Abhidhamma is a high sounding word and in Myanmar, most teachers have made this subject more difficult than it should be. True, this sermon was given to the devas in the deva plane. Devas are celestial beings. The christian equivalent for the word devas would be angels.
Anyway, the reason I became interested in Abhidhamma is because it taught me many things about how the human mind works. It taught be about the mind-body connection (to use a phase used by Deepak Chopra).
The essence of Abhidhamma is about Mind and Matter.
As a young boy when I was in high school, I was interested in the study of Physics. I used to memorize the definition for physics: "physics is the study of matter and the effects of energy on matter."
Well in Abhidhamma, we get to study more about the mind and more about matter.
The Buddha explained about how the mind works not only in the human plane but in all planes of existence, that is, all the 31 planes of existence.
So if you are interested to know more about how your mind works, you have come to the right place.
Welcome. Let the journey begin.
Km
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Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteI am very happy to find your blog here.
I don't study Physics and don't know about Physics, but I am interested in the relationship between Abhidhamma and the statement that you quote: "physics is the study of matter and the effects of energy on matter."
(1) Do Physics refer to Matter in Abhidhamma?
(2) or Matter in Abhidhamma is the ultimate realities to the Physics?
(3) Can we say, Physics are just Concepts, or name to kalapa-rupa sometimes?
(4) What is the effects of energy on matter in Physics?
(5) How does Science determine the effects of energy?
Thanks and Sadhu.
With respect,
Chew
Dear Mr. Chew,
ReplyDeleteThe Abhidhamma sermon that was given by the Lord Buddha is about ultimate realities. In the Pali language (Pali and Sanskrit are two ancient languages of the Indian sub-continent. They were used to write down on palm leaf manuscripts the teachings of Lord Buddha. The original teachings were all verbal and memorized by the early arahats or saints.)
Buddha talked about matter (called rupa) and mind (called Seitta).
In the Abhidhamma sutta (which constitutes the complete teachings of the Abhidhamma in seven volumes) there is one section which dealt in detail about the nature of "rupa".
I am a student of science. I have a B.Sc. (bachelor of science) from the Rangoon Arts and Science University. I have also kept up my interests in the study of science by reading the latest books written by famous physicists.
At the moment, the physicists tell us that as they study more and more about the nature of matter, they find that sometimes matter behave in different ways depending upon the way the observer looked at it.
Most physicists nowadays agree that the basic nature of what we understand as the whole universe is made up of vibrations and waves.
I will write more about "rupa" when I write in detail about what the Buddha said in his Abhidhamma sermon.
Let me say at this moment that what science is saying and what Lord Buddha said agree.
To answer your other question regarding "the effects of energy on matter", this is what I learnt from the physics text books.
- energy comes in different forms.
- light, heat, electricity, chemical
For example when we study the effect of heat on water (H2, O) we see that water changes from liquid to steam. First the water boils and then it changes into vapour. When we cool down the steam we get the liquid form of water again.
Then we can see the effect of light on matter.
Light has different effects on different types of matter.
Science studies the different effects of energy on matter by using different man-made laboratory instruments and making measurements.
Science uses instruments.
In the study of Abhidhamma, the seeker of truth has to do meditation for greater mental focus. This training takes time and the main goal is to train the mind so that at the end of the training the seeker of truth become like a microscope. The mind becomes a very powerful microscope. The is called Samahta Bhavana (or concentration meditation). The practitioner has to do this concentration meditation tell he or she reaches a very advanced stage when he/she can enter the stages of jhana up to the fourth jahna. (more will be written about this later).
If you are interested, you should Google and read more about the experiments done by scientists and Tibetan meditation masters to study the many different mysteries of how the human mind works.
Regards,
Kyaw Myaing