We want to ask, “Matter and mind are different aspects of what ‘same thing’? It’s all very well to say ‘consciousness,’ but what does that mean?” Like most quantum physicists, however, the Buddha doesn’t try to explain further. The question doesn’t make sense. It can’t be answered without creating confusion and contradiction, and anyway it is unnecessary. When you ask a physicist what “ultimate reality” is like, he or she is likely to reply, “We can describe accurately, and that’s enough. The laws are the reality.” The Buddha does the same. He says, “This is the way the universe is. If you
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