BUDDHIST GEM FELLOWSHIP

BUDDHIST GEM FELLOWSHIP BUDDHIST GEM FELLOWSHIP FUNDAMENTALS OF BUDDHISM DatukDr Victor Wee 15-April-2012 (Sun) LESSON 3 Beginning and End of the World FUNDAMENTALS OF BUDDHISM JKQuek/18092011

BEGINNING & END OF THE WORLD FUNDAMENTALS OF BUDDHISM

Theories on the Origin of the Universe • Ancient Egyptians: Khnumm created the universe and made men out of clay, who were given the breath of life by goddess Hathor • Ancient Greeks: Everything came from Oceanus, the primordial waters • Ancient Chinese: P’an Ku chiselled the universe out of chaos and changed his bones into rocks, his flesh into earth, his teeth into metal, etc. The process took 18,000 years.

Theories on the Origin of the Universe • Indians: World created by Brahma and the different castes emerged from different parts of the body • Jews and Christians: God created the universe and everything within it. Borrowed the Creation theory from the Assyrians.

Mosaic Cosmology DayEvent 1 Heaven & earth 2 Man (male only) 3 Trees 4 Beasts & fowl 5 Woman Genesis, Ch. 2 DayEvent 1 Heaven, earth, light 2 Firmament 3 Dry land, sea, vegetation 4 Sun, moon, stars 5 Fishes, birds 6 Beasts, reptiles, man & woman Genesis, Ch. 1

Some Problems About the Creation Theory • Earth was formed before the sun • Grass, herbs and fruit trees formed before the sun • Geology proves that there were trees, beasts and birds before the appearance of man • Man could not have lived on earth during thousands of years before the evolution of plant life and animals

Buddhist View on the First Cause • Buddhism accepts the existence of beings such as brahmas and devas or gods, but does not subscribe to the idea of the First Cause. • What is “First Cause”? It is the argument that everything we see in the world has a cause. If you go back in the chain of causes further and further you come to a First Cause, which is given the name of God.

Two Views on “First Cause” • Sir Bertrand Russell in “Why I am Not a Christian” • “If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument.” • Prof. John D. Barrow • The various creation stories were not scientific theories.. . By defining their place within the hierarchy of creation, the ancients could relate the world to themselves and avoid the terrible consideration of the unknown and unknowable.

Can the Universe Have an Ultimate Beginning? • Scientists conclude that the universe does not have an ultimate beginning. It constantly changes from one form to another, without a beginning or an end. • An “ultimate beginning” implies that all the energy in the universe came into being out of nothing. This would contradict every principle of physics.

Beginningless is Samsara The Buddha said: “Undetermined is the beginning of the universe. The furthest point of beings moving on from birth to birth, being bound by ignorance and craving, cannot be known.” SamyuttaNikaya, II: 178

Arising from Cause and Effect According to VisuddhiMagga, there is neither God nor Brahma who creates this world. It arises because of the interplay of cause and effect.

World in Two Categories • Buddhism envisage the world as divided into two broad categories: • Inanimate world: It is a receptacle or container (bhajana) in which various living beings make their homes • Animate world: Various kinds of living beings (bhava)

PHYSICAL WORLD

Physical Universe • From Buddhist point of view, the physical universe and the world we now live in arises from the interaction of five primary elements—earth, water, fire, air and space • Space is considered as an element in its own right rather than just the absence of other elements • Our world is not unique. There are other worlds “as numerous as the sands of the Ganges” inhabited by beings like ourselves

Buddha’s Word on the Pulsating Universe • Well before the scientists, the Buddha spoke about the expanding and contracting universe. “Sooner or later there comes a time when, after a long period, this universe contracts … But sooner or later, after a very long period of time, this universe begins to expand again.” DighaNikaya, III: 84

Pulsating Universe • Scientists believe that the universe is a pulsating system, that expands to its furthest limit then contracts with all energy compressed into a single lump. The pressure becomes so intense that there is an explosion, or “big bang”, once again sending all energy outwards. • We are now in the expanding phase of the universe. The expansion and contraction of the universe takes place over billions of years.

Cycle of the Universe Distance Life can evolve here Big Crunch Big Bang 15 About 1000 About 2000 Time (billion of years)

Age of the Universe • The age of the universe defies imagination. The universe had been expanding for the last 15 billion years. • Distance in the universe is measured in the speed of light.

Timelessness of the Universe The Buddha spoke of • “the dark, gloomy regions of darkness between the world systems even the light of our sun and moon, powerful and majestic though they are cannot reach”

World Systems • “As far as these suns and moons revolve, shining and shedding their light in space, that far extends the thousand-fold world system. In it there are thousands of suns, thousands of moons . . .” AnguttaraNikaya, I: 227

Structure of the Universe • According to Science, the universe is made up of billions of stars, planets, asteroids and comets. These objects cluster together into disk or spiral-shaped forms called galaxies. • Our planet is clustered in the Milky Way galaxy.

World Systems • Buddhist cosmological notions are in line with modern astronomy. Our world is not the centre of the universe • Buddhist texts describe groups of these worlds cluster together to form “world-systems” galaxies (cakkavala) as disk or spiral-shaped. They also recognise world systems (lokadhatu) of different sizes, consisting of suns and planets. • These are said to be found everywhere throughout the six directions of space (north, south, east, west, above, and below)

Evolution and Destruction of World Systems • Buddhists conceive of world systems that evolve and be destroyed over vast periods of time known as kalpas, measured in millions of years • Worlds come into being through the interaction of impersonal material forces, flourish for a while, and then go on a downward spiral when they are destroyed in a great cataclysm caused by natural elements such as fire, water or wind

Duration of a World System • In due course, the process starts up again and the worlds once again evolve to complete a full cycle of time known as a “great eon” (mahakalpa) • It takes many kappas for a world system to disintegrate and then reform. As analogy, He spoke of the duration to wear down a mountain of 7 mile cube by rubbing it with a silken cloth once a hundred years.

WORLD OF LIVING BEINGS

Evolution of Beings • AggaññaSuttatakes us back to the time when a previous world system had been destroyed, and a new one was just beginning to evolve • Just before a world is destroyed, the living beings there are reborn into a spiritual realm (Abhassara Brahma world) where they await the eventual evolution of a new world • When the new world begins to appear, they are reborn into it as ethereal beings with translucent bodies, air borne and no distinction between the male and female gender

Beings Become Grosser • The new world became denser. The beings begin to feed on savoury material floating on water, and their bodies become grosser and no longer become air borne. • Vegetation that appeared on earth. The beings feed on plants with greed and their bodies evolved into grosser forms and became distinctly different • Male and female characteristics appear. They were attracted to one another and engaged in sexual activities

Development of Social Fabric • As food became more scarce, the competition for it led to violent conflicts • In order to keep peace, the people began to organize themselves into society • They elect a king, who then enforces laws and punishes those who break them • This marks the beginning of social life

Comment on AggannaSutta • This sutta was taught to two Brahmins , Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and caste to become monks. • They were insulted and maligned by their own caste for becoming members of Sangha • Buddha challenges the belief that the caste system was divinely ordained • In the Buddhist account, the world is not the work of a divine creator and creation is not a once-and-for-all event • Human kind is in its present predicament because of primordial desire

Interaction Between Animate and Inanimate World • Operation of natural forces affect the living beings who live in these worlds. However, there is a two-way interaction. • Living beings also affect the rate of decline of the physical worlds. • Greedy and selfish people speedup the rate of decline of the physical worlds, while virtuous people slows it down • This is in harmony with modern ecology that selfish exploitation of natural resources, such as burning fossil fuels, contribute to the decline of natural environment and global warming

Implications for Ecology • Buddhism believes that a world with wise and virtuous people would last longer and be a more pleasant place to live than one inhabited by an ignorant and selfish population • Buddhist cosmology seems to have important implications for contemporary ecology

Another Interpretation of “World” • In the RohitassaSutta, the Buddha uses the term “world” to mean suffering, and the “cessation of the world” is Nibbana • “In this very one-fathom-long body, along with its perceptions and thoughts, do I proclaim the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world and the path leading to the cessation of the world.” SamyuttaNikaya, I: 62 • This is an empirical way of looking at the world which is experienced through the body

Avoiding Speculation • The Buddha mentioned the universe in passing. Speculation on the beginning and end of the universe is not necessary to attain Nibbana. • One of His speculative disciples named Malunkyaputta posed 10 metaphical problems and demanded answers • The Buddha gave the Parable of the Poison Arrow. A wounded man refuses to remove a poison arrow from his flesh until he new the details of the person who shot the arrow. (CulaMalunkyaSutta, MajjimaNikaya) • The holy life does not depend on resolving speculative views • Buddha’s teaching is concerned with the practice that leads to liberation from craving and full realization of Nibbana

Avoiding Speculation “Living the holy life could not be said to depend on whether the universe is finite or infinite or both or neither. For whether the universe in finite or not, there is birth, there is ageing, there is dying, there is grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and dispair, and it is for the overcoming of these that I teach.” MajjhimaNikaya: 430

Conclusion • The Buddha’s explanation of the universe is consistent with modern discoveries. • His knowledge extends beyond the ordinary human mind and, hence, he is regarded as ‘knower of the worlds’ (lokavidu)

THANK YOU DATUK DR VICTOR WEE ddvictorwee@gmail.com

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