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Pure Dhamma

The Origin of Matter – Suddhātthaka

November 27,2015; Revised December 17, 2017; May 17, 2019; August 21, 2019

Introduction
1. Suddhātthaka is not even mentioned in even many Thēravada Texts. I have deliberated for
some time whether this post is premature. This post requires an understanding of basic
concepts that I have discussed so far (as of November 2015).

Please don’t read it, unless you have thought about the basic concepts of “san,”
gati (or gathi), āsava,  paticca samuppāda, etc. It may not make much sense,
and thus it could discourage people from proceeding any further thinking, “this
stuff does not make sense.”
On the other hand, for those who have some understanding of those concepts,
this could help gain more insight.
As I publish more posts on this issue, the picture will become
increasingly apparent. Please be patient. The value of the Buddha Dhamma will
also become apparent, and that is the best way to cultivate saddhā (faith based
on understanding).
This topic discussed in detail in the “Nāma & Rūpa to Nāmarūpa” subsection of
the “Living Dhamma” section.

2. Anything has to be either sankata or asankata.

A sankata has a beginning, transforms in unpredictable ways during existence

(viparinama), and eventually ceases to exist; see, for example, “Root Cause of
Anicca – Five Stages of a Sankata” and “Does any Object (Rupa) Last only 17
Thought Moments?“.
An asankata has no beginning, does not change during existence, and has no
endpoint. An asankata lasts forever. Nibbana is the only asankata dhamma,
and it does not belong to “this world of 31 realms”.
Retreat:
There is nothing "Puredhamma
in between.
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mediation
Please think retreat
carefully about2020"
the truth of that.
×
Everything in this world is a sankata, i.e., has a beginning and an end. And
this has been confirmed by science during the past 100 years or so. Einstein
thought our universe was in a steady-state, and if proven that way, could have
contradicted Buddha Dhamma. But now it has become clear that nothing in
this universe will last forever. And everything is changing, in flux.
 All the matter in the universe is thought to have created some 14 billion years
ago, in a “Big Bang.” Buddha Dhamma has a different explanation. However,
there is no doubt that any matter has a finite lifetime. Thus Buddha Dhamma
is correct in this fundamental aspect.

Origin of Matter – Background

3. If we accept that all matter has been created in some way, what is the origin of matter?

Scientists have no clear explanation of this at this point in time (November

2015). They can calculate the evolution of the universe from a fraction of a
second after the Big Bang, but physics is unable to explain what happened
before the Big Bang.
And, of course, the “Big Bang Theory” has not yet fully confirmed, even though
most scientists believe it. Still, some scientists do not believe everything
“popped up” all of a sudden in a Big Bang. They think that universes are cyclic,
i.e., they transform and evolve; see, for example, “Endless Universe – Beyond
the Big Bang,” by P. J. Steinhardt and N. Turok (2007).

4. Buddha Dhamma, of course, says all living beings living at present have existed forever.

In other words, “all existing lifestreams” have existed forever. In each life, a
given “lifestream” gets a physical body (coarse or subtle depending on the
realm of existence), and that physical body is, of course, a sankata. When that
physical body dies, the lifestream takes hold of a new body; see, “What
Reincarnates? – Concept of a Lifestream“.
What “propagates” from life-to-life (while continually changing), are the āsava,
anusaya, and gathi (mental properties) that make up a dynamic (ever-
changing)  lifestream. 
Thus, the universe does not start with a “Big Bang,” as many scientists
believe right now. Remember that only 100 or so years ago, scientists thought
the universe was in a steady state. Scientific theories change to “fit the existing
data.” But pure Buddha Dhamma has not changed at all since Buddha Gotama
taught it 2500 years ago; see, “Historical Background.”

5. The Buddha discouraged people from investigating the properties of the universe in detail.
However, he has taught that uncountable “planetary systems” like our Solar system exist in
the universe. That also has been confirmed by science.

In any case, Retreat:

whatever
CLICK
"Puredhamma
›
mediation
the model that scienceretreat 2020" clarifies WILL BE
eventually ×
consistent with Buddha Dhamma. That model will have living beings in
existence somewhere in the 31 realms. This has been discussed in detail in a
few suttas, especially the Aggañña sutta. But don’t bother to look it up on the
internet, because all current translations are embarrassingly bad. I have
 written an introductory post: “Buddhism and Evolution – Aggañña Sutta (DN
27)“.
In that sutta, the Buddha explains how conglomerates of “planetary systems”
blow up and are re-formed in time scales of “mahā kappas.” He has given a
simile to get an idea of the length of a mahā kappa, and it is approximately
several  billion years; see, “The Grand Unified Theory of Dhamma.” And this
destruction of a “star system” seems to be what scientists have observed as a
supernova. Supernovae are of frequent occurrence; about three of them can
be expected to happen every century in our Milky Way galaxy.
We will slowly go through the Aggañña sutta because that needs enough
background material. I expect this topic will take us several years, and many
essays, to complete. However, the mind is the precursor: “Manōpubbangamā
Dhammā..“.

Origin of Matter – The Mind

6. Yet, now we have enough background material on the website to get an idea about how all
the sankata in this world originate and die off, AT THE VERY FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL.

Here we will discuss only the origin of the smallest unit of matter, called a
“suddhātthaka.” (sometimes written as suddhāshtaka).
This unit of matter is billion times smaller than “an atom” in modern science.
One time, not long ago, science believed that an atom was the smallest unit of
matter. But they are composites of many “elementary particles.” Even many of
those “elementary particles” are shown to have more structure! At present,
there is no end in sight how smaller a “basic unit of matter” can get. Now
science is unable to distinguish between “matter” and “energy.”
For example, a “Higgs boson” is just a packet of energy.
Matter and energy are essentially the same, related by the famous equation, E
(energy) = m (mass) x c2, where c is the speed of light. Thus any small unit of
matter is indistinguishable from a “packet of energy.” For example, the light we
see comes in “packets” called photons. Thus photon is matter in this sense,
and therefore everything in this world at the primary level can have the label
 “matter” or “energy.”
The distinction between “matter” and “energy” is blurred at this fundamental
level.
Retreat: "Puredhamma mediation retreat 2020"
×
7. A suddhātthaka is a “packet of energy” and is THE basic unit of matter. It is much smaller
CLICK ›
than in energy compared to a light photon that we see. A humongous number
of suddhātthaka would have the energy of a single light photon.

A    suddhātthaka,  being a sankata, is created by the mind. That may be

surprising to many of you, but as we progress, I will provide evidence that it is
 true. That is why the Buddha said, “manō pubbangamā dhammā…”, i.e.,
“everything has mind as the precursor…”.
However, almost all of the matter around us  was created by this “mental
process” a very long time ago. That is the story in the Aggañña Sutta. At
present also,  suddhātthaka  are being created by us all the time (via javana
citta), but in very minute quantities.
Anyone with higher abhiññā  powers is supposed to be able to  create  a
significant amount of matter, like a flower or even larger entities. Matter (at the
level of suddhātthaka)  is created by javana citta. And someone with abhiññā
powers can maintain a citta vithi with javana citta  flowing continuously to
generate “significant amounts of matter.” I briefly discussed that at the end of
the post, “Citta Vithi – Processing of Sense Inputs.”

8. But most of the time, what we are doing now is to “remake” different types of sankata using
the “raw material” (suddhātthaka) created billions of years ago. These
original suddhātthaka have lifetimes of close to 20 antakkappa (or antarākalpa), where 80
such antakkappa are in a mahā kappa.

Thus instead of having a lifetime of 17 thought moments, as some people

erroneously believe, a  suddhātthaka has  a very long lifetime. Again, modern
physics has confirmed that some of the elementary particles (e.g., electron)
have very long lifetimes. Therefore, this idea of “everything arising and ceasing
rapidly” is a misconception; see, “Does any Object (Rupa) Last only 17 Thought
Moments?“. We will discuss this in more detail in the future.
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions at this early stage. There is a lot of
information in this post to digest, and some of them will become clearer as we
proceed.

What is Suddhātthaka?
9. Suddhātthaka  (“suddha” for “pure” or fundamental” + “attha” or “eight”) means   a unit of
matter consisting of eight fundamental entities (usually translated as the “pure octad.”)

Four of these are the “satara mahā bhūta“: patavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo. These are
indeed the most fundamental units of matter, but they cannot be detected by
themselves. It may be hard to believe for many at this stage, but those arise
due to our “gati” (or  “gathi“) that I have discussed in several posts; see, the
introductory post: “The Law of Attraction, Habits, Character (Gati), and Cravings
(Asavas)“. By the
Retreat:
to Nibbāna –CLICK
Removal
›
removal of “āsava
way, "Puredhamma ” and “gathi
mediation ” lead
retreat to Nibbana: “The Way
2020"
of Āsavas.” One needs to have an understanding of
×
these concepts to grasp the material in this post.
These  satara mahā bhūta  are first created by the mind with four basic “gathi”
of humans: “thada gathiya” (in Sinhala) means the “coarseness,” corresponding
 to patavi; a defiled mind is “hard” and “coarse” and correspond to “patavi”
nature.
The word āpo comes from the tendency to “attach or get attracted to worldly
things” (“bandena gathiya” means the “bind together,” which leads to liquidity
in science). Tejo comes from “fiery or energetic” (“théjas gathi” in Sinhala), and
vāyo refers to “motion” (“salena  gathiya” in Sinhala).  They are all created  in
javana citta that arise in mind, of course, in minute quantities that cannot be
detected. However, those with abhiññā powers can generate large amounts of
matter like a flower.

10. Those most fundamental four units (satara mahā bhūta) are supposed to be created
by the mind due to avijjā or ignorance. We like to have possession of things made out of
these units because we do not comprehend the “unfruitful nature” of such impermanent
things.

That is discussed briefly in the “Mahāhatthipadopama Sutta (MN 28)“. An

English translation; “The Greater Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s
Footprint (MN 28)“. Thanks to Dr. Sein Myint for pointing this out.
Now, the craving for these material things leads to four more gathi due
to tanhā. Due to our tendency to think highly (“varnanä karanava” in Sinhala),
another gati of “varna” is created as different manifestations of the satara
mahā bhūta. Similarly, three more units called gandha, rasa, and oja created
due to tanhā. Those correspond to our desire to be in touch with them, keep
them close (rassa), and to re-generate them. It will take too much space to
explain these in detail, but I hope you get the basic idea.

11. Therefore, four basic units of  patavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo  arise due to avijjā, and the other four
of varna,  gandha, rasa, and oja arise due to tanhā. The latter four also occur due to  patavi,
āpo, tejo, vāyo (actually they are just different modes of vibration of  patavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo).
We will get into more detail in the future so that even physicists would be able to appreciate
the value of Abhidhamma.

These eight never arise in isolation and thus are called “avinibbhoga rupa.”
They always rise together; all eight are there in any  suddhātthaka.  The relative
“amounts” of each component can vary, and thus some  suddhātthaka can be
dominated by one element, for example. Even then, all eight are present to
some extent. That is equivalent to saying that wherever there is avijjā,
there is tanhā, and vice versa.
Retreat: "Puredhamma mediation retreat 2020"
This very fundamental level is called the “bhūta” stage. Bhūta is another name
CLICK ›
×
for “ghost” because of their elusive nature. They can never be detected and can
only be “seen” by a Buddha. The Buddha explained this to Mahā Brahma, who
thought he knew everything about the world: “Brahmanimantanika Sutta
(Majjhima Nikaya 49)“. I will explain this sutta in detail later.
 And a    suddhātthaka  can never be divided; thus they are called “avinibbhöga
rupa kalapa.”

Critical Role of Gati

12. Thus “gathi” leads to “bhūta,” the first phase of rupa that can be seen (only by Buddha).
That is the suddhātthaka stage. That is where mental energy is converted to matter at the very
fundamental stage. Just keep that in mind as we proceed.

When enormous numbers of these  suddhātthaka  fuse, they get to a more

condensed state of “mahā bhūta.” The subtle bodies of brahmas and some
gandhabbas are made of mahā bhūta. This level of “solidification” can be
compared (in energy) to electromagnetic radiation at the long-wavelength
range; thus, we cannot “see” those entities with our eyes.
Only when vast amounts of these mahā bhūta fuse together to become even
more condensed, that we can see them. At this highly condensed state, the
matter is called “dhātu.” Bodies of devas are made of finer dhātu. That is why
we cannot see devas, but brahmas can see them.
Thus our bodies are made of more dense  dhātu that we can see. That is why
solid objects are called “patavi dhātu“;  suddhātthaka in such solid objects have
predominantly patavi. In liquids, things are bound together and flow together
because they mostly have āpo dhātu.  Not only fire but also those objects that
have “energetic appearance,” have more tejo. And not only the wind but also
things that are prone to move, have more vāyo.
Details of gati at, “Gati, Bhava, and Jāti“.

Other Implications
13. Therefore, we can see that patavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo have much deeper meanings than just
earth, water, fire, and wind. Why did the ancient Greeks also use the same terms? That is due
to the same reason that Hinduism also uses terms like  karma (which is the Sanskrit word for
kamma), Nirvana (which is the Sanskrit word for Nibbana), anapana, etc.

There have been three Buddhas in this mahā kappa  (i.e., during the
existence  of our Solar system) before the Buddha Gotama; that is how  those
terms came to usage before Buddha Gotama. Those concepts by the previous
Buddhas were transmitted down through successive generations, but the true
meanings got lost.
Human history is much longer than tens of thousands
retreat of years, as believed by
Retreat:
many today. Whole
"Puredhamma mediation 2020"
CLICK ›continents can submerge, wiping out entire populations;
×
this is not being considered seriously yet, but there is
evidence:  see,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submerged_continent. Anyway,
that is a topic to be discussed later when more evidence becomes available. It
will be proven that one region that has not changed since the formation of the
 Earth is Asia encompassing Sri Lanka, India, and China. Archeologists should
focus more in that region rather than in Africa. See, “Ancient teeth found in
China challenge modern human migration theory.”

14. As I mentioned above, there were three Buddhas before Buddha Gotama. That is how
some of the key terms like patavi, āpo, tejo, vāyo and kamma, and Nibbana (nirvana) have
been in use even before the Buddha Gotama. They had been transmitted down through
generations, but of course, their true meanings had been lost.

Losing the true meanings in the Tipitaka happened at least a few times, even
during this Buddha sāsana, within the past 2500 years. The best example is the
misinterpretation of san, sansara,  anicca, and anatta during just the past
hundreds of years; see, “What is “San”? Meaning of Sansara (or Samsara)” and
“Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta – Wrong Interpretations.”
But the Buddha Gotama has said that his Buddha sāsana will last for 5000
years. We are only halfway through. That is why it is making a comeback
now. And this time it will have staying power due to the presence of the
internet. That is one reason why  we should all be  forever grateful to
modern science, much more than for all other technological wonders it
has brought about.

August 2019: I recently started a new series of posts on “Origin of Life“.

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