Where Science and Buddhism Meet
There seem to be strong parallels between the Buddhist and scientific way of perceiving and understanding reality. While these ideas are not exclusively Buddhist but rather can be found in most ancient eastern thought,
Buddhism seems to resonate quite harmoniously with these latest scientific discoveries. I wish to illustrate these ideas be first going over three main tenants of Buddhism. Emptiness, interconnectivity and the nature of reality, and then drawing the parallels of these ideas with modern scientific understanding. The premise of this video is the belief that these two seemingly opposite modes of perception; non material and material, intuitive and rationalistic, spiritual and scientific, are actually two ways of understanding one reality. Two sides of the same coin. A very important thing to keep in mind while watching this is that there lies a large discrepancy in how we see reality and how reality actually exists.
Emptiness
Emptiness is that in which all arises and returns from. Buddha said that reality arises from emptiness, a non-dual and infinite source. For instance, the chair you’re sitting on, the computer you’re looking at and even your body is arising in this moment from emptiness. To better illustrate this think of a dream. In this dream there is an elephant and you. So you think “this is me and that is the elephant”. They have the appearance of being two separate entities. However when you wake up you realize that both yourself and the elephant were both manifestations of your dreaming consciousness. The source of both this dream and an infinite variety of other possible dream worlds. Another way to picture emptiness is as the page of a book. The page of a book without words can be understood as being emptiness. While the page itself relays no message, there are an infinite variety of words, sentences and stories that can be placed upon the page. So emptiness can be understood as a field of potential in which every possibility arises from. To begin to understand this, we’ll have to redefine our understanding of material reality. We’ll then find out that this emptiness, also known as the Tao in Taoism and the Brahman in Hinduism seems to strongly parallel the concept of the Quantum Field within quantum physics. Lets first explore what appears to be material reality.
The Parallels: Wave/Particle Duality
Our reality exhibits a dualistic nature. The matter that makes up what we experience exists as both a wave or nonmaterial entity and a particle or material entity. This waveform that particles exhibit has no definite location in space or time but can only be understood as being everywhere all at once spread out through the entire universe. Imagine an apple in your hand. As a particle this apple exists in a defined location in space and time. For this example, your hand. In its waveform this apple would not only be in your hand but spread out through all its possible states. But how can this be? How can something that appears to be solid at the same time have the ability to be something nonsolid? And how can something that appears to have a definite location in space and time also be able to exist spread out over a large region of space? As astounding as this may sound, the experiment that confirmed this has been repeated thousands of times with the same result. And what at first came as a shock to the physics community inevitably became a well known and accepted fact. The thing that determined whether or not particles behave like waves or particles was ultimately found to be the very thing that was observing this phenomenon. Human consciousness. A particles quality is not predetermined but defined by the very mind that’s perceiving it. So what appears to be reality is just one side of two underlying aspects of reality. That of wave and that of particle.
The Emptiness of Atoms
Atoms are 99.999999999999% empty space. Again this forces us to redefine how we see ourselves and reality. If our bodies and everything around us is mostly empty space then why do things have the appearance and feel of being solid objects? This feeling of solidity is actually a push or repulsion of other sets of atoms similar to how magnets will repel each other when two similar sides are put together. Our hands, feet, fingers never real touch anything but are actually experiencing a repulsive force that gives us the illusion of solidity. Believe it or not, you’re not actually physically touching the chair you’re sitting in but rather hovering right above it as the atoms of your chair and your body repel each other. What really holds everything together and makes reality appear to be solid is a sea of fluctuating energy. Not actually anything physical. Not only is your body mostly empty space but everything you see, experience and interact with is overwhelmingly empty space.
The Quantum Field
In quantum physics we have what’s called the quantum field. This is an electro-magnetic field in which all matter arises from. The particles that arise from this field are not separate but are actually different forms of the same system. The field and the matter arising from this field are the same thing. “We may therefore regard matter as being

constituted by the regions of space in which the field is extremely intense…” “There is no place in this new kind of physics both for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality. – Albert Einstein”. Imagine a turbulent ocean as the field. As waves fluctuate continuously up and down, the very tips of the wave crescents are what matter and our reality arise from. The rest of the sea is out of range of perception but still exists as potential for matter so all matter arises and returns from this field. A field that is a continuous medium spread out through all space and time seemingly paralleling perfectly with the idea of emptiness. From this field arises not only all the particles we perceive but the very foundations of each and every atom that holds both ourselves and the universe together.
Oneness
The idea of oneness or interconnectivity in Buddhism is the idea that everything in the universe is intimately interconnected. The idea that we are separate entities, separate from both each other and the world around us is considered to be an illusion. The true nature of both ourselves and our reality is that of complete unification or oneness. Let’s see how these ideas parallel with what physics is now telling us.
Part Two
The Parallels: Quantum Entanglement
Einstein didn’t take well to quantum theory and in 1935 he and a few fellow physicists wrote a paper under the name of E.P.R. In their attempt to disprove quantum theory not only did they further validify it but they came across another strange feature of quantum physics. Quantum entanglement. When two particles interact with each other they become what is called “entangled”. Developing a special connected relationship with one another. Now when one of these particles are affected say by measurement or observation one particle will reflect the exact same trait as the other instantaneously no matter how far apart they are, across the room or across the universe. Einstein found this so strange that he later termed it “Spooky action at a distance”. To imagine how strange this really is lets imagine that you and a friend have two basketballs that have become entangled. Regardless of how far each of you travel from one another each of your basketballs would instantaneously reflect anything either of you did to them. This can happen feet away, miles away or even hundreds of light years away. In fact, entangled particles seem to behave like one object rather than the two, three or many separate objects that they appear to be. Thus explaining the strange action at a distance. No matter where their position in space and time, these two particles remain forever interconnected. If we now go back to the singularity before the big bang in which our entire universe was condensed into a point smaller than an atom we realize that all matter and energy that we experience right now has and always will be entangled or interconnected. Quantum entanglement seems to point to a true oneness within the universe.
The Quantum Field
We exist within a sea of energy which connects all atoms. From the atoms that are arising to make this video to the atoms in the birth of a star across the universe. The field that these atoms arise from is spread out through all space and time, an interconnected web. The quantum field is the web that connects all life, energy, matter and existence to a single system. Everything we experience has a single interconnected source.
Mind and Reality
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. – Buddha” In Buddhism and many other mystic traditions the mind is the center of reality. It is not just part of reality but is the very thing that creates it. Similar to how our dreaming mind creates our dream world. The idea of a world being outside our mind, a world separate from mind is something that eastern traditions consider to be incorrect. In reality all is mind. Nearly 2500 years after the Buddha, quantum physicists seem to have stumbled upon the same truth. “All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force…” “We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent
Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter. – Max Planck, founder of quantum physics”
The Parallels: Uncertainty Principle
The famous German quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg realized that by simply observing the atomic world we were affecting it. He realized it is impossible to know both an electrons velocity (speed) and location at the same time. As soon as an electrons speed is measured it simply does not have a well defined location in space and as soon as an electrons location is measured it does not have a well defined speed. He called this the uncertainty principle. “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. – Werner Karl
Heisenberg” This happens not due to the limits of our perception or measuring devices but rather points to the very mirage like quality of electrons. Conscious observation is connected with the event that it’s observing and actually

defines its location or momentum. Reality is defined by the mind that is observing it. The physicist John Wheeler considered the observer such a crucial aspect of quantum theory that he suggested that the term should actually be replaced with “participator”.
Double Slit Experiment
The double slit experiment originally created to test the nature of light revolutionized quantum physics and the way we understand reality. The experiment involved a device that propels particles through slits and records where they land on the other side of the barrier. What physicists found was astounding. Particles that were once thought to be solid were behaving like waves. And how they behaved was dependent upon whether or not they were being observed. When unobserved the particles took on a state of superposition or infinite potential. While when observed particles take on a well defined location within finite possibility. If we were to theoretically do this experiment with baseballs, when watching the baseballs passing through the slits we’d see them land at a well defined location on the other side. When not watching the baseballs passing through the slits, we’d see an interference pattern. In other words when not watched the baseballs behaved like waves, going through both slits simultaneously. It’s not until your mind or consciousness defined the baseballs position that they even had one. This experiment has been done thousands of times with the same result and has been done with particles as big as carbon 80 molecules. Reality does not exist without the mind that’s defining it. Without mind reality exists only as infinite potential. Quantum physics has now stumbled upon what mystics have been saying for over 2,000 years. That reality is a projection of the mind.
Conclusion and Implications
The lines between science and spirituality have become inevitably blurred. The concepts interchangeable. Our inquiry into science, our attempt to gravitate away from all that is spiritual, mystical, has inevitably left us at a doorway in human history. A doorway that could provide a paradigm shift into a new self-realized civilization. Casting aside the dogmas of yesterday, embracing a new world vision and creating a mythology of the 21st century. To make this transition we must be willing to question. We must be willing to break apart the very foundations of our own belief systems. We must be willing to engage in an open minded enquiry into the true nature of reality. The implications are profound yet ultimately it’s in our hands because true change can only happen from within ourselves. For the sake of all those before us and all those after, may we awaken to a new global vision that sees not hatred but love, not division but unity and not conflict but compassion.
I leave you with a dedication: May everyone be happy. May everyone be free from suffering. May no one ever be separated from their happiness. May everyone have equanimity free from hatred and attachment