–by Ashley Zhou, blogger interested in religion and science

 

Recently, Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)–a joint collaboration between scientists at MIT, CalTech, and many other colleges and universities–detected the existence of gravitational waves caused by the collision of two black holes. The collision produces a tremendous amount of energy and sends the ripples through the space-time fabric of the universe. Gravitational waves are those ripples. This discovery proved Albert Einstein’s prediction found in his general relativity theory of 1916.

So what does this have to do with Buddhism????

Well, there is some background information that’s good to know.
Max Planck, a German scientist who won the Noble Prize ( he and Albert Einstein were contemporaries), suggested an interesting idea in his later years that all matter exists in a form of energy waves. Particles that move relatively slowly form solid substances which human eyes can see. Those that move a little bit faster become fluids–such as our thoughts and feelings. The ones that move really fast become dark mass–which makes up more than 90% of our universe. Human eyes can only detect the 4% of ordinary mass. So, we basically live in a world that is dominated by dark things we don’t know. Buddhism accepts the main theory of Taoism–which is that the essence of universe is a flow of energy. Tao is the flow of energy. (Sometimes when we watch kung-fu movies, the main character will just punch and hurt people from a distance across the air. It is also a kind of energy.) There’s an interesting theory that some of the great scientists are buddhas who went beyond the scientific field of their research. Einstein landed on his Theory of Relativity maybe because he was not only a great scientist but a great buddha.
The collision of two black holes is, according to Taoism, a collision of the Yin and Yang. They collide and generate power which we see as gravitational waves.

Of course, this is just an interesting theory (the application of Buddhist principles) based on the information that I have learned regarding Taoism. The discovery of gravitational waves opens up a new way of exploring the universe for us, and we hope that someday we will find out the truth of this mysterious space–scientifically and philosophically.