Mindfulness with Thich Nhat Hanh

How do we have reverence for all life?

Thich Nhat Hanh: "To live, we must die every instant. We must perish again and again [like flickering individual stills run in a series of connected frames of a filmstrip, one passing away and the next appearing] in the storms that make life possible."

Thay (Thích Nhất Hạnh) was a Vietnamese Zen (Thiền) teacher who practiced Engaged Buddhism. He often spoke of mindfulness (Buddhist sati) without, to our knowledge, doing much to define or explain it in detail. He lived it. It is, after all, a practice of doing (karma) much more than a theory of being.

• Wisdom Quarterly: "Mindfulness" defined (Ven. Analayo)

Vietnamese Zen?

Buddhist nuns and laywomen

Thiền (Zen) Master Thích Thanh Từ (1924–2022) is credited for renovating Trúc Lâm in Vietnam. He was one of the most prominent and influential Thiền masters of the 20th and early 21st century. He was a disciple of Master Thích Thiện Hoa.

The most famous practitioner of modern Thiền Buddhism in the West was Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926–2022), who authored dozens of books and founded the Plum Village Monastery in France together with his colleague, Thiền Master Bhikkhuni (Nun) Chân Không.

Bhikkhuni (Nun) Chân Không

Other influential Vietnamese teachers in the West include Thích Thiên-Ân, who taught philosophy at UCLA, said "We all shed salty tears and shed red blood; all is one," and founded a meditation center in Los Angeles, and Thích Thiện Tâm, the author of several books in English such as Buddhism of Wisdom & Faith: Pure Land Principles and Practice.

In recent years, the modernization of Thiền has taken a new global dimension, as Vietnamese Zen is becoming influenced by the teachings of influential overseas Vietnamese Buddhist leaders such as Thích Nhất Hạnh, who have adopted Thiền to Western needs, focusing on mindfulness.

As a result, Vietnamese Buddhists have also now begun to practice these modernized forms of Thiền [17]. More

• Magnolia Grove Monastery (Instagram)
• Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Back to Buddhist Shambhala, Himalayas

(Positive Momentum)

("Mystic Mask")

FREE: The 'Higher Doctrine' (Abhidhamma)

 

Unraveling the Mysteries of Mind

and Body through Abhidhamma

AUTHOR: Sayalay Susila

EDITOR: Dhr. Seven (Wisdom Quarterly)

FOREWORD: Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw Bhaddanta Accina

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa

("Homage to the Exalted, the Worthy, the Supremely Self-Awakened One").

INTRODUCTION

Unravelling Abhidhamma

"Mind leads the world" (Dhp 1). Is this really true? Only when we understand how the mind works will we truly know. Mind is something close to us yet very far away. Mind is the culprit behind all of our unwholesome karma (thought, speech, deed), yet it is also the director of all of our skillful, wholesome behavior, deeds that soothe the heart.

The study of Abhidhamma helps us gain an understanding of how the mind works, which is essential for us to lead happy and blameless lives. In Abhidhamma, the ultimate realities of mind and matter that make up this so-called "living being" are seen to be an impersonal stream of consciousness-moments and infinitesimally small particles that continuously arise and pass away utterly dependent on causes and conditions.

So the study of Abhidhamma helps the mind shed the painful illusion of there being an “I,” a permanent self persisting through all experiences.

Most of the problems of life spring from ignorance and craving associated with this “I” and the self-centeredness that is its offspring. When the mind understands that there is, in an ultimate sense, no such “I,” it will let go of intense clinging.

The truth sets us free. To be more precise, knowing-and-seeing what is ultimately true sets us free. Life’s problems suddenly evaporate. All becomes light. We awaken to truth and are freed from all forms of suffering.

This can be accomplished through a thorough study of Abhidhamma and practical meditation experiences.

The Abhidhamma Pitaka is one of the "three baskets" (tipitaka), the three divisions of the Buddha’s teachings. Abhidhamma is a combination of two terms, abhi ("higher, special, sublime") and Dhamma ("universal truth or teaching"). Therefore, Abhidhamma is the "higher teaching" of the Buddha or the "Doctrine in ultimate terms."

This Dhamma is grounded in observable truth and reality one is able to directly experience. It is not a faith or belief system. It is not a metaphysical "theory," as some portray it, but rather a systematic explanation and guide to how it is possible for earnest meditators to directly know-and-see, finally culminating in enlightenment (bodhi).

All physical and mental phenomena are fully classified and explained in the system of Abhidhamma. That is why the Theravada Buddhist tradition regards the Abhidhamma as the most perfect exposition on the true nature of existence, realized by the penetrative wisdom of a supremely enlightened ene.

Truth

Ven. Dr. Pa Auk Sayadaw

According to Abhidhamma philosophy, there are two types of truth. The first is conventional truth (sammuti sacca), which refers to ordinary concepts, such as “tree,” “house,” “human,” “you,” “me,” “person,” “body,” “being,” and so on. Such concepts are closely linked to language, culture, and conditioning.

We assume that these concepts are objective realities, that they actually exist. They seem to exist, yes, but if we were to examine these concepts closely, we would find that they in no way exist as irreducible entities. Why? They can be broken down into smaller and smaller components.

For example, if we discern the Four Elements (the characteristics of matter) in the body, the “body” breaks down into innumerable, infinitesimal particles (kalapas). If we further analyze these particles, they also break down. We find that each particle contains eight inseparable elements or characteristics:

1. earth (solidity),
2. water (cohesion),
3. fire (temperature),
4. wind (movement),
5. color,
6. smell,
7. taste,
8. nutritive essence.

These elements are the final, irreducible components of matter (material existence). By penetrating conventional truth with wisdom, we can eventually realize ultimate truth.

Ultimate truth (paramattha sacca), according to Abhidhamma, means something that cannot be further broken down or subdivided into smaller components. It is a final and irreducible part of existence, which exists by reason of its own intrinsic nature (sabhāva).

For example, the earth-element in our human bodies, as well as in other animate things, exists with its intrinsic nature of hardness or softness, whereas the fire-element exists with its intrinsic nature of heat or cold. While a body is conventional truth, the elements that make up the body are the final, irreducible components of its existence, and no amount of analysis can break them down any further.

Of these two types of truth, Abhidhamma deals primarily with ultimate truth.

This book is divided into three parts. The first describes ultimate truths. In Abhidhamma, ultimate truth is fourfold:

1. Consciousness (conditioned phenomena)
2. Mental factors (conditioned)
3. Matter (conditioned)
4. Nirvana (unconditioned).

The first three of these ultimate truths comprise the totality of conditioned existence. Together, consciousness and mental factors are what we conventionally call the “mind” on the one hand. Matter, on the other hand, is what we conventionally call the “body.”

The successive coming together of mind-and-matter is what we conventionally call “I,” a person, human being, animal, or whatever the case may be.

The concept “I” is a conventional truth, whereas consciousness, mental factors, and matter are ultimate truths. These three ultimate truths are conditioned dhammas (phenomena) produced by causes and conditions, subject to radical change, dissolution, constant fading away, and are hurtling toward destruction.

They are subtle and profound dhammas that cannot be seen with the ordinary eye. However, they can be discerned by a mind well trained in concentration and insight.

Nirvana (nibbana), the fourth ultimate truth, is unconditioned. That is to say, it is not produced by any cause or condition. Therefore, it does not change. Nirvana can be experienced here and now.

The Buddha's path-of-practice is gradual (progressive) training in higher virtue, higher concentration, and higher wisdom. TO BE CONTINUED

• Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind and Body Through Abhidhamma (PDF)
• To order a physical copy of the latest edition, email Bro Low at janaka.low@gmail.com
• sayalaysusila.net/dhamma-gallery/books
• EDITORIAL NOTE: When the nun asked me to edit the first edition of this book, which is based on her very popular PowerPoint presentations, I did so thinking the final version would be run by me. It was not. Many hands contributed, often undoing much of the consistency I put in place. It went back and forth so often that I left it to her to leave it a mishmash. But here the standard American (rather than British) grammar is restored as is the choice of translated Pali and Sanskrit terms. These are minor issues but important to any editor. Much was fixed by the time of our third edition but imperfectly so.

INWARD PATH PUBLISHER, Penang • Malaysia. Originally published in Inward Journey Book Series (2005), an imprint of Inward Path Publisher for FREE distribution. This newly revised edition 2012 is published to support the establishment of Appamada Vihari, an International Meditation Center, where Sayalay Susila is the abbess. An Inward Wisdom Book. Published by INWARD PATH PUBLISHER. 14 Phuah Hin Leong Road, off Burma Road, 10050 Georgetown, Penang, MALAYSIA, P.O. Box 1034 General Post Office, 10830 Georgetown, Penang, MALAYSIA.

• email: ijbook@inwardpath.org
• inwardpathpublisher@gmail.com
• inwardpath.org

Text copyright © Sayalay Susila 2005-2012. Layout and design copyright © Inward Path Publisher 2005-2012. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner, any form, or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher and author. Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia cataloguing-in-publication data Sayalay Susila, 1963, Unravelling the Mysteries of Mind & Body Through Abhidhamma/Sayalay Susila. ISBN 978-983-3512-03-4.1. Abhidharma.   2. Dharma (Buddhism).   3. Mind and Body-Religious aspects--Buddhism.  I. Title. 294.3824. Cover design and book layout by Sunanda Lim. Printed in Penang, Malaysia.

Science discovers the meaning of life

All life comes down to matter, says Materialism

A Mystery as Old as Humanity: For centuries, we’ve asked the same impossible question: What is life—and what gives it meaning? Now, scientists think they’re closer than ever to answering it. But their explanation isn’t philosophical or spiritual—it’s something far more concrete, hidden deep within the structure of matter itself.

• What if Buddhism's fundamental unit of materiality in this universe, the rupa kalapa, or "form particle," explains the "meaning of life"? What if all we are is just material, arising in the cosmos, turning, and passing away into nothingness, having emerged from there in the first place?
• Preposterous. The Buddha rejected this wrong view (miccha-ditthi) in very strong terms. It leads to a very pernicious view that denies a great deal about our lives. There are two extreme views the Buddha rejected and avoided; they are the annihilationist view on the one hand and the eternalist view on the other. Instead, he taught Dependent Origination as an explanation for all things.
• The idea that we (the self, soul, ego, personality, living being) are only material in nature is flawed and leads to the annihilationist wrong view that says that when we die, everything stops. There is no further becoming. Karma has no force to produce further becoming, rebirth, rearising in another state, manifesting the results of previous deeds.
• There is a similar extreme on the other end, that of the eternalists who proclaim that the self/soul (atta or atman) continues in essence unchanged forever, individuated, fated to receive the result of all previous deeds (karma). This, too, is a wrong view.
• How could they both be wrong? Wouldn't one being wrong necessitate the other being right? No. Both views are at odds with reality, and enlightenment (bodhi) is knowing-and-seeing things as they truly are thereby being liberated from the endless Round of Rebirth (samsara).
• What does the Middle Way say is the case? One must first understand that "middle" does not mean a compromise between both views, a mean or average of the two. Indeed, what we are or at least what we identify with, has a material component, but there is also a psychological component. This is nama-rupa, "name and form." This can be said of all things, not just us.
• More importantly, what is "us"? What are "we"? What is the self or soul or the being? The Buddha said when people speak of self, they are referring to the Five Aggregates clung to as self. These are form; feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness(es).
• What, ultimately speaking, is "form" (rupa)? Science does not know, but well-instructed mystics (noble ones, knowers, seers, those endowed with the divine eye or dibba cakkhu) know. They do not know it by rote. Anyone can come to know that. They know it by direct perception. They are well instructed not to memorize a list but rather to engage in a practice (Satipatthana) to directly see, penetrate, and understand what is there in material form. Unfortunately, what is there is described in ancient and archaic terms. When modern people hear these words, they -- thinking they know what they mean -- dismiss them out of hand.
• Those who listen, who give ear and attention to comprehend what the Buddha meant by these ancient terms is then instruction on the PRACTICE to be able to see them directly. See what? The Four Elements. We "know" there aren't four elements. There are many more. This is not what "elements" (dhatu) means in Buddhism. The elements are not, roughly speaking, material. They are qualities, characteristics, descriptions of matter. Those many descriptions are put into four categories, and these categories are the "elements."
• The PRACTICE of Four Elements Meditation is the way to know-and-see them. This is not science to SHOW others. This is Buddhist psychology (Abhidhamma) to see for oneself. For it is only by knowing-and-seeing for ourselves that we can become free. No one has ever gained freedom, enlightenment, spiritual liberation simply by reading -- just as no one has ever learned physics by flipping to the back pages of a text for the answers to equations. The answers are back there so that, after doing the PRACTICE of calculating, we can see if our results comport and accord with what others have confirmed are the answers. It is essential to come see for oneself. That is the Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga), the Path of Purification (Vissudhimagga).

Source: Scientists think they’ve finally found the meaning of life (MSN)

Connecting with Universal Consciousness

(Gaia) Connecting with Universal Consciousness [or Source]

Can we become angels (devas) by meditating?

Feeling a pull towards deeper understanding and greater connection with the Universe? This could be signs of an impending spiritual awakening, a profound shift that changes our understanding of self and reality.

This post may help in understanding everything we need to know about this transformative experience – from recognizing the early signs to navigating challenges and enjoying its benefits.

Ready for an [Eastern, more Hindu than Buddhist] enlightening journey? Let’s dive in, beginning with this guided meditation.

Key points

• A spiritual awakening is a transformative experience where we become aware of our "true selves" and connect to a higher power.
• Signs of spiritual awakenings can include feeling disconnected, reevaluating beliefs, having vivid or lucid dreams, experiencing shifting relationships, and increased intuition.
• Each person’s spiritual awakening journey is unique and personal, guided by one's own beliefs, experiences, and inner wisdom.
• During a spiritual awakening, individuals may also experience a strong connection to nature and have physical symptoms. More
• Tibetan Meditation Music; EnhancedApp.io, Spiritual Awakening: Everything to Know; Gaia.com on YouTube; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Atlantis, Plato, Gobekli Tepe (Graham Hancock)

Why does researcher Graham Hancock (grahamhancock.com) talk like this, not only about ancient Egypt but also the Americas. He's written about it, looking at the data that science dare not speak about for fear of losing funding or being ridiculed for contemplating explanatory theories beyond the current consensus. It is like Michael Cremo's forbidden archeology (mcremo.com).

• Eds., April 18, 2025

Rebirth: dying countless times: Samsara

We’ve died [countless] deaths and still don’t know why: Buddhist Abhidhamma explained

Ocean of Saṃsāra (Bhavacakra)

(Buddhist Audio books) May 17, 2025: Why have our lives always felt incomplete? This video reveals the shocking truth behind why 🌌 Samsara — the Endless Cycle of Birth, Death, and Rebirth — has no beginning.

[Samsara also has no foreseeable end, like a carousel. Like a whirlpool in the ocean, it will not stop, but it is possible to escape get off.]

Drawing from powerful Buddhist sutras like the Anamatagga Samyutta and deep insights from the Abhidhamma (the "Doctrine in Ultimate Terms" or "Higher Teaching"), let's reveal the hidden causes of our suffering and why we keep returning again and again.

🧘‍♂️ LEARN:

• What is Samsara and why does it feel endless?
• How our past lives shape our present life
• How to escape the cycle according to the Buddha.

📜 Based on the Anamatagga Samyutta and other Theravada sutras (Pali canon) and Theravada Abhidhamma teachings and ancient Buddhist meditation teachings.

We are on infinite repeat (Groundhog Day)

SUTRA: All the Foliage in a Forest

(Linked Discourses 15.1, Chapter One, "Grass and Sticks")

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī within Jeta’s Grove, in millionaire’s monastery. There he addressed the meditators, “Meditators!”

“Venerable sir,” they replied.

Then the Buddha told them, “Meditators, this Samsara (Cycle of Rebirth) has no discernible beginning. No first point is to be found of sentient beings wandering and being reborn, clouded by [the smoke of] ignorance and fettered [and being burned] by craving.

“Suppose a person were to strip all the grass, sticks, branches, and leaves in the Black Plum Tree Land, gather them together into a single pile, chop them into pieces, and lay them down, saying:

“‘This is my mother, this is my grandmother...’ The grass, sticks, branches, and leaves of the Black Plum Tree Land would run out before that person’s mothers and grandmothers were all counted. Why? Samsara has no discernible beginning. No first point is to be found of sentient beings wandering and being reborn, clouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.

“For a long time have we all undergone disaster, disappointment, and agony, swelling the cemeteries. It has been more than long enough for one to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed from all conditions.”

🙏 The Buddha realized the endlessness of Samsara through his fully awakened wisdom on the night of his great enlightenment (maha bodhi). With the divine eye (dibba cakkhu) he developed, he gained the recollection of countless past lives, his own and others'.

He saw beings being born and dying over vast aeons (kalpas), across uncountable realms (on 31 Planes of Existence, which are divided into three spheres), with no discernible beginning point to the impersonal, impermanent, and impossible-to-satisfy cycle.

The Buddha taught in the Anamatagga Samyuththa, “The beginning of this continued wandering on is not to be discovered.”

This is stated not based on faith but direct knowledge. Samsara is endless because each life is caused by previous karma (deeds), which are willed and carried out due to ignorance and craving and aversion. These in turn arise from previous conditions, in a chain of 12 causal links beginning with ignorance.

Thus, the Buddha clearly saw that there was no ultimate creator, no first cause [or prime mover], only a wheel of conditional existence turning without beginning. More

ABOUT: 💡 From emotional stories and ancient wisdom to rare teachings of the Buddha, this is a journey through time, karma, and consciousness. Whether one is new to Buddhism or a deep practitioner, this video changes how we see our lives.

🔔 Subscribe for more deep Buddhist wisdom and life-changing insights. 👉 Remember to like, comment, and share if this moved your heart. #buddhism #samsara #WhySamsaraIsEndless #buddhateachings #rebirth #Karma #Abhidhamma #AnamataggaSutta #CycleOfLife #spiritualawakening #PastLives #Theravada #BuddhistMeditation #EscapeSamsara #DeepWisdom #LifeAfterDeath #SpiritualJourney #DhammaTalk #Mindfulness #BuddhistPhilosophy #Theravada Buddhism #Abhidhamma Teachings #realms of Rebirth Buddhism #spirituality #buddha #Buddhism Afterlife Beliefs #BuddhistCosmology #Abhidhamma #HeavenAndHell #MindAndReality

• Buddhist Audio books, May 17, 2025; Dhr. Seven (trans. based on Ven. Sujato, suttacentral.net), Wisdom Quarterly

Simulation: Gravity is fake, says science

If fall rate exceeds terminal falling speed, ship will move down as levitation occurs like coaster

Clearly, gravity is fake. We are not pulled down so much as pushed, except for this cat. ;,)

Laser light, changing past, mind on DMT?

So what? The Buddha was right.

These words are attributed to Einstein: "A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty" (A surprisingly Buddhist quote by Albert Einstein. : r/Buddhism).

DMT opens phases of a liquid crystal in our minds?

(Curt Jaimungal) Main episode with Andrés Gómez Emilsson: The Science of New States of Consciousness...

Scientists just PROVED the past can change!
(Be Inspired) "The future already happened." What if the past isn’t fixed? Scientists have just proven that the future can influence the past (retro-causation), shattering everything we thought we knew about time and reality. From mind-bending quantum experiments to the shocking science of precognition, this video explores the hidden connections between time, consciousness (vijñāna), and the universe.

TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 - Mind-blowing experiments
• 1:43 - Presentiment
• 2:26 - Precognition
• 5:12 - J.W. Dunne’s precognitive dream protocol
• 7:33 - Feeling the future
• 10:00 - Remote viewing
• 12:18 - Free will and retrocausality
• 14:43 - Lucid dreaming

Theories of Everything (TOE). New Substack (personal writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com. Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE. Become a YouTube member (early access videos): @theoriesofeverything. Support TOE on Patreon: curtjaimungal. Twitter: toewithcurt. Discord Invite: discord. As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe. #science.

✅GET FREE NUMEROLOGY READING HERE: bit.ly/full-numerology-reading. ► Copyright ©: Script: BE INSPIRED. Narration: BE INSPIRED. Footage is licensed through Videoblocks, Artgrid, and Envato. Music: Epidemic Sound/Audiojungle/Envato Elements Interviews/Video. References were used under FAIR USE LAW. © BE INSPIRED CHANNEL. All rights reserved. For any concerns or business inquiries, please contact: beinspiredmanager@gmail.com.

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: There may be a few links in this description that, at no cost to viewers, will earn a commission if chosen and clicked on and a purchase is made.  Don’t worry. Only products that are known and trusted are recommended.

• Be Inspired, March 2, 2025; Curt Jaimungal, March 10, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is light a cluster of particles (photons)?

Why I stopped believing that light is a particle (until now)

(Looking Glass Universe) This video is about Richard Feynman's Quantum Electrodynamics (QED), which says that light is made of photons [particles] that go on all possible paths at once.

Einstein: O, Great Buddha, what is the answer?

The experiment in the video is from the following video from Veritasium. Even though I don't agree fully agree with their interpretation of the experiment, I think it's an excellent explanation of QED. I highly recommend it!

• VIDEO: Wave, particle, or wavicle? DIY double-slit light experiment
• VIDEO: The LIGHT science can't explain (sutra)

Something strange happens when you trust quantum mechanics

Light in Buddhist meditation and physics

What is directly-perceived light? It may be kalapas, the smallest units of materiality (rupa, form)

.

It is possible to directly perceive light

In Buddhism, āloka-saññā means the "perception of light." A recurring Pali language canon passage reads:

"Here the meditator contemplates the perception of light, fixes mind on the perception of the day, as at daytime so by night, and as at nighttime so by day. In this way, with a mind clear and unclouded, one develops a stage of mind that is full of brightness."

That is, mind becomes full of the perception of light.

This perception is one of the methods for overcoming drowsiness in meditation recommended by the Buddha to the chief male disciple "foremost in psychic powers," Mahā Moggallāna (A.VII. 58). [He may have said the same to the chief female disciple declared "foremost in psychic powers," Uppalavanna Theri.]

Attain absorptions, see kalapa, review in slo-mo

According to DN 33, this method is conducive to the development of "knowledge and vision." (See "purification," visuddhi). And it is said to be helpful for the attainment of the psychic "divine eye." (See abhiññā). Light can also be the direct subject of meditation as a kasina (a disk or special meditation object).

Buddhism has its own physics? Oh, yes. It is called the "Doctrine in Ultimate Terms" or Abhidhamma pitaka. Why? In Buddhism, there is conventional reality as distinct from ultimate reality. In one world or perspective, there are things and persons. In another, there are only ultimate mind and matter, nama and rupa ("name and form") or the ultimate constituents of things, namely cittas ("mind-moments") and kalapas ("particles").

Something strange happens when we trust quantum mechanics

(Veritasium) March 4, 2025: Does light take all possible paths at the same time? Massive thanks to Dr. Andrew Mitchell for his help and expertise. To delve further into this topic, see his lecture on classical physics derived from quantum mechanics: Classical physics derived from quantum...

• 0:00 What path does light travel?
• 2:40 Black body radiation
• 6:47 How did Planck solve the ultraviolet catastrophe?
• 9:42 The quantum of action
• 13:25 De Broglie’s hypothesis
• 15:16 The double slit experiment
• 20:00 How Feynman did quantum mechanics
• 25:01 Proof that light takes every path
• 31:16 The Theory of Everything

Incredible gratitude to Prof. David Kaiser, Prof. Steven Strogatz, Prof. Geraint F. Lewis, Elba Alonso-Monsalve, Prof. Christopher S. Baird, Prof. Anthony Bloch, and Prof. Stephen Bartlett for their invaluable contributions to this video. Special thanks to Mahesh Shenoy from FloatHeadPhysics for his help with this video. Check out his excellent intuitive video on the UV Catastrophe here (Sept. 2024): I wish I was taught the birth of Quan...

• Looking Glass Universe, 3/28/25; Veritasium, 3/4/25; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, āloka-saññā edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

PHYSICS discovery (Buddhist kalapas)

Meditation nimitta (Kirlian)

Western atheists (the gatekeepers in the academy) run science, so they won't listen to mystics and seers (rishis). Therefore, no scientific lab is investigating KALAPAS (Buddhist subatomic "particles," the original Greek "atoms" (a concept ancient Greece borrowed from Buddhist-influenced ancient Vedic India), the characteristics of materiality or rupa, perceived particles, rúpa-kalapa), or are they without realizing it?

Maybe they are called quarks or strings or bosons, whatever the label. Some thing (not quite a thing or dhamma) is there eluding us, though it may not be a "thing" yet.

• A dhamma or "thing" in this sense of the term refers literally to the "bearer," constitution, or nature of a thing; quality; object of mind (see āyatana) "phenomenon." In all of these meanings the word dhamma is met with in Buddhist texts. The Commentary to the Digha Nikaya (Long Discourses of the Buddha), instances four applications of this term:

1. guna (quality),
2. desanā (instruction),
3. pariyatti (text),
4. nijjīvatā (lifeless, soulless, egoless [without jiva], e.g., "All dhammā [all phenomena] are impersonal").

• The Commentary to the Dhammasangani has hetu (root condition, cause) instead of desanā. Therefore, the analytical knowledge of dhamma [things, phenomena, or the Dhamma/Doctrine] (see patisambhidā) is explained in The Path of Purification (Vis.M. XIV.) and in the Vibhanga as hetumhi-ñāna (jñāna) or "knowledge of causes and conditions."

NOVEL INSIGHT: Source (cause and condition) of dark energy and matter

What scientist can explain this? Yet, a simple Buddhist meditator/reader made sense of it?
What if dark energy is immaterial pre-matter, dark matter is subtle matter, and the rest matter?

Science is dense and not about "seeing directly." That's what Buddhism is about. Scientists are about being ignorant of their biases while attempting to objectively measure and show (prove it to) others without themselves knowing what they're seeing. No scientist believed in invisible radiation until it proved its presence by killing people then showing up on instruments built to translate what was detected into the visual medium of pixels, photons, and screens -- then radiation existed. Pure ideas become essential outlines (blueprints) that become working models.

.

Matter (rupa): immaterial, subtle, tangible
all of it "energy" in a torsion field exhibiting

Imagine a kind of matter (let's call it pre-matter) so ethereal it does not yet reflect light, but it does already begin to exert gravitational pull, magnetism, or other interactions with its environment. That would fit the description of "dark energy" and "dark matter" that scientists know must exist due to their calculations but are as yet unable to directly detect in a way that can be objectively confirmed.

(This is very general, theoretical, arrived at by philosophizing based on the reports of modern meditators and ancient mystics, not materialist-scientists in experimental labs, groping their way to objective truths).

Okar Research: Kalapa, the capital of Shambala

If it (pre-matter) exists, this is how and why it (dark matter) may be behaving the way we experience: It enters this dimension, having built up density, or gaining a sufficient number of neutrinos, photons, allegrons (joyous particles that abhassara-brahmas feed on?), joe-blowons, whatever-ons (some kind of "stem cell particles" with pluripotential power), or kalapas.

It (that pre-matter) changes "lineage," as it were, from fine-material (rupa, sublime) to sensual (sensible, sensory, kama, where we experience it), but it originates in the immaterial (arupa, formless, ethereal, strictly mental state).

What is ultimate reality? Nama-rupa.

• Ah, then, what is mind, what is consciousness? That is another conversation altogether. Note that the Buddha broke down all of experience to just these two ultimately impersonal things, mind (feelings, perceptions, mental formations, consciousness) and body (kaya, rupa, the Four Elements or dhātus taken as one unit). These are the Five Aggregates clung to as self. (See the Heart Sutra for the poetic expression or the Abhidhamma for their pedantic Theravada analysis).
• Who can believe there are only four "elements"? No one. That archaic system was inherited by the Buddha and filled in. What it means is not that there are only four things everything else is made of but that what we conventionally call matter may be broken down into four categories of qualities or characteristics (hardness, cohesion, support, and temperature), which become directly known to one who practices Four Elements meditation. This is not a "theory" but a practice.
• Everything in Buddhism is kind of this way, very packed and needing to be unpacked to understand. For instance, the Four Noble Truths are not four "truisms" to believe. That would be ridiculous. The fourth is the Noble Eightfold Path. There are not only eight "steps" to take to enlightenment (bodhi) and nirvana (vimutti, moksha, ultimate liberation). That would be ridiculous. There are in fact 37 Requisites of Enlightenment. Again, it is a practice, not a theory. Moreover, if we ask what is ultimately true about our existence, the answer is not "nothing." It is Dependent Origination. This is not a belief but a practice. By practicing these things, one directly comes to know and see -- and one is freed from all suffering by that wisdom.
• The Eighteen Elements and Four Ultimate Realities
• If you become a great scientist, the greatest scientist -- a Nicola Tesla, an Issac Newton, an Albie Einstein, you will not be freed, liberated from suffering, a knower of worlds, a noble one. In fact, it will probably ruin you, make you deranged and your hair kinky. However, if you practice the Buddha's Path successfully, not as the greatest practitioner just as a solid one, you will directly know-and-see AND be freed, liberated from ignorance and suffering. It's no contest which would be better to aspire to be, in the world or out. Why did Steven Hawking get so perverse as time went on? It must have been because of the ennobling qualities of scientific data.

What is "energy" in science? It is alpha-omega.

There are, after all, these three spheres (trailokya), according to the Buddha. Consider it in reverse: Things are sensual, tangible and appearing to us. And passing away from here, they are sublimated (rarefied) to the fine-material. And passing away from there, they dissolve and become altogether immaterial (mind-made, ideations, Platonic forms, bodiless, software utterly without hardware, visualizations without tangible expression from whence they came).

This would explain not only the origin of all tangible things -- illusory, maya, in the sense of not being what a thing appears to be (permanent, able to please, or personal) born of mind, mind-made, formless, full of potential but not yet formed -- in this "reality," this simulation, this world that we can touch and feel, but also explain the fine-material (rupa) underlying it, acting as its support, scaffolding, undergirding, armature, foundational substructure, or hidden (unseen) basis.

• 

  How to see the Four Elements

  PRACTICAL EVIDENCE: When we look (with purified, intensified mind) at matter, it breaks down under analysis to smaller and smaller components. Imagine seeing a British house in the distance. It looks like a block. When approached and examined closely, it is many smaller blocks (bricks), piled in heaps of well-arranged (functionally integrated) walls and foundation. What was thought to be one thing is in fact not at all what it seemed. Looking at each block more closely, it breaks down further to molecules and atoms and subatomic particles [then, presumably to wavicles and strings or vibrating energy fields of (gravitational) attraction that, when further condensed, appear to us as matter in various states: temperature, gas, liquid, solid (qualities known as the Four Elements), and sometimes the empty space between these]. How can we know or prove it? Through the meditation described below.*

A thing is a compound of constituents, so if we're looking for indivisible things, we are not likely to find them anytime soon, not with that mindset. We'll miss the forest for the trees.

• Someone once said, "Humans can't see atoms; they're too small."
• "Oh, really," said we then asked: "What do you think you're looking at when you see something?"
• (It's ALL atoms, strung together, arranged just so, reflecting photons and letting neutrinos pass through with little to no interaction. This (dense material dead) hand, for example, is made of atoms. Can you see it? So what are you seeing?
• "Oh, yeah. Atoms! OMG! I didn't realize it."
• Yes, we may not be able to see individual atoms, but we see them all around in the collective, just like one citta is hard to perceive, but the stream of consciousness (mind moments) is easier to discern.

But there is more to a living hand, as revealed by Kirlian photography, aura viewers (like the one Edgar Cayce left instructions for), and the sensitive material in the eye some humans regain, which dogs and other animals may have been using all along to see ghosts, subtle beings, and invisible entities all along. Let's look at the state of the science of subatomic/particle physics with Jade at Up and Atom:

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  Clear the mind of assumptions and wrong view

  Stilling the mind in samadhi (meditative absorption known as jhana), one begins to perceive a "sign," a nimitta, usually of light or shadow or some color. It happens naturally with consistent practice. At first it is the "learning sign," but with proper meditative guidance, it can become the "learning sign" and bring one to deeper, subtler levels of absorption. There are eight levels, the first four are form (increasingly rarefied and sublime), and the second four are formless (immaterial). This single-mindedness, often misleadingly rendered "concentration," temporarily purifies the mind so that it can penetrate things as they really are and come to know-and-see things as they really are. This is "meditation," mental cultivation, approaching awakening, letting go, and liberation. The clouded mind will never be able to see things free of distortions and perversions of view.

It took 20 years, but we finally found it

My cuteness or alleged sexiness has no bearing on donations, attention, or popularity of Up and Atom (YouTube), which is solely a function of the depth and frequency of my scientific posts.

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(Up and Atom) March 14, 2025: Hi, I'm Jade! Subscribe to Up and Atom for physics, math, and computer science videos (upandatom). If you'd like to consider supporting Up and Atom, head over to my Patreon page :) upandatom.

Special thanks to Chuankun Zhang, Tian Ooi, Jacob S. Higgins, and Jack F. Doyle from Prof. Jun Ye's lab at JILA/NIST/University of Colorado, as well as Prof. Victor Flambaum from UNSW's Department of Theoretical Physics, for their valuable assistance and consultation on this video.

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This is speculative, theoretical, not science. What's the proof? "Seeing is believing," so here's how to see it?

• Burma preserves practical Theravada Abhidhamma (the Doctrine/Dhamma in Ultimate Terms, a collection of Buddhist text).The tradition (as promulgated by Pa Auk Sayadaw and his certifiably successful students) spreads to other countries like America, Malaysia, Europe, Sri Lanka, China, and Indonesia, and the result is direct seeing of the ultimate truth of matter: "ultimate materiality" (abhi-rupa) or matter (solids, liquids, gases, and light or flux, the Four Great Elements, mahadhatu, which are not four "things" but four general characteristics of matter made completely real and sensible as a theory by Four Elements Meditation even if we scoff.

*Buddhist physics: Analysis of the causes of rūpa kalāpa

(Dhammavihari Buddhist Studies) Even though one is able to observe the 28 essential substances, it is not enough to realize nirvana. The person [meditator] must still be able to analyze the causes of the arising of the mind-and-matter [nama-rupa, cittas-and-kalapas].

Chan Forest MIP (Instagram)

In this last lecture Sayalay Uttarā explains how to analyze the causes of arising of rūpakalāpa (clusters of matter). There are four causes for the arising of matter (rūpa), namely,

1. karma (kamma, past deeds),
2. consciousness (citta),
3. temperature (utu), and
4. [nourishment] food essence (āhāra).

The matter born of these four causes is called

1. kammajā rūpa kalāpa,
2. cittāja rūpa kalāpa,
3. utujā rūpa kalāpa, and
4. āhārajā rūpa kalāpa.

AHH! I'm beginning to see but using the mind's eye, the dibba cakkhu after purifying the mind.

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There are nine clusters of matter produced by karma; eight by consciousness; four by temperature, and two by food essence. These 23 clusters of matter must be analyzed by a yogī [Buddhist meditator, cultivator, Dharma-practitioner] to gain the understanding that matter arises through [causes and] conditions and that there is no single entity [no self, ego, God, soul] that controls it.

Of the 28 essential [forms of] matter [ultimate materiality], there are four that arise without a cause [which might explain how everything comes to be, just arising spontaneously of their own nature, not created, not Big Banged, never being brought to an end and therefore not necessitating a beginning or prime mover, not self, not anything but suchness (tathata), just the way things are in and of themselves, like science's definition of "energy"]. [Practice!] Enjoy!

This video is a Dhamma [Pali canon-based Dharma] lecture that is part of the DBS Temporary Pabbajā (monastic ordination, going forth) series of events in 2018. The pabbajjā activity guided by Sayalay Uttarā lasted for 10 days at Chan Forest Mega Mendung [Theravadan Indonesia]. In addition to practicing meditation, the participants also received a Dhamma shower from Sayalay Uttarā through six lectures. DBS also provided a DVD of the Pariyatti Sāsana [text dispensation, intellectual instruction]. Class lecture by Ashin Kheminda.

For more information about this class, please contact: DHAMMAVIHARI BUDDHIST STUDIES (DBS) SECRETARIAT. Email: yayasandhammavihari@gmail.com. Phone: 0857 82 800 200, 0812 86 30 3000, and 021 22556430. Website: dhammavihari.or.id. Facebook: Dhammavihari Buddhist Studies.

• Chan Forest Mega Indah Puncak on Instagram

Walaupun seseorang sudah mampu mengamati 28 materi yang hakiki namun hal tersebut belum cukup untuk merealisasi Nibbāna. Orang tersebut masih harus mampu menganalisis sebab kemunculan dari batin dan materi. Di ceramah yang terakhir ini Sayalay Uttarā menjelaskan tentang cara Menganalisis Sebab Kemunculan dari Rūpakalāpa (klaster materi). Ada empat sebab kemunculan dari materi (rūpa) yaitu kamma, kesadaran (citta), temperature (utu) dan sari makanan (āhāra). Materi yang lahir dari keempat sebab tersebut dinamakan kammajā rūpakalāpa, cittāja rūpakalāpa, utujārūpakalāpa dan āhārajā rūpakalāpa. Ada 9 klaster materi yang dihasilkan oleh kamma; 8 oleh kesadaran; 4 oleh temperatur dan 2 oleh sari makanan. Dua puluh tiga klaster materi ini harus bisa dianalisis oleh seorang yogī untuk mendapatkan pemahaman bahwa materi muncul dengan kondisi dan tidak ada satu wujud yang mengendalikannya. Dari 28 materi yang hakiki, ada empat materi yang muncul tanpa sebab. Selamat menikmati! Video ini merupakan ceramah Dhamma yang menjadi bagian dari rangkaian acara Pabbajā Sementara DBS tahun 2018. Kegiatan pabbajjā yang dibimbing oleh Sayalay Uttarā ini berlangsung selama 10 hari di Chan Forest Mega Mendung. Selain berlatih meditasi, para peserta juga mendapatkan siraman Dhamma dari Sayalay Uttarā melalui kegiatan ceramah yang dilakukan sebanyak 6 kali. DBS juga menyediakan DVD ceramah Kelas Pariyatti Sāsana oleh Ashin Kheminda. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut tentang kelas ini, silakan menghubungi: SEKRETARIAT DHAMMAVIHARI BUDDHIST STUDIES (DBS) Email: yayasandhammavihari@gmail.com. Telpon: 0857 82 800 200, 0812 86 30 3000, dan 021 22556430 Website: dhammavihari.or.id. Facebook: Dhammavihari Buddhist Studies.

• Sayalay Uttarā, Dhammavihari Buddhist Studies, Feb. 13, 2019; Jade (Up and Atom); Dhr. Seven (speculation), edited by Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly