Living Cell – How Did the First Cell Come to Existence?

As I mentioned in the post, we are fortunate to live at a time when science has made enough progress to explain some of these issues. I will be addressing some of these issues in detail in upcoming posts.

To answer your question, Einstein pointed out that energy and matter are the same things. His famous equation, E = mc^2, quantifies the relationship between energy (E), and the mass (m), and c is the speed of light. Here “mass” (m) can be called the amount of matter (or the “weight” as we normally call it).

Our mental body (manomaya kaya or gandhabba) is created by the energy emitted by our thoughts while doing a very strong kamma. As I explained there, this energy is VERY VERY small, and the “mass” of the gandhabba is VERY VERY small (it is billion times smaller than an atom in modern science).

In other words, the energy in our thoughts can create matter, of course VERY VERY small amounts of matter.
– This gives an indication of how fine the “body” of a gandhabba is!

So, this kammic energy is real.

Please feel free to ask questions. I am a physicist, so I may be taking too much for granted. I will do my best to simplify things. I just don’t know how much to simplify.

E = mc^2

Just to match these concepts to Pali terms, is it correct to say that, for a gandhabba, the “mass” part is the pasada rupa and hadaya vathu; and the “energy” part the flow of citta vithis?

Thank you for a fascinating series of posts!
Lang

Lang: Your above question is related to the answer that I just posted on the other topic in respnse to your question there: “Regrets“.

Kammic energy created at some time in the past with a “viññāna” has now led to a gandhabba (with pasada rupa and hadaya vatthu) for a new existence.
– That kammic energy (E), corresponding to that viññāna, led to the creation of gandhabba with a VERY, VERY small mass (m). Those two are related via, E = mc^2.
– (For those who are not familiar with this notation, c^2 = c x c, c^3 = c x c x c, etc). Speed of light c is a large number (3 x 10^8 meters per second, so, the energy created is VERY small (at the suddhashtaka level).

These are subtle but important points. Don’t hesitate to ask questions if not clear. One needs to spend some time and think about these issues. One always needs to make connections to other posts. That is how understanding gets established.

P.S. Citta vithi generated with the new existence can generate new kammic energies (via more viññāna). Those can lead to more future existences. This is how the rebirth process continues.

Thank you, Lal, for the explanation. So kammic energy is related to viññāna, and you also had many wonderful posts for us about different types of viññāna.

Here, this viññāna is kamma viññāna, and also viññāna as in “viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa”, correct?

Thanks,
Lang

“Here, this viññāna is kamma viññāna, and also viññāna as in “viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa”, correct?”

That is correct, Lang.

Also, cakkhu, sota, ghana, jivha, kaya viññāna do not generate kamma. They are vipaka viññāna.
– Mano viññāna can be both vipaka viññāna AND kamma viññāna.
– It is only mano viññāna that generate kamma.
– So, it is only mano viññāna that contribute to “viññāna paccayā nāmarūpa”.
– I mention this here because many people may have missed this important point.

See, “Viññāna – What It Really Means“.