Anonymous
8/4/2025, 4:33:05 PM
No.17896179
>>17896332
>>17896374
>>17897030
>>17897040
>>17897518
>>17898089
Modern physics has revealed, with increasing precision, that material reality is very different from how we commonly perceive it. What we call "matter", objects, bodies, the world around us, is actually composed of atoms that are almost entirely empty space. The nucleus of the atom, tiny relative to its total volume, is formed by particles called protons and neutrons, which, in turn, are composed of quarks. These particles are not "solid things," but patterns of energy sustained by invisible forces, such as gluons. Furthermore, particles like quarks and electrons are, as far as we know, indivisible and structureless, not solid blocks, but probabilistic entities that only fully "exist" in relation to others.
Some theories, such as string theory, suggest that these fundamental particles are not actual "points" but rather tiny vibrating strings of energy, whose vibration determines the type of particle. Even without this theory, the Standard Model of physics already shows that matter, at its most fundamental level, is composed of elements that lack solid substance and are relational, energetic phenomena that only exist in interaction with others. Thus, the solidity of reality reveals itself to be an illusion of perception: what we see as "things" are merely transient groupings of particles empty of essence.
This panorama of contemporary physics resonates deeply with the Buddhist doctrine of Pratītyasamutpāda, or dependent origination, which asserts that nothing exists by itself, independently. Everything that appears is the result of interconnected causes and conditions. Just as a flower depends on the earth, water, light, and the observer, so too the "self," objects, and events are composite and, therefore, empty of their own essence (niḥsvabhāva). This absence of intrinsic nature is what Mahāyāna Buddhism calls śūnyatā, "emptiness."
Some theories, such as string theory, suggest that these fundamental particles are not actual "points" but rather tiny vibrating strings of energy, whose vibration determines the type of particle. Even without this theory, the Standard Model of physics already shows that matter, at its most fundamental level, is composed of elements that lack solid substance and are relational, energetic phenomena that only exist in interaction with others. Thus, the solidity of reality reveals itself to be an illusion of perception: what we see as "things" are merely transient groupings of particles empty of essence.
This panorama of contemporary physics resonates deeply with the Buddhist doctrine of Pratītyasamutpāda, or dependent origination, which asserts that nothing exists by itself, independently. Everything that appears is the result of interconnected causes and conditions. Just as a flower depends on the earth, water, light, and the observer, so too the "self," objects, and events are composite and, therefore, empty of their own essence (niḥsvabhāva). This absence of intrinsic nature is what Mahāyāna Buddhism calls śūnyatā, "emptiness."
