When we contemplate the nature of the universe, trying to understand it purely, without any reference to already existing dogmatic or scientific concept, we generally come with a first set of observations :
- Something exists, thus it is created
- Something created this, or it comes from somewhere
- There is interaction between creator and created
In most of the religious and scientific sets of beliefs, there is a trinity composed of a creative force, a created substance, and an interaction between the creative force and the created substance.
For the Hindu, the creator of all things is Brahma, all that is created is Vishnu, and the transforming force of the universe is Shiva. The Christians classified it in another way, but still we have the Father that created everything, the Christ who is the son and creation of God, and the Holy Spirit establishing a relationship between both Father and Son. The Egyptians have Osiris, Horus and Isis. The Jewish have Eheieh, Iah and Yahveh. It is possible to find the concept of a creator, of a created and of a relationship, in all original observation of the universe. If you ask a scientist what created everything, where everything comes from, he will say “Energy, everything comes from energy”. Ok then, let’s ask the same scientist to describe all that is created. He’ll say “Matter, mass, that is all that is created”. Now how about the interaction between energy and mass? Isn’t there movement, calculated in speed, and frequency, often represented by light? All right then! We have a creator, a created, and an interaction.
I can easily imagine a Christian priest making the sign of a cross, while saying “I bless you in the name of the Father, the Christ and the Holy Spirit”. The Hindu Brahman would bless us “in the name of the Brahma, the Vishnu and the Shiva”. You can as easily imagine a man with a white laboratory gown, basing everything he knows on the name of the Holy Trinity, blessing you “in the name of E equals M, C, square!!!”.
Like every other religious system of beliefs, modern science has its Holy Trinity: E = mc2.Please take a moment to contemplate it. Using their system of beliefs bases on objective observation, the scientific community wishes your well-being, tends to your needs, try to heal your wounds, to alleviate your pain, to make your life easier. I see priests in big churches, faithful to a God with no name. This is quite appreciable.
If you can expand your perception, both the scientific and spiritual communities share the same goal. They are both in a quest for Truth, each using their own means. If we wish to find harmony in all these different approaches towards the concept of Truth, we should start by accepting all systems of beliefs without judgment. From there, we can delve into the system of belief we prefer, and start our real quest for Truth.
Buddhists don’t have a God that will come to save them, nor do we pray a single great being “out there” hoping that it will come “in here” to answer our requests. We do not believe in the concept of separation of the “out there” from the “in here” . We believe that there is infinite potential everywhere, and that we are all responsible for our use of it. We don’t declare there is no God, nor that there is one. If there is a God, then it is all that there is; hence not giving it a definition similar to other religious systems.
However, we believe that everything comes from somewhere, that we describe as a Supreme Consciousness shining like an Infinite Light. This teaching was given by the Buddha, and is called the “Pure Land” teaching, where we dwell in this conscious infinite light, without asking it anything. Conscious Infinite Light in Sanskrit is spoken: Amitabha Buddha. This would be our creative concept. Amitabha Buddha is not a human being that we pray, but a concept that we invoke in our mind, by reciting its name.
Pictured as a Buddha statue, Amitabha is always seconded by two Boddhisattvas, namely MahaSthamaPrapta on his left, and Avalokiteshwara on his right.
Our created concept would be great-powerful-wisdom, or Bodhisattva MahaSthamaPrapta. All that comes into existence is a form issued from the conscious knowledge of that form. Both action and shape are the result of the same quantum wave function. Thus, power and wisdom brought together in a great unified concept, we get MahaSthamaPrapta.
Our interaction concept would be the Lord of the Beholding Eye, or Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara. This is the “observer” that experiences life. It is the Supreme Self expressed in all forms, conscious that it is observing itself, from its creator aspect looking towards its created aspect. This Bodhisattva is often prayed in religious forms like if it was a real human being. However, it remains the concept of the interaction between the creative and created concepts. It is both the actor and the object of the action; the observer and the object of observation. From this concept, Avalokiteshwara was named the Bodhisattva of compassion, working to save all living beings. It represents the highest point in our individual consciousness, where we merge back with the single united ALL consciousness.