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A few questions to start off

mikaakimmikaakim
edited December 2010 in Buddhism Basics
What is one "Buddhist" thing i can do today?

Now...some may find this strange..I am an amateur astronomer. I have been involved in this hobby for near 20 years. Although not my profession I help out at observatories and supply data to the avvso etc. How does Buddhists view astronomy and creation? where does the universe fit in to the religion?

Is "Buddhism for dummies" a good starting book for a complete beginner?

Comments

  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    >>>>>"mikaakim">>>>What is one "Buddhist" thing i can do today?


    Be kind.


    >>>Now...some may find this strange..I am an amateur astronomer. I have been involved in this hobby for near 20 years.


    Cool! As an aside, what do you make of this: nI have been to skymap and they are there for sure.

    >>>How does Buddhists view astronomy and creation?

    You might like HHDL "The Universe in a Single Atom". Great book. i don't know the answer to your specific questions.

    >>>Is "Buddhism for dummies" a good starting book for a complete beginner?


    What the Buddha Taught by Rupolla is in my mind and many other's the best book to start with. Check out the reviwes on amazon:)

    namaste


  • mikaakimmikaakim
    Anything SETI says you can pretty much declare as pure fun lol

    Those objects are nothing more than simply refractions of light. more than likely of the ultraviolet kind
  • upalabhavaupalabhava
    edited December 2010
    AS ABOVE SO BELOW

    I've always seen parallels between Mahayana literature (specifically the Avatamsaka sutra) and astronomy (and particle physics too). Both deal with incredibly large numbers of world systems which I liken to galaxies, etc. These worlds are infinite in number and exist both micro- and macroscopically.


    NOVALOKA explains this vastness and incalculability well. Be sure and click on the Avatamsaka link there to get a taste of the literary style.


    Chiliocosm is the operative word. From the wiki on Buddhist cosmology:
    Above Mahābrahmā are the Ābhāsvara worlds. These are not only higher but also wider in extent; they cover 1,000 separate world-systems, each with its own Sumeru, Cakravāḍa, Sun, Moon, and four continents. This system of 1,000 worlds is called a sāhasra-cūḍika-lokadhātu, or "small chiliocosm". It corresponds to the extent of the universe that is destroyed by water at the end of 8 mahākalpas.

    Above the Ābhāsvara worlds are the Śubhakṛtsna worlds, which cover 1,000 chiliocosms, or 1,000,000 world-systems. This larger system is called a dvisāhasra-madhyama-lokadhātu, or "medium dichiliocosm". It corresponds to the extent of the universe that is destroyed by wind at the end of 64 mahākalpas.

    Likewise, above the Śubhakṛtsna worlds, the Śuddhāvāsa and Bṛhatphala worlds cover 1,000 dichiliocosms, or 1,000,000,000 world-systems. This largest grouping is called a trisāhasra-mahāsāhasra-lokadhātu or "great trichiliocosm".

    "One great chiliocosm is land for one Buddha to educate, transform, and deliver all sentient beings living therein from suffering to Buddha hood." AVATAMSAKA COSMOLOGY 101
    Follow the chapter links near the bottom to see all the diagrams and depictions of these world systems.



    Also,
    Throughout the ten directions of space,
    All lands and countries are spread.
    By the aid of the Thus Come Ones' spiritual power,
    They appear and become visible to all.

    Perhaps there are various lands and countries
    Composed of immaculate jewels.
    Made of pristine mani, wondrous and sublime,
    They appear in an ocean of dazzling light.

    Perhaps there are ksetras of pure radiance
    Situated in empty space.
    Perhaps within the sea of jeweled mani,
    Other lands reside in a treasury of light.

    pg 24
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    See the thread on "Creation Myths and Buddhism" under "Buddhism for Beginners" on this site. They answer your question about Buddhist views on creation (there aren't any).
  • Rmurray1985Rmurray1985
    edited December 2010
    Mikaakim, quite well actually.

    Scientific data suggests that the universe goes through a cycle of "death" and "rebirth" just as all life. The universe as a whole is samsara...

    I'm an astronomy/cosmology geek myself. Trust me, there are many things that coincide with Buddhism.

    In a word?

    Impermanence

    Sutras often use the term "beginningless time" To say that samsara simply always has been. Which means, there was no real "creation" to speak of. It isn't to say that our present universe wasn't "created" it just means that our present universe is by no means the first. It's all just an infinite cycle of death and rebirth.
  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    >>>>"Rmurray1985">>>>Scientific data suggests that the universe goes through a cycle of "death" and "rebirth" just as all life.


    Bonkers:) I'd be facinated to know more about this. Is it big bang<>big crunch?

    namaste
  • upalabhavaupalabhava
    edited December 2010
    I'd be facinated to know more about this. Is it big bang<>big crunch?

    Roger Penrose was recently in the news for espousing conformal cyclic cosmology.
    Concentric circles in WMAP data may provide evidence of violent pre-Big-Bang activity

    Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) posits the existence of an aeon preceding our Big Bang 'B', whose conformal infinity 'I' is identified, conformally, with 'B', now regarded as a spacelike 3-surface. Black-hole encounters, within bound galactic clusters in that previous aeon, would have the observable effect, in our CMB sky, of families of concentric circles over which the temperature variance is anomalously low, the centre of each such family representing the point of 'I' at which the cluster converges. These centres appear as fairly randomly distributed fixed points in our CMB sky. The analysis of Wilkinson Microwave Background Probe's (WMAP) cosmic microwave background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles, of up to 6{\sigma} significance. This is confirmed when the same analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard inflationary cosmology.

    Not everyone agreed. See, Starts With A Bang
  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    edited December 2010
    >>>>"Rmurray1985">>>>Scientific data suggests that the universe goes through a cycle of "death" and "rebirth" just as all life.


    Bonkers:) I'd be facinated to know more about this. Is it big bang<>big crunch?

    namaste
    Nobody knows for sure, but the general consensus among theoretical physicists like Lawrence Krauss (who mentions this in his talk at the 2009 AAI Conference) is that there may not be any contraction or 'Big Crunch' because the universe's expansion appears to be accelerating.

    If the current data about the size and shape of our universe is correct (which, of course, may not be the case), equations/models strongly suggest that universe will continue to expand indefinitely because the density of the universe is less than or equal to the critical density (i.e., the average density of matter in the universe above which the expansion of the universe will slow down and reverse). The observation of cosmic background radiation has presented a great deal of evidence for this. (For more information, I suggest checking out this article on the expanding universe from the SSDS website and UCLA'a Frequently Asked Questions in Cosmology.) For example, from astroengine:
    A new cosmic map has been created by University of Hawaii astronomers showing the fingerprint of dark energy throughout the observable Universe. This is the first time such precise direct evidence of the mysterious force that is believed to be behind the continuing expansion of the Universe. By analysing microwave background radiation (the electromagnetic “echo” left over from the Big Bang), the Hawaii team have looked at the characteristics of the radiation as it passes through supervoids and superclusters. If the theory of dark energy is correct, this cosmic background radiation should cool when passing through superclusters and warm up when passing through supervoids. Analysing a huge amount of data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the researchers have observed what the theory predicts and calculated that there is a 1 in 20,000 chance that their results are random. It therefore seems likely that the effect is caused by the presence of dark energy, giving us the best view yet of this strange energy that appears to permeate through the entire expanding Universe…
    That said, it should also be noted that Roger Penrose recently challenged the commonly-held 'inflationary theory' of cosmology with his suggestion that analysis of cosmic microwave background shows echoes of previous Big Bang-like events in the form of low-variance circles in the cosmic microwave background sky. If Penrose's data and observations check out, this would help to provide evidence for a rather unconventional cyclic model of the universe, which seems to be more in line with how Buddhist cosmology is often presented (i.e., expanding and contracting world-systems).

    Of course, as upalabhava has already pointed out, Penrose's conclusions are actively being challenged. For example, the authors of one paper suggest that "this variation is entirely expected in a sky which contains the usual CMB anisotropies," and may not be evidence of a cyclic universe after all.
  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    >>>>"Rmurray1985">>>>Scientific data suggests that the universe goes through a cycle of "death" and "rebirth" just as all life.


    Bonkers:) I'd be facinated to know more about this. Is it big bang<>big crunch?

    namaste
    Nobody knows for sure, but the general consensus among theoretical physicists like Lawrence Krauss (who mentions this in his talk at the 2009 AAI Conference) is that there may not be any contraction or 'Big Crunch' because the universe's expansion appears to be accelerating.

    If the current data about the size and shape of our universe is correct (which, of course, may not be the case), equations/models strongly suggest that universe will continue to expand indefinitely because the density of the universe is less than or equal to the critical density (i.e., the average density of matter in the universe above which the expansion of the universe will slow down and reverse). The observation of cosmic background radiation has presented a great deal of evidence for this. (For more information, I suggest checking out this article on the expanding universe from the SSDS website and UCLA'a Frequently Asked Questions in Cosmology.) For example, from astroengine:
    A new cosmic map has been created by University of Hawaii astronomers showing the fingerprint of dark energy throughout the observable Universe. This is the first time such precise direct evidence of the mysterious force that is believed to be behind the continuing expansion of the Universe. By analysing microwave background radiation (the electromagnetic “echo” left over from the Big Bang), the Hawaii team have looked at the characteristics of the radiation as it passes through supervoids and superclusters. If the theory of dark energy is correct, this cosmic background radiation should cool when passing through superclusters and warm up when passing through supervoids. Analysing a huge amount of data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the researchers have observed what the theory predicts and calculated that there is a 1 in 20,000 chance that their results are random. It therefore seems likely that the effect is caused by the presence of dark energy, giving us the best view yet of this strange energy that appears to permeate through the entire expanding Universe…
    That said, it should also be noted that Roger Penrose recently challenged the commonly-held 'inflationary theory' of cosmology with his suggestion that analysis of cosmic microwave background shows echoes of previous Big Bang-like events in the form of low-variance circles in the cosmic microwave background sky. If Penrose's data and observations check out, this would help to provide evidence for a rather unconventional cyclic model of the universe, which seems to be more in line with how Buddhist cosmology is often presented (i.e., expanding and contracting world-systems).

    Of course, as upalabhava has already pointed out, Penrose's conclusions are actively being challenged. For example, the authors of one paper suggest that "this variation is entirely expected in a sky which contains the usual CMB anisotropies," and may not be evidence of a cyclic universe after all.
    >>>>"Rmurray1985">>>>Scientific data suggests that the universe goes through a cycle of "death" and "rebirth" just as all life.


    Bonkers:) I'd be facinated to know more about this. Is it big bang<>big crunch?

    namaste
    Nobody knows for sure, but the general consensus among theoretical physicists like Lawrence Krauss (who mentions this in his talk at the 2009 AAI Conference) is that there may not be any contraction or 'Big Crunch' because the universe's expansion appears to be accelerating.

    If the current data about the size and shape of our universe is correct (which, of course, may not be the case), equations/models strongly suggest that universe will continue to expand indefinitely because the density of the universe is less than or equal to the critical density (i.e., the average density of matter in the universe above which the expansion of the universe will slow down and reverse). The observation of cosmic background radiation has presented a great deal of evidence for this. (For more information, I suggest checking out this article on the expanding universe from the SSDS website and UCLA'a Frequently Asked Questions in Cosmology.) For example, from astroengine:
    A new cosmic map has been created by University of Hawaii astronomers showing the fingerprint of dark energy throughout the observable Universe. This is the first time such precise direct evidence of the mysterious force that is believed to be behind the continuing expansion of the Universe. By analysing microwave background radiation (the electromagnetic “echo” left over from the Big Bang), the Hawaii team have looked at the characteristics of the radiation as it passes through supervoids and superclusters. If the theory of dark energy is correct, this cosmic background radiation should cool when passing through superclusters and warm up when passing through supervoids. Analysing a huge amount of data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the researchers have observed what the theory predicts and calculated that there is a 1 in 20,000 chance that their results are random. It therefore seems likely that the effect is caused by the presence of dark energy, giving us the best view yet of this strange energy that appears to permeate through the entire expanding Universe…
    That said, it should also be noted that Roger Penrose recently challenged the commonly-held 'inflationary theory' of cosmology with his suggestion that analysis of cosmic microwave background shows echoes of previous Big Bang-like events in the form of low-variance circles in the cosmic microwave background sky. If Penrose's data and observations check out, this would help to provide evidence for a rather unconventional cyclic model of the universe, which seems to be more in line with how Buddhist cosmology is often presented (i.e., expanding and contracting world-systems).

    Of course, as upalabhava has already pointed out, Penrose's conclusions are actively being challenged. For example, the authors of one paper suggest that "this variation is entirely expected in a sky which contains the usual CMB anisotropies," and may not be evidence of a cyclic universe after all.
    Thank's for the explanation, I haven't yet visited the links. I rember from years ago that the evidence was that the universe doent't look like it will deflate, as you have said.

    I guess if this is the case it suggests, at least at the cosmological level, that there isn't support for a "samsaric universe"? But who knows, maybe suddenly it will just end and restart.

    "anisitropy" is one of my favorite words. (along with pleaced and abacinate)

    I digress....









  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    *pleached
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