Kalālpa might seem like a science close to atoms, but it is not and there is not effort to relate the two, except when generally speaking and trying to give a quick glance of what it might be like. However, even though some may speak like this, those who know kalāpa will say there is no one to one relationship between the Western science and Kalāpa, although we Theravādans wish there was. It would be easier and we could have more substantial proof.
Asuba, 32 parts and even skeleton meditation have been mentioned frequently in the commentarial literature as causes for reaching Nibbāna. However, it is said that the stages of insight and path and fruitions are also quickly attained one by one along the way to what seems like “Instant” Arahantship.
Whatever the case is, if you can find it useful, then you can study it. The Buddha does mention that subtle rūpa should be studied and known well. Where? Anattalakkhana Sutta as well as many others. There are 11 ways to see the dhammas. Subtle is one of those.
I remember how science(or what is called science nowadays) was introduced in school with the experiment of putting one hand in ice water the other hand in warm water, then both hands in room temperature water.
Contrast this with giving rise to the Dutiya(second) Jhana
First, the pathama(first) Jhana has to be thoroughly mastered(see the simile of the mountain cow). Then immediately after emerging from first Jhana, vitakka and vicara virāga bhāvanā has to be done, the second Jhana arises as a result of this ajjhāsaya. Without the ability to properly diagnose vitakka and vicara only the first Jhana will arise again.
Those who have learned some science, do they even have an idea about what is meant by Rupa paramattha in this Dhammavinaya? (I don’t think so)
I’ll try to contribute here—not in the sense of clarifying the issue myself, but rather to provide some food for thought for those with greater knowledge of physics and Abhidhamma. They are more likely to find more insightful answers.
As far as I understand the Dhamma, we can only know the world through the six sense bases. Therefore, we can only perceive kalapas through their interaction with our senses. It’s worth noting that the six sense bases can take on various configurations, meaning that what is perceptible to certain beings may not be perceptible to others. Furthermore, through mental cultivation, we can gain a clearer perception of kalapas, whether by recognizing phenomena that were previously ignoring and perceiving in a distorted way, or by developing psychic powers—such as the divine eye, divine ear, mind-made body, and so on.
But what if what we call kalapas are actually the smallest units of information capable of interacting with the sense bases? They could be composed partly of physical components (e.g., the four elements) and partly of mental components generated through contact with the sense bases—vedanā, saññā, and viññāṇa. This mental aspect would represent the qualities of color, taste, smell and nutrition.
This new perspective would eliminate the need to seek a perfect correspondence between the phenomena described by subatomic physics and the kalapas described in the Abhidhamma. The physical counterpart of a kalapa could range from a subatomic particle (such as a photon) to complex molecules (like sugar) and might even include subtler elements beyond known subatomic particles, such as those that could constitute the planes of existence of devas and rūpa-brahmās. This last category of physical components could only be known by beings dwelling in those planes or by humans with psychic powers.
I believe the more “mental” aspect of the kalapas (color, taste, smell, and nutriment) arises from the activity of the sense bases. Thus, they are not intrinsic qualities of the objects themselves but qualities resulting from the interaction between the being and the object. We can only perceive the whole—the world—through the senses, which provide the elements of consciousness, perception, and feeling. I do not believe it is possible to have direct knowledge of the physical aspect of kalapas in isolation from these mental aspects.
Thank you for this theorizing Brunobm. It is all wrong however.
Matter always arises in groups of kalapas , which has at least 8 inseperable (avinibhoga) rupas. And this is entirely independent of any interaction with the ‘being’.
Thus what we call a cup for example is actually billions or trillions of kalapas. And this is true whether there is seeing or touching or any ‘interaction’ at all.
Thus the coffee cup I am looking at on my desk, even when I go out of the room, is still actually a mass of kalapas , and by utu (heat) they keep rearising.
Greetings. I had a thought about kalāpas that I’d like to share with you. It’s not fully formed yet, but I’m sharing it now so it won’t be forgotten.
The Four Great Elements may be loosely understood as corresponding to the physical properties of matter. The Four Derivatives—color, smell, taste, and nutritive essence—broadly align with chemical properties, or with underlying physical characteristics that give rise to chemical properties.
The remaining rūpas are biological and psychological factors related to the body and found only in living beings.
One thing that I find interesting is the how the 4 nutriments get converted (are causes) for matter to arise; food, mind, kamma, heat
With the latter 3 we can say that it is energy that is producing rūpakalāpas. This seems to align that matter itself has intense amounts of energy if we take Einstein physics E=MC2 into effect. The materiality of mind produced is very subtle (but also can help with breath, speech and bodily movement). If the heat produced matter is according to physics, then there would be a great deal of energy in Kamma to produce kammajaojakalapas. It is interesting to contemplate the energy that is in kamma. It is what keeps samsara in a perpetual energy machine which is theoretically impossible but yet.. samsara is perpetual.
Let us suppose there is a certain mass of matter. First, the mind distinguishes the property of space within this mass, and the general body of matter becomes divided into separate clusters of matter. In physics and biology, matter likewise appears as clusters or concentrations separated by space.
Then the mind discerns other properties – such as temperature, hardness, fluidity, and pressure.
All these properties are objectively present in those clusters.
After all, matter can indeed be hot or cold, and so on.
In the human body, there are properties that determine one’s sex. And clusters of matter carry this imprint of gender, and so forth.
Apparently, we are not dealing with physical matter per se, but with clusters of its objective properties (which do not depend on the presence of a mind, and which exist in physical and biological matter, though potentially perceivable by a yogic mind). These properties or manifestations of matter fluctuate and disappear.
The disappearance of one set of properties leads to the arising of another set of properties, even though the physical base may remain the same. Kalāpas in this case are not molecules or subatomic particles. For instance, kalāpas of the heart-base arise momentarily in the blood of the heart’s ventricles, and then immediately cease. They do not travel with the blood to the left heel or to other organs. If kalāpas were molecules, they would circulate through the bloodstream and would not disappear on the spot like that.
These are clusters of unique material properties, created under the influence of kamma, which arise temporarily based on the physical substrate of the blood at a particular location in the body (inside the heart).
In other words, the blood as substrate contains different properties depending on its position in the body. And these properties, as clusters, appear in the form of kalāpas.
Now the question: does matter exist outside of the manifestation of these properties? Apparently, when the properties of matter do not manifest at all, then matter itself does not exist.
One cannot say that the material substrate exists while its properties do not manifest.
Therefore, the material substrate can indeed be safely and without remainder reduced to objectively existing, subjectively perceivable properties.
Studying matter in terms of properties – this is subjective realism.
Most importantly, knowledge of matter through kalāpas makes it possible to observe how matter acquires and loses special properties generated by kamma and mind, or by nutritive factors. That is, the connection between matter and consciousness.
The influence of matter upon consciousness, and of consciousness upon matter.
The perspective on matter through the theory of rūpa-kalāpas allows one to do what physics does not – to see the mutual conditionality of mind and matter.
The Abhidhamma claim is that dhammas are bare qualities that don’t inhere in any substance. If you want to avoid a kind of phenomenalism or Idealism, you could view them in terms of process philosophy like in the works of Alfred Whitehead.
Sorry, I don’t understand what you are saying? If you read Alfred Whitehead’s process philosophy, its incredibly close to the Abhidhamma view of things: Process philosophy - Wikipedia
If Classical Theravādins want to communicate the Abhidhamma in a Western philosophical framework, and avoid Phenomenalism or Idealism, that a form of process philosophy would be the best way IMO.
With one exception, all actual entities for Whitehead are temporal and are occasions of experience (which are not to be confused with consciousness). An entity that people commonly think of as a simple concrete object, or that Aristotle would think of as a substance, is, in this ontology, considered to be a temporally serial composite of indefinitely many overlapping occasions of experience. A human being is thus composed of indefinitely many occasions of experience.
I read on the internet that Rupakalapa was not mentioned in Early Buddhism but a late addition to Theravada Buddhism. I shall mention here what was written in the article, - " Kalapa or rupa-kalapa (from Sanskrit rūpa “form, phenomenon” and kalāpa “bundle”) is a term in Theravada Buddhist phenomenology for the smallest units of physical matter, said to be about 1/46,656th the size of a particle of dust from a wheel of chariot.[1] Kalapas are not mentioned in the earliest Buddhists texts, such as the Tripitaka, but only in the Abhidhammattha-sangaha, an Abhidhamma commentary dated to the 11th or 12th century, and as such not part of common Theravada doctrine.".
I cannot accept this as who could do such an analysis even without having a clear understanding about Dhamma? Also, Dhamma could perfectly be understood only through developing the Human Mind to a very high level - and certainly not through physical means such as equipment or mathematical calculations known so far to the human intelligence. Even to do a physical quantification!
