E-Book Overview
Here is the book that brought the mystical implications of subatomic physics to popular consciousness for the very first time—way back in 1975. Many books have been written in the ensuing years about the connections between quantum theory and the ideas of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, but Fritjof Capra’sTao of Physicsserves as the foundation on which the others have been built, and its wisdom has stood the test of time. Its publication in more than twenty-three languages stands as testimony to its universal applicability, and its astonishing three and a half decades of strong sales to its enduring significance. This special edition celebrates the thirty-fifth anniversary of this early Shambhala best seller that has gone on to become a true classic. It includes a fresh cover design and a new preface by the author reflecting on further discoveries and developments in the years since the book’s original publication.
“Physicists do not need mysticism,” Dr. Capra says, “and mystics do not need physics, but humanity needs both." It’s a message of timeless importance.
E-Book Content
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THE
TAO OF PHYSICS An Exploration of the Parallels Between
Modern Physics
and Eastern Mysticism Second Edition, Revised and Updated
by Fritjof Capra
m
Shambhala Boulder -1983
Shambhala
Publications, Inc.
1920 13th Street Boulder, Colorado 80302 ©1975, 1983 by FritjofCapra All rights
reserved
Random House Canada by Random House of Canada Ltd.
Distributed in the United States by
and
in
Printed
in
the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Capra,
Fritjof.
The Tao
of physics.
Bibliography:
p.
Includes index. 1.
Physics
QC6.C277
— Philosophy. 1983
2.
Mysticism.
530'.01
ISBN 0-87773-246-9 (pbk.) ISBN 0-394-71612-4 (Random
:
pbk.)
I.
Title.
82-42679
this book to Akbar Khan Carlos Castaneda I
dedicate
Ali
Geoffrey
Chew
John Coltrane Werner Heisenberg Krishnamurti Liu Hsiu Ch'i
Phiroz
Mehta
Jerry Shesko Bobby Smith Maria Teuffenbach Alan Watts for helping
me
to find
my
path
and to Jacqueline
who
has travelled with
on this path most of the time.
me
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
acknowledge permission reproduce copyright illustrations on the following pages:
The author and publisher to
gratefully
pp. 14-15: Fermi National Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois; p. 38:
Foto Gary
Elliott
Burke;
pp. 52-53, 79, 234, 236: CERN, Geneva, Switzerland; pp. 82-83: reprinted from Zazen by E. M. Hooykaas and
Schierbeck,
Omen
Press,
B.
Tucson, Arizona;
pp. 84, 148: Estate of Eliot Elisofon; p. 91: Gunvor Moitessier;
reprinted from The Evolution of the Buddha Image by Benjamin Rowland Jr., The Asia Society, New York; pp. 100, 112, 188: Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art; pp. 120, 258: reprinted from Zen and Japanese Culture by D. T Suzuki, Bollingen Series LXIV, by permission of Prince-
p. 92:
ton University Press; p. 134:
reprinted from Physics in the Twentieth Century by
Victor Weisskopf, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; p. 144: p. 19