Buddha's Silence and Quantum Superposition: A Philosophical and Quantum Perspective

 Preface

Sumanapal Bhikkhu

This Book has seven chapters. At the outset the author introduces the topic at hand. It is said in Buddhist scriptures that a disciple of the Buddha named Malunkyaputta once came to him and required him to answer some questions with philosophical overtones, but the Buddha did not give any answer and preferred to remain silent. The questions asked by Malunkyaputta were: 1. Is the world eternal? 2. Is this world non eternal? 3. Is the world finite? 4. Is the world not finite? 5. Is the soul same as the body? Is the soul different from the body? 7. Does the Tathagata exist after death? 8. Does the Tathagata not exist after death? 9. Does the Tathagata both exist and not exist after death? 10. Does the Tathagata neither exist nor not exist after death? Now this silence can be interpreted in more ways than one. We cannot give binary answers to all the questions put to us i.e. we cannot give any definite answer or say something exists or something does not exist. We feel comfortable answering questions in this way because it has a certainty. We may take the Buddha's refusal to answer those questions as an encouragement to his disciples to explore any issue deeply without seeking to arrive at the comfort of any definite answer.

Scholars and philosophers down the ages have tried to unravel the mystery of the Buddha's reluctance to give any answers to the questions of Malunkyaputta. To them by remaining silent the Buddha was offering a lesson to his disciples. According to Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh there is interconnectedness in everything in the universe and that is why everything is inseparable. However, Walpola Rahula interprets the issue differently. He thinks that the Buddha's silence was actually the symbol of his effort to focus the attention of his followers to more pragmatic aspects of life which forever concerned the Buddha, suffering and its cessation. He wanted his disciples to proceed in the path of Enlightenment rather than being sunk in the quagmire of philosophical debate.

Some modern-day scholars have found in the Buddha's silence the reflection of a basic principle of quantum physics which states that particles exist in multiple possible states simultaneously until observed or measured. In this way the belief that particles can exist only in a particular state is refuted and this opens multiple possibilities as to the actual state of it.

So up to this point we can say that by refusing to answer Malunkyaputta's philosophical questions the Buddha did not necessarily evade them; on the contrary by remaining silent he wanted to encourage his disciples to probe more deeply and become more open minded in their quest.

In classical physics an object can remain in a single particular state at a given time. For instance, a coin is either head or tail. But in quantum physics particles can be in multiple states in a given time and this is called superposition by physicists.

If we apply the principle of quantum physics, we will see that belief cannot be classified only between true and false, both possibilities remain open. Between faith and doubt there lie multiple stages namely various stages of personal beliefs and doubts. By remaining silent to the questions put forward by Malunkyaputta the Buddha was actually suggesting to his followers to explore the issue which is more important than finding any definite answer. So, exploring those issues is more significant than the answers as the journey itself is sometimes more pleasant and significant than reaching the destination. The Buddha believes that there are some areas which are beyond the purview of human perception or verification. It is not possible for us to indicate reality in terms of simple truth and falsehood.

That all phenomena are interconnected and lack independence is a key concept of Mahayana Buddhism. This teaches us to be more open and accommodating while probing into the depths of existence. The Buddha advises his disciples to keep an open mind that balances faith and doubt.

In conclusion it may be said that when the Buddha chose to remain silent when he was asked those philosophical questions by Malunkyaputta, he was not merely avoiding those questions, he was inspiring deeper and individual thinking in his disciples. Saumabha Barua has attempted to establish this fact in his Book.