1. The problem is we tend to believe whatever science says. Of course, many things science says are true. But science is a “work in progress.” It keeps improving slowly. The following extract is from the post “Dhamma and Science – Introduction.”
“1. Even a few hundred years ago, scientists believed our Earth was the center of the universe: “Geocentric model.”
- Therefore, Buddha’s view of the universe as consisting of innumerable “world systems” was not looked at favorably even a few hundred years ago.
- Of course, that has changed now. Buddha’s statement that “there is no discernible beginning to life” is also becoming vindicated with each new scientific discovery.”
I discussed a few other examples in the post.
2. Taryal asked: “Is the translation above correct? If so, why does it say that the earthquake is caused due to the blowing wind when it is primarily the role of tectonic plates?”
- How do you (or scientists) know that the movement of tectonic plates could not be due to the shifting of a liquid mass underneath it?
- Scientists have not drilled far down enough to see what the Earth’s core is made of. I find the following: “The deepest hole scientists have drilled into the Earth is the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia. Located on the Kola Peninsula near the Arctic Circle, this scientific drilling project reached a depth of 12,262 meters (approximately 12.3 kilometers or 7.6 miles) in 1989. The borehole was part of a Soviet research effort started in 1970 to study the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.”
- Earth’s diameter is roughly 12,742 kilometers (7,918 miles).
- So, they have only “scratched the surface.”
- The Buddha did not provide any details, and I will not speculate. But my point is no one knows for sure. Yes. The shifting of tectonic plates could be the “immediate cause” But that could be due to the other reasons. We don’t know enough about the Earth’s core to say for sure.
3. There are deeper aspects to this discussion. I have discussed some in “Cognition Modes – Sañjānāti, Vijānāti, Pajānāti, Abhijānāti” because it is related to the concept of “distorted saññā.”
- All investigations by scientists are based on sañjānāti or vijānāti.
- However, the ultimate reality is different.
- As I pointed out before, Buddha Dhamma is based on a different set of axioms than science, which is why debates are useless.
- When one tries to understand Buddha Dhamma through “mundane logic,” that does not work. There is a paradigm change involved.
- This is summarized in the phrase “atakkāvacaraṁ” (beyond mundane logic/inquiry) in the “Ajāta Sutta (Iti 43)” that describes Nibbana.
4. In another example, we believe things around us are “solid.” However, even the hardest substance we know, diamond, is mostly “empty space.” Our eyes “see” things with a wavelength band that is a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum.