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An excerpt from "The Universe in a Single Atom"
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

One of the most inspiring things about science is the change our
understanding of the world undergoes in the light of new findings.

Buy this bookThe discipline of physics is still struggling with the
implications of the paradigm shift it underwent as a result of the
rise of relativity and quantum mechanics at the turn of the twentieth
century. Scientists as well as philosophers have to live constantly
with the conflicting models of reality - the Newtonian model, assuming
a mechanical and predictable universe, and relativity and quantum
mechanics, assuming a more chaotic cosmos. The implications of the
second model for our understanding of the world are still not entirely
clear.

My own worldview is grounded in the philosophy and the teachings of
Buddhism. One of the most important philosophical insights in Buddhism
comes from what is known as the theory of emptiness. At its heart is
the deep recognition that there is a fundamental disparity between the
way we perceive the world, including our own existence in it, and the
way things actually are. In our day-to-day experience, we tend to
relate to the world and to ourselves as if these entities possess
self- enclosed, definable, discrete, and enduring reality. For
instance, if we examine our own conception of selfhood we will find
that we tend to believe in the presence of an essential core to our
being which characterizes our individuality and identity as a discrete
ego, independent of the physical and mental elements that constitute
our existence. The philosophy of emptiness reveals that this is not
only a fundamental error but also the basis for attachment, clinging,
and the development of numerous prejudices.

According to the theory of emptiness, any belief in an objective
reality grounded in the assumption of intrinsic, independent existence
is untenable. All things and events, whether material, mental, or even
abstract concepts like time, are devoid of objective, independent
existence. To possess such independent intrinsic existence would imply
that things and events are somehow complete unto themselves and are
therefore entirely self-contained. This would mean that nothing has
the capacity to interact with and exert influence on other phenomena.
But we know that there is cause and effect - turn a key in a starter,
spark plugs ignite, the engine turns over, and gasoline and oil are
burned. In a universe of self-contained, inherently existing things,
these events would never occur. I would not be able to write on paper,
and you would not be able to read the words on this page. So since we
interact and change each other, we must assume that we are not
independent-although we may feel or intuit that we are.

Effectively, the notion of intrinsic independent existence is
incompatible with causation. This is because causation implies
contingency and dependence, while anything that possesses independent
existence would be immutable and self-enclosed. Everything is composed
of dependently related events, of continuously interacting phenomena
with no fixed immutable essence, which are themselves in constantly
changing dynamic relations. Things and events are "empty" in that they
do not possess any immutable essence, intrinsic reality or absolute
"being" that affords independence. This fundamental truth of "the way
things really are" is described in the Buddhist writings as
"emptiness," or shunyata in Sanskrit.

To a Buddhist, there is an unmistakable resonance of the notion of
emptiness in the new physics. If on the quantum level, matter is
revealed to be less solid and definable than it appears, then it seems
to me that science is coming closer to the Buddhist contemplative
insights of emptiness and interdependence. Talking to numerous
scientist friends over the years, I have the conviction that the great
discoveries in physics going back as far as Copernicus give rise to
the insight that reality is not as it appears to us. When one puts the
world under a serious lens of investigation - be it scientific method
and experiment or the Buddhist logic of emptiness or the contemplative
method of meditative analysis - one finds things are more subtle than,
and in some cases even contradict, the assumptions of our ordinary
commonsense view of the world.

As any layperson who has attempted to understand the theory of
relativity is aware, even a basic comprehension of Einstein's
principle demands a willingness to defy commonsense. Einstein put
forward two postulates: the constancy of the speed of light, and his
"principle of relativity" which maintains that all laws of physics
must be exactly the same for all observers in relative motion. With
these two premises, Einstein revolutionized our scientific
understanding of space and time.

As I understand it, the most important implication of Einstein's
theory of Relativity is that notions of space, time and mass cannot be
seen as absolutes, existing in themselves as permanent unchanging
substances or entities. Space is not an independent, three-dimensional
domain, and time is not a separate entity, rather they co-exist as a
four-dimensional continuum of 'space-time'. In a nutshell, Einstein's
special theory of relativity implies that, while the speed of light is
invariable, there is no absolute, privileged frame of reference and
that everything, including space and time, is ultimately relative.

How do we reconcile, from the point of view of physics, our
commonsense notions of an everyday world of objects and their
properties on the one hand, and the bizarre world of quantum mechanics
on the other? Can these two perspectives be reconciled at all? Are we
condemned to live with what is apparently a schizophrenic view of the
world? Somewhat parallel problems arose in Buddhist philosophy in
relation to the disparity between our commonsense view of the world
and the perspective suggested by [the] philosophy of emptiness. [The
great Buddhist scholar and saint] Nagarjuna invoked the notion of "two
truths," the "conventional" and the "ultimate," relating respectively
to the everyday world of experience and to things and events in their
ultimate mode of being, that is, on the level of emptiness. On the
conventional level, we can speak of a pluralistic world of things and
events with distinct identities and causation. This is the realm where
we can also expect the laws of cause and effect, and the laws of
logic, such as the principles of identity, contradiction and the law
of the excluded middle to operate without violation. This world of
empirical experience is not an illusion nor is it unreal. It is real
in that we experience it. A grain of barley does produce a barley
sprout, which can eventually yield a barley crop. Taking a poison can
cause one's death and, similarly, taking a medication can cure an
illness. However, from the perspective of the ultimate truth, things
and events do not possess discrete, independent realities. Their
ultimate ontological status is "empty" in that nothing possesses any
kind of essence or intrinsic being.

The striking parallel of the paradoxical nature of reality revealed in
both the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness and in modern physics
represents a profound challenge to the limits of human knowledge. The
essence of the problem is epistemological: how do we conceptualize and
understand reality coherently? Buddhist philosophers of emptiness have
not only developed an entire understanding of the world based on the
rejection of the deeply ingrained temptation to treat reality as if it
were composed of intrinsically real objective entities, but they have
also striven to live this set of insights in their day-to-day lives.
The Buddhist solution to this seeming epistemological contradiction
involves understanding reality in terms of the theory of two truths.
Physics needs to develop an epistemology that will help resolve the
seemingly unbridgeable gulf between the picture of reality in
classical physics and everyday experience and that of its quantum
mechanics counterpart. As for what such an application of the two
truths in physics might look like, I simply have no idea. At its root
the philosophical problem confronting physics in the wake of quantum
mechanics is whether the very notion of reality - defined in terms of
essentially real constituents of matter - is tenable. What the
Buddhist philosophy of emptiness can offer is a coherent model of
understanding reality that is non-essentialist. Whether this could
prove useful is something only time will tell.

Reprinted with permission Morgan Road Books, ? 2005.