The Science of Everything—Nothing

The famous Heart of Perfect Wisdom Sutra makes an astonishing statement: Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. To the ordinary way of understanding, the statement makes no sense. From that perspective, a form is a detectable object. We can perceive such forms. 

On the other hand, something that is empty is not detectable, so we say that emptiness is void of perceptible objects. That’s our ordinary way of understanding reality, and we refer to that arrangement as mutual discretion, which Aristotle expressed as the Principle of Non-contradiction. The “PNC” says that two matters that are different can’t be in the same place simultaneously, so when we consider the form is emptiness arrangement, we immediately reject the statement. Why? Simple: One is detectable, and the other is not—different, so not the same. Yet there is that perplexing statement, which is supposed to be the height of wisdom. In fact, the sutra says this is the highest wisdom:(perfect wisdom). So what’s so wise about such a curious statement?

If the statement were true, we would be forced to come to terms with how both Aristotle’s and the Buddha’s statements could be the same, even though they appear as polar opposites. Perhaps this emptiness is not really the sort of emptiness we imagine. Probably this nothing is really everything in disguise. How we express thoughts is dependent upon language. Words have a particular meaning. Words are conceptual, but there are no words or concepts to adequately express Śūnyatā (emptiness) because it is beyond words. Words change from one language to another, but the wellspring of all language forms is the human mind, and the mind is not only the source but also the form. 

In one sense, the mind is truly empty, and in another sense, it is everything. For 2,500 years, Buddhists have accepted this puzzling wisdom. They have used it to achieve an enlightened understanding of our world, even while the rest of humanity proceeded down the path of mutual discretion.

Bodhidharma said that the void (emptiness) is the true Buddha, and the Buddha is our primordial mind; that there is no Buddha beyond the mind; no mind that is not a Buddha. Looked at in this way, we can begin to fathom the wisdom. The true Buddha has no defining characteristics, nor does our mind. A mind with defining attributes is not our true mind, and a Buddha with defining attributes is not the true Buddha. Such a mind and such a Buddha would be fake—surrogates for the real thing.

Until very recently, this entire matter stayed as an esoteric spiritual truth. That is no longer the case. What Buddhism has been claiming is now being established by cutting edge theoretical physics. World-renowned physicist Lawrence M. Krauss has now captivated the scientific world with his revolutionary thoughts that confirm what the Buddha said 2,500 years ago: Everything is Nothing. These two paths—The path of the spirit and the path of physics have now converged. Where this leads from a scientific perspective has yet to be determined. But where it leads from a spiritual perspective is realizing that everything is united in emptiness, which is an everything/nothing. We are all one with everything. Watch the video.