Cosmology and Buddhist Thought Quotes

“Cosmologists say that the universe as we know it began about 13.7 billion years ago in a flash of energy that resulted in electromagnetic radiation and some particulate matter that was so hot that matter as we know it could not even form. As soon as the universe came into being, it instantaneously expanded in a process known as inflation by a factor of a billion billion billion times. After inflation, which lasted less time than you can even imagine, the universe was a seething, hot soup of particles and radiation. The universe was so dense that the radiation could not escape. 380,000 years after the new universe was expanding and cooling, it had cooled enough so that radiation could escape and this radiation is still detectable today! This is called the “cosmic microwave background radiation.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Consider, for example, our life on Earth. We know that we have the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Unless we have an organic garden in our backyard, we have to purchase groceries from our neighborhood store. We take it for granted that food will be there, and we rarely think about the gratitude we owe the farmer, the trucker, the store owner, the stock person, the cashier, the car manufacturer, and the list goes on. Similar arguments can be offered for clothing and shelter.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” He often adds, “… as if your life depended on it–and it usually does.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Right Diligence is the chosen way of expressing the idea of Right Effort by Thich Nhat Hanh. Diligence implies investigation into what works to keep us on the Eightfold Path. Effort implies that our energy can be spent very quickly and have nothing left for practice.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Being mindful of the global social, political, and economic situation in the world today, we also practice mindful consumption by not supporting businesses and organizations that deprive others of their chance to live a happy and productive life.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Every thought we have is preceded by a perception. If we ask ourselves, “Am I sure that my perception is accurate?” If not, we can simply let the thought go. Another thing we can do to practice Right Thought is to ask ourselves, “What am I doing?” This brings us back to the present moment and allows for unskillful thoughts to vanish. We must also pay attention to our “habit energy,” as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh calls it. This will help us have pure thoughts and let go of bad ones. Awakening our bodhichitta-our heart-mind, our mind of awakening will render harmful thoughts useless.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Loving speech brings joy and happiness to ourselves and the people we love and relieves their suffering. We practice loving speech by being truthful and only saying words that inspire love, self-confidence, joy, and hope. We only spread news about things we are certain and refrain from criticizing and condemning things that we are not sure of. We avoid saying things that cause our family or community to break.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Touching reality deeply—knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves—is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is caused by wrong perceptions. Right View develops through practicing the Eight-fold Path of enlightenment. Right View is not an ideology, a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the reality of life, a living insight that fills us with understanding, peace, and love.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“the third noble truth, the truth of the cessation of suffering or well-being. So to say that there is only suffering is to ignore the third and fourth noble truths.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“It is the wanting that is the problem! And that is the second noble truth–the noble truth of desire. “To desire what we don’t have is to waste what we do have,” as my wife would always say to our children as they were growing up. This desire, craving, wanting, yearning, and longing are the bases of our suffering–our ill-being.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“We suffer when we are physically ill, often much more than we have to. We add our thoughts and feelings of fear on top of the physical illness and this added element of suffering is what the Buddha was referring to. He was saying that we can’t avoid illness, old age, and death. We can let go of our notions about illness, old age, and death and just live life in the present moment just as it is.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The first noble truth is known as the truth of suffering. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh likes to refer to it as the truth of ill-being.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“One of the planets–the third one from the sun–lies in what astronomers call the “Goldilocks Zone” where liquid water can flourish. This is where we live today on planet Earth.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Cosmologists say that the universe as we know it began about 13.7 billion years ago in a flash of energy that resulted in electromagnetic radiation and some particulate matter that was so hot that matter as we know it could not even form. As soon as the universe came into being, it instantaneously expanded in a process known as inflation by a factor of a billion billion billion times. After inflation, which lasted less time than you can even imagine, the universe was a seething, hot soup of particles and radiation. The universe was so dense that the radiation could not escape.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

“In Zen, this state is called, “don’t know mind,” because at that moment or during that period of mind we fully accept not knowing, we are free from knowing or having to know.”
― Jerome Freedman, Cosmology and Buddhist Thought: A Conversation with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson