The Universe in One Atom: Science and Spirituality in the Service of the World. 5. Evolution, karma and the world of living beings
The answer to the question “What is life?”, no matter what tradition it is asked, poses a great difficulty for any intellectual attempt to create a consistent picture of the world. Buddhism, like modern science, starts from the basic assumption that at the most fundamental level there is no qualitative difference between the material basis of the bodies of living beings, including humans, and an inanimate object, say, a stone. The human body, just like a stone, arises as a result of the combination of material particles. In fact, the entire cosmos and all the objects contained in it are composed of the same substance, which is in a constant process of circulation; According to scientific concepts, the atoms of our body were once part of stars far removed from us in space and time.