Recently discovered this site which contains great discussion on
Buddhism from science, culture, biology, maths ...by Sean
Robsville
http://kwelos.tripod.com/index.html
Some quotes:
participating universe:
Quantum theory
states that any physical system remains in a superposed state of
all possibilities until it interacts with the mind of an observer.
Both quantum theory and Buddhist teachings on sunyata suggest
that as soon as an observer's mind makes contact with a superposed
system, all the numerous possibilities collapse into one actuality.
At some instant one of these possible alternative universes
produced an observing lifeform
Emptiness:
The ultimate unfindability of the real nature of all phenomena -
their lack inherent existence, is usually referred to by
English-speaking Buddhists as 'emptiness', which is a translation
of the Sanskrit word Sunyata (sometimes spelled Shunyata).
According to David Loy the English word emptiness has a more
nihilistic connotation than the original Sanskrit. The
Sanskrit root su also conveys the concept of
being swollen with possibility [LOY 1996]. It is therefore most
important not to confuse emptiness with total nothingness.
Emptiness implies the potential for existence and change. The
mathematical analogy of emptiness is not zero, but the empty
set.
Dukka explained in evoluatinoary biology:
(1) The first step is to recognise the inevitability of dukkha -
the sense of unsatisfactoriness and the certainty of ultimate loss
of everything, which haunts all sentient beings even in the absence
of manifest suffering.
(2) The second is to recognise the origins of these futile
strivings in our biologically conditioned evolutionary history. If
we want to stop being the puppets of our genes and memes we need to
clearly understand why we're attached to these particular strings.
(3) The third step is to realise that it needn't be like this. This
is perhaps the most difficult one for a materialist. It
involves realising that the root mind is non-physical and that it
can escape from the eternal evolutionary treadmill.
(4) The fourth step is adopting a liberating technology that
stabilises the root mind and protects it against uncontrolled
attachment to further striving, suffering, biological rebirths.