God Particle and God like properties
Posted on July 17th, 2012
Nalin de Silva. Courtesy The Island
It appears that some readers including Bodhi Dhanapala have misunderstood the objective of my letter to the Editor on who or what gave mass to the God particle. At the outset it has to be said that in my letter to the Editor I had mistakenly referred to the Higgs Boson as GodƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ particle when it should have been referred to as the God particle. I was not interested in finding out who gave the name God particle to it.
As the title very clearly indicated I wanted the readers to ponder on the question how the Higgs Boson got its mass. The Higgs Boson gives the other Bosons their masses when those particles interact with the so-called Higgs Field, which is supposed to be everywhere. Thus, the Higgs Boson plays God in this case as far as the mass is concerned. It is omnipresent and gives mass to other Bosons and has a mass without appealing to any other particle.
In fact this is what I had to say in my said letter to the editor. “It is no wonder that the particle has been christened the GodƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s particle as in the Judaic Christian culture who else would have given it a mass.Is God, the God Father of the Higgs Boson?
Western science with a beginning or a creation (though supposed to be without a creator) cannot but invoke the God or the equivalent of the God, as linear thinking and not circular thinking is fundamental to it. Western science is created (not discovered) in the Judaic Christian culture and has to play God at sometime or the other.”
Not only the God particle but the entire western corpus of knowledge is created in what I call the Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya which is a linear Chinthanaya and a first cause is a must in such linear Chinthanyas. One finds these first causes in the axioms and undefined elements of western Mathematics. The point in Euclidean Geometry, for example, is not defined, though the other concepts are defined in terms of points in the final analysis. The point in Euclidean Geometry also has God properties though the westerners and their imitators in the other parts of the world (including those who have migrated to the west ) may have not realised it. In the case of the God particle at least some journalists appear to have understood this in their
July 17th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
Cool down Nalin, The so called “the God particle” is only a nickname for Higgs particle or the Higg Boson and the nickname was given after the title of Leon Lederman’s book on the topic (1993), However, this nickname or the epithet is disliked by physicists and scientists, who regard it as inappropriate sensationalism since the particle has nothing to do with God nor any mystical associations. Only the Christian Journalists are using this terminology.Do not fall into that trap.
It is just another sub atomic particle which creates a field that gives mass to other subatomic particles. Without Higgs field we will still be whizzing around at the speed of light in the form of subatomic particles with nothing to slow us down from the time of the big bang inflation happened 13.7 billion years ago.
Nalin, please don’t confuse people by raising stupid questions.If you read and understand the theory, the theory says that particles, including the Higgs Boson get their masss from the Higgs Field, not from Higgs Boson.It is like Electromagnatic field tells charge how to move, and Higgs field tell particle how much mass it should have.
As Buddhism says it is the nature that created us all. When sub atomic particle such as quarks and Leptons pass through the field, it acts rather like treacle- slowing them down and giving them mass. That is how every atom has got its own specific mass. That is how ultimately we were created and That is exactly why scientists say, discovery of HIGGS BOSON is a significant milestone in the greatest journey of modern science.
July 17th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I read, it was called god damned particle and later when they wrote about it it became god – particle which suits it very well. Because, it decides whether a particle becomes matter or stay as energy. People who are interested in philosophy label charge as awarenees or consciousness at the sub atmic level. It looks this particle decides the difference between matter and energy.
Lord Buddha, I think (the way that I want to understand) , has traced the beginning of life to where energy/matter mixes with the charge and Buddha has said why that happens can not be explained. Any other explanations?
July 17th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
According to the Latest book by Stephan hawkings, Big bang may have never happened the way it was exaplined. Instead, it may be happening eve at present even inside black holes or atoms?,
Generally, people grow up to be adults by believing a certain religion or a philosophy. So, we can not change the way they think or the way they approach or explain things. Yet, even though the church looks very obsolate with respect to providing peace to people, here, and is not with the people and preaches the same old crap which is acceptable only to lay people whose struggle is just to live the everyday life. Other than that, most are not aligned with the church and many are athiests. Even Stephan Hawkings came to Canada and published his book. Because, otherwise, he would have offended the Queen who is the head of the Anglican church. Here most laugh at Vatican. It is very clear that the Church is a business and is a form of employment for some people.
July 18th, 2012 at 12:33 am
AnuD
You are incorrect to say “It looks this particle decides the difference between matter and energy”. According to Einstein E=MC2 energy and matter are analogous. Mass can be expressed in terms of energy and vice-versa. Energy can be transferred by two ways, either by particles or by waves. That is why light is expressed as both particle (Photons) and wave (Electromagnetic wave) in the Wave-particle Duality Paradox. Read about force carriers in the subatomic level. Scientists distinguish four elementary types of forces acting among subatomic particles. They are Strong, Weak,electromagnetic and gravitational force.The strong force is responsible for quarks to stick together to form protons, neutrons and other related particles. The electrimagnetic force binds electrons to atomic nuclei to form atoms. So there is certain amount of energy associated with sub atomic particles.But, as you probably know, Higgs Field does not give a mass to Photons, consequently, light still travels at the speed of light.That is the fundamental difference.
July 18th, 2012 at 6:27 am
Where does it say in Buddhism that the ´nature creates us all´? Just curious.
July 18th, 2012 at 10:53 am
jasonsociety,
As far as I am aware, no where in Buddha Dhamma reveals a beginning or an end to the Universe.
In Majjhima Nikaya, Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta, there had been two specific queries concerning the cosmos. A Novice monk named Malunkyaputta pledged himself, if Buddha answered his questions on universal matters, he would live the holy life under Buddha; or otherwise, he should be back a hedonist. Among his questions were; “Whether the cosmos is eternal, or not eternal; whether the cosmos is finite, or is infinite ….”
In answering the question Buddha had first asked Ven. Malunkyaputta, whether Buddha had ever promised to answer such queries in order for the monk to live a holy life under him. Thereafter, Buddha offered an apt comparison: Buddha compared questioner to a man who is shot with an arrow, and the arrow inside his body demanding to know about the shooter; about the bow; about the string of the bow; whether it was aimed at him or an animal etc. before he is treated.
Thereafter, Buddha said; whatever the answer may, there still exist the birth, the aging, the death, the sorrow, the lamentation, the pain, the despair, the distress. Buddha said; “answers for such queries are undeclared by me, because they are not connected with the goal that are fundamental to the holy life. Neither are they connected to self-awakening.” In short, what Buddha said was that his dharma is to end the suffering and not to explore the beginning or the end of the Universe.
As per Anguttara Nikaya, Uttiya Sutta; Uttiya the wanderer went to the Buddha and asked number of questions in many ways. He asked; “Whether it is the case that the cosmos is finite…’ or … ‘The cosmos is infinite ….” Buddha answered; “Uttiya, I have not declared, the cosmos is finite or “the cosmos is infinite….”
Realizing the Buddha’s position, Uttiya then asked the same question in a round about way. “And, Master Gotama, when having directly known it, you teach the Dhamma to your disciples for the purification of beings, for overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding. Will all the cosmos be led to release, or a half of it, or a third?”
The question as to whether all the cosmos or only a part of it would be led to release is another way of asking whether the cosmos is eternal or not. So, the Buddha said;“…the Tathagata does not endeavor to have led all the cosmos or half of it or a third of it to release by means of his Dhamma. But he does know this: All those who have been led, are being led, or will be led to release from the cosmos ….” Buddha had never said that he will lead the entire universe or even an exact section of it to be released from suffering.
Those were just some of the feelings that Buddha touched on the subject of universe over 2500 years ago. When we review all those sutra together, everyone would understand that the Universe is unimaginably large and beyond comprehension. But for monotheists, Universe is a simple creation by God in just six days. God, Jesus, Mohammed and all other prophets knew everything about the Universe.
Leela
July 18th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Dear jasonsociety
Dhamma is by itself a study of Nature, including, every phenomenon, both the conditioned and the unconditioned occurrences. The Buddha’s teaching is not a speculative philosophy like theoretical physics, but, in itself, an exposition of the Universal Law of Nature based on a causal analysis of natural phenomena.
It can be preached, therefore, as a science rather than a sectarian belief system or typically we call religion.
Even though the cultivation and attainment of wisdom is part of the goal in the practice of Buddhism, but in order to attain wisdom, Buddhism says that one must understand the nature of things (the dharma), and part of the practice of Buddhism is the investigation of Nature – dhamma-vicaya.
This means to adopt an objective, systematic approach to understanding the causal relationships between various phenomena.
Basic and core principles of Buddhist teaching such as the Four Noble Truths, dependent origination Pratītyasamutpāda, three marks of existence Tilakkhaṇa, -namely: impermanence (anicca); suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukkha); non-self (anattā) – are the core principles of nature. Specifically, the impermanence (anicca) is the basic characteristic in the Time-space single continuum in modern science;
This is how quantum behaviour of particle is explained using the 2600 year old language, pali in the Abhidhamma Pitaka .
“Watching the nature of arising, of passing away, and of arising and passing away.”3 In the course ofwatching the body, feelings, the mind, and dharmas, the practitioner goes on to watch the “nature ofarising” (samudaya,dhamma), the “nature of passing away” (vaya,dhamma), and the “nature of (both)arising and passing away” (samudaya,vaya,dhamma).
According to Abhidhamma pitaka, the paramattha-sacca, the element of Rupa in the four fold paramattha-sacca,the matter or Rupa do not arise singly, they arise in units or groups. Each of these groups is composed of different kinds of rupa. There are four kinds of rupa, the four “Great Elements” (Maha-bhuta rupas), which have to arise together with each and every group of rupas, no matter whether these are of the body or materiality outside. The types of rupa other than the four Great Elements depend on these four rupas and cannot arise without them. They are the following rupas:
Pathavi dhatu (the direct translation Element of Earth or solidity) was referring to “Mass” in modern physics.
Apo dhatu (the Element of Water or cohesion) was referring to strong and weak force of attraction in modern physics.
Tejo dhatuthe (Element of Fire or heat) was referring to Energy in modern physics
Vayo dhatu (the Element of Wind (air) or motion) was referring to wave function in modern physics
( “Visuddhimagga” (XI, 93) (See also Dhammasangani, § 648 and Atthasalini II, Ch III, 332.)
Earth, Water, Fire and Wind do not in this context have the same meaning as in conventional language, neither do they represent conceptual ideas as we find them in different philosophical systems. In the Abhidhamma they represent ultimate realities, specific rupas which each have their own characteristic. This is in essence the particle physics.
This is where the Buddhist philosophy referring to laws of Nature, but nothing about Gods influence in creation.
July 19th, 2012 at 2:19 am
Thank you for your replies.
@NMY: Why do you think Pathavi dhatu is ´mass´in modern physics or Vayo dhatu is equivalent to a wave function?
July 30th, 2012 at 6:41 am
Taking bits and pieces from Buddhism and modern science and trying to make it fit in order to create a story (rasa katha) is immensely dangerous. For example, neelamahayoda says:
‘This is how quantum behaviour of particle is explained using the 2600 year old language, pali in the Abhidhamma Pitaka .
“Watching the nature of arising, of passing away, and of arising and passing away.”3 In the course ofwatching the body, feelings, the mind, and dharmas, the practitioner goes on to watch the “nature ofarising” (samudaya,dhamma), the “nature of passing away” (vaya,dhamma), and the “nature of (both)arising and passing away” (samudaya,vaya,dhamma).´
How can a sane person say this is the same as or a description of quantum behavior of particles? Is it just because it sounds similar? What us quantum behavior? We still do not have a clear grasping of this ´quantum behavior´but we (mostly Sinhala Buddhist academics who are now retired and looking through a few Buddhism books and got sudden epiphanies) are eager to connect these theoretical concepts to Dhamma.
When Buddha mentioned rupa (form) he was not talking about some kind of atomism. He pointed out that in order to be free from the burdensome oppression of from, one has to be free from the perception of form (rupa sanna). From the point of view of Dhamma, any attempt at analysis of the materialistic concept of rupa would lead to a pursuit of a mirage.
The purpose of Dhamma is not to encourage an academic dabbling in ´scientific´or philosophical subtleties with a mere jumble of words. The purpose is dispassion, disenchantment and cessation. Dhamma and human-created (due to ignorance) relative scientific concepts should be understood in different platforms. So please think twice before you jump to creating connections between Dhamma and modern science.
August 29th, 2012 at 4:46 am
BUDDHA means UNDERSTOOD, so the Buddha never say that he can’t Explain.
But there’re beings who sense deferently about same thing. So the buddha didn’t said yes or no to questions like “whether the universe has end or endless” coz both answers as yes or no, leads to useless confusions & extends the suffering.
Buddha said what’s necessary to end the sorrows & didn’t said what’s not necessary to same. Then buddha said only a very vary little bit of what he knew & didn’t tell infinit things as the same reason above. The buddha found that the world is as complete sorrow. Do we need to know things if only that knowing leads to sorrows.? So the only we need to know is how to overcome sorrows & every other thing extends the sorrows by extending the existance.
Up to the buddhism (the theory of things as they are) i can say as follows;
1. The buddha said that the begining of life is NOT SEEN, because even if someone reminds his past lives with the ‘wisdom of recalling privious lives’ then he’ll die after his 100yrs life time without reaching to begining of privious lives. So, the existing of life is infinit. (අනමතග්ගො අයං භික්ඛවෙ සංසාරො…) අනමතග්ගො=අනන්ත+අග්ගො
2. The end of universe also infinit, coz the one who called ‘Rohitassa’ had ‘wisdom to go far distance within seconds’ & he went to find the end of universe but died on the way after his 100yrs lifetime without reaching an end.
What Buddha said that the end of the world won’t be find by traveling but the sorrows also won’t be end without reaching to the end of world.
The meaning of it’s; that the six senses are the world in Dhamma, coz we measure things as world using only six senses. So begining & ending of the six senses are the begining & ending of world. Then ‘having six senses is having sorrows’ so the begining & ending of sorrows also the begining & ending of six senses.
Modern science fails to see things through as they’re.
Then we sense the ‘Form’ as it has made with earth, water, fire & air. Also existance of “aakasa dhathu & aaloka dhathu” helps to appear the form.