Quantum Buddhism

{Links}

THE FOLLOWING LIST IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED AND EXTENDED:

Note that the ideas expressed in these sites are not necessarily held by me.
These resources are provided as provocative perspectives for futher reflection, investigation and meditation.
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Quantum Enigma

In trying to understand the atom, physicists built quantum mechanics, the most successful theory in science and the basis of one-third of our economy. They found, to their embarrassment, that with their theory, physics encounters consciousness. Authors Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner explain all this in non-technical terms with help from some fanciful stories and anecdotes about the theory’s developers. They present the quantum mystery honestly, emphasizing what is and what is not speculation. Quantum Enigma’s description of the experimental quantum facts, and the quantum theory explaining them, is undisputed.
click here.......

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The Center for Quantum Philosophy

Discovering Invisible Causes Behind the Visible World

Bell experiments demonstrate (within the limits of a few rather eccentric loopholes) nonlocal correlations between space-like separated events, which cannot be explained by means of relativistic influences bounded by the velocity of light. This means that one has to give up the view that the outcomes at each part of the setup result from properties preexisting in the particles before measurement: outcomes in Alice's (respectively Bob's) lab cannot be explained by the properties the photon carries when leaving the source and the settings of Alice's (respectively Bob's) measuring devices.
Contains a video and transcription of a talk by John Bell on Non-Locality.
click here.......

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Buddhism and Quantum Physics

A Strange Parallel of Two Concepts of Reality

Article by Christian Thomas Kohl

Abstract: There is a surprising parallel between the philosophical concept of Nagarjuna and the physical concept of reality of quantum physics. The fundamental reality has no firm core but consists of systems of interacting objects. These concepts of reality are inconsistent with the substantial, subjective, holistic and instrumentalistic concepts of reality which are forming the base of modern modes of thought.
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Quantum Consciousness

Are life and consciousness connected to the funda-mental level of reality?

Consciousness defines our existence and reality, but the mechanism by which the brain generates thoughts and feelings remains unknown.

Most explanations portray the brain as a computer, with nerve cells ("neurons") and their synaptic connections acting as simple switches. However computation alone cannot explain why we have feelings and awareness, an "inner life."

We also don't know if our conscious perceptions accurately portray the external world. At its base, the universe follows the seemingly bizarre and paradoxical laws of quantum mechanics, with particles being in multiple places simultaneously, connected over distance, and with time not existing. But the “classical” world we perceive is definite, with a flow of time. The boundary or edge (quantum state reduction, or ‘collapse of the wave function”) between the quantum and classical worlds somehow involves consciousness.

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Center for Quantum Activism

Consciousness does Matter! Website of Quantum Activist Amit Goswami

Quantum Activism is the idea of changing ourselves and our societies in accordance with the principles of quantum physics.

The Center for Quantum Activism seeks to educate, support and facilitate the transformation from the current materialist worldview to one based on the primacy of consciousness.

click here.......

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The Mindful Universe of Henry Stapp

The brilliant work of Henry Stapp is essential reading and contemplation for anyone concerned with the connections between quantum physics and our understanding of the mind and implications of these connections. A collection of papers and articles can be found here.

click here.......

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BEYOND

Center for fundamental concepts in science

BEYOND is a pioneering center devoted to confronting the really big questions of science and philosophy

Our mission is…

To bring together scientists and philosophers from all disciplines to brainstorm some of the age-old questions of existence, using the latest ideas and discoveries at the forefront of scientific research.

To develop new experimental and theoretical research projects that change the way scientists think about foundational questions.

To bring the excitement and significance of cutting-edge scientific research to the wider public.

Have you ever wondered…

How the universe came to exist?

Where the laws of nature come from?

How life began?

Whether or not we are alone in the universe? ......

click here.......

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Mind and Life Institute

“With the ever growing impact of science on our lives, religion and spirituality have a greater role to play reminding us of our humanity. There is no contradiction between the two. Each gives us valuable insights into the other. Both science and the teachings of the Buddha tell us of the fundamental unity of all things.”
– His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Heart Sutra

Buddhism in the Light of Quantum Reality

The convergence between science and mysticism, between Eastern thought and Western pragmatism, and the consequent emergence of a new paradigm in recent times, offers a renewed hope that we may yet be able to transform ourselves and the world around us. ...

It is not an accident that the Chinese word hsin stands for Heart-Mind. In the Eastern way of looking at things, the thinking-feeling process is a unified field, in contrast to the Cartesian dualism of the western scientific mind. Human experience has shown that the heart-mind, being deeply conditioned, is not an easy place for conflicts to be resolved. This was brought out most vividly in the intense emotional and even existential crisis which the pioneers of quantum physics (the post-Einsteinian branch of physics that deals with the molecular structure of organisms at the subatomic level) underwent before they could accept the intellectual findings of their own experiments.

The Heart Sutra, an ancient scripture from the Mahayana wisdom schools of Buddhism, is an insight into the nature of ultimate reality through intuitive wisdom. The spaciousness of this insight allows the heart to beat in its naturalness, beyond disputations and ideological arguments. Now that quantum physics has found some very interesting parallels to the basic insights of the Heart Sutra, perhaps the intellectual and the intuitive can meet in the new paradigm.
click here.......

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FQXi

Foundational Questions Institute

EXPLORING THE FOUNDATIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY

FQXi catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality...

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Quantum Buddhism Discussion Forum

On the New Buddhist Web Site

This is a discussion forum for issues of the relationship between Quantum Physics and Buddhism
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Quantum Tao

Waveforms in the Universal Sea

How to explain phenomenon such as spirits, ghosts, and death in terms of a holistic metaphysical framework which aligns current quantum mechanical theories with philosophical tenets from Taoism, Buddhism and other spiritual foundations.
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Rational Buddhism Blog

The rational basis for Buddhist philosophy, belief and practice.

Buddhism, Quantum Physics and Mind

The strange interactions of fundamental particles with the mind of the observer ('quantum weirdness') have long been of interest to philosophers. There are two opposing views: (i) Quantum weirdness produces the mind, versus (ii) The mind produces quantum weirdness.
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