With the caveat that I don't know particle physics from potatoes -- a Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to two theoretical physicists: Peter Higgs, 84, of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; and François Englert, 80, of the University Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Professor Higgs lent his name to the Higgs Field and the Higgs Bosun, which are big deals. I've been wading through some newspaper stories about these things, and from these I have learned that the Higgs Field is field of energy that permeates the universe, and the Higgs Boson is a kind of particle that makes some other particles have mass.
Without mass, I am told, the whole universe would be just particles zipping around at the speed of light. There would be no things; no earth, no people, not so much as a toaster. So mass is important. For this reason, popular science articles sometimes call the Higgs Bosun the "God particle."
I bring this up with some trepidation, because there are some among us who go overboard trying to connect theoretical physics and Buddhism. And perhaps they are connected; I don't know. However, my impression is that theoretical physics is so out there that hardly anyone really understands it, and unless you have an advanced degree in this stuff I wouldn't get too attached to any theories or speculations about it. The result could be nothing but junk science combined with junk Buddhism.
Even so, the Higgs Field really does sound a bit like the dharmadhatu. The dharmadhatu is understood many different ways, but one way to understand it is as is as limitless, all-pervading space in which all phenomena arise, abide, and cease. Likewise, the Higgs Field is defined as a field that exists everywhere in space, and particles gain mass by interacting with it, by means of the Higgs Bosuns. Thus, there are toasters.
If anyone understands this and wants to elaborate, be my guest.
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