Ying, Yang & The Big Bang: Why Are We Here?

[Dharma Flower]

Classic Taoism describes the universe as expanding from a cosmic egg, an infinite void, which is strikingly similar to the observations of modern Big Bang cosmology:

The Tao Te Ching describes how the Tao spontaneously transforms itself from nothing into something, and how this spontaneity continues to produce the visible world:

The Tao gives birth to the One;
The One gives birth to the two;
The Two give birth to the three -
The Three give birth to every living thing.

The Tao - chaotic, non-existent and formless - transforms into the One, the very first thing, which contains within it all the energy necessary to create a universe. 
https://books.google.com/books?id=6GM9daopGkQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

One of the most important sources for Zen is the Chinese Taoist philosophy with its central image of “yin and yang which are Tao” (to speak of Zen means to speak of Tao).  …it is possible to say that there are two basic aspects of the Tao.

One is absolute (but not abstract!), hidden from us, and beyond our understanding. That is the “eternal Tao”, all-embracing infinite Void that is not really empty because of the principle of creation it carries within itself (emptiness that never can be exhausted).

The second aspect of the Tao is relative, much more comprehensible for the Western mind. It is the visible existence with its uncountable multitude of mortal life forms spontaneously and mysteriously brought forth out of the emptiness. But the very answer to the question “why?” lies in the absolute aspect of the Tao (Ando 1999, p. 68-69).
http://www.mprinstitute.org/vaclav/Zen2.htm

[Dharma Flower]

The Tao, Buddha-nature, Dharmakaya, Shunyata, etc., all describe the same Ultimate Truth of primordial oneness.   

A Zen teacher once said that Buddhism teaches how to practice while Taoism teaches why. This is to say that Buddhism gives us a set of practices for returning to the primordial oneness, the Tao, from which we came.   

When Mahayana Buddhists speak of the path to Buddhahood, that’s actually the “Tao” to Buddhahood, in the original Chinese commentaries and translations of Buddhist scriptures which spread throughout East Asia.

When we speak of Buddhism being a path, it’s not just our personal spiritual path, but it’s also the natural Way or Tao of the universe, and our return to this original oneness.

The Pure Land path or the path of Nembutsu is one of many paths to enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism.

The Nembutsu, the words NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU, can be translated as “I (the small self) take refuge in the Buddha of Infinite Light (Dharma-body, the Tao, the True Self, etc.)”

[ground]

Fabrication in the beginning, fabrication  in the end. There is onenes since all is fabrication. 

[Pixie]

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"From the Big Bang to here" (Part 1) with Sean Carroll :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MQ1ZRK0ZIY




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[Dairy Lama]

The Tao, Buddha-nature, Dharmakaya, Shunyata, etc., all describe the same Ultimate Truth of primordial oneness.   

Sunyata is lack of inherent existence or own-being.   Sunyata is not a ground of being, or primordial oneness, or whatever, it is just the nature of phenomena.

Have a look at the Heart Sutra, which is the core text on sunyata.  And if you're interested in Zen, this new translation of the Heart Sutra by TNH is worth a look: https://plumvillage.org/news/thich-nhat-hanh-new-heart-sutra-translation/

The Wiki article on sunyata is pretty good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81

This is to say that Buddhism gives us a set of practices for returning to the primordial oneness, the Tao, from which we came.   

No, it really doesn't, and this sounds much more like Hinduism than Buddhism, like the union of Atman and Brahman.  The difficulty is that Buddhism teaching doesn't include Atman and Brahman, or the Tao for that matter.  I'm not criticising Hinduism or Taoism, but I am saying they are different to Buddhism, and that muddling them up in a sort of new-age fudge is not helpful to understanding. 

[Dairy Lama]

The second aspect of the Tao is relative, much more comprehensible for the Western mind. It is the visible existence with its uncountable multitude of mortal life forms spontaneously and mysteriously brought forth out of the emptiness.

"Spontaneously and mysteriously"?  Hasn't the author heard of evolution or studied basic biology?

[jimsouth]

I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we
can imagine".
- Sir Arthur Eddington

[jimsouth]

I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we
can imagine".
- Sir Arthur Eddington

Jesuits are the calculating/reasoning end of Catholicism; the reason they have often been at odds with the Church. I remember one teacher saying, "We are who we are and where we are, because of the miracle of evolution"
. He knew how to nail it, and still keep in line with the scriptures.

[jimsouth]

I have always loved this theory. Where it originated is a mystery to me; but an interesting thought. "The entire universe was once compressed to the size of a pinpoint".

[ground]

I have always loved this theory. ...

It's not a theory. It isn't even a hypothesis. It is a mere fantasy. 

[Dairy Lama]

I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine".
- Sir Arthur Eddington

This makes me think that most religious beliefs aren't very credible, given they are the product of human imagination.  

[Dairy Lama]

(to speak of Zen means to speak of Tao).

How so?  Japanese "Zen" is derived from Chinese "Chan" which in turn is derived from Indian dhyana, ie meditation.

Actually Taoism seems to have more in common with Hinduism than Buddhism.

[Chaz]

I was educated by Jesuits; and I remember this quote hanging in a particular teacher's classroom: "Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we
can imagine".
- Sir Arthur Eddington

I LOVE THAT!

[jimsouth]

I have always loved this theory. ...

It's not a theory. It isn't even a hypothesis. It is a mere fantasy. 

I personally believe there are areas of physics we are totally unaware of; and may always remain unaware of. I have never been so arrogant that I believe I know it all.

[Dharma Flower]

This is my favorite article by the late Alfred Bloom:
http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/03/Bloom-Amida.pdf

This part is particularly striking, in terms of Amida's relevance to our lives:

The name Amida means Infinite; he is the ultimate context of our lives.
The reality of Buddha’s compassion becomes observable whenever life is enhanced, fulfilled
or conveyed to us through the deeds and care of friends. We see Amida whenever we see
the healing powers of the body, or creativity and growth in our life and world. We
experience it in the thrill of new life, or the peculiar beauty in people and in nature. It is the
interdependence, the totality of our relations, that sustains life and enables our activities.
Amida Buddha is the relation of all relations. It is the wonder that inspires us and awakens
us to our own responsibility to life. The power of Amida, a la interdependence, is realized
when we take interdependence and mutuality seriously in the affairs of life.
http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/03/Bloom-Amida.pdf

The way that Dr. Bloom above described Amida Buddha is the same way that Taoists describe the Tao, and perhaps they are speaking of the same reality.

Just as the name Amida means infinite light and infinite life, the Tao is the vital energy which sustains all life and gives it meaning. To be reborn in the Pure Land and to become one with the Tao might ultimately describe the same experience. In gratitude to Infinite Life, we say Namu-Amida-Butsu.