August 13, 2018
Posted by in Science and Technology, Videos | 10.16am
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/v20494800yC5Cd7c7.mp4
Physicist Stephen Hawking cites a very simple yet clear reasoning as to why creator does not exist.
He also mentions clearly his belief that beings from other planets can and do exist.
Also kindness in humans is very important.
Do watch this interesting video. It is short yet meaningful. Inspiring and also very down to earth. Very approachable.
Humans are basically just accidents when we observe scientific data. When we look at how tiny we are in the scheme of things within the billions of universes out there, we are very small. It’s not how we think we are because we blow ourselves out of proportion. The universes does not revolve around us. But what Hawking says doesn’t upset Buddhist thought, because Buddhism is not interested so much in the body, where it exists, what plane, what part of existence or where you take rebirth. The mind can take rebirth in sophisticated or very simple living organisms depending on one’s karma.
Buddhism has always mentioned clearly that our minds can take rebirth in the infinity of so many existences of which earth is just one of the places. The mind’s existence within a physical body is not limited to earth or it’s various developmental periods of human existence.
The planet earth is just a speck within the six realms of samsara. Buddhism does not assert that a god like being controls us or creates us. It doesn’t make sense. Even within science we can observe this. How man evolved into our physical form was gradual and over time..not instant…as Buddhism says we can take rebirth in any of those forms. Within Buddhism you can observe this process easily.
Science is observable phenomena that makes more sense as we progress. Religions that control or hold no room for speculation can be restrictive is what Stephen is trying to say I gather.
Bottom line is that Buddhism does not assert that we humans instantly appeared on this planet. And that the mind can take rebirth in any being that is able to hold consciousness, whatever the life form looks like, wherever and whenever. So even as humans gradually developed, consciousness still can take rebirth in each stage of human’s development creating karma along the way. Before there was humans or life on this planet, the many minds/consciousnesses were already taken rebirth and existing in the myriads and billions of life systems already existing in so many other places. Even when the earth is no more, our consciousnesses will just take rebirth in many other places that life exists. Samsara doesn’t end as we create the causes for it to exist. There are unlimited places before, during and after earth according to Lord Buddha.
Tsem Rinpoche
Please watch a few times to understand…very interesting indeed. HH Dalai Lama has always asserted that Science and Buddhism match very well. They complement eachother easily.
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15 Comments
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Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful video.
Stephen is such a remarkable man and the three advise that he has given his children are so logical.
It’s very similar to Buddhism and we can take the advise in our Dharma work.
Thank you Rinpoche.
I loved science when I was a kid. With science, most questions of how things work became easily accessible. Science made us smart, so smart that we can send unmanned equipment weighing a few hundred kilograms, literally shoot it up from earth , fly 35 million miles to Mars, land safely , off load a small remote controlled land rover, scoop up mars dirt , analyze its contents and send pictures back to earth ! Phew ! I thought maths was difficult in school. Those scientist are geniuses. And science will always progress. However even with constant progress, people’s happiness didin’t progress in the same way. If those scientist had spend their effort on discovering the true nature of happiness and it’s causes. We’d be much better off. Now after having read the 8 verses of mind transformation, maybe sending rockets to space don’t seem so difficult after all.
Stephen Hawkings is a very remarkable man aside from his vast knowledge he continue to share his knowledge despite his disability. He contributes so much to our knowledge.
I like his quote ‘There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works’
I find this so in line with what Buddha said “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”
I like what Rinpoche said about how when we consider the many BILLIONS of other existences out there in the world, we are just tiny specks, so smalllll and insignificant. If we consider just how many countless other beings there are out there suffering, feeling, living, dying, ageing, being born and going through samsara, it sure makes our own little petty problems pale in comparison.
Why attribute so much importance to some little drama in our lives when it will just pass away, or when there are SO MANY other thousands of lives to save out there. Should we spend the rest of our lives just worrying the problems of one little person person (me) or trying to help the problems of millions others out there? When presented in this way, makes so much more sense to focus outwards and help the many. It’s like whether we should faff and stress and make a big drama about the fact that there is no more milk in our house, when there’s a huge earthquake outside our house and hundreds of people in our city have died. Isn’t it?
Stephen Hawkings is a remarkable man, aside from his brilliance, what stands out is his tenacity to continue and not give up on his passion eventhough his ENTIRE body has failed him, leaving him with just a cheek muscle! Now, what excuse do I have…hm…
Science has contributed immensely and has improved our physical living conditions (forget about the abuse of technology contributing to wars etc)
I find Buddhism is encompassing as it deals with the root of our problems,..our own mind! Can a scientist embrace the Buddhist philosophy? Sure
Do check out this book “The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality by Dalai Lama” for those who are interested to read what science and spirituality has in common..if any…and what their perspectives are.
YF you really hit the nail on the head when you switch it round, who is validating who.
But seriously, I think that as a Buddhist its only logical to begin the series of questions that validate for and against having a “one creator” theory. Yet just thinking it through, the conclusion I’m left with is there is no creator but you yourself.
So the role of a Buddha in all of this would be compared to “God”? Is it to teach you to become Buddha yourself and to move on with spiritual development, into the next realm of existence? What happens after all of samsara is emptied? Do we limit ourselves already because we don’t think we can become Buddha in one lifetime?
It’s mind boggling that 2,500 years ago Buddha already saw the whole spectrum of things as they are while scientists today are still struggling to find the code to unlock the “secret”.
Does science validate Buddhism or is it the other round?
I am a science guy and swear by science until I met Buddha’s teachings.We often think that science validates Buddhism due to its powerful analytical approach to proving the existence of things.However I am beginning to think its the reverse.
When Dalton split the Atom and declared to the world that he had found the smallest indivisible particle in the world, it threatened Buddha’s doctrine of impermanence.Well, it did for a few weeks. Since then scientists have given up the search for such an absolute unchanging object as they discover more and more particles within the atom and that they are constantly in a state of change.It took billions of dollars investing in the super electron microscope and decades of research and time to figure out what Buddha said.
Compared to Buddhist thoughts and ideas, science is so limiting. Their knowledge is only as good as their instruments and tools.It is not surprising that science will always validate Buddhism because it is merely chasing after the the Truth that Buddha expounded 2,500 years ago.
A good book to read for those interested in science and Buddhism is the ‘Tao of Physics’ by renowned quantum physicist Fitjof Capra.
Voon Chin
Rinpoche, I will like to know how our spirit and soul exist at the first place??
This video and Stephen Hawking reminds me of Einstein and one of his views:
“A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.
(Albert Einstein, 1954)
More quotes here:
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/albert-einstein-god-religion-theology.htm
When a tiny insect look up to the sky , in its mind it sees a “vast universe” which is only a tiny portion of earth. I feel that similarly when we look up the sky, the universe that we perceived is only a tiny speck of the universe that actually exists. If we limit our thoughts, our mind is not much different from that of an insect, and thus restrict the growth of our mind.
Remarkable Stephen Hawking indeed. On a personal level, i think he embodies his mind. His physical paralysis literally allows only his mind to create and expand his own world.
i like the concept that this scientist puts forth – that there are many different planes of existence and just in our universe alone, there are many. This is in synch with Buddhist belief.
To add, Stephen Hawking also said that “So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?” (quoted from A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988), p. 140-41)
I have always found this to be completely logical and in synch with Buddhism which does not address the existence of a creator.
Thank you for sharing this video… much food for thought.
If we are looking from the sky, everyone is so small, all the houses are so small, what makes us so different from each other? Rich and poor? Nope, it’s the choices we make, and what we choose to believe in…
I have always wondered that as the number of human being expand currently to over 6 billion and the extinction of animals and other life forces continues, means a form of recycling and so on.
Now my thoughts are clearer that it is not the form we exist but that the mind continues explains a lot to me.
If one look deeply into the logic of Buddhism, you will find that there are many similarities btween science and the Dharma. In Buddhism, Buddha analyzed the reasons that caused samsara in a very systematic ways and taught those knowledge to his disciples. He encourage his student to ask questions and challenge him, thus allowing them to think deeply.