On Interdependence: Physics Midterm
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| In 2019, the Mind & Life Institute held the 26th annual Mind & Life Conference, which brings together the best Western experts on topics in the sciences and education with the Dalai Lama and Eastern contemplative scholars. Photo: dalailamatrust.org |
On Interdependence
In the article Buddhism
and Quantum Physics: A strange parallel of two concepts of reality, scholar
Christian Thomas Kohl posits how quantum theory (particularly ‘entanglement’) and Buddhist philosophy
both describe systems where two entities are viewed as “separate and at the
same time in communication with each other1.”
In quantum theory, this might be protons and electrons, matter and dark matter;
in Buddhism, self and other, or table and chair. The profound views of these
two systems of thought often seem to collide, a matter we discussed briefly in
class and which I’ll take up here.
We know through Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle that
certain laws of causation that are valid in classical mechanics are problematic
in quantum physics. The relationship between momentum and location are an
example of quandary at the quantum level. The uncertainty principle “also has
profound implications for our fundamental notions of causality and the
determinism from the atomic level and up,” indicating that classic ideas of
causation are actually in jeopardy. In relationship to concepts of interactions
and complementarities, they “tell us something different that could be
expressed as follows: all is built upon sand and even not the grains of sand
have a solid core or nucleus. Their stability is based on instable interactions
of their components2.”
In the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, the philosophical
school of Madhyamika is said to be the most profound view of reality as it
exists. Developed around the 2nd century CE, the founder Nagarjuna
argues for the two views of pratityasamutpada
(“dependent origination”) and shunyata
(“emptiness”) as an applicable theory of how things exist. The Madhyamika
philosophy uses logic and logical proofs to demonstrate that things do not
arise by their own accord, but arise in dependence upon a multitude of causes
both present and prior to their arising.
In Madhyamika, phenomena arise only in dependence on each
other, and the whole cycle of creation and causation exists within a state of shunyata, or insubstantiality. The
theory of shunyata describes how
phenomenon lack any trace of a fundamental “being” or “self” from their own
side. For example, while we can call a “chair” a “chair”, the chair exists only
as a dependent-arising of the legs, seat, back, upholstery, etc., and lacks any
intrinsic “chair-ness” on its own. The most profound expression of Madhyamika
philosophy turns this investigation onto our notion of “self”.
In accord with quantum physics, the Buddhist philosophical
system is hip to issues of quantum entanglement and the instability of quantum
components. A deep sense of impermanence at all levels of reality was a key
insight of the Buddha, which highlights the potential power of rigorous
first-person introspection as a scientific tool for exploring the mind and
reality, and the importance of logical analysis.
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