Cosmology - Meditation Practices For Healing And Well-Being

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CosmologyandBuddhist Thought:A ConversationwithDr. Neil deGrasseTysonDr. Jerome Freedman

Dr. Jerome FreedmanCopyright 2011-2013 Dr. Jerome FreedmanAll rights reserved.ISBN: 1492766763ISBN-13: 978-1492766766ii

DEDICATIONThis book is dedicated to:My teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and all the Buddhasand Bodhisattvas before and after himandto Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, without whose help this would nothave been possible.

CONTENTSDEDICATION . iiiCONTENTS . iACKNOWLEDGMENTS . vPREFACE . vii1 Introduction . 12 A Short History of the Cosmos . 7The Big Bang . 7The Solar System . 8The Earth . 9Life. 93 Foundations of Buddhist Thought . 11Introduction . 11The Four Noble Truths. 12The Eightfold Path . 14i

Dr. Jerome FreedmanRight View .14Right Speech .15Right Thought .16Right Action .16Right Livelihood .17Right Diligence .17Right Mindfulness .18Right Concentration .18Co-dependent Origination .18Interbeing.20Emptiness and Non-self .204 The Stories We Tell .235 Origins and the Goldilocks Zone .276 Exoplanets .317 Co-dependent Arising, Interbeing, and Impermanence .358 Time Scales .419 Buddhist Thought and The Self .4710 Nirvana .5111 Ecology .5512 Consciousness .59ii

Cosmology and Buddhist Thought13 Religion . 6314 Mindless Consumption . 6915 Don’t Dispair – Take Action . 7716 Closing Remarks . 81ABOUT THE AUTHOR. 83Books by Dr. Jerome Freedman . 83CDs . 83Websites . 84iii

Dr. Jerome Freedmaniv

Cosmology and Buddhist ThoughtACKNOWLEDGMENTSI wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson for thetime he spent with me that late spring day in New York in 2011.It was a very special honor to have him answer my questions andoffer scientific insight from the point of view of cosmology.I also wish to offer thanks to Thich Nhat Hanh for hisencouragement when he said to me, “You are doing very well,yourself!”Thanks also go to my daughter, Jessica Freedman for editingthe text and my friend, Kushi Kullar for his reviews, suggestions,and support.v

Dr. Jerome Freedmanvi

Cosmology and Buddhist ThoughtPREFACECosmology and Buddhist Thought is the result of aconversation with astrophysicist and television celebrity, Dr. NeildeGrasse Tyson, that took place in New York at the end of May,2011.While cosmologists look at the outer space with massiveinstruments and difficult calculations using mathematics, Buddhistslook at inner space with mindfulness and concentration.Both paths lead to insights about fundamental questions aboutwhy and how we got here, what we are doing here, what are ourconnections and interactions with the universe, and what is ourdestiny.Cosmologists study life on earth from an objective point ofview and examine its causes. Buddhists study life on earth withregard to understanding its challenges and how to resolve them.Both Buddhism and cosmology recognize that we live in anemerging, evolving, and impermanent universe – everything ischanging.Dr. Tyson’s insights into the origins of life on earth, time scales,ecology, and religion are inspiring, to say the least, and extremelywise to read and contemplate.His responsiveness to Buddhist ideas of co-dependent arising,interbeing (interconnectedness), impermanence, the self, nirvana,and consciousness demonstrates much more than a “Reader’sDigest knowledge of Buddhism.”vii

Dr. Jerome FreedmanA close reading of the conversation reveals that Buddhistthought does not have much to contribute to cosmology.Cosmology, on the other hand, has a lot to contribute toBuddhism.viii

Cosmology and Buddhist Thoughtix

1 INTRODUCTIONOn May 26, 2011, I was in New York visiting my son.On that day, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dr. NeildeGrasse Tyson.Dr. Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the HaydenPlanetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space as well as aresearch associate in the department of astrophysics at theAmerican Museum of Natural History in New York City.He is also quite a television celebrity because of his appearancesin Origins, The Universe, Through the Wormhole, NOVA,Cosmos: A Personal Journey (Carl Sagan), and in other scientificvenues.My first experience with Dr. Tyson was in 2007 when Ihappened to catch a glimpse of the TV show, The Universe on TheHistory Channel.I was impressed with his vast knowledge and his ability toexplain the mysteries of the universe in clear, everyday language.My interest in cosmology and astronomy was rekindled in 2003when I first watched Brian Green’s The Elegant Universe on PBS.1

Dr. Jerome FreedmanI studied physics in graduate school and received an A. M. inphysics from Washington University in St. Louis and an M. S. inphysics from the University of Chicago.My primary interest in studying physics was to try to understandGod through understanding the nature of the universe. I lovedquantum theory and the paradoxical nature of its propositions.Since I was Jewish on my parents’ side, I had tried to find someanswers in the Jewish tradition.All of this was the result of three episodes of transcendentalexperiences I had as an undergraduate student. Every one of theseexperiences raised more questions about my religious convictionsthan they answered.In each case, I felt like I lost my personal identity and mergedwith the oneness of the universe. There was an immense feeling ofbliss, happiness, and well-being from each one.These experiences were so powerful that they shaped andinspired almost everything in my life.The first of these experiences came during the Yom Kipperservices in 1959. I thought, for sure, this was an act of God! I reallyprayed hard for the rest of the day.I became utterly confused when the second experience occurredduring the singing of Ode to Joy in a performance of Beethoven’sNinth Symphony by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.The theme of Ode to Joy is the brotherhood and unity ofmankind. The performance was truly magnificent and I was inrapture for an extended period of time.In a sense, this experience transcended the first because it wentbeyond being a “Jewish” experience to all humanity, and, as Iwould now say, to all sentient beings.2

Cosmology and Buddhist ThoughtMy Jewish mind became unsettled and disturbed.Then it happened again. This time it was in the kitchen of ourold house on Cornell Avenue. I was sitting around the table withmy parents and all my five siblings.Judy, my dearly departed sister, was home from the Universityof Oklahoma for the weekend. It was one of the few times I feltunconditional love from my family. It didn’t matter that no onewas paying attention to me at that moment. I was just happy to bethere. It probably was the last time we were all be together aroundthat particular table.How were we to know that Judy would soon get married, havetwo wonderful boys, and die from Leukemia nine years later?So, we have here, first a “Jewish” experience, then a “universalbrotherhood” experience, and finally, a “family” experience.Putting it all together had become the koan of my life.During my first year at the University of Chicago, I metprofessor Eugene Gendlin, author of Focusing, and an absolutelylovely individual. We had several interesting conversations aboutphysics and existential philosophy.In one of them, I had an insight that could have turned indetermining my life’s work, had I been ready for it. The insight hadto do with altered states of consciousness similar to the onesdescribed above. To understand it, you have to understand how alaser works.At that time, lasers were fairly new, and their principles ofoperation were interesting to me. Laser is an acronym for "lightamplification by stimulated emission of radiation."Unlike ordinary light, the light from a laser is coherent. Thismeans that the light emitted from a laser can be sharply focusedand very intense.3

Dr. Jerome FreedmanMy insight, which is being researched today, was that alteredstates of consciousness could possibly be a coherent firing ofneurons in the brain in such a way as to stimulate a feeling ofeuphoria, rapture, bliss, and unity with the whole universe.I felt totally incapable of delving into neuroscience and thephysics of the brain on my own, as this would definitely beconsidered a wacky idea in those days.During one of my meetings with Dr. Gendlin, I presented apaper I had written for him and his colleagues on “The StrangeReality of the Quanta.” The paper was broadly accepted and manyquestions were discussed. I wish I could find my copy of it today.After completing my masters at the University of Chicago, myattention turned to Hinduism, Buddhism, and other modalities ofconscious conduct instead of physics.Physics would often come into my conversations with fellowsearchers. For example, when I met Fritjof Capra, author of TheTao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics andEastern Mysticism, we would have long conversations about theparallels he wrote about.For many years, I was concerned with raising a family, earning aliving, and spiritual practice, not necessarily in that order. WithBrian Green’s TV program, my interest in physics, astronomy andcosmology merged with my Buddhist studies and practices in avery meaningful way.Around 2005, I came across the Dalai Lama’s book, TheUniverse in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality andlistened with great interest as Richard Gere read its pages.This, together with the Dalai Lama’s meetings with scientists,doctors, psychologists, and philosophers in Mind and Lifeconferences led to a resurgence of my interest in physics.Recently, I have engaged in some educational courses inastronomy and cosmology that brought me up to speed with such4

Cosmology and Buddhist Thoughtcosmological concepts as inflation, dark matter, dark energy, theexpanding universe, and the life cycle of stars. This has been reallywonderful and I’ve enjoyed it very much.With my good friend, I have also been attending the DeanLectures on astronomy at the Morrison Planetarium in theCalifornia Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in SanFrancisco. We have really enjoyed them as well.By the time I met with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, I felt that Ihad prepared myself well enough to understand any science he mayinvoke during our conversation.Earlier in May of 2011, I had completed my job as an expertwitness and software development engineer for the TechnicalCommittee of the Department of Justice monitoring Microsoft’scompliance with the settlement agreement. The contract began in2004 and was supposed to only last six weeks. It only endedbecause the DOJ and the plaintiffs had thought that we had doneour job.I was feeling a wonderful sense of freedom when the contractended because I had made valuable contributions to the case andearned a good deal of money.In Zen, this state is called, “don’t know mind,” because at thatmoment or during that period of mind we fully accept notknowing, we are free from knowing or having to know. I had noidea of what I would do next in my life other than visit New Yorkand see what developed.This state of “don’t know mind” gave me permission to write toDr. Tyson for an interview.The half-hour interview turned into an hour and six minutes.The interview beings in chapter 4 and subsequent chapters.Text in [brackets] are my notes. They explain and/or clarify thetext of the interview.5

Dr. Jerome Freedman6

Cosmology and Buddhist Thought2 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE COSMOSCosmology is the study of the entire universe, or at least as muchof the universe that we can see with our telescopes and otherinstruments and even the parts we can speculate about. Scientistswho study cosmology are usually astrophysicists and they callthemselves cosmologists.One of their current views of the universe is the theory of theBig Bang which I’m sure you have heard of.But what is the big bang? What banged? When did it happen?Without going into too many scientific details, you will learn alittle bit about the big bang, its relationship to cosmology and theimportance of it for our lives here on planet Earth.The Big BangCosmologists say that the universe as we know it began about 13.7billion years ago in a flash of energy that resulted inelectromagnetic radiation and some particulate matter that was sohot that matter as we know it could not even form.As soon as the universe came into being, it instantaneouslyexpanded in a process known as inflation by a factor of a billionbillion billion times.7

Dr. Jerome FreedmanAfter inflation, which lasted less time than you can evenimagine, the universe was a seething, hot soup of particles andradiation. The universe was so dense that the radiation could notescape.380,000 years after the new universe was expanding andcooling, it had cooled enough so that radiation could escape andthis radiation is still detectable today! This is called the “cosmicmicrowave background radiation.”It was about this time that electrons combined with protonsand neutrons to form hydrogen and helium atoms. Initially, 25% ofall atoms in the universe were helium, and a small fraction waslithium. There was no carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, or other elementsessential for life.A billion years after the big bang, gravity brought together thehelium and hydrogen gases and caused them to coalesce into giantdust clouds. When the clouds became dense enough, they ignitedand became the first stars.Due to the gravitational attraction of the stars for each other,they eventually formed galaxies. As the galaxies clustered togetherthe first stars died and in the process, produced the heavierelements in space.The Solar SystemAfter many generations of such stars forming and dying, there wasenough matter in this section of the universe for the solar systemto form. This happened about 4.5 billion years ago.Dust particles of all sizes coalesced together to form pebbles.Pebbles came together to form rocks. As the rocks got bigger,boulders formed. Then asteroids, from about a mile across to thesize of a small town came together over millions of years. Cometsalso formed and, ultimately planets. One of the planets – the thirdone from the sun – lies in what astronomers call the “GoldilocksZone” where liquid water can flourish. This is where we live todayon planet Earth.8

Cosmology and Buddhist ThoughtThe EarthFor millions of years, the Earth was bombarded with meteors,comets, asteroids, planetesimals, and other objects and was a redhot ball of lava.When the Earth was about 50 million years old, one of theseobjects, which may have been the size of Mars crashed into Earthand broke out to become our Moon.All of these collisions, coupled with the heavier, radioactivematerials in the center of the Earth kept the temperature of thecore high enough for the core to be a molten ball of iron andnickel.Since all of this matter in the Earth’s core was rotating and, theEarth developed a magnetic field. It was this magnetic field thatdeflected high energy particles from the Sun away from the Earth,just providing a shield for the primordial atmosphere.The primordial atmosphere was filled with noxious gasses likecarbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and others.The Earth took about a billion years to cool so that water couldexist on the surface and land masses, first the size of islands couldform.LifeLife in the form of microbes appeared about 3.8 billion years ago.This was the primary form life until about 560 million years ago,when simple animals evolved.For most of those 3.2 billion years between microbes andsimple animals, cyanobacteria harnessed the light of the Sunthrough the process of photosynthesis. They increased theconcentration of oxygen in the atmosphere from virtually zero tothe present day value of 20%.9

Dr. Jerome FreedmanFish have been around for about 500 million years andamphibians for about 360 million years. Birds came about 150million years ago and flowers about 130 million years ago.Primates flourished about 60 million years ago and the firsthumanoids evolved 20 million years ago. The modern humanspecies only appeared 200,000 years ago! We are the newcomers onthe block and look what we have done to Mother Earth. That isthe subject of another book!So, we, as humans, are here only because of The Big BangSupernovae exploded in this part of the universe creatingall the heavy elements needed for lifeThe solar system coalesced out of the gas and debrisfrom the explosionsPlanet Earth is in the Goldie Locks Zone where liquidwater can existA colossal collision between the Earth and anotherobject about the size of Mars gave rise to our Moon,which caused the axis of rotation of the earth to tiltcreating seasons, and the tidal forces which stirred upthe early earthCyanobacteria over a period of 3.2 billion years changedthe concentration of free oxygen in the air to what it istoday, allowing amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds,flowers and primates to evolve before usConditions were sufficient for primates to evolve intohumanoids and homosapiansThere was enough food, oxygen, water, kindness, andwisdom to bring us to present time!10

Cosmology and Buddhist Thought3 FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHIST THOUGHTIntroductionThe Buddha was born with the name Siddhārtha Gautamasometime around 2,600 years ago (563 BC) in the small kingdomof the Shakya Republic in what is now known as the tow

DEDICATION This book is dedicated to: My teacher, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before and after him and to Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, without whose help this would not

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