Analyzing The Relationship Between 3 Science and Buddhist Teachings
By: Eshan Samaranayake
Tags: Religion, History, Philosophy, Science, Culture

3. Cosmology and Agganna Sutta

Cosmology refers to the origin, evolution, and fate of the universe. According to modern science, the origin of the universe was marked by the Big Bang theory — all the matter in the universe was concentrated into a single point with extremely high temperature and pressure and then it exploded (Gorbunov and Rubakov 2011).

According to Lopez (2008), most of Buddha’s teachings related to cosmology can be found in the Agganna Sutta. The Buddha did not refer to the origin of the universe and there is no reason to supposes that the world had a ‘beginning’ because the idea of everything must have a ‘beginning’ is a concept created by humans (Lopez 2008). The similarities in Science and Buddhist teaching lies in what Buddha claimed about the evolution of the universe.

In accordance with Venerable Ajahn Brahmali (2015), in the Agganna Sutta, the Buddha mentions about ‘world systems’ that is composed of the Earth, sun and the moon. These ‘world systems’ are what we now know as solar systems which consists of the sun, planets and their moons. The Buddha went on to say that there is not just one but millions or even billions of ‘world systems’ in the universe. This is consistent with the NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) estimated number of solar systems in our galaxy alone (Milky way) — 3 billion (NASA 2003).

Perhaps a more noteworthy claim made by the Buddha in the Agganna Sutta is the existence of ‘beings’ in the other solar systems. The term ‘being’ is open for interpretation since there is no word for aliens in Buddhist teachings when Buddha said ‘beings’ he could have referred to humans (like us) in other solar system or maybe being who is superior or inferior to us.

Regardless of how one defines ‘beings’ according to the scientist, Frank Drake in 1961, he proposed an equation (Drake’s equation) (Refer Fig. 3) which estimates the number of ‘civilization’ per solar system. By entering values to Drake’s equation, he arrived at an answer which is approximate to 1.13 — around 1 civilization per solar system. This value justifies Buddha’s claim about the existence of ‘beings’ in other solar systems.

Drake’s equation. Via: Wikicommons

Conclusion

On the whole, both Buddhism and Science have a common goal in that both of them use the knowledge to enrich people and society. This can be thought of as an apple tree where Buddhism and Science are separate branches of the same tree with the same roots.

Common goal is not to say that Buddhism and Science are similar because the ultimate aim of Buddhism is to attain Nirvana (being released from the cycle of rebirth) and emphasizes more on the inner world and the mind of an individual. Conversely, science’s main goal is to explain the physical world with the highest accuracy possible and emphasizes more on the materialistic world (macroscopic and microscopic).

Science is constantly changing with new theories being made and old theories getting debunked. The relationship between science and Buddhism could get more intimate or distant depending on the direction science heads in the future.

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