Length of a kappa and the speculative age of the universe according to science

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Post Reply
User avatar
lavantien
Posts: 98
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 5:09 am
Location: HCM, Vietnam
Contact:

Length of a kappa and the speculative age of the universe according to science

Post by lavantien »

tldw: it depends on whether protons decay or not, it's not yet known, but it can be some where in the vicinity of 10^(10^(10^76)) years due to all of the heavy particles decay into iron via fission, and all of the lighter paritcles fuse into iron via cold fusion (with quantum tunelling), all that's left is irons, and later irons tunnelling themselves into black holes, and then blackholes evaporate via Hawkin radiation, and in the nothingness of only photon and stuffs, via sheer chance of quantum fluctiuation, a new universe will be born.


https://suttacentral.net/sn15.6 wrote: At Sāvatthī.

Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him, “Sir, how long is an eon?”

“Mendicant, an eon is long. It’s not easy to calculate how many years, how many hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years it lasts.”

“But sir, is it possible to give a simile?”

“It’s possible,” said the Buddha.

“Suppose there was an iron city, a league long, a league wide, and a league high, full of mustard seeds pressed into balls. And as each century passed someone would remove a single mustard seed. By this means the huge heap of mustard seeds would be used up before the eon comes to an end. That’s how long an eon is. And we’ve transmigrated through many such eons, many hundreds, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands.

Why is that? Transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. For such a long time you have undergone suffering, agony, and disaster, swelling the cemeteries. This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”
"Then the Teacher, being sympathetic, and having compassion for the whole world,
said to me, “Come, monk!” That was my ordination.
Staying alone in the wilderness, meditating tirelessly,
I have completed what the Teacher taught, just as the victor advised me.

In the first watch of the night, I recollected my past lives.
In the middle watch of the night, I purified my clairvoyance.
In the last watch of the night, I shattered the mass of darkness."
- KN Thag 12.2
Post Reply