. We believe that the progression of civilization, with its constant new developments and scientific technologies, had greatly improved people's living conditions. We also believe that modern civilization's basic approach and worldview had the potential danger of making the whole of humankind ever more materialistic and spiritually nihilistic.
<The influence of worldview imposed by classic physics.>
The worldview we question is the one imposed by classical "modern" science. It implanted the idea that the whole universe is governed by the absolute laws of physics. Everything can be explained by these laws; the existence of the material universe is absolute, and even the human mind can be explained as a mere function of neuro-electronic reactions.
The application of these laws of physics is, in reality, the basis for the development of all technology, and they actually can explain nearly everything. This, however, can lead to an unconscious acceptance of the perspective that, compared to such a sure and absolute function and existence of the material universe, human existence is infinitely small and temporal. Like all other living things, we are like insignificant dust particles (albeit with the most sophisticated nervous system) on the surface of the planet earthwhich is itself a mere speck within the unlimited reaches of the universe.
This kind of perspective is held by the majority of people in society who have been exposed to modern scientific education. According to such a perspective, human existence is just an accident of universal evolution, and the value of human existence is only subjective and relative. Since there is no objective significance to human existence in the universe, the only way for us to feel some value in our individual lives is to be somehow acknowledged by other human beings. This can come in the form of affection from family or friends, or from some other type of social recognition.
Without receiving such acknowledgment from others, it is difficult for people to develop a sense of self-esteem. People who find themselves in that condition, often attempt to make themselves busy doing one thing or another, and indulging in temporary sensory satisfaction to compensate for their unpleasant and depressing lack of a sense of self-worth. Many people in modern society find themselves in this disquieting state. And, for many people, even traditional religious values and perspectives fail to provide relief because they don't seem to be "scientific."
<The new worldview indicated by
the latest quantum physics and Buddha's philosophy>
<REIYUKAI>
Reiyukai is an international nonprofit humanitarian association which has been working for the betterment of people and society since 1930. It was founded in Japan, by Mr. Kakutaro Kubo and Mrs. Kimi Kotani, as a new movement to broaden the human perspective.
Reiyukai's founders foresaw today's situation nearly 70 years ago. In their era, even though Japan was a country spiritually based in Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha's original philosophy was not well understood or generally practiced by common people. Buddhism was known only as a traditional system for funeral services or as a system of "unscientific" beliefs. Therefore it was not playing any important role in the way people lived. They turned more and more to materialistic pursuits.
Based on his long and intense studies, Kakutaro Kubo concluded that among the multitudes of sociological, behavioral, and philosophical constructs, the original philosophy of Shakyamuni Buddha was one of the rare few that could withstand scientific examination. Furthermore, it even seemed to offer a platform for the further advancement of science. He felt that it could therefore play a very important role in providing future generations with a better perspective for life, thus helping to avoid the further degeneration of humankind.
Kubo recognized that Shakyamuni's principles could be incorporated into people's lives in a non-sectarian manner without conflicting with their traditional spiritual practices or their family or personal religion. Those principles could, therefore, be utilized by all people, regardless of differences of religion, culture, or creed, as tools for the resolution of many personal and social problems.
Kubo anticipated that the worldview advocated by classical "modern" science was incomplete. He felt that future generations of scientists would formulate a more complete construct of the universe. He believed that the full significance of the Buddha's philosophy would be then be realized and it would become a new guideline for people's way of living in the future. With these convictions, Kubo and Kotani started the Reiyukai movement.
As it turns out, the principles put forth by Shakyamuni Buddha more than 2500 years ago are very much in line with many of the basic concepts of significant scientific discovery in this century, including Quantum Physics and the latest cosmology developed with it. Nowadays it is often said that the Buddhist Sutra that contains Buddha's ideas has been a sources of inspiration for theoretical physicists, especially in the area of quantum physics.
Interestingly enough, the latest discoveries in quantum physics point to the rather amazing idea that matter does not "exist" independent of the human mind. More scientifically speaking, the way matter exists cannot be determined without human observation. In any case, the traditional materialistic worldview of assuming the existence of an independent, solid, external reality that is governed by absolute laws of physics and which minimizes the existence of human beings, is rapidly becoming outdated. The newest concepts require the human mind as an essential factor for making external reality "real," or for establishing the existence of the material world. This may sound very strange according to the traditional scientific worldview, but it is already a well-established theory among quantum physicists.
The recent discoveries of quantum physics, and the new worldview indicated by them, are as follows: The location and momentum of "elementary particles," the basic components of the material world, can not be determined until they are actually observed. Without observation, there are innumerable possibilities and probabilities of location and momentum. Each of these possibilities and probabilities has the potential to exist until one of them is determined as reality through the act of observation.
According to classic physics, it is believed that the existence of the material world is independent of, and unrelated to, the human mind. Its existence is considered as an objective reality and undeniable fact. For example, an electron is a particle that moves around the nucleus of an atom, just as the earth is moving around the sun. Even if nobody is observing it, it is soas an objective fact and an absolute reality, and the human mind has nothing to do with it. However, it was discovered that if an electron, as a real particle, moves around the nucleus, its energy will immediately be dissipated by the attractive force of the nucleus and the electron will crash into the nucleus within a moment. This meant that, given the classic model of an electron, an atom could not maintain its existence more than a moment. Something, then, appeared to be wrong with the traditional concept of a particle as the basic component of reality. Physicists were forced to come up with a completely new perspective. Thus quantum physics was developed.
According to the discoveries of quantum physics, the way an electron exists (as a particle or as a wave) cannot be decided or determined until it is actually observed as such. Before observation, it is in a condition of "pre-existence." In this condition, innumerable possibilities and probabilities are simultaneously availableas if they are all contained within a "cloud of potential." This is described as the "quantum wave function." From all of the possibilities of location and momentum within this cloud of potential, an act of observation will isolate one of them; either the electron's location or momentum is determined and its existence becomes real.
The reality of the existence of all elementary particles is determined in this way. They can not exist in reality without observation. In other words, they can not exist independent of the human mind. Since the elementary particles are the basic components of the material universe, even the material universe itself can not exist without observation. That implies that even the creation of universe is dependent on the human mind. Human observation is necessary to determine not only the way of existence of the present or future universe, but also the past universe.
Within the realm of classic physics, this conclusion was considered to be absurd. Even Einstein found it to be unacceptable. His efforts to conclusively prove it to be in error, however, were unsuccessful. On the contrary, all the experiments and discoveries in the latter half of this century have indicated that the theories of quantum physics are correct.
<the hypothesis of multiple universes>
Currently, there is only one viable alternative scientific concept which allows us to avoid attaching such a super significance to human observation or to the human mind. It is the hypothesis of multiple universes. It is the latest theory in quantum physics, and it is regarded as the most "reasonable" one.
The nagging question that quantum physics has to address is: When human observation determines the reality of one of the possible ways of existence of an elementary particle, what happens to all other possibilities that were contained within the "cloud of potential?" The traditional answer has been that once a particular way of existence is determined, all other possibilities are eliminated and vanish immediately. As mentioned above, according to this interpretation, the role of human observation becomes primary, to the point that nothing can be said to really "exist" without involvement of the human mind.
To avoid such a radical conclusion, a possible alternative theory is to assume that the "observable" universe, or so-called "reality," is one among many. That is to say, there must be innumerable numbers of universes or realities.
According to this theory, at any moment there is not just one universe. Instead, there are innumerable "parallel" universes. At any moment, all of the possible ways of existence may be "real" in one of these multiple universes. The observer himself/herself (i.e., each of us) is likewise simultaneously present in each of these multiple universes, but has yet to develop awareness of the respective counterparts. Thus, for each observer in each of the multiple universes, it appears that only one of the possibilities being searched out becomes "reality" by his or her observation. According to classic scientific (or, perhaps, even normal) commonsense, this theory sounds very weird or fictitious. But it is perhaps the only alternative to avoid the much weirder conclusion of the super significant role of the human mind in the creation of the universe. In any case, the classic notion of assuming one single solid material universe, which is independent of the human mind, has been significantly challenged for some time within the field of quantum physics.
<"nonlocality.">
All the new discoveries and calculations in quantum physics have been demanding a completely revised worldview which can explain not only the relation between the material universe and the human mind, but also the phenomena of "nonlocality." "Nonlocality" is the hypothetical conclusion drawn from the startling observations that there is a corresponding causality between two identical particles that are far away from each other. Theoretically, the distance between the two can be unlimited (even millions of miles, for example), and both particles still behave in a cause/effect relationship without any time lag. This suggests that the correspondence between these particles is beyond the traditional conceptions of time and space, and therefore cannot be explained even by Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
< The new image of the universe>
The new image of the universe being drawn from all these new discoveries and calculations is that the material universe is neither solid nor stable, but is very fluid, flexible, and continually changing, with innumerable possibilities at every moment. Within all the possibilities, at any moment our human mind plays a major role in determining one of the "realities" of that ever-changing universe. This means that we are not existing within a fixed external reality, but, rather, our mind is determining our external reality at every moment. We always have innumerable choices, and our external reality results from the choices of our mind. And there is a corresponding relation between our mind condition and the external reality that is chosen by it.
<Shakyamuni Buddha's fundamental principles>
It is interesting to note that one of Shakyamuni Buddha's fundamental principles is that the way external reality exists is dependent upon the condition of our mind. For example, if our mind condition is negative, it will accordingly choose a negative external reality. Therefore, if our external condition is negative, we can guess that it was determined in large measure by our negative mind condition. As a result, whatever reality we find ourselves in, we can not blame anyone else for it since it is a determination of our own mind. How we face everything is our own responsibility. This, at the same time, indicates that we can determine some kind of positive reality if we can make our mind condition positive.
Another interesting discovery in quantum physics is that all the individual particles in the universe are somehow interconnected with one another, forming a cohesive whole, with apparent separations being only illusional aspects of perception. This idea is also similar to one of the Buddha's fundamental principles, which he described as "dependent origination" and the interconnected nature of all things.
<the basis of a new paradigm
and life perspective of coming generations.>
The new worldview indicated by the latest discoveries in quantum physics is so drastically different from the perspective of classic physics that it has the potential to completely change people's ideas or attitudes towards life. At present, the startling and significant implications of the quantum worldview are understood and discussed only by physicists and a few other interested and knowledgeable people. But just as the worldview of classic physics became the basic life perspective of people in modern society, the new worldview of quantum physics likewise may become the basis of a new paradigm and life perspective of coming generations.
<significance of the principles Shakyamuni Buddha set forth>
As Reiyukai's founders anticipated, the relevance and significance of the principles Shakyamuni Buddha set forth more than 2500 years ago have been rediscovered and given great credence through the advancement of scientific discovery. Yet, even as people become more cognizant of the scientific value of the Buddha's ideas, it is important to note that he taught and shared his philosophy as a means for human beings to better their way of living. This is the sphere in which Kakutaro Kubo and Kimi Kotani were determined that Reiyukai should, and could, play an important role. Since its inception, the Reiyukai movement has been steadily gathering momentum, and at present more than three million people worldwide are committed to its work.
<REIYUKAI'S PROCESSES>
Based on Shakyamuni's principles, Reiyukai is promoting a method by which we can develop a positive mind condition so that our surrounding reality will also develop positively. The method consists of the following processes.
1. Try to understand our true mind condition by observing our surrounding reality.
2. Try to identify the root causes which influence our mind condition in particular negative ways.
3. Try to accumulate positive forces that can counter-act or eliminate the negative root causes.
4. Try to observe corresponding improvements in our surrounding reality as a result of our efforts to improve our mind condition.
5. Share the method and processes with all the people around us.
for the details of Reiyukai's method and processes,
or Click below to jump to other Sites.
T.Hashiguchi
