Curious Similarity between Buddhism and Particle Physics

第9話 File9. Law of Entropy Increase and Lifeforms

Buddhism teaches us that we should not kill lifeforms unnecessarily. At Temple Inns vegetarian foods are served. But nobody really knows why we should not kill lifeforms. Some people say that is because the Life is very valuable and unrecoverable or the criminal law prohibits a murder. Both answers does not seem appropriate answers. Because many people kill harmful insects without any punishment. Strange. However Physics can give us a persuasive answer. It is “Entropy”.

Entropy is generally translated as “disorder or messy”. For example, if we do not clear up a room, the room may become messy. Another example says café au lait cannot be divided into coffee and milk. These show that all events in our world progress one-way to disorder and never could be recovered. Physicists call it “Law of Entropy Increase”.

According to Cosmophysics, the Entropy Increase will progress irreversible and our Universe will completely fall apart in the far distant future. However this expectation is depending on one very important condition namely “Closed System”.

If our Universe is closed and never can get additional energy from outside, then Law of Entropy Increase might be correct. But if our Universe is the “Open System”, it will continue to survive and transform to the next stage. As I already discussed, both “Multiverse” and “Buddhism” are based on “Open System” or “Cyclical System”.

Then what is the role of lifeforms in the Universe. Lifeforms are said to temporarily stop the Entropy Increase. Lifeforms are made by organic compounds and continue to sustain the form by taking energy from outside. Atoms contained in lifeforms are composing huge organic compounds and existing stably. On the contrary, inorganic matters are fragile and easily involved in the Reincarnation Cycle. It is sure that lifeforms can decrease the Entropy.

Physicists still oppose such opinions due to “Irreversible” of Entropy Increase and assert that lifeforms cannot stop it. However they do not give us any satisfactory explanation for the emerging of lifeforms. Is it accidental or inevitable? Only Buddhism’s method make it possible to explain that the emerging of lifeforms is “Inevitable”, therefore Buddhism says that they are very valuable and not to be killed. It is a little strange but for Buddhism value of Human life and value of all other lifeformes' lives including insect, germ and virus are equivalent and equally valuable.

The role of lifeforms is a kind of bridge conveying atoms or matters from our Universe to the next Universe. This kind of argument is similar to that of the DNA assumption in biology which explain that lifeforms are existing for conveying DNA from one generation to next generations.