It's interesting that when the wandering ascetic Siddhartha became "the Enlightened One," the Buddha, he found the Creator and said so. The words are famous in Buddhist history for what they say about our present situation even though we have not yet realized it. But we will at our awakening, when and if we become enlightened. It's not guaranteed that we will. In fact, if we do nothing, it's guaranteed that we won't. The Buddha's final words were, "All things are hurtling towards destruction; work out your salvation (enlightenment) with diligence." So what did he say?
"Through the round of many rebirths I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is rebirth again and again. House-builder, you are seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole destroyed, gone to the unformed, the mind has come to the end of craving."
If there's no Creator, why does the Universe exist? A Buddhist answer
(Buddhism Podcast) June 4, 2025: Buddhism Explained. The universe exists not by a creator, but through endless cycles of conditions. The Buddha (in Buddhist cosmology) presents Dependent Origination, where everything that arises does so from interconnected causes, challenging traditional and scientific quests for a first spark [or prime mover].
Understand why the Buddha redirected focus from cosmic origins to the immediate path of ending suffering right here right now.
This profound wisdom finds surprising parallels in modern scientific thought, revealing a cosmos shaped by karma and interdependence. Learn how to transform external questions into inner clarity and liberation, finding peace in understanding reality as it truly unfolds.
00:00 - The human longing: Who made this?
06:12 - No creator: the universe of conditions
13:29 - The six realms [31 Planes of Existence] — where consciousness can reappear
17:43 - Waking from the cosmic dream [Maya]
21:20 - The real answer: From external questions to inner freedom
Ironic sarcasm (with a point)
Black Joshua, how shall we live? - It's all yours.
Aha, Buddhism must be wrong because obviously Creation must have a Creator. It's built right into the word. All of this was created by someone somewhere somehow at sometime. That much we know. The rest is a mystery. The Black God came down to Earth after it evaporated from being the "face of the deep," a great big sea or primordial soup, and he made a matching pair called Steve and Eve, or was that Adam and Lilith? And He, it was a he, right? We can all at least agree He was a white man, very Germanic, kind of Ashkenazi Scandinavian, but the Pair in the Garden got tanned from not wearing clothes or using the sunblock the Lord provideth... Preposterous, but so many of us buy into our society's creation myths without thinking.
Who created us? - We looked...
The Native American stories are best, very direct and campfiery. The Indigenous people were living by the beach in Tovaangar (future Los Angeles) and the Creator made a Rainbow Bridge for people to go to Catalina Island, saying, 'Don't look down as you cross over the ocean.' But some did, and as a result they fell off the bridge and became our brothers and sisters the dolphins."
Now that's a creation tale we can embrace, living on the beach, traversing rainbows, swimming with the dolphins.
down and fell. It had to be the Great D!
As Westerners invading the area, we laugh, but we can't imagine anyone laughing out our nonsense: "Once upon a time, before time, there was this nothingness but this Guy lived alone, very lonely, nothing to do all day but putter about, so he created us, put us in a Garden, male first to set the social order, populated the place with plants and animals, everyone living in peace, no one eating anyone else, everyone purely vegan and peaceful.
Should I have mentioned my Snake?
Except for this one snake jerk, a real troublemaker, doubting the Lord, and contaminating the mind of the Jenny-come-lately female pulled out of the male's rib. The Great Creator God wanted to keep us pig ignorant, and this dang Serpent (Reptilian) had to go and lead the Pair to the fruiting body of some kind of psychedelic mushroom growing off the lignans of a tree the Lord God forbade us from ever eating from. It's not like He set us up for failure or anything. We are full of sin and sinners, most of us unrepentant, so we deserve all we get. (Ya think maybe Natives roll their eyes at hearing such campfire tales from Bible thumpers?)
Both sound good. Don't know which to believe
Get real and stop joking around
Isn't the Buddha just another philosopher? NO!
Is irony any way to teach? Probably not given that we live in a Post-Ironic Age and everyone suffering from irony deficiency.
The Buddha often spoke of an imagined "Creator," Brahma ("Supremo") or Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo"). There are gods. Gods have powers and can create things. Now imagine a God creates something, as the creative gods can do on higher planes. That would not mean that they really bring us into being or end us, save us from bad karmic ("sin") results, or get us into heavens, of which there are many, none of which are actually permanent. No God creates new beings, new souls, new selves and individuals. But, then, what is creating ALL of this?
In a sense, each of us is the creator of our experience. This is deep and hard to understand by our usual way of thinking -- all of the misguided assumptions we've inherited. The Buddha was well aware of these philosophical problems and questions. Some are good. Most such questions do not lead to freedom, liberation, the end of suffering, enlightenment, or nirvana.
Indeed, there was once a dissatisfied Buddhist monk (Malunkyaputta) who, failing to meditate, got to thinking: Who am I, why am I here, is life infinite or not, what happens after death, and many such perplexing questions. He realized he had never asked the Buddha and gotten clarity on these philosophical conundrums, yet he was a monk.
So he went over to the Buddha and said, "If you cannot answer these questions to my satisfaction, I will stop being a monk and leave the sangha." Rather than answering him, the Buddha asked if they had ever entered into an agreement that if he became a monk, the Buddha would answer all of these perplexing questions.
The monk agreed that he did not. The Buddha further pointed out that what he said was for fast progress toward enlightenment and freedom. And these questions, whatever the answer, were not conducive to that.
It was far better to follow the Path than to remain stuck pondering all of these types of questions (which probably included the Four Imponderables). Become enlightened and see for yourself is the spirit of the matter. The monk was flummoxed by this logic.
#BuddhistCosmology #Buddhism #NoCreator. Channel's purpose and commitment: This channel is committed to sharing the beauty and wisdom of Buddhist teachings with the purpose of education and inspiration. All content is created with deep respect for the [historical] Buddha’s teachings, aiming to promote understanding, mindfulness, and compassion in everyday life. The goal is to present the values and practices of Buddhism in a way that is accessible and beneficial to everyone, regardless of their background or [religious, agnostic, or atheistic] beliefs. It does not seek to influence or alter anyone’s faith but simply to offer insights into the timeless wisdom of Buddhism as a source of guidance and positivity. This channel is a space for learning, reflection, and connection, guided by the principles of respect, kindness, and truth. Feedback or concerns are welcomed as is open and respectful dialogue. Thanks for supporting the mission to share the meaningful messages of Buddhism with the world.
Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy,American Dad); Buddhist Podcast (video), 6/4/,25; Bible stories with Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian; text by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
What if I, Ven. Subhuti (americanmonk.org), were to explain the Three Jewels (Triple Gem) to Westerners who know very little about Buddhism but do it in an unconventional way?
What if I were to use an analogy to understand what the Buddha (Teacher), the Dhamma (Teaching), and the Sangha (Taught) really mean?
That might work, Bhante ("venerable sir"). Let's give it a try.
Westerners respect Real Fly Science Guy Alby Einstein and the laws of physics.
The Buddha — The Awakened One — discovered the Path to Awakening. If I were to talk about the Buddha, I would say he’s a great scientist, but not just any great scientist.
He’s the Alby Einstein of scientists.
The Buddha discovered (rediscovered because others in ancient times also awakened and taught the liberating truth) the laws of the spiritual (metaphysical) universe, the Dhamma, just as Einstein discovered (rediscovered) some laws of physics. All of these laws existed before, during, and after these discoveries. Neither the Buddha nor Einstein created them, of course. They are always there to be found.
Of course, the comparison is imperfect. Einstein is talking about the world we see and touch, whereas the Buddha goes far beyond to the unseen and hard to grasp. If one is worldly, the other seeks to go beyond. Beyond? Beyond the beyond, as the Heart Sutra claims. What is the use of worldly science to get beyond the world?
Do people understand that the Buddha’s realization was about ultimate truth? It’s not just counterintuitive, it’s timeless, beyond time, reaching universal laws of nature.
The Dhamma is the Truth, the Law, the Norm, the Regularity of thing, like E = mc² — a universal truth that does not depend on faith, belief, or even understanding. If no one understood, it would be no less true. (If no one entered nirvana, nirvana would remain just the same; like the ocean, it is neither increased nor decreased as rivers pour into it).
The Dhamma exists. It precedes things, succeeds them. It was existing before the Buddha realized it and continued just the same after him. But what truth could be true, unchanged, before and after?
For one thing, there’s the truth of suffering. Disappointment exists. It arises dependent on conditions. Three other more hopeful things are also true. Suffering has a cause. It has an end. And there is a path leading to the end of all suffering. This overview is known as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.
These are not ideas, not mere hypotheses, but truths to be tested, each person for oneself. There is no need of acceptance or faith -- except the faith (saddha, confidence) to come and see, to investigate, to test the path for oneself.
Natural laws govern the mind, body, and life itself. When one understands these deeply, so deeply that they have been penetrated, one awakens. The Truth is that close. How to approach it for optimal results, that only a supremely awakened teacher can point out.
The Saṅgha — Those Who Understand
Who hears the Buddha? The Sangha.
How to explain the spiritual community of practitioners, the Saṅgha, whether taken as the entire community of practitioners of Buddhism, the accomplished Noble (Aryan) Community, or the elite researchers, the Monastic Community?
Anyone can study physics, but only a few reach the research level, where they truly see the laws at work. Likewise, anyone can hear the Buddha's Teaching, the Dhamma, and attempt to practice it.
However, only the Noble Community (Ariya Saṅgha) — those who have already directly realized it, penetrated it, and therefore entered the four stages of enlightenment — truly know-and-see it. Between the average practitioner and the accomplished practitioner, there are the avid practitioners, the monastics.
That’s why it is said that "going for guidance" (sarana) to the Triple Gem or Three Jewels is not just going to any community. It is approaching the Noble Saṅgha — the four pairs and eight individuals who have attained realization (bodhi) and directly glimpsed nirvana (nibbāna).
The Poster on the Wall
Oh, Alby, what is the right equation?
I once met a physicist who said he didn’t "believe" in religion.
He said that many elite physicists do not believe either. Instead, they follow another religion of faith ("Scientism" or "White Labcoatism"). They think that when we die, that’s it, we’re dead and nothing happens.
This is the materialist, annihilationist wrong view the Buddha warned about, which is as much in error as the spiritualist, eternalist wrong view. He cautioned to avoid both extremes, following the Middle Way that explains all phenomena in terms of Dependent Origination, so that what does not make sense and seems to be a binary, a dichotomy, resolves into a very rational and impersonal explanation of things in line with ultimate truth.
Orthodox Theravādins might think of the Buddha in similar terms. While an average person is subject to old age, sickness, death, and [incessant] rebirth, a fully enlightened person (arahant) and a supremely enlightened Buddha has gone beyond all suffering and is no longer subject to this painful cycle known as samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death).
When one passes away, there is no more the arising of the rebirth-linking-consciousness in the very next mind-moment as there is with everyone else.
A physicist who is an atheist might have a large poster of Einstein on the wall. When stuck on a problem, that research physicist might look at it and may at times say, “Help me, Einstein!”
One doesn’t believe Einstein is listening — yet feels inspired by approaching, bring to mind Einstein, and directing attention towards him to renew confidence and inspiration. "Einstein" lives on through the laws he discovered and made known and through those who continue to explore and realize the truth of those laws of physics.
The Buddha's life as allegory: the heroic journey
That’s exactly how the Buddha “lives” on through the Dhamma,the Teaching, the things made known through his great awakening.
The Buddha himself said,
“Whoever sees the dhamma [the truth of phenomena] sees the Buddha.”
So when someone knows and practices the Teachings, the Dhamma, that Dhamma is alive in that person, and that person knows the Buddha in that way and to that extent — not as a being abiding somewhere else but as that wisdom itself.
As long as Einstein’s physics are made known and kept alive, we may also say that Einstein also lives on.
Going Beyond Mind and Matter
In the end, all that arises — the Five Aggregates clung to as self, the mind and body — pass away.
When one truly knows Dhamma, that knowing leads beyond mind and matter. That’s nirvana: the complete cessation of ignorance and suffering with no more new arising of mind and matter.
So may this reflection help those on the path to develop right view so as to see clearly into the true nature of reality and reach the peace of nirvana safely and quickly.
Summary poem
The Buddha saw the timeless law
Pure, unwritten, free of flaw
Like Einstein beholding light of form
Knowing the effects of atom torn
The Dhamma lives when Truth is known
The Saṅgha walks a path of wisdom grown
Not in realms unseen at which angels gnaw
The Buddha lives by Dhamma's awe
Bhante, Ven. Subhuti (americanmonk.org), Oct. 8, 2025; edited by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
It's interesting that when the wandering ascetic Siddhartha became "the Enlightened One," the Buddha, he found the Creator and said so. The words are famous in Buddhist history for what they say about our present situation even though we have not yet realized it. But we will at our awakening, when and if we become enlightened. It's not guaranteed that we will. In fact, if we do nothing, it's guaranteed that we won't. The Buddha's final words were, "All things are hurtling towards destruction; work out your salvation (enlightenment) with diligence." So what did he say?
"Through the round of many rebirths I roamed without reward, without rest, seeking the house-builder. Painful is rebirth again and again. House-builder, you are seen! You will not build a house again. All your rafters broken, the ridge pole destroyed, gone to the unformed, the mind has come to the end of craving."
If there's no Creator, why does the Universe exist? A Buddhist answer
(Buddhism Podcast) June 4, 2025: Buddhism Explained. The universe exists not by a creator, but through endless cycles of conditions. The Buddha (in Buddhist cosmology) presents Dependent Origination, where everything that arises does so from interconnected causes, challenging traditional and scientific quests for a first spark [or prime mover].
Understand why the Buddha redirected focus from cosmic origins to the immediate path of ending suffering right here right now.
This profound wisdom finds surprising parallels in modern scientific thought, revealing a cosmos shaped by karma and interdependence. Learn how to transform external questions into inner clarity and liberation, finding peace in understanding reality as it truly unfolds.
00:00 - The human longing: Who made this?
06:12 - No creator: the universe of conditions
13:29 - The six realms [31 Planes of Existence] — where consciousness can reappear
17:43 - Waking from the cosmic dream [Maya]
21:20 - The real answer: From external questions to inner freedom
Ironic sarcasm (with a point)
Black Joshua, how shall we live? - It's all yours.
Aha, Buddhism must be wrong because obviously Creation must have a Creator. It's built right into the word. All of this was created by someone somewhere somehow at sometime. That much we know. The rest is a mystery. The Black God came down to Earth after it evaporated from being the "face of the deep," a great big sea or primordial soup, and he made a matching pair called Steve and Eve, or was that Adam and Lilith? And He, it was a he, right? We can all at least agree He was a white man, very Germanic, kind of Ashkenazi Scandinavian, but the Pair in the Garden got tanned from not wearing clothes or using the sunblock the Lord provideth... Preposterous, but so many of us buy into our society's creation myths without thinking.
Who created us? - We looked...
The Native American stories are best, very direct and campfiery. The Indigenous people were living by the beach in Tovaangar (future Los Angeles) and the Creator made a Rainbow Bridge for people to go to Catalina Island, saying, 'Don't look down as you cross over the ocean.' But some did, and as a result they fell off the bridge and became our brothers and sisters the dolphins."
Now that's a creation tale we can embrace, living on the beach, traversing rainbows, swimming with the dolphins.
down and fell. It had to be the Great D!
As Westerners invading the area, we laugh, but we can't imagine anyone laughing out our nonsense: "Once upon a time, before time, there was this nothingness but this Guy lived alone, very lonely, nothing to do all day but putter about, so he created us, put us in a Garden, male first to set the social order, populated the place with plants and animals, everyone living in peace, no one eating anyone else, everyone purely vegan and peaceful.
Should I have mentioned my Snake?
Except for this one snake jerk, a real troublemaker, doubting the Lord, and contaminating the mind of the Jenny-come-lately female pulled out of the male's rib. The Great Creator God wanted to keep us pig ignorant, and this dang Serpent (Reptilian) had to go and lead the Pair to the fruiting body of some kind of psychedelic mushroom growing off the lignans of a tree the Lord God forbade us from ever eating from. It's not like He set us up for failure or anything. We are full of sin and sinners, most of us unrepentant, so we deserve all we get. (Ya think maybe Natives roll their eyes at hearing such campfire tales from Bible thumpers?)
Both sound good. Don't know which to believe
Get real and stop joking around
Isn't the Buddha just another philosopher? NO!
Is irony any way to teach? Probably not given that we live in a Post-Ironic Age and everyone suffering from irony deficiency.
The Buddha often spoke of an imagined "Creator," Brahma ("Supremo") or Maha Brahma ("Great Supremo"). There are gods. Gods have powers and can create things. Now imagine a God creates something, as the creative gods can do on higher planes. That would not mean that they really bring us into being or end us, save us from bad karmic ("sin") results, or get us into heavens, of which there are many, none of which are actually permanent. No God creates new beings, new souls, new selves and individuals. But, then, what is creating ALL of this?
In a sense, each of us is the creator of our experience. This is deep and hard to understand by our usual way of thinking -- all of the misguided assumptions we've inherited. The Buddha was well aware of these philosophical problems and questions. Some are good. Most such questions do not lead to freedom, liberation, the end of suffering, enlightenment, or nirvana.
Indeed, there was once a dissatisfied Buddhist monk (Malunkyaputta) who, failing to meditate, got to thinking: Who am I, why am I here, is life infinite or not, what happens after death, and many such perplexing questions. He realized he had never asked the Buddha and gotten clarity on these philosophical conundrums, yet he was a monk.
So he went over to the Buddha and said, "If you cannot answer these questions to my satisfaction, I will stop being a monk and leave the sangha." Rather than answering him, the Buddha asked if they had ever entered into an agreement that if he became a monk, the Buddha would answer all of these perplexing questions.
The monk agreed that he did not. The Buddha further pointed out that what he said was for fast progress toward enlightenment and freedom. And these questions, whatever the answer, were not conducive to that.
It was far better to follow the Path than to remain stuck pondering all of these types of questions (which probably included the Four Imponderables). Become enlightened and see for yourself is the spirit of the matter. The monk was flummoxed by this logic.
#BuddhistCosmology #Buddhism #NoCreator. Channel's purpose and commitment: This channel is committed to sharing the beauty and wisdom of Buddhist teachings with the purpose of education and inspiration. All content is created with deep respect for the [historical] Buddha’s teachings, aiming to promote understanding, mindfulness, and compassion in everyday life. The goal is to present the values and practices of Buddhism in a way that is accessible and beneficial to everyone, regardless of their background or [religious, agnostic, or atheistic] beliefs. It does not seek to influence or alter anyone’s faith but simply to offer insights into the timeless wisdom of Buddhism as a source of guidance and positivity. This channel is a space for learning, reflection, and connection, guided by the principles of respect, kindness, and truth. Feedback or concerns are welcomed as is open and respectful dialogue. Thanks for supporting the mission to share the meaningful messages of Buddhism with the world.
Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy,American Dad); Buddhist Podcast (video), 6/4/25; Bible stories with Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian; text by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Amber Larson, Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly
I remember studying the doctrine of Dependent Origination(D.O.), hoping to determine a "first cause," a prime mover, the beginning of everything. Taken in an academic way, one might conclude that it all began with ignorance (avijja or avidya,"unknowing"). It made sense. IF everything is an illusion (maya), as Hinduism says, ignorance would be the first cause. Of course, it didn't really make sense but only remained academic.
Years later, speaking with someone who had attained the first stages of enlightenment (yes, such a thing is possible today), I of course asked what the breakthrough was: absorption (jhana), insight (vipassana), stillness (samadhi)?
I was baffled to be told that it was actually "the practice of Dependent Origination." I had to stop myself from saying, "But Dependent Origination is not a practice, just a theory of everything and how it all began..." I bit my tongue and instead asked, "How does one practice that?"
It goes back to what the wandering ascetic Siddhartha was doing in the forest that time. He pursued his great spiritual quest with the question, "Why do we suffer?" or "What is the cause of suffering so that we can end it?"
He was finally practicing the absorptions, or jhanas, which purified his mind until with "clear seeing," he asked, "What is the cause of present suffering (aging, decay, death)?"
He understood that it was rooted in rebirth, and he saw that rebirth is rooted in other things (becoming, clinging, craving, feeling, contact, senses, body-mind, consciousness, formations), back and back into past lives. And why were there formations? Ignorance is the answer. That having been, this came to be.
The ascetic Siddhartha traced it all the way back, seeing how things co-arise: With the arising of this, that arises. When this is not, that does not come to be. This is how he became the Buddha, "the Enlightened One."
I remembered how the Buddha had warned Ananda not to underestimate Dependent Origination. Ananda made the mistake of saying that he thought it was clear and obvious. "Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so." Dependent Origination is deep and profound and seems so to one who understands. It is on account of not seeing this that both he and all of us have wandered through samsara for so very long.
Dependent Origination is the vivid counterpart to the mind-bending doctrine of no-self (anatta). People necessarily misunderstand that doctrine -- according to their inclination, either as eternalism or annihilationism (both of which are wrong) -- because they have never understood Dependent Origination, which can be understood as a very general principle ("suchness") or a very specific practice.
"Practice, what practice?" I asked. See a proficient meditation master such as Pa Auk Sayadaw or any of his awakened student-teachers. Until it is put into practice, there will be no realization (liberating insight), no liberation (moksha), no enlightenment (bodhi), and no nirvana.
How the Buddha solved the mysterious riddle of life | His greatest teaching
(SEEKER TO SEEKER) The Buddha's greatest discovery, Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppada, aka conditioned cogenesis, conditional coarising, interdependent arising), reveals the profound mechanics of life, suffering (dukkha, disappointment), and liberation (moksha, nirvana).
This essential doctrine shows how all experiences arise from interdependent causes and conditions, unraveling the roots of our struggles and pointing to the path to ultimate freedom.
This video breaks down the 12 causal links of existence and their deep implications for our understanding of "self" and reality. #buddha#buddhism #philosophy #enlightenment#dharma#dhamma
This article goes from the very mundane to the origins of life on this planet to the ultimate, tackling the staggering question of how everything began (begins), that is, came (comes) into existence.
What do "Buddhists" do on New Year's Day? If you're living in Pasadena, you're stuck in traffic along with everyone else, suffering government reaction to their own American terrorism in New Orleans and Las Vegas.
Is it a false flag, an excuse for suicide, GIs just following their preprogramming? Either way, both events were carried out by government issue government employees, and we can debate whether they were on or off duty. Most soldiers know. Duty never ends.
Pasadena, a prosperous city (which is putting it mildly because it was once the city famous for the biggest spread between its richest and poorest populations, where it is the best of times and worst of times and really a tale of two cities) in the LA Foothills, was made untraversable by 1,000 cops.
Either they were on duty or more likely on overtime, doing a whole lotta nothing other than blocking streets and freeway entrances with the cruisers they were leaning on while chatting with each other as some gave hand signals to turn around and go the other way. What other way? That parking lot of a jammed street we're diverting all traffic onto.
This was because some of its trained soldiers were tasked or took it upon themselves to created some public mayhem which the government could use.
1. What do Buddhists do in the beginning [of each New Year]?
Buddhists, most of them, traditionally visit a Buddhist temple or monastery to see monastics, receive blessings, protective chants, see one another, hear the Dhamma, and meditate.
It's custom and tradition, not a rule. It's a joy to do. The crowds are comforting, particularly in this country, where January 1st can seem like being back in the Old Country.
When did the Buddha ever say "line" as in the timeline? Not one that we can remember. But he often spoke of cycles, circles, and cycling. Things are spinning, or as Alan Watts explains, the world is full of squiggles rather than the lines we conceptualize and speak of. Imagine the beautiful Celtic Knot. It's a nice way of visualizing the cycles-within-cycles.
Things are going in one major cycle (through the Yugas), but they are also going through may minor cycles as they do it. The Ages go from Golden (Satya Yuga) through to Dark (Kali Yuga). But within that long loop there are many little loops. A thread, a cotton suture, may seem like one straight line, but up close, that is not how it is. It is wound, curvilinear, intersected, netted, networked, bunch, pulled, and spiraling. This gives its strength. Perfectly aligned linear fiber would not hold together.
Gibberish or a tautology, which would you prefer?
Look at that clock just hanging there.
In the same way, if the world rolled on a straight (time) line, which it does not, it makes no sense to say, "before the beginning." The timeline starts here; there is no before here. If time is everywhere all the time, then there is no time before time.
(It's an illusion arising from the hallucination/logical imposition that time is a linear line. Imagine a linear timeline. Time starts here; this is the beginning. What was before the beginning? System error. Question does not compute. This spot is the beginning, and the end is over on the other side, so there can't be a pre-begin to conceptualize -- not because it doesn't exist but because the assumptions underlying this system are in error).
If time (the world) is cyclical, the question, "What was before the beginning?" makes sense, and there's an answer. Before the beginning was the previous end. (Imagine a timecircle rather than the customary timeline. This point is the beginning. What does the point before it represent? It represents the previous end. Time is neither a circle nor a line, which are just representations to try to visualize time.
Look at an analog clockface. What do two sticks pointing straight up represent? That is 12:00 o'clock, the beginning (of a day), the first point. If that is the beginning, what was before the beginning? The end (of the previous day). That is time in Buddhist cosmology. Time seems to be more than that, something mutable, going in either direction, able to be sped up and slowed down, and subject to perceptual anomalies.
If all things are everywhere all at once, as seems to be the case, we can travel through time, but whether that actually changes time permanently is hard to say: Everything becomes impermanent because it can always be changed by such travel, whether is changed or not. That it can changed is what makes it impermanent and mutable.
So when hearing or saying the phrase "in the beginning," be not confused to think that "beginning" ever references a first point, first cause, prime mover, even if one wishes or is sure that would be God. There is a beforetime that was before time. It came into existence the moment someone set up the rule that this is the way we are going to talk about it, conceive of it, believe it to have been.
Science
Science already agrees because it says, "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed." This is an outrageous statement. First, is energy even defined? "The ability to do work"? So Jebediah, who will do no work today, is full of 'energy' because he could if only he'd get up and get to it? Let's hope the axiom is true because if it is, there you have it, agreement.
Energy always is (and therefore always was and will be), and though time may have started, energy did not. So "What was there before the beginning?" makes sense. There was energy, which is everything and not a thing. So it is both true that everything, or every potential thing, has always been, and none of it is real. Didn't that slit light experiment prove anything? It seems not to have.
Let's get metaphysical. What about that double-slit? And what is quantum physics, Brian Cox?
(Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently said on his podcast with that other Black guy that the experiment is given inordinate weight and is misunderstood because the "act of observing" caused the result to change. He did not mean a human observing, like it sounds. He meant the physical scientific act of taking the measurements, as if light waves from the observation camera were impacting the photons being photographed).
2. Genesis on Earth
This being the case, on the subject of beginnings, the Buddha could be asked, "How did life on Earth begin?" (We assume this means, "How did life begin?," which it does not, instead only discussing life on Earth).
The Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) is a discourse by the Buddha to two Brahmins, Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and varna (caste) to become Buddhists. The two are insulted and maligned by other Brahims for their intention to become members of the Monastic Sangha.
The Buddha explains that caste and lineage cannot be compared to the achievement of morality practice and the Dhamma, as anyone from the four castes can become a monastic and reach the state of full enlightenment (arahant).
He then explains about the beginning and the destruction of the Earth, a process determined by karma and devoid of a supreme controlling being.
The Buddha explains the origin of the social order and its structure, including the castes. He emphasizes the message of universality in the Dhamma because "the Dhamma is the best of all things."
The Buddha describes a process [not of intellectualizing but of practice] by which he discovered the origin of suffering.
The purpose of this process was to make an end of all suffering. It worked. He then realized the significance of it and famously said:
"Who sees me sees [this process], who sees [this process], sees me."*
The Five Aggregates clung to as self are dependently originated. The craving, adhering, being attracted to, and attached to the Five Aggregates is the origin of suffering. Letting go and being rid of craving and clinging for the Five Aggregates is the end of suffering.
Furthermore, the Buddha extolls, "It is because of not seeing Dependent Origination that both you and I have gone on wandering through this interminable Round of Rebirth in search of pleasure only to be reborn here, reborn there..."
What discovery could be so spectacular and significant? It is the final answer to all problems, but it is not easy to grasp or penetrate: paticcasamuppāda.
"One who sees Dependent Origination sees the Dharma. One who sees the Dharma sees Dependent Origination."
"Dependent Origination" is the Doctrine of the Conditionality of all physical and mental phenomena.
This, together with the Doctrine of the Impersonal nature of all physical and mental phenomena (anattā), forms the indispensable condition for a real understanding and realization of the teaching of the Buddha, the Dhamma.
This doctrine shows the conditionality and dependent nature of the uninterrupted flux of manifold physical and psychic phenomena of existence conventionally called the ego, self, soul, personality, person, animal, etc.
The Doctrine of the Impersonal proceeds analytically by splitting (separating into elements, cutting, dissecting, analyzing) existence into its ultimate constituent parts -- which are mere empty, insubstantial phenomena or elements.
The Doctrine of Conditionality, on the other hand, proceeds synthetically by showing that all these phenomena are, in some way or other, conditionally related with each other.
In fact, the entire Abhidhamma Pitaka ("Basket Collection of the Doctrine in Ultimate Terms"), as a whole, deals only with these two doctrines -- phenomenality, implying the impersonal nature and conditionality of all existence.
The analytical method is applied in Dhammasangani, the first book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, whereas synthetical method is applied in the last book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka called the Patthāna.
Although this subject of Dependent Origination has frequently been treated by Western authors, by far most of them have completely misunderstood the true meaning and purpose of the doctrine.
Even the 12 terms, known as the causal links (nidanas), have often been translated wrongly, [and the first has been made to sound like some prime mover or first cause, when the whole of the doctrine bends over backward to show how all things come into being by cogenesis, that is, by multiple causes. Everything that's a thing arises by Dependent Origination, and there isn't anything that is caused or conditioned by only one thing. Nirvana, unlike everything else, is not a thing and therefore is not subject to the characteristics or pitfalls of things, known as the Three Marks of Existence].
APPLICATION: Conditionality as the Middle Way: Not-self and Emptiness
Wikipedia edit by Wisdom Quarterly
What use is wisdom? - It depends.
Early Buddhist texts associate Dependent Origination with emptiness (shunyata) and not-self (anatta), outlining different ways in which it is a Middle Way between different sets of "extreme" views.
In the Kaccānagotta Sutta (SN 12.15, parallelled at SA 301), the Buddha states that "this world mostly relies on the dual notions of existence and non-existence" then explains the right view as follows [58]:
"But when one truly sees the origin of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of non-existence regarding the world. And when one truly sees the cessation of the world with right understanding, one will not have the notion of existence regarding the world [59].
The Kaccānagotta Sutta then places the teaching of Dependent Origination (listing the 12 links in forward and reverse order) as a Middle Way that rejects these two "extreme" metaphysical views, which can be seen as two mistaken conceptions of the self [60, 5, Note 8]. More
Text by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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Indeed, there was once a dissatisfied Buddhist monk (Malunkyaputta) who, failing to meditate, got to thinking: Who am I, why am I here, is life infinite or not, what happens after death, and many such perplexing questions. He realized he had never asked the Buddha and gotten clarity on these philosophical conundrums, yet he was a monk.
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