist within mind, and mind being no thing, is beyond our normal observation but not beyond meditation. When subject, object, and action come together within the meditation we witness the inseparability of ourselves and others. We attempt or practice to do this in the meditation and to then bring it forth in our daily lives. This is commonly called being in the moment or mindfulness. We use these phrases daily almost flippantly while ignoring their much deeper meaning.

The Sanskrit word Mahamudra is a state reached by meditation. Mahamudra could be defined in two parts; as Maha or super and mudra or position. If there are any Sanskrit experts out there, I am curious as to your thoughts on this. Please understand that my Sanskrit is often coloured by my understanding of Tibetan and a very good Indian friend.  Mahamudra has been the subject of many beautiful and cryptic songs or prose in Tibet since 1000 ad. The realization of Mahamudra is enlightenment. Our goal in Buddhism is to discover our true potential. This true potential is Enlightenment.

Do you agree, or feel otherwise? Or perhaps you have something to add?