The Tao Of Physics

THE TAO OF PHYSICS Shambhala Publications, Inc. 1123 Spruce Street Boulder, Colorado 80302 0 1975 by Fritjof Capra. All Rights Reserved. ISBN: o-87773-077-6 (cloth) o-87773-078-4 (paper) LCC: 75-10318 Distributed in the United States by Random House, inc. Manufactured in the United States of America THE TAO OF PHYSICS An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics ad Eastern Mysticism by Frifjof Capra Shambhala Boulder l 1975 I dedicate this book to Ali Akbar Khan Carlos Castaneda Geoffrey Chew John Coltrane Werner Heisenberg Krishnamurti Liu Hsiu Ch’i Phiroz Mehta Jerry Shesko 8obby Smith Maria Teuff enbach Alan Watts for helping me to find my path and to Jacqueline who has travelled with me on this path most of the time. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce copyright illustrations on the following pages: 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 B. Schierbeck, Omen Press, Tucson, Arizona; pp. 84,148: Estate of Eliot Elisofon; p. 91: Gunvor Moitessier; p. 92: 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: r eprinted from Zen and lapanese Culture by D. T Suzuki, Bollingen Series LXIV, by permission of Princeton University Press; p.134: reprinted from Physics in the Twentieth Century by Victor Weisskopf, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; p. 144: Nordisk Pressefoto, Copenhagen, Denmark; p. 195: Hale Observatories, Pasadena, California; pp. 202, 206, 224, 233, 237, 267: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California; pp. 230, 232: Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois; p. 243: reprinted from The Arts of India by Ajit Mookerjee, Thames and Hudson, London. p. 284: Clinton S. Bond/BBM. CONTENTS Preface 11 I THE WAY OF PHYSICS 1 Modern Physics-A Path with a Heart? 2 Knowing and Seeing 3 Beyond Language 4 The New Physics 17 26 45 52 II THE WAY OF EASTERN MYSTICISM 5 Hinduism 6 Buddhism 7 Chinese Thought 8 Taoism 9 Zen 85 93 101 113 121 III THE PARALLELS 10 11 The Unity of All Things Beyond the World of Opposites 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Space-Time The Dynamic Universe Emptiness and Form The Cosmic Dance Quark Symmetries-A New Koan! Patterns of Change Interpenetration 130 145 161 189 207 225 247 261 285 Epilogue 303 Notes 309 Bibliography 317 Index 321 It is probably true quite generally that in the history of human thinking the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet. These lines may have their roots in quite different parts of human culture, in different times or different cultural environments or different religious traditions: hence if they actually meet, that is, if they are at least so much related to each other that a real interaction can take place, then one may hope that new and interesting developments may follow. Werner Heisenberg PREFACE Five years ago, I had a beautiful experience which set me on a road that has led to the writing of this book. I was sitting by the ocean one late summer afternoon, watching the waves rolling in and feeling the rhythm of my breathing, when I suddenly became aware of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance. Being a physicist, I knew that the sand, rocks, water and air around me were made of vibrating molecules and atoms, and that these consisted of particles which interacted with one another by creating an