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+Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is
+an Austrian-born American physicist,
+systems theorist and deep ecologist. In
+1995, he became a founding director of
+the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley,
+California. He is on the faculty of
+Schumacher College. Capra is the author
+of several books, including The Tao of
+Physics (1975), The Turning Point (1982),
+Uncommon Wisdom (1988), The Web of
+Life (1996), The Hidden Connections
+(2002) and The Systems View of Life
+(2014).
+
+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
+
+Interpenetration
+
+130
+145
+161
+189
+207
+225
+247
+261
+285
+
+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
+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 and
+destroying other particles. I knew also that the Earth’s atmosphere was continually bombarded by showers of ‘cosmic rays’,
+particles of high energy undergoing multiple collisions as they
+penetrated the air. All this was familiar to me from my research
+in high-energy physics, but until that moment I had only
+experienced it through graphs, diagrams and mathematical
+theories. As I sat on that beach my former experiences came to
+life; I ‘saw’ cascades of energy coming down from outer space,
+in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic
+pulses; I ‘saw’ the atoms of the elements and those of my body
+participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm
+and I ‘heard’ its sound, and at that moment I knew that this
+was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by
+the Hindus.
+I had gone through a long training in theoretical physics
+and had done several years of research. At the same time, I
+had become very interested in Eastern mysticism and had
+begun to see the parallels to modern physics. I was particularly
+attracted to the puzzling aspects of Zen which reminded me
+of the puzzles in quantum theory. At first, however, relating
+
+12
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the two was a purely intellectual exercise. To overcome the
+gap between rational, analytical thinking and the meditative
+experience of mystical truth, was, and still is, very difficult for
+me.
+In the beginning, I was helped on my way by ‘power plants’
+which showed me how the mind can flow freely; how spiritual
+insights come on their own, without any effort, emerging from
+thedepth of consciousness. I rememberthefirst such experience.
+Coming, as it did, after years of detailed analytical thinking, it
+was so overwhelming that I burst into tears, at the same time,
+not unlike Castaneda, pouring out my impressions on to a
+piece of paper.
+Later came the experience of the Dance of Shiva which I
+have tried to capture in the photomontage shown on page 224.
+It was followed by many similar experiences which helped me
+gradually to realize that a consistent view of the world is
+beginning to emerge from modern physics which is harmonious
+with ancient Eastern wisdom. I took many notes over the years,
+and wrote a few articles about the parallels I kept discovering,
+until I finally summarized my experiences in the present book.
+This book is intended for the general reader with an interest
+in Eastern mysticism who need not necessarily know anything
+about physics. I have tried to present the main concepts and
+theories of modern physics without any mathematics and in
+non-technical language, although a few paragraphs may still
+appear difficult to the layperson at first reading. The technical
+terms I had to introduce are all defined where they appear
+for the first time and are listed in the index at the end of the
+book.
+I also hope to find among my readers many physicists with
+an interest in the philosophical aspects of physics, who have
+as yet not come in contact with the religious philosophies of
+the East. They will find that Eastern mysticism provides a
+consistent and beautiful philosophical framework which can
+accommodate our most advanced theories of the physical
+world.
+As far as the contents of the book are concerned, the reader
+may feel a certain lack of balance between the presentation of
+scientific and mystical thought. Throughout the book, his or
+her understanding of physics should progress steadily, but a
+
+comparable progression in the understanding of Eastern
+mysticism may not occur. This seems unavoidable, as mysticism
+is, above all, an experience that cannot be learned from books.
+A deeper understanding of any mystical tradition can only be
+felt when one decides to become actively involved in it. All I
+can hope to do is to generate the feeling that such an involvement would be highly rewarding.
+During the writing of this book, my own understanding of
+Eastern thought has deepened considerably. For this I am
+indebted to two men who come from the East. I am profoundly
+grateful to Phiroz Mehta for opening my eyes to many aspects
+of Indian mysticism, and to my T’ai Chi master Liu Hsiu Ch’i for
+introducing me to living Taoism.
+It is impossible to mention the names of everyone-scientists,
+artists, students, and friends-who have helped me formulate
+my ideas in stimulating discussions. I feel, however, that I owe
+special thanks to Graham Alexander, Jonathan Ashmore,
+Stratford Caldecott, Lyn Gambles, Sonia Newby, Ray Rivers,
+Joel Scherk, George Sudarshan, and-last but not least-Ryan
+Thomas.
+Finally, I am indebted to Mrs Pauly Bauer-Ynnhof of Vienna
+for her generous financial support at a time when it was
+needed most.
+London,
+Fritjof Cap-a
+December 1974
+
+13
+Preface
+
+Any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself
+or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells
+you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it
+as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself,
+and yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have
+a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t it is of no
+use.
+Carfos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don juan
+
+.
+
+1 MODERN
+PHYSICS
+A Path with a Heart?
+Modern physics has had a profound influence on almost all
+aspects of human society. It has become the basis of natural
+science, and the combination of natural and technical science
+has fundamentally changed the conditions of life on our earth,
+both in beneficial and detrimental ways. Today, there is hardly
+an industry that does not make use of the results of atomic
+physics, and the influence these have had on the political
+structure of the world through their application to atomic
+weaponry is well known. However, the influence of modern
+physics goes beyond technology. It extends to the realm of
+thought and culture where it has led to a deep revision in
+man’s conception of the universe and his relation to it. The
+exploration of the atomic and subatomic world in the twentieth
+century has revealed an unsuspected limitation of classical
+ideas, and has necessitated a radical revision of many of our
+basic concepts. The concept of matter in subatomic physics,
+for example, is totally different from the traditional idea of a
+material substance in classical physics. The same is true for
+concepts like space, time, or cause and effect. These concepts,
+however, are fundamental to our outlook on the world around
+us and with their radical transformation our whole world view
+has begun to change.
+These changes, brought about by modern physics, have
+been widely discussed by physicists and by philosphers over
+the past decades, but very seldom has it been realized that
+they all seem to lead in the same direction, towards a view of
+the world which is very similar to the views held in Eastern
+mysticism. The concepts of modern physics often show surprising parallels to the ideas expressed in the religious philo-
+
+18
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+sophies of the Far East. Although these parallels have not, as
+yet, been discussed extensively, they have been noticed by
+some of the great physicists of our century when they came in
+contact with Far Eastern culture during their lecture tours to
+India, China and Japan. The following three quotations serve
+as examples :
+The general notions about human understanding . . . which
+are illustrated by discoveries in atomic physics are not in
+the nature of things wholly unfamiliar, wholly unheard of,
+or new. Even in our own culture they have a history, and
+in Buddhist and Hindu thought a more considerable and
+central place. What we shall find is an exemplification, an
+encouragement, and a refinement of old wisdom.’
+julius Robert Oppenheimer
+For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory . . . [we must
+turn1 to those kinds of epistemological problems with
+which already thinkers like the Buddha and Lao Tzu have
+been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as
+spectators and actors in the great drama of existence.*
+Me/s Bohr
+The great scientific contribution in theoretical physics
+that has come from Japan since the last war may be an
+indication of a certain relationship between philosophical
+ideas in the tradition of the Far East and the philosophical
+substance of quantum theory.3
+Werner Heisenberg
+The purpose of this book is to explore this relationship
+between the concepts of modern physics and the basic ideas
+in the philosophical and religious traditions of the Far East.
+We shall see how the two foundations of twentieth-century
+physics-quantum theory and relativity theory-both force
+us to see the world very much in the way a Hindu, Buddhist
+or Taoist sees it, and how this similarity strengthens when we
+look at the recent attempts to combine these two theories
+in order to describe the phenomena of the submicroscopic
+world: the properties and interactions of the subatomic
+particles of which all matter is made. Here the parallels between
+
+modern physics and Eastern mysticism are most striking, and
+we shall often encounter statements where it is almost impossible to say whether they have been made by physicists
+or by Eastern mystics.
+When I refer to ‘Eastern mysticism’, I mean the religious
+philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Although
+these comprise a vast number of subtly interwoven spiritual
+disciplines and philosophical systems, the basic features of
+their world view are the same. This view is not limited to the
+East, but can be found to some degree in all mystically oriented
+philosophies. The argument of this book could therefore be
+phrased more generally, by saying that modern physics leads
+us to a view of the world which is very similar to the views
+held by mystics of all ages and traditions. Mystical traditions
+are present in all religions, and mystical elements can be found
+in many schools of Western philosophy. The parallels to modern
+physics appear not only in the Vedas of Hinduism, in the I
+U-ring, or in the Buddhist sutras, but also in the fragments of
+Heraclitus, in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, or in the teachings of
+the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan. The difference between Eastern
+and Western mysticism is that mystical schools have always
+played a marginal role in the West, whereas they constitute
+the mainstream of Eastern philosophical and religious thought.
+I shall therefore, for the sake of simplicity, talk about the
+‘Eastern world view’ and shall only occasionally mention other
+sources of mystical thought.
+If physics leads us today to a world view which is essentially
+mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning, 2,500 years ago.
+It is interesting to follow the evolution of Western science
+along its spiral path, starting from the mystical philosophies of
+the early Greeks, rising and unfolding in an impressive development of intellectual thought that increasingly turned away
+from its mystical origins to develop a world view which is in
+sharp contrast to that of the Far East. In its most recent stages,
+Western science is finally overcoming this view and coming
+back to those of the early Creek and the Eastern philosophies.
+This time, however, it is not only based on intuition, but also
+on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on
+a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.
+
+19
+Modern
+Physics
+
+20
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The roots of physics, as of all Western science, are to be
+found in the first period of Greek philosophy in the sixth
+century B.C., in a culture where science, philosophy and
+religion were not separated. The sages of the Milesian school
+in lonia were not concerned with such distinctions. Their aim
+was to discover the essential nature, or real constitution, of
+things which they called ‘physis’. The term ‘physics’ is derived
+from this Greek word and meant therefore, originally, the
+endeavour of seeing the essential nature of all things.
+This, of course, is also the central aim of all mystics, and the
+philosophy of the Milesian school did indeed have a strong
+mystical flavour. The Milesians were called ‘hylozoists’, or
+‘those who think matter is alive’, by the later Greeks, because
+they saw no distinction between animate and inanimate, spirit
+and matter. In fact, they did not even have a word for matter,
+since they saw all forms of existence as manifestations of the
+‘physis’, endowed with life and spirituality. Thus Thales declared
+all things to be full of gods and Anaximander saw the universe
+as a kind of organism which was supported by ‘pneuma’, the
+cosmic breath, in the same way as the human body is supported
+by air.
+The monistic and organic view of the Milesians was very
+close to that of ancient Indian and Chinese philosophy, and
+the parallels to Eastern thought are even stronger in the
+philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus. Heraclitus believed in a
+world of perpetual change, of eternal ‘Becoming’. For him, all
+static Being was based on deception and his universal principle
+was fire, a symbol for the continuous flow and change of all
+things. Heraclitus taught that all changes in the world arise
+from the dynamic and cyclic interplay of opposites and he
+saw any pair of opposites as a unity. This unity, which contains
+and transcends all opposing forces, he called the Logos.
+The split of this unity began with the Eleatic school, which
+assumed a Divine Principle standing above all gods and men.
+This principle was first identified with the unity of the universe,
+but was later seen as an intelligent and personal God who stands
+above the world and directs it. Thus began a trend of thought
+which led, ultimately, to the separation of spirit and matter
+and to a dualism which became characteristic of Western
+philosophy.
+
+A drastic step in this direction was taken by Parmenides of
+Elea who was in strong opposition to Hera&us. He called his
+basic principle the Being and held that it was unique and invariable. He considered change to be impossible and regarded
+the changes we seem to perceive. in the world as mere illusions
+of the senses. The concept of an indestructible substance as
+the subject of varying properties grew out of this philosophy
+and became one of the fundamental concepts of Western
+thought.
+In the fifth century B.C., the Greek philosophers tried to
+overcome the sharp contrast between the views of Parmenides
+and Heraclitus. In order to reconcile the idea of unchangeable
+Being (of Parmenides) with that of eternal Becoming (of Heraclitus), they assumed that the Being is manifest in certain
+invariable substances, the mixture and separation of which
+gives rise to the changes in the world. This led to the concept
+of the atom, the smallest indivisible unit of matter, which
+found its clearest expression in the philosophy of Leucrppus
+and Democritus. The Greek atomists drew a clear line between
+spirit and matter, picturing matter as being made of several
+‘basic building blocks’. These were purely passive and intrinsically dead particles moving in the void. The cause of
+their motion was not explained, but was often associated with
+external forces which were assumed to be of spiritual origin
+and fundamentally different from matter. In subsequent
+centuries, this image became an essential element of Western
+thought, of the dualism between mind and matter, between
+body and soul.
+As the idea of a division between spirit and matter took
+hold, the philosophers turned their attention to the spiritual
+world, rather than the material, to the human soul and the
+problems of ethics. These questions were to occupy Western
+thought for more than two thousand years after the culmination of Greek science and culture in the fifth and fourth centuries
+B.C. The scientific knowledge of antiquity was systematized
+and organized by Aristotle, who created the scheme which
+was to be the basis of the Western view of the universe for
+two thousand years. But Aristotle himself believed that questions
+concerning the human soul and the contemplation of Cod’s
+perfection were much more valuable than investigations of
+
+21
+
+Modern
+Physics
+
+22
+The
+Tao of
+
+Physics
+
+the material world. The reason the Aristotelian model of the
+universe remained unchallenged for so long was precisely this
+lack of interest in the material world, and the strong hold of
+the Christian Church which supported Aristotle’s doctrines
+throughout the Middle Ages.
+Further development of Western science had to wait until
+the Renaissance, when men began to free themselves from
+the influence of Aristotle and the Church and showed a new
+interest in nature. In the late fifteenth century, the study of
+nature was approached, for the first time, in a truly scientific
+spirit and experiments were undertaken to test speculative
+ideas. As this development was paralleled by a growing interest
+in mathematics, it finally led to the formulation of proper
+scientific theories, based on experiment and expressed in
+mathematical language. Galileo was the first to combine
+empirical knowledge with mathematics and is therefore seen
+as the father of modern science.
+The birth of modern science was preceded and accompanied
+by a development of philosophical thought which led to an
+extreme formulation of the spirit/matter dualism. This formulation appeared in the seventeenth century in the philosophy
+of Rene Descartes who based his view of nature on a fundamental division into two separate and independent realms;
+that of mind (res cogitans), and that of matter (res extensa).
+The ‘Cartesian’ division allowed scientists to treat matter as
+dead and completely separate from themselves, and to see
+the material world as a multitude of different objects assembled
+into a huge machine. Such a mechanistic world view was held
+by Isaac Newton who constructed his mechanics on its basis
+and made it the foundation of classical physics. From the second
+half of the seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century,
+the mechanistic Newtonian model of the universe dominated
+all scientific thought. It was paralleled by the image of a
+monarchical Cod who ruled the world from above by imposing
+his divine law on it. The fundamental laws of nature searched
+for by the scientists were thus seen as the laws of God, invariable and eternal, to which the world was subjected.
+The philosophy of Descartes was not only important for the
+development of classical physics, but also had a tremendous
+
+influence on the general Western way of thinking up to the
+present day. Descartes’ famous sentence ‘Cogito ergo sum’‘I think, therefore I exist’-has led Western man to equate his
+identity with his mind, instead of with his whole organism. As
+a consequence of the Cartesian division, most individuals are
+aware of themselves as isolated egos existing ‘inside’ their
+bodies. The mind has been separated from the body and given
+the futile task of controlling it, thus causing an apparent conflict between the conscious will and the involuntary instincts.
+Each individual has been split up further into a large number
+of separate compartments, according to his or her activities,
+talents, feelings, beliefs, etc., which are engaged in endless
+conflicts generating continuous metaphysical confusion and
+frustration.
+This inner fragmentation of man mirrors his view of the
+world ‘outside’ which is seen as a multitude of separate objects
+and events. The natural environment is treated as if it consisted
+of separate parts to be exploited by different interest groups.
+The fragmented view is further extended to society which is
+split into different nations, races, religious and political groups.
+The belief that all these fragments-in ourselves, in our environment and in our society-are really separate can be seen as
+the essential reason for the present series of social, ecological
+and cultural crises. It has alienated us from nature and from
+our fellow human beings. It has brought a grossly unjust
+distribution of natural resources creating economic and political
+disorder; an ever rising wave of violence, both spontaneous
+and institutionalized, and an ugly, polluted environment in
+which life has often become physically and mentally unhealthy.
+The Cartesian division and the mechanistic world view have
+thus been beneficial and detrimental at the same time. They
+were extremely successful in the development of classical
+physics and technology, but had many adverse consequences
+for our civilization. It is fascinating to see that twentieth-century
+science, which originated in the Cartesian split and in the
+mechanistic world view, and which indeed only became possible
+because of such a view, now overcomes this fragmentation
+and leads back to the idea of unity expressed in the early
+Greek and Eastern philosophies.
+In contrast to the mechanistic Western view, the Eastern
+.-
+
+23
+Modern
+Physics
+
+24
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+view of the world is ‘organic’. For the Eastern mystic, all things
+and events perceived by the senses are interrelated, connected,
+and are but different aspects or manifestations of the same
+ultimate reality. Our tendency to divide the perceived world
+into individual and separate things and to experience ourselves
+as isolated egos in this world is seen as an illusion which comes
+from our measuring and categorizing mentality. It is called
+avidya, or ignorance, in Buddhist philosophy and is seen as
+the state of a disturbed mind which has to be overcome:
+When the mind is disturbed, the multiplicity of things is
+produced, but when the mind is quieted, the multiplicity
+of things disappears.4
+Although the various schools of Eastern mysticism differ in
+many details, they all emphasize the basic unity of the universe
+which is the central feature of their teachings. The highest aim
+for their followers-whether they are Hindus, Buddhists or
+Taoists-is to become aware of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things, to transcend the notion of an isolated
+individual self and to identify themselves with the ultimate
+reality. The emergence of this awareness-known as ‘enlightenmerit’-is not only an intellectual act but is an experience
+which involves the whole person and is religious in its ultimate
+nature. For this reason, most Eastern philosophies are essentially
+religious philosophies.
+In the Eastern view, then, the division of nature into separate
+objects is not fundamental and any such objects have a fluid
+and ever-changing character. The Eastern world view is therefore intrinsically dynamic and contains time and change as
+essential features. The cosmos is seen as one inseparable
+reality-for ever in motion, alive, organic; spiritual and material
+at the same time.
+Since motion and change are essential properties of things,
+the forces causing the motion are not outside the objects, as
+in the classical Greek view, but are an intrinsic property of
+matter. Correspondingly, the Eastern image of the Divine is
+not that of a ruler who directs the world from above, but of a
+principle that controls everything from within:
+He who, dwelling in all things,
+Yet is other than all things,
+Whom all things do not know,
+
+Whose body all things are,
+Who controls all things from withinHe is your Soul, the Inner Controller,
+The Immortal.5
+The following chapters will show that the basic elements of
+the Eastern world view are also those of the world view emerging
+from modern physics. They are intended to suggest that Eastern
+thought and, more generally, mystical thought provide a
+consistent and relevant philosophical background to the
+theories of contemporary science; a conception of the world
+in which man’s scientific discoveries can be in perfect harmony
+with his spiritual aims and religious beliefs. The two basic
+themes of this conception are the unity and interrelation of all
+phenomena and the intrinsically dynamic nature of the universe.
+The further we penetrate into the submicroscopic world, the
+more we shall realize how the modern physicist, like the Eastern
+mystic, has come to see the world as a system of inseparable,
+interacting and ever-moving components with man being an
+integral part of this system.
+The organic, ‘ecological’ world view of the Eastern philosophies is no doubt one of the main reasons for the immense
+popularity they have recently gained in the West, especially
+among young people. In our Western culture, which is still
+dominated by the mechanistic, fragmented view of the world,
+an increasing number of people have seen this as the underlying reason for the widespread dissatisfaction in our society,
+and many have turned to Eastern ways of liberation. It is
+interesting, and perhaps not too surprising, that those who are
+attracted by Eastern mysticism, who consult the I Ching and
+practise Yoga or other forms of meditation, in general have a
+marked anti-scientific attitude. They tend to see science, and
+physics in particular, as an unimaginative, narrow-minded
+discipline which is responsible for all the evils of modern
+technology.
+This book aims at improving the image of science by showing
+that there is an essential harmony between the spirit of Eastern
+wisdom and Western science. It attempts to suggest that
+modern physics goes far beyond technology, that the wayor Tao-of physics can be a path with a heart, a way to spiritual
+knowledge. and self-realization.
+
+25
+Modern
+Physics
+
+2 KNOWING
+
+AND
+SEEING
+From the unreal lead me to the real!
+From darkness lead me to light!
+From death lead me to immortality!
+Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad
+
+Before studying the parallels between modern physics and
+Eastern mysticism, we have to deal with the question of how
+we can make any comparison at all between an exact science,
+expressed in the highly sophisticated language of modern
+mathematics, and spiritual disciplines which are mainly based
+on meditation and insist on the fact that their insights cannot
+be communicated verbally.
+What we want to compare are the statements made by
+scientists and Eastern mystics about their knowledge of the
+world. To establish the proper framework for this comparison,
+we must firstly ask ourselves what kind of ‘knowledge’ we are
+talking about; does the Buddhist monk from Angkor Wat or
+Kyoto mean the same thing by ‘knowledge’ as the physicist
+from Oxford or Berkeley? Secondly, what kind of statements are
+we going to compare? What are we going to select from the
+experimental data, equations and theories on the one side,
+and from the religious scriptures, ancient myths, or philosophical treatises on the other? This chapter is intended to
+clarify these two points: the nature of the knowledge involved
+and the language in which this knowledge is expressed.
+Throughout history, it has been recognized that the human
+mind is capable of two kinds of knowledge, or two modes of
+consciousness, which have often been termed the rational and
+----.._- -_--
+
+the intuitive, and have traditionally been associated with
+science and religion, respectively. In the West, the intuitive,
+religious type of knowledge is often devalued in favour of
+rational, scientific knowledge, whereas the traditional Eastern
+attitude is in general just the opposite. The following statements
+about knowledge by two great minds of the West and the East
+typify the two positions. Socrates in Greece made the famous
+statement ‘I know that I know nothing’, and Lao Tzu in China
+said, ‘Not knowing that one knows is best.’ In the East, the
+values attributed to the two kinds of knowledge are often
+already apparent from the names given to them. The Upanishads,
+for example, speak about a higher and a lower knowledge and
+associate the lower knowledge with various sciences, the higher
+with religious awareness. Buddhists talk about ‘relative’ and
+‘absolute’ knowledge, or about ‘conditional truth’ and ‘transcendental truth’. Chinese philosophy, on the other hand, has
+always emphasized the complementary nature of the intuitive
+and the rational and has represented them by the archetypal
+pair yin and yang which form the basis of Chinese thought.
+Accordingly, two complementary philosophical traditionsTaoism and Confucianism-have developed in ancient China
+to deal with the two kinds of knowledge.
+Rational knowledge is derived from the experience we have
+with objects and events in our everyday environment. It
+belongs to the realm of the intellect whose function it is to
+discriminate, divide, compare, measure and categorize. In this
+way, a world of intellectual distinctions is created; of opposites
+which can only exist in relation to each other, which is why
+Buddhists call this type of knowledge ‘relative’.
+Abstraction is a crucial feature of this knowledge, because in
+order to compare and to classify the immense variety of shapes,
+structures and phenomena around us we cannot take all their
+features into account, but have to select a few significant ones.
+Thus we construct an intellectual map of reality in which things
+are reduced to their general outlines. Rational knowledge is
+thus a system of abstract concepts and symbols, characterized
+by the linear, sequential structure which is typical of our
+thinking and speaking. In most languages this linear structure
+is made explicit by the use of alphabets which serve to communicate experience and thought in long lines of letters.
+
+28
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The natural world, on the other hand, is one of infinite
+varieties and complexities, a multidimensional world which
+contains no straight lines or completely regular shapes, where
+things do not happen in sequences, but all together; a world
+where-as modern physics tells us-even empty space is
+curved. It is clear that our abstract system of conceptual
+thinking can never describe or understand this reality completely. In thinking about the world we are faced with the same
+kind of problem as the cartographer who tries to cover the
+curved face of the Earth with a sequence of plane maps. We
+can only expect an approximate representation of reality from
+such a procedure, and all rational knowledge is therefore
+necessarily limited.
+The realm of rational knowledge is, of course, the realm of
+science which measures and quantifies, classifies and analyses.
+The limitations of any knowledge obtained by these methods
+have become increasingly apparent in modern science, and in
+particular in modern physics which has taught us, in the words
+of Werner Heisenberg, ‘that every word or concept, clear as
+it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.”
+For most of us it is very difficult to be constantly aware of the
+limitations and of the relativity of conceptual knowledge.
+Because our representation of reality is so much easier to grasp
+than reality itself, we tend to confuse the two and to take our
+concepts and symbols for reality. It is one of the main aims of
+Eastern mysticism to rid us of this confusion. Zen Buddhists
+say that a finger is needed to point at the moon, but that we
+should not trouble ourselves with the finger once the moon
+is recognized; the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu wrote:
+Fishing baskets are employed to catch fish; but when the
+fish are got, the men forget the baskets; snares are employed to catch hares; but when the hares are got, men
+forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas;
+but when the ideas are grasped, men forget the words.*
+In the West, the semanticist Alfred Korzybski made exactly
+the same point with his powerful slogan, ‘The map is not the
+territory.’
+What the Eastern mystics are concerned with is a direct
+experience of reality which transcends not only intellectual
+
+thinking but also sensory perception. In the words of the
+Upanishads,
+What is soundless, touchless, formless, imperishable,
+Likewise tasteless, constant, odourless,
+Without beginning, without end, higher than the great,
+stableBy discerning That, one is liberated from the mouth of
+death.3
+Knowledge which comes from such an experience is called
+‘absolute knowledge’ by Buddhists because it does not rely
+on the discriminations, abstractions and classifications of the
+intellect which, as we have seen, are always relative and
+approximate. It is, so we are told by Buddhists, the direct
+experience of undifferentiated, undivided, indeterminate ‘suchness’. Complete apprehension of this suchness is not only the
+core of Eastern mysticism, but is the central characteristic of
+all mystical experience.
+The Eastern mystics repeatedly insist on the fact that the
+ultimate reality can never be an object of reasoning or of
+demonstrable knowledge. It can never be adequately described by words, because it lies beyond the realms of the senses
+and of the intellect from which our words and concepts are
+derived. The Upanishads say about it:
+There the eye goes not,
+Speech goes not, nor the mind.
+We know not, we understand not
+How one would teach it.4
+Lao Tzu, who calls this reality the Tao, states the same fact in
+the opening line of the Tao Te Ching: ‘The Tao that can be
+expressed is not the eternal Tao.’ The fact-obvious from any
+reading of the newspapers-that mankind has not become
+much wiser over the past two thousand years, in spite of a
+prodigious increase in rational knowledge, is ample evidence
+of the impossibility of communicating absolute knowledge by
+words. As Chuang Tzu said, ‘If it could be talked about, everybody would have told their brother.‘5
+Absolute knowledge is thus an entirely non-intellectual
+-
+
+29
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+30
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+experience of reality, an experience arising in a non-ordinary
+state of consciousness which may be called a ‘meditative’ or
+mystical state. That such a state exists has not only been
+testified by numerous mystics in the East and West but is also
+indicated by psychological research. In the words of William
+James :
+Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness
+as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness,
+whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens,
+there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.6
+Although physicists are mainly concerned with rational knowledge and mystics with intuitive knowledge, both types of
+knowledge occur in both fields. This becomes apparent when
+we examine how knowledge is obtained and how it is expressed, both in physics and Eastern mysticism.
+In physics, knowledge is acquired through the process of
+scientific research which can be seen to proceed in three
+stages. The first stage consists in gathering experimental
+evidence about the phenomena to be explained. In the second
+stage, the experimental facts are correlated with mathematical
+symbols and a mathematical scheme is worked out which
+interconnects these symbols in a precise and consistent way.
+Such a scheme is usuallv called a mathematical model or, if it
+is more comprehensive, a theory. This theory is then used to
+predict the results of further experiments which are undertaken to check all its implications. At this stage, physicists may
+be satisfied when they have found a mathematical scheme and
+know how to use it to predict experiments. But eventually,
+they will want to talk about their results to non-physicists and
+will therefore have to express them in plain language. This
+means they will have to formulate a model in ordinary language
+which interprets their mathematical scheme. Even for the
+physicists themselves, the formulation of such a verbal model,
+which constitutes the third stage of research, will be a criterion
+of the understanding they have reached.
+In practice, of course, the three stages are not neatly separated
+and do not always occur in the same order. For example, a
+physicist may be led to a particular model by some philosophical
+_-
+
+belief he (or she) holds, which he may continue to believe in,
+even when contrary experimental evidence arises. He will
+then-and this happens in fact very often-try to modify his
+model so that it can account for the new experiments. But if
+experimental evidence continues to contradict the model he
+will eventually be forced to drop it.
+This way of basing all theories firmly on experiment is known
+as the scientific method and we shall see that it has its counterpart in Eastern philosophy. Greek philosophy, on the other
+hand, was fundamentally different in that respect. Although
+Greek philosophers had extremely ingenious ideas about
+nature which often come very close to modern scientific models,
+the enormous difference between the two is the empirical
+attitude of modern science which was by and large foreign to
+the Creek mind. The Greeks obtained their models deductively
+from some fundamental axiom or principle and not inductively
+from what had been observed. On the other hand, of course,
+the Greek art of deductive reasoning and logic is an essential
+ingredient in the second stage of scientific research, the
+formulation of a consistent mathematical model, and thus an
+essential part of science.
+Rational knowledge and rational activities certainly constitute the major part of scientific research, but are not all
+there is to it. The rational part of research would, in fact, be
+useless if it were not complemented by the intuition that gives
+scientists new insights and makes them creative. These insights
+tend to come suddenly and, characteristically, not when
+sitting at a desk working out the equations, but when relaxing,
+in the bath, during a walk in the woods, on the beach, etc.
+During these periods of relaxation after concentrated intellectual
+activity, the intuitive mind seems to take over and can produce
+the sudden clarifying insights which give so much joy and
+delight to scientific research.
+Intuitive insights, however, are of no use to physics unless
+they can be formulated in a consistent mathematical framework, supplemented by an interpretation in plain language.
+Abstraction is a crucial feature of this framework. It consists,
+as mentioned before, of a system of concepts and symbols
+which constitute a map of reality. This map represents only
+some features of reality; we do not know exactly which these
+
+31
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+32
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+are, since we started compiling our map gradually and without
+critical analysis in our childhood. The words of our language
+are thus not clearly defined. They have several meanings,
+many of which pass only vaguely through our mind and
+remain largely in our subconscious when we hear a word.
+The inaccuracy and ambiguity of our language is essential
+for poets who work largely with its subconscious layers and
+associations. Science, on the other hand, aims for clear
+definitions and unambiguous connections, and therefore it
+abstracts language further by limiting the meaning of its words
+and by standardizing its structure, in accordance with the rules
+of logic. The ultimate abstraction takes place in mathematics
+where words are replaced by symbols and where the operations
+of connecting the symbols are rigorously defined. In this way,
+scientists can condense information into one equation, i.e.
+into one single line of symbols, for which they would need
+several pages of ordinary writing.
+The view that mathematics is nothing but an extremely
+abstracted and compressed language does not go unchallenged.
+Many mathematicians, in fact, believe that mathematics is
+not just a language to describe nature, but is inherent in
+nature itself. The originator of this belief was Pythagoras who
+made the famous statement ‘All things are numbers’ and
+developed a very special kind of mathematical mysticism.
+Pythagorean philosophy thus introduced logical reasoning
+into the domain of religion, a development which, according
+to Bertrand Russell, was decisive for Western religious philosophy :
+The combination of mathematics and theology, which
+began with Pythagoras, characterized religious philosophy
+in Greece, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times down
+to Kant . . . In Plato, St Augustine, Thomas Aquinas,
+Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz there is an intimate
+blending of religion and reasoning, of moral aspiration
+with logical admiration of what is timeless, which comes
+from Pythagoras, and distinguishes the intellectualized
+theology of Europe from the more straightforward
+mysticism of Asia.’
+
+_-
+
+The ‘more straightforward mysticism of Asia’ would, of
+course, not adopt the Pythagorean view of mathematics. In
+the Eastern view, mathematics, with its highly differentiated
+and well defined structure, must be seen as part of our conceptual map and not as a feature of reality itself. Reality, as
+experienced by the mystic, is completely indeterminate and
+undifferentiated.
+The scientific method of abstraction is very efficient and
+powerful, but we have to pay a price for it. As we define our
+system of concepts more precisely, as we streamline it and
+make the connections more and more rigorous, it becomes
+increasingly detached from the real world. Using again
+Korzybski’s analogy of the map and the territory, we could say
+that ordinary language is a map which, due to its intrinsic
+inaccuracy, has a certain flexibility so that it can follow the
+curved shape of the territory to some degree. As we make it
+more rigorous, this flexibility gradually disappears, and with
+the language of mathematics we have reached a point where
+the links with reality are so tenuous that the relation of the
+symbols to our sensory experience is no longer evident. This
+is why we have to supplement our mathematical models and
+theories with verbal interpretations, again using concepts
+which can be understood intuitively, but which are slightly
+ambiguous and inaccurate.
+It is important to realize the difference between the mathematical models and their verbal counterparts. The former are
+rigorous and consistent as far as their internal structure is
+concerned, but their symbols are not directly related to our
+experience. The verbal models, on the other hand, use concepts which can be understood intuitively, but are always
+inaccurate and ambiguous. They are in this respect not
+different from philosophical models of reality and thus the two
+can very well be compared.
+If there is an intuitive element in science, there is also a rational
+element in Eastern mysticism. The degree to which reason and
+logic are emphasized, however, varies enormously from one
+school to the other. The Hindu Vedanta, or the Buddhist
+Madhyamika, for example, are highly intellectual schools,
+..
+
+__ ---.- .--. ----.“I. .-._ ..- -.-.__- --__---_ l_l____-
+
+33
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+34
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+whereas Taoists have always had a deep mistrust of reason
+and logic. Zen, which grew out of Buddhism but was strongly
+influenced by Taoism, prides itself on being ‘without words,
+without explanations, without instructions, without knowledge’. It concentrates almost entirely on the experience of
+enlightenment and is only marginally interested in interpreting
+this experience. A well known Zen phrase says ‘The instant
+you speak about a thing you miss the mark.’
+Although other schools of Eastern mysticism are less extreme,
+the direct mystical experience is at the core of all of them.
+Even those mystics who are engaged in the most sophisticated
+argumentation never see the intellect as their source of knowledge but use it merely to analyse and interpret their personal
+mystical experience. All knowledge is firmly based on this
+experience, thus giving the Eastern traditions a strong empirical
+character that is always emphasized by its proponents.
+D. T. Suzuki, for example, writes of Buddhism:
+Personal experience is . . . the foundation of Buddhist
+philosophy. In this sense Buddhism is radical empiricism
+or experientialism, whatever dialectic later developed to
+probe the meaning of enlightenment-experience.8
+Joseph Needham repeatedly brings the empirical attitude
+of Taoists into prominence in his work Science and Civilisation
+in China and finds that this attitude has made Taoism the basis
+of Chinese science and technology. The early Taoist philosophers, in Needham’s words, ‘withdrew into the wilderness,
+the forests and mountains, there to meditate upon the Order
+of Nature, and to observe its innumerable manifestations’.q
+The same spirit is reflected in the Zen verses,
+He who would understand the meaning of Buddha-nature
+Must watch for the season and the causal relations.lO
+The firm basis of knowledge on experience in Eastern
+mysticism suggests a parallel to the firm basis of scientific
+knowledge on experiment. This parallel is further enforced by
+the nature of the mystical experience. It is described in the
+Eastern traditions as a direct insight which lies outside the
+realm of the intellect and is obtained by watching rather than
+thinking; by looking inside oneself; by observation.
+_
+
+In Taoism, this notion of observation is embodied in the
+name for Taoist temples, kuan, which originally meant ‘to look’.
+Taoists thus regarded their temples as places of observation.
+In Ch’an Buddhism, the Chinese version of Zen, enlightenment
+is often referred to as ‘the vision of the Tao’, and seeing is
+regarded as the basis of knowing in all Buddhist schools. The
+first item of the Eightfold Path, the Buddha’s prescription for
+self-realization, is right seeing, followed by right knowing.
+D. T. Suzuki writes on this point:
+The seeing plays the most important role in Buddhist
+epistemology, for seeing is at the basis of knowing.
+Knowing is impossible without seeing; all knowledge has its
+origin in seeing. Knowing and seeing are thus found
+generally united in Buddha’s teaching. Buddhist philosophy
+therefore ultimately points to seeing reality as it is. Seeing
+is experiencing enlightenment.”
+This passage is also reminiscent of the Yaqui mystic Don Juan
+who says, ‘My predilection is to see . . . because only by seeing
+can a man of knowledge know.‘12
+A word of caution should perhaps be added here. The
+emphasis on seeing in mystical traditions should not be taken
+too literally, but has to be understood in a metaphorical sense,
+since the mystical experience of reality is an essentially nonsensory experience. When the Eastern mystics talk about
+‘seeing’, they refer to a mode of perception which may include
+visual perception, but which always and essentially transcends
+it to become a nonsensory experience of reality. What they do
+emphasize, however, when they talk about seeing, looking or
+observing, is the empirical character of their knowledge. This
+empirical approach of Eastern philosophy is strongly reminiscent
+of the emphasis on observation in science and thus suggests
+a framework for our comparison. The experimental stage in
+scientific research seems to correspond to the direct insight
+of the Eastern mystic, and the scientific models and theories
+correspond to the various ways in which this insight is interpreted.
+The parallel between scientific experiments and mystical
+,experiences may seem surprising in view of the very different
+nature of these acts of observation. Physicists perform experi-
+
+35
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+36
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+ments involving an elaborate teamwork and a highly sophisticated technology, whereas mystics obtain their knowledge
+purely through introspection, without any machinery, in the
+privacy of meditation. Scientific experiments, furthermore,
+seem to be repeatable any time and by anybody, whereas
+mystical experiences seem to be reserved for a few individuals
+at special occasions. A closer examination shows, however,
+that the differences between the two kinds of observation
+lie only in their approach and not in their reliability or
+complexity.
+Anybody who wants to repeat an experiment in modern
+subatomic physics has to undergo many years of training.
+Only then will he or she be able to ask nature a specific question
+through the experiment and to understand the answer.
+Similarly, a deep mystical experience requires, generally, many
+years of training under an experienced master and, as in the
+scientific training, the dedicated time does not alone guarantee
+success. If the student is successful, however, he or she will be
+able to ‘repeat the experiment’. The repeatability of the
+experience is, in fact, essential to every mystical training and
+is the very aim of the mystics’ spiritual instruction.
+A mystical experience, therefore, is not any more unique
+than a modern experiment in physics. On the other hand, it is
+not less sophisticated either, although its sophistication is of a
+very different kind. The complexity and efficiency of the
+physicist’s technical apparatus is matched, if not surpassed,
+by that of the mystic’s consciousness-both physical and
+spiritual-in deep meditation. The scientists and the mystics,
+then, have developed highly sophisticated methods of observing nature which are inaccessible to the layperson. A page
+from a journal of modern experimental physics will be as
+mysterious to the uninitiated as a Tibetan mandala. Both are
+records of enquiries into the nature of the universe.
+Although deep mystical experiences do not, in general, occur
+without long preparation, direct intuitive insights are experienced by all of us in our everyday lives. We are all familiar
+with the situation where we have forgotten the name of a
+person or place, or some other word, and cannot produce it
+in spite of the utmost concentration. We have it ‘on the tip
+
+of our tongue’ but it just will not come out, until we give up
+and shift our attention to-something else when suddenly, in a
+flash, we remember the forgotten name. No thinking is involved
+in this process. It is a sudden, immediate insight. This example
+of suddenly remembering something is particularly relevant to
+Buddhism which holds that our original nature is that of the
+enlightened Buddha and that we have just forgotten it. Students
+of Zen Buddhism are asked to discover their ‘original face’
+and the sudden ‘remembering’ of this face is their enlightenment.
+Another well known example of spontaneous intuitive insights are jokes. In the split second where you understand a
+joke you experience a moment of ‘enlightenment’. It is well
+known that this moment must come spontaneously, that it
+cannot be achieved by ‘explaining’ the joke, i.e. by intellectual
+analysis. Only with a sudden intuitive insight into the nature
+of the joke do we experience the liberating laughter the joke
+is meant to produce. The similarity between a spiritual insight
+and the understanding of a joke must be well known to
+enlightened men and women, since they almost invariably
+show a great sense of humour. Zen, especially, is full of funny
+stories and anecdotes, and in the Tao Te Ching we read, ‘If
+it were not laughed at, it would not be sufficient to be Tao.‘13
+In our everyday life, direct intuitive insights into the nature
+of things are normally limited to extremely brief moments.
+Not so in Eastern mysticism where they are extended to long
+periods and, ultimately, become a constant awareness. The
+preparation of the mind for this awareness-for the immediate,
+nonconceptual awareness of reality-is the main purpose of
+all schools of Eastern mysticism, and of many aspects of the
+Eastern way of life. During the long cultural history of India,
+China and Japan, an enormous variety of techniques, rituals
+and art forms have been developed to achieve this purpose,
+all of which may be called meditation in the widest sense of
+the word.
+The basic aim of these techniques seems to be to silence
+the thinking mind and to shift the awareness from the rational
+to the intuitive mode of consciousness. In many forms of
+meditation, this silencing of the rational mind is achieved by
+concentrating one’s attention on a single item, like one’s
+
+37
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+breathing, the sound of a mantra, or the visual image of a
+mandala. Other schools focus the attention on body movements which have to be performed spontaneously without the
+interference of any thought. This is the way of the Hindu Yoga
+and of the Taoist Tai Chi Ch’uan. The rhythmical movements
+
+of these schools can lead to the same feeling of peace and
+serenity which is characteristic of the more static forms of
+meditation; a feeling which, incidentally, may be evoked also
+by some sports. In my experience, for example, skiing has been
+a highly rewarding form of meditation.
+Eastern art forms, too, are forms of meditation. They are not
+so much means for expressing the artist’s ideas as ways of
+self-realization through the development of the intuitive mode
+of consciousness. Indian music is not learned by reading notes,
+but by listening to the play of the teacher and thus developing
+a feeling for the music, just as the Tai Chi movements are not
+learned by verbal instructions but by doing them over and
+over again in unison with the teacher. Japanese tea ceremonies
+are full of slow, ritualistic movements. Chinese calligraphy
+requires the uninhibited, spontaneous movement of the hand.
+All these skills are used in the East to develop the meditative
+mode of consciousness.
+For most people, and especially for intellectuals, this mode
+of consciousness is a completely new experience. Scientists
+are familiar with direct intuitive insights from their research,
+because every new discovery originates in such a sudden
+non-verbal flash. But these are extremely short moments which
+arise when the mind is filled with information, with concepts
+and thought patterns. In meditation, on the other hand, the
+mind is emptied of all thoughts and concepts and thus prepared
+to function for long periods through its intuitive mode. Lao
+Tzu speaks about this contrast between research and meditation
+when he says:
+He who pursues learning will increase every day;
+He who pursues Tao will decrease every day.14
+When the rational mind is silenced, the intuitive mode
+produces an extraordinary awareness; the environment is
+experienced in a direct way without the filter of conceptual
+thinking. In the words of Chuang Tzu, ‘The still mind of the
+sage is a mirror of heaven and earth-the glass of all things.‘15
+The experience of oneness with the surrounding environment
+is the main characteristic of this meditative state. It is a state
+of consciousness where every form of fragmentation has
+.-
+
+.-..- --..-.- .._-^ ..__ .- ..__ --.--.
+
+39
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+40
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+ceased, fading away into undifferentiated unity.
+In deep meditation, the mind is completely alert. In addition
+to the nonsensory apprehension of reality it also takes in all
+the sounds, sights, and other impressions of the surrounding
+environment, but it does not hold the sensory images to be
+analysed or interpreted. They are not allowed to distract the
+attention. Such a state of awareness is not unlike the state of
+mind of a warrior who expects an attack in extreme alertness,
+registering everything that goes on around him without being
+distracted by it for an instant. The Zen master Yasutani Roshi
+uses this image in his description of shikan-taza, the practice of
+Zen meditation :
+Shikan-taza is a heightened state of concentrated awareness wherein one is neither tense nor hurried, and certainly
+never slack. It is the mind of somebody facing death. Let
+us imagine that you are engaged in a duel of swordsmanship of the kind that used to take piace in ancient Japan.
+As you face your opponent you are unceasingly watchful,
+set, ready. Were you to relax your vigilance even momentarily, you would be cut down instantly. A crowd gathers
+to see the fight. Since you are not blind you see them
+from the corner of your eye, and since you are not deaf
+you hear them. But not for an instant is your mind captured
+by these sense impressions.16
+Because of the similarity between the meditative state and the
+frame of mind of a warrior, the image of the warrior plays an
+important role in the spiritual and cultural life of the East. The
+stage for India’s favourite religious text, the Bhagavad Cita, is a
+battlefield and martial arts constitute an important part in the
+traditional cultures of China and Japan. In Japan, the strong
+influence of Zen on the tradition of the samurai gave rise to
+what is known as bushido, ‘the way of the warrior’, an art of
+swordsmanship where the spiritual insight of the swordsman
+reaches its highest perfection. The Taoist Tai Chi Ch’uan,
+which was considered to be the supreme martial art in China,
+combines slow and rhythmical ‘yogic’ movements with the
+total alertness of the warrior’s mind in a unique way.
+Eastern mysticism is based on direct insights into the nature
+
+of reality, and physics is based on the observation of natural
+phenomena in scientific experiments. In both fields, the
+observations are then interpreted and the interpretation is
+very often communicated by words. Since words are always
+an abstract, approximate map of reality, the verbal interpretations of a scientific experiment or of a mystical insight
+are necessarily inaccurate and incomplete. Modern physicists
+and Eastern mystics alike are well aware of this fact.
+In physics, the interpretations of experiments are called
+models or theories and the realization that all models and
+theories are approximate is basic to modern scientific research.
+Thus the aphorism of Einstein, ‘As far as the laws of mathematics
+refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are
+certain, they do not refer to reality.’ Physicists know that their
+methods of analysis and logical reasoning can never explain
+the whole realm of natural phenomena at once and so they
+single out a certain group of phenomena and try to build a
+model to describe this group. In doing so, they neglect other
+phenomena and the model will therefore not give a complete
+description of the real situation. The phenomena which are
+not taken into account may either have such a small effect
+that their inclusion would not alter the theory significantly, or
+they may be left out simply because they are not known at
+the time when the theory is built.
+To illustrate these points, let us look at one of the best
+known models in physics, Newton’s ‘classical’ mechanics. The
+effects of air resistance or friction, for example, are generally
+not taken into account in this model, because they are usually
+very small. But apart from such omissions, Newtonian mechanics
+was for a long time considered to be the final theory for the
+description of all natural phenomena, until electric and magnetic phenomena, which had no place in Newton’s theory,
+were discovered. The discovery of these phenomena showed
+that the model was incomplete, that it could be applied only
+to a limited group of phenomena, essentially the motion of
+solid bodies.
+Studying a limited group of phenomena can also mean
+studying their physical properties only over a limited range,
+which may be another reason for the theory to be approximate.
+This aspect of the approximation is quite subtle because we
+
+41
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+42
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+never know beforehand where the limitations of a theory lie.
+Only experience can tell. Thus the image of classical mechanics
+was further eroded when twentieth-century physics showed
+its essential limitations. Today we know that the Newtonian
+model is valid only for objects consisting of large numbers of
+atoms, and only for velocities which are small compared to
+the speed of light. When the first condition is not given,
+classical mechanics has to be replaced by quantum theory;
+when the second condition is not satisfied, relativity theory
+has to be applied. This does not mean that Newton’s model is
+‘wrong’, or that quantum theory and relativity theory are
+‘right’. All these models are approximations which are valid for
+a certain range of phenomena. Beyond this range, they no
+longer give a satisfactory description of nature and new models
+have to be found to replace the old ones-or, better, to
+extend them by improving the approximation.
+To specify the limitations of a given model is often one of
+the most difficult, and yet one of the most important tasks in
+its construction. According to Geoffrey Chew, whose ‘bootstrap
+models’ will be discussed at great length later on, it is essential
+that one should always ask, as soon as a certain model or
+theory is found to work: why does it work? what are the model’s
+limits? in what way, exactly, is it an approximation? These
+questions are seen by Chew as the first step towards further
+progress.
+The Eastern mystics, too, are well aware of the fact that all
+verbal descriptions of reality are inaccurate and incomplete.
+The direct experience of reality transcends the realm of thought
+and language, and, since all mysticism is based on such a direct
+experience, everything that is said about it can only be partly
+true. In physics, the approximate nature of all statements is
+quantified and progress is made by improving the approximations in many successive steps. How, then, do the Eastern
+traditions deal with the problem of verbal communication?
+First of all, mystics are mainly interested in the experience of
+reality and not in the description of this experience. They are
+therefore generally not interested in the analysis of such a
+description, and the concept of a well-defined approximation
+has thus never arisen in Eastern thought. If, on the other hand,
+
+Eastern mystics want to communicate Jheir experience, they
+are confronted with the limitations of language. Several different
+ways have been developed in the East to deal with this problem.
+Indian mysticism, and Hinduism in particular, clothes its
+statements in the form of myths, using metaphors and symbols,
+poetic images, similes and allegories. Mythical language is
+much less restricted by logic and common sense. It is full of
+magic and of paradoxical situations, rich in suggestive images
+and never precise, and can thus convey the way in which
+mystics experience reality much better than factual language.
+According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, ‘myth embodies the
+nearest approach to absolute truth that can be stated in
+words.“’
+The rich Indian imagination has created a vast number of
+gods and goddesses whose incarnations and exploits are the
+subjects of fantastic tales, collected in epics of huge dimensions.
+The Hindu with deep insight knows that all these gods are
+creations of the mind, mythical images representing the many
+faces of reality. On the other hand, he also knows that they
+were not merely created to make the stories more attractive,
+but are essential vehicles to convey the doctrines of a philosophy
+rooted in mystical experience.
+Chinese and Japanese mystics have found a different way
+of dealing with the language problem. Instead of making the
+paradoxical nature of reality palatable through the symbols
+and images of myth, they prefer very often to accentuate it by
+using factual language. Thus Taoists made frequent use of
+paradoxes in order to expose the inconsistencies arising from
+verbal communication and to show its limits. They have passed
+this technique on to Chinese and Japanese Buddhists who
+have developed it further. It has reached its extreme in Zen
+Buddhism with the so-called koans, those nonsensical riddles
+which are used by many Zen masters to transmit the teachings.
+These koans establish an important parallel to modern physics
+which will be taken up in the next chapter.
+In Japan, there exists yet another mode of expressing philosophical views which should be mentioned. It is a special form
+of extremely concise poetry which is often used by Zen masters
+to point directly at the ‘suchness’ of reality. When a monk
+
+43
+
+Knowing
+and
+Seeing
+
+44
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+asked Fuketsu Ensho, When speech and silence are both
+inadmissible, how can one pass without error? the master
+replied :
+I always remember Kiangsu in MarchThe cry of the partridge,
+The mass of fragrant flowers.18
+This form of spiritual poetry has reached its perfection in the
+haiku, a classical Japanese verse of just seventeen syllables,
+which was deeply influenced by Zen. The insight into the very
+nature of Life reached by these haiku poets comes across even
+in the English translation:
+Leaves falling
+Lie on one another;
+The rain beats the rain.lq
+Whenever the Eastern mystics express their knowledge in
+words-be it with the help of myths, symbols, poetic images
+or paradoxical statements- they are well aware of the limitations imposed by language and ‘linear’ thinking. Modern
+physics has come to take exactly the same attitude with regard
+to its verbal models and theories. They, too, are only approximate and necessarily inaccurate. They are the counterparts
+of the Eastern myths, symbols and poetic images, and it is at
+this level that I shall draw the parallels. The same idea about
+matter is conveyed, for example, to the Hindu by the cosmic
+dance of the god Shiva as to the physicist by certain aspects
+of quantum field theory. Both the dancing god and the physical
+theory are creations of the mind: models to describe their
+authors’ intuition of reality.
+
+3 BEYOND
+
+LANGUAGE
+
+The contradiction so puzzling to the ordinary way of
+thinking comes from the fact that we have to use language
+to communicate our inner experience which in its very
+nature transcends linguistics.
+D. T. Suzuki
+The problems of language here are really serious. We wish
+to speak in some way about the structure of the atoms . . .
+But we cannot speak about atoms in ordinary language.
+W. Heisenberg
+
+The notion that all scientific models and theories are approximate and that their verbal interpretations always suffer from
+the inaccuracy of our language was already commonly
+accepted by scientists at the beginning of this century, when
+a new and completely unexpected development took place.
+The study of the world of atoms forced physicists to realize
+that our common language is not only inaccurate, but totally
+inadequate to describe the atomic and subatomic reality.
+Quantum theory and relativity theory, the two bases of
+modern physics, have made it clear that this reality transcends
+classical logic and that we cannot talk about it in ordinary
+language. Thus Heisenberg writes :
+The most difficult problem . . . concerning the use of the
+language arises in quantum theory. Here we have at first
+no simple guide for correlating the mathematical symbols
+with concepts of ordinary language; and the only thing
+
+46
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+we know from the start is the fact that our common concepts cannot be applied to the structure of the atoms.’
+From a philosophical point of view, this has certainly been
+the most interesting development in modern physics, and here
+lies one of the roots of its relation to Eastern philosophy. In
+the schools of Western philosophy, logic and reasoning have
+always been the main tools used to formulate philosophical
+ideas and this is true, according to Bertrand Russell, even of
+religious philosophies. In Eastern mysticism, on the other hand,
+it has always been realized that reality transcends ordinary
+language, and the sages of the East were not afraid to go
+beyond logic and common concepts. This is the main reason,
+I think, why their models of reality constitute a more appropriate philosophical background to modern physics than the
+models of Western philosophy.
+The problem of language encountered by the Eastern mystic
+is exactly the same as the problem the modern physicist faces.
+In the two passages quoted at the beginning of this chapter,
+D. T. Suzuki speaks about Buddhism2 and Werner Heisenberg
+speaks about atomic physics,3 and yet the two passages are
+almost identical. Both the physicist and the mystic want to
+communicate their knowledge, and when they do so with
+words their statements are paradoxical and full of logical
+contradictions. These paradoxes are characteristic of all
+mysticism, from Heraclitus to Don Juan, and since the beginning
+of this century they are also characteristic of physics.
+In atomic physics, many of the paradoxical situations are
+connected with the dual nature of light or-more generallyof electromagnetic radiation. On the one hand, it is clear that
+this radiation must consist of waves because it produces the
+well-known interference phenomena associated with waves:
+when there are two sources of light, the i,ntensity of the light
+to be found at some other place will not necessarily be just the
+sum of that which comes from the two sources, but may be
+more or less. This can easily be explained by the interference
+of the waves emanating from the two sources: in those places
+where two crests coincide we shall have more light than the
+sum of the two; where a crest and a trough coincide we shall
+have less. The precise amount of interference can easily be
+_
+
+47
+Beyond
+Language
+
+interference of two waves
+
+calculated. Interference phenomena of this kind can be
+observed whenever one deals with electromagnetic radiation,
+and force us to conclude that this radiation consists of waves.
+On the otner hand, electromagnetic radiation also produces
+the so-called photoelectric effect: when ultraviolet light is
+shone on the surface of some metals it can ‘kick out’ electrons
+from the surface of the metal, and therefore it must consist of
+moving particles. A similar situation occurs in the ‘scattering’
+experiments of X-rays. These experiments can only be interpreted correctly if they are described as collisions of ‘light
+particles’ with electrons. And yet, they show the interference
+patterns characteristic of waves. The question which puzzled
+physicists so much in the early stages of atomic theory was
+how electromagnetic radiation could simultaneously consist
+of particles (i.e. of entities confined to a very small volume) and
+of waves, which are spread out over a large area of space.
+Neither language nor imagination could deal with this kind of
+reality very well.
+Eastern mysticism has developed several different ways of
+dealing with the paradoxical aspects of reality. Whereas they
+are bypassed in Hinduism through the use of mythical language,
+Buddhism and Taoism tend to emphasize the paradoxes rather
+
+48
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+than conceal them. The main Taoist scripture, Lao Tzu’s Tao
+Te Ching, is written in an extremely puzzling, seemingly
+illogical style. It is full of intriguing contradictions and its
+compact, powerful, and extremely poetic language is meant to
+arrest the reader’s mind and throw it off its familiar tracks of
+logical reasoning.
+Chinese and Japanese Buddhists have adopted this Taoist
+technique of communicating the mystical experience by simply
+exposing its paradoxical character. When the Zen master
+Daito saw the Emperor Codaigo, who was a student of Zen, the
+master said :
+We were parted many thousands of kalpas ago, yet we have
+not been separated even for a moment. We are facing each
+other all day long, yet we have never met.4
+Zen Buddhists have a particular knack for making a virtue
+out of the inconsistencies arising from verbal communication,
+and with the koan system they have developed a unique way
+of transmitting their teachings completely non-verbally. Koans
+are carefully devised nonsensical riddles which are meant to
+make the student of Zen realize the limitations of logic and
+reasoning in the most dramatic way. The irrational wording
+and paradoxical content of these riddles makes it impossible
+to solve them by thinking. They are designed precisely to stop
+the thought process and thus to make the student ready for
+the non-verbal experience of reality. The contemporary Zen
+master Yasutani introduced a Western student to one of the
+most famous koans with the following words:
+One of the best koans, because the simplest, is Mu. This
+is its background: A monk came to Joshu, a renowned
+Zen master in China hundreds of years ago, and asked:
+‘Has a dog Buddha-nature or not? Joshu retorted, ‘Mu!’
+Literally, the expression means ‘no’ or ‘not’, but the significance of Joshu’s answer does not lie in this. Mu is the
+expression of the living, functioning, dynamic Buddhanature. What you must do is discover the spirit or essence
+of this Mu, not through intellectual analysis but by search
+into your innermost being. Then you must demonstrate
+
+before me, concretely and vividly, that you understand
+Mu as living truth, without recourse to conceptions,
+theories, or abstract explanations. Remember, you can’t
+understand Mu through ordinary cognition, you must grasp
+it directly with your whole being.5
+To a beginner, the Zen master will normally present either
+this Mu-koan or one of the following two:
+‘What was your original face-the one you had before
+your parents gave birth to you?
+‘You can make the sound of two hands clapping. Now
+what is the sound of one hand?
+All these koans have more or less unique solutions which a
+competent master recognizes immediately. Once the solution
+is found, the koan ceases to be paradoxical and becomes a
+profoundly meaningful statement made from the state of
+consciousness which it has helped to awaken.
+In the Rinzai school, the student has to solve a long series
+of koans, each of them dealing with a particular aspect of
+Zen. This is the only way this school transmits its teachings.
+It does not use any positive statements, but leaves it entirely
+to the student to grasp the truth through the koans.
+Here we find a striking parallel to the paradoxical situations
+which confronted physicists at the beginning of atomic physics.
+As in Zen, the truth was hidden in paradoxes that could not
+be solved by logical reasoning, but had to be understood in
+the terms of a new awareness; the awareness of the atomic
+reality. The teacher here was, of course, nature, who, like the
+Zen masters, does not provide any statements. She just provides
+the riddles.
+The solving of a koan demands a supreme effort of concentration and involvement from the student. In books about Zen
+we read that the koan grips the student’s heart and mind and
+creates a true mental impasse, a state of sustained tension in
+which the whole world becomes an enormous mass of doubt
+and questioning. The founders of quantum theory experienced
+exactly the same situation, described here most vividly by
+Heisenberg:
+_
+
+~.
+
+--
+
+.__.. _ .- ..__.
+
+.._~
+
+- . .~~. --. ------ ~-- ---
+
+49
+Beyond
+Language
+
+50
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+I remember discussions with Bohr which went through
+many hours till very late at night and ended almost in
+despair; and when at the end of the discussion I went
+alone for a walk in the neighbouring park I repeated to
+myself again and again the question: Can nature possibly
+be so absurd as it seemed to us in these atomic experiments?6
+Whenever the essential nature of things is analysed by the
+intellect, it must seem absurd or paradoxical. This has always
+been recognized by the mystics, but has become a problem
+in science only very recently. For centuries, scientists were
+searching for the ‘fundamental laws of nature’ underlying the
+great variety of natural phenomena. These phenomena belonged to the scientists’ macroscopic environment and thus to
+the realm of their sensory experience. Since the images and
+intellectual concepts of their language were abstracted from
+this very experience, they were sufficient and adequate to
+describe the natural phenomena.
+Questions about the essential nature of things were answered
+in classical physics by the Newtonian mechanistic model of
+the universe which, much in the same way as the Democritean
+model in ancient Greece, reduced all phenomena to the
+motions and interactions of hard indestructible atoms. The
+properties of these atoms were abstracted from the macroscopic notion of billiard balls, and thus from sensory experience.
+Whether this notion could actually be applied to the world of
+atoms was not questioned. Indeed, it could not be investigated
+experimentally.
+In the twentieth century, however, physicists were able to
+tackle the question about the ultimate nature of matter
+experimentally. With the help of a most sophisticated technology they were able to probe deeper and deeper into nature,
+uncovering one layer of matter after the other in search for its
+ultimate ‘building blocks’. Thus the existence of atoms was
+verified, then their constituents were discovered-the nuclei
+and electrons-and finally the components of the nucleusthe protons and neutrons-and many other subatomic
+particles.
+The delicate and complicated instruments of modern
+experimental physics penetrate deep into the submicroscopic
+
+world, into realms of nature far removed from our macroscopic
+environment, and make this world accessible to our senses.
+However, they can do so only through a chain of processes
+ending, for example, in the audible click of a Geiger counter,
+or in a dark spot on a photographic plate. What we see, or
+hear, are never the investigated phenomena themselves but
+always their consequences. The atomic and subatomic world
+itself lies beyond our sensory perception.
+It is, then, with the help of modern instrumentation that we
+are able to ‘observe’ the properties of atoms and their constituents in an indirect way, and thus to ‘experience’ the subatomic world to some extent. This experience, however, is not
+an ordinary one, comparable to that of our daily environment.
+The knowledge about matter at this level is no longer derived
+from direct sensory experience, and therefore our ordinary
+language, which takes its images from the world of the senses,
+is no longer adequate to describe the observed phenomena.
+As we penetrate deeper and deeper into nature, we have to
+abandon more and more of the images and concepts of
+ordinary language.
+On this journey to the world of the infinitely small, the most
+important step, from a philosophical point of view, was the
+first one: the step into the world of atoms. Probing inside the
+atom and investigating its structure, science transcended the
+limits of. our sensory imagination. From this point on, it could
+no longer rely with absolute certainty on logic and common
+sense. Atomic physics provided the scientists with the first
+glimpses of the essential nature of things. Like the mystics,
+physicists were now dealing with a nonsensory experience of
+reality and, like the mystics, they had to face the paradoxical
+aspects of this experience. From then on therefore, the models
+and images of modern physics became akin to those of Eastern
+philosophy.
+
+51
+Beyond
+Language
+
+4 THE
+
+NEW
+PHYSICS
+According to the Eastern mystics, the direct mystical experience of reality is a momentous event which shakes the
+very foundations of one’s world view. D. T. Suzuki has called
+it ‘the most startling event that could ever happen in the
+realm of human consciousness . . . upsetting every form of
+standardised experience’,’ and he has illustrated the shocking
+character of this experience with the words of a Zen master
+who described it as ‘the bottom of a pail breaking through’.
+Physicists, at the beginning of this century, felt much the
+same way when the foundations of their world view were
+
+shaken by the new experience of the atomic reality, and they
+described this experience in terms which were often very
+similar to those used by Suzuki’s Zen master. Thus Heisenberg
+wrote :
+The violent reaction on the recent development of modern
+physics can only be understood when one realises that here
+the foundations of physics have started moving; and that
+this motion has caused the feeling that the ground would
+be cut from science.*
+Einstein experienced the same shock when he first came in
+contact with the new reality of atomic physics. He wrote in his
+autobiography:
+All my attempts to adapt the theoretical foundation of
+physics to this (new type of) knowledge failed completely.
+It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under
+one, with no firm foundation to be seen anywhere, upon
+which one could have built.3
+
+54
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The discoveries of modern physics necessitated profound
+changes of concepts like space, time, matter, object, cause and
+effect, etc., and since these concepts are so basic to our way
+of experiencing the world it is not surprising that the physicists
+who were forced to change them felt something of a shock.
+Out of these changes emerged a new and radically different
+world view, still in the process of formation by current scientific
+research.
+It seems, then, that Eastern mystics and Western physicists
+went through similar revolutionary experiences which led
+them to completely new ways of seeing the world. In the
+following two passages, the European physicist Niels Bohr and
+the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo both express the depth and
+the radical character of this experience.
+The great extension of our experience in recent years has
+brought to light the insufficiency of our simple mechanical
+conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the
+foundation on which the customary interpretation of
+observation was based.4
+Niels Bohr
+All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one’s whole experience of the world is radically
+different . . . There is a new vast and deep way of experiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things.5
+Sri Aurobindo
+This chapter will serve to sketch a preliminary picture of this
+new conception of the world against the contrasting background
+of classical physics;* showing how the classical mechanistic
+world view had to be abandoned at the beginning of this
+century when quantum theory and relativity theory-the two
+basic theories of modern physics-forced us to adopt a much
+more subtle, holistic and ‘organic’ view of nature.
+*The reader who finds this preliminary presentation of modern physics too
+compressed and difficult to understand should not be unduly worried. All of
+the concepts mentioned in this chapter will be discussed in greater detail later
+on.
+
+CLASSICAL PHYSICS
+
+55
+
+The world view which was changed by the discoveries of
+modern physics had been based on Newton’s mechanical
+model of the universe. This model constituted the solid framework of classical physics. It was indeed a most formidable
+foundation supporting, like a mighty rock, all of science and
+providing a firm basis for natural philosophy for almost three
+centuries.
+The stage of the Newtonian universe, on which all physical
+phenomena took place, was the three-dimensional space of
+classical Euclidean geometry. It was an absolute space, always
+at rest and unchangeable. In Newton’s own words, ‘Absolute
+space, in its own nature, without regard to anything external,
+remains always similar and immovable.‘6 All changes in the
+physical world were described in terms of a separate dimension,
+called time, which again was absolute, having no connection
+with the material world and flowing smoothly from the past
+through the present to the future. ‘Absolute, true, and mathematical time,’ said Newton, ‘of itself and by its own nature,
+flows uniformly, without regard to anything external.”
+The elements of the Newtonian world which moved in this
+absolute space and absolute time were material particles. In
+the mathematical equations they were treated as ‘mass points’
+and Newton saw them as small, solid, and indestructible
+objects out of which all matter was made. This model was
+quite similar to that of the Creek atomists. Both were based on
+the distinction between the full and the void, between matter
+and space, and in both models the particles remained always
+identical in their mass and shape. Matter was therefore always
+conserved and essentially passive. The important difference
+between the Democritean and Newtonian atomism is that the
+latter includes a precise description of the force acting between
+the material particles. This force is very simple, depending
+only on the masses and the mutual distances of the particles.
+It is the force of gravity, and it was seen by Newton as rigidly
+connected with the bodies it acted upon, and as acting
+instantaneously over a distance. Although this was a strange
+hypothesis, it was not investigated further. The particles and
+the forces between them were seen as created by God and
+
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+56
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+thus were not subject to further analysis. In his Opticks,
+Newton gives us a clear picture of how he imagined Cod’s
+creation of the material world:
+It seems probable to me that Cod in the beginning formed
+matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable
+particles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other
+properties, and in such proportion to space, as most
+conduced to the end for which he formed them; and that
+these primitive particles being solids, are incomparably
+harder than any porous bodies compounded of them;
+even so very hard, as never to wear or break in pieces;
+no ordinary power being able to divide what God himself
+made one in the first creation.8
+All physical events are reduced, in Newtonian mechanics,
+to the motion of material points in space, caused by their
+mutual attraction, i.e. by the force of gravity. In order to put
+the effect of this force on a mass point into a precise mathematical form, Newton had to invent completely new concepts
+and mathematical techniques, those of differential calculus.
+This was a tremendous intellectual achievement and has been
+praised by Einstein as ‘perhaps the greatest advance in thought
+that a single individual was ever privileged to make’.
+Newton’s equations of motion are the basis of classical
+mechanics. They were considered to be fixed laws according
+to which material points move, and were thus thought to
+account for all changes observed in the physical world. In the
+Newtonian view, Cod had created, in the beginning, the
+material particles, the forces between them, and the fundamental laws of motion. In this way, the whole universe was
+set in motion and it has continued to run ever since, like a
+machine, governed by immutable laws.
+The mechanistic view of nature is thus closely related to a
+rigorous determinism. The giant cosmic machine was seen as
+being completely causal and determinate. All that happened
+had a definite cause and gave rise to a definite effect, and the
+future of any part of the system could-in principle-be
+predicted with absolute certainty if its state at any time was
+known in all details. This belief found its clearest expression in
+
+the famous words of the French mathematician Pierre Simon
+Laplace :
+An intellect which at a given instant knew all the forces
+acting in nature, and the position of all things of which
+the world consists-supposing the said intellect were vast
+enough to subject these data to analysis-would embrace
+in the same formula the motions of the greatest bodies
+in the universe and those of the slightest atoms; nothing
+would be uncertain for it, and the future, like the past,
+would be present to its eyes.g
+The philosophical basis of this rigorous determinism was the
+fundamental division between the I and the world introduced
+by Descartes. As a consequence of this division, it was believed
+that the world could be described objectively, i.e. without
+ever mentioning the human observer, and such an objective
+description of nature became the ideal of all science.
+The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed a
+tremendous success of Newtonian mechanics. Newton himself
+applied his theory to the movement of the planets and was
+able to explain the basic features of the solar system. His
+planetary model was greatly simplified, however, neglecting,
+for example, the gravitational influence of the planets on each
+other, and thus he found that there were certain irregularities
+which he could not explain. He resolved this problem by assuming that Cod was always present in the universe to correct
+these irregularities.
+Laplace, the great mathematician, set himself the ambitious
+task of refining and perfecting Newton’s calculations in a book
+which should ‘offer a complete solution of the great mechanical
+problem presented by the solar system, and bring theory to
+coincide so closely with observation that empirical equations
+would no longer find a place in astronomical tables’.‘0 The
+result was a large work in five volumes, called Mecanique
+Celeste in which Laplace succeeded in explaining the motions
+of the planets, moons and comets down to the smallest
+details, as well as the flow of the tides and other phenomena
+related to gravity. He showed that the Newtonian laws of
+motion assured the stability of the solar system and treated
+
+Physics
+
+58
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the universe as a perfectly self-regulating machine. When
+Laplace presented the first edition of his work to Napoleonso the story goes-Napoleon remarked, ‘Monsieur Laplace,
+they tell me you have written this large book on the system
+of the universe, and have never even mentioned its Creator.’
+To this Laplace replied bluntly, ‘I had no need for that hypothesis.‘
+Encouraged by the brilliant success of Newtonian mechanics
+in astronomy, physicists extended it to the continuous motion
+of fluids and to the vibrations of elastic bodies, and again it
+worked. Finally, even the theory of heat could be reduced to
+mechanics when it was realized that heat was the energy
+created by a complicated ‘jiggling’ motion of the molecules.
+When the temperature of, say, water is increased the motion
+of the water molecules increases until they overcome the forces
+holding them together and fly apart. In this way, water turns
+into steam. On the other hand, when the thermal motion is
+slowed down by cooling the water, the molecules finally lock
+into a new, more rigid pattern which is ice. In a similar way,
+many other thermal phenomena can be understood quite well
+from a purely mechanistic point of view.
+
+water
+
+steam
+
+ice
+
+The enormous success of the mechanistic model made
+physicists of the early nineteenth century believe that the
+universe was indeed a huge mechanical system running
+according to the Newtonian laws of motion. These laws were
+seen as the basic laws of nature and Newton’s mechanics was
+considered to be the ultimate theory of natural phenomena.
+
+And yet, it was less than a hundred years later that a new
+physical reality was discovered which made the limitations of
+the Newtonian model apparent and showed that none of its
+features had absolute validity.
+This realization did not come abruptly, but was initiated by
+developments that had already started in the nineteenth
+century and prepared the way for the scientific revolutions of
+our time. The first of these developments was the discovery
+and investigation of electric and magnetic phenomena which
+could not be described appropriately by the mechanistic
+model and involved a new type of force. The important step
+was made by Michael Faraday and Clerk Maxwell-the first,
+one of the greatest experimenters in the history of science,
+the second, a brilliant theorist. When Faraday produced an
+electric current in a coil of copper by moving a magnet near
+it, and thus converted the mechanical work of moving the
+magnet into electric energy, he brought science and technology to a turning point. His fundamental experiment gave
+birth, on the one hand, to the vast technology of electrical
+engineering; on the other hand, it formed the basis of his and
+Maxwell’s theoretical speculations which, eventually, resulted
+in a complete theory of electromagnetism. Faraday and
+Maxwell did not only study the effects of the electric and magnetic forces, but made the forces themselves the primary
+object of their investigation. They replaced the concept of a
+force by that of a force field, and in doing so they were the
+first to go beyond Newtonian physics.
+Instead of interpreting the interaction between a positive
+and a negative charge simply by saying that the two charges
+attract each other like two masses in Newtonian mechanics,
+Faraday and Maxwell found it more appropriate to say that
+each charge creates a ‘disturbance’, or a ‘condition’, in the
+space around it so that the other charge, when it is present,
+feels a force. This condition in space which has the potential
+of producing a force is called a field. It is created by a single
+charge and it exists whether or not another charge is brought
+in to feel its effect.
+This was a most profound change in man’s conception of
+physical reality. In the Newtonian view, the forces were rigidly
+connected with the bodies they act upon. Now the force
+
+59
+
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+60
+The
+
+frequency (cycles per second)
+
+A-
+
+1026 -
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+cosmic rays
+1o26
+
+1,
+1.
+
+1024 _
+
+1oz2 _
+gamma rays
+1020 _
+7,
+IL
+10’8 _
+x-rays
+10'6
+ultra-violet
+
+7,
+1,
+
+1014 - visible light
+-
+
+light waves
+
+infra-red
+‘,
+1,
+
+10'2
+
+radar
+7r
+AL
+
+IO'O
+
+IO8
+
+FM
+T V
+radio waves
+
+IO6 he electromagnetic spectrum
+
+AM
+
+concept was replaced by the much subtler concept of a field
+which had its own reality and could be studied without any
+reference to material bodies. The culmination of this theory,
+called electrodynamics, was the realization that light is nothing
+but a rapidly alternating electromagnetic field travelling through
+space in the form of waves. Today we know that radio waves,
+light waves or X-rays, are all electromagnetic waves, oscillating
+electric and magnetic fields differing only in the frequency of
+their oscillation, and that visible light is only a tiny fraction of
+the electromagnetic spectrum.
+In spite of these far-reaching changes, Newtonian mechanics
+at first held its position as the basis of all physics. Maxwell
+himself tried to explain his results in mechanical terms, interpreting the fields as states of mechanical stress in a very light
+space-filling medium, called ether, and the electromagnetic
+waves as elastic waves of this ether. This was only natural as
+waves are usually experienced as vibrations of something;
+water waves as vibrations of water, sound waves as vibrations
+of air. Maxwell, however, used several mechanical interpretations of his theory at the same time and apparently took none
+of them really seriously. He must have realized intuitively, even
+if he did not say so explicitly, that the fundamental entities in
+his theory were the fields and not the mechanical models. It
+was Einstein who clearly recognized this fact fifty years later
+when he declared that no ether existed and that the electromagnetic fields were physical entities in their own right which
+could travel through empty space and could not be explained
+mechanically.
+At the beginning of the twentieth century, then, physicists
+had two successful theories which applied to different phenomena : Newton’s mechanics and Maxwell’s electrodynamics.
+Thus the Newtonian model had ceased to be the basis of all
+physics.
+MODERN PHYSICS
+The first three decades of our century changed the whole
+situation in physics radically. Two separate developmentsthat of relativity theory and of atomic physics-shattered all
+the principal concepts of the Newtonian world view: the notion
+of absolute space and time, the elementary solid particles, the
+
+61
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+62
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+strictly causal nature of physical phenomena, and the ideal of
+an objective description of nature. None of these concepts
+could be extended to the new domains into which physics was
+now penetrating.
+At the beginning of modern physics stands the extraordinary
+intellectual feat of one man: Albert Einstein. In two articles,
+both published in 1905, Einstein initiated two revolutionary
+trends of thought. One was his special theory of relativity,
+the other was a new way of looking at electromagnetic radiation
+which was to become characteristic of quantum theory, the
+theory of atomic phenomena. The complete quantum theory
+was worked out twenty years later by a whole team of physicists.
+Relativity theory, however, was constructed in its complete
+form almost entirely by Einstein himself. Einstein’s scientific
+papers stand at the beginning of the twentieth century as
+imposing intellectual monuments-the pyramids of modern
+civilization.
+Einstein strongly believed in nature’s inherent harmony and
+his deepest concern throughout his scientific life was to find a
+unified foundation of physics. He began to move towards this
+goal by constructing a common framework for electrodynamics
+and mechanics, the two separate theories of classical physics.
+This framework is known as the special theory of relativity. It
+unified and completed the structure of classical physics, but
+at the same time it involved drastic changes in the traditional
+concepts of space and time and undermined one of the
+foundations of the Newtonian world view.
+According to relativity theory, space is not three-dimensional
+and time is not a separate entity. Both are intimately connected
+and form a four-dimensional continuum, ‘space-time’. In
+relativity theory, therefore, we can never talk about space
+without talking about time and vice versa. Furthermore, there
+is no universal flow of time as in the Newtonian model. Different
+observers will order events differently in time if they move
+with different velocities relative to the observed events. In such
+a case, two events which are seen as occurring simultaneously
+by one observer may occur in different temporal sequences
+for other observers. All measurements involving space and
+time thus lose their absolute significance. In relativity theory,
+the Newtonian concept of an absolute space as the stage of
+
+physical phenomena is abandoned and so is the concept of
+an absolute time. Both space and time become merely elements
+of the language a particular observer uses for his description of
+the phenomena.
+The concepts of space and time are so basic for the description of natural phenomena that their modification entails
+a modification of the whole framework that we use to describe
+nature. The most important consequence of this modification
+is the realization that mass is nothing but a form of energy.
+Even an object at rest has energy stored in its mass, and the
+relation between the two is given by the famous equation
+E= mc2, c being the speed of light.
+This constant c, the speed of light, is of fundamental importance for the theory of relativity. Whenever we describe
+physical phenomena involving velocities which approach the
+speed of light, our description has to take relativity theory into
+account. This applies in particular to electromagnetic phenomena, of which light is just one example and which led Einstein
+to the formulation of his theory.
+In 1915, Einstein proposed his general theory of relativity in
+which the framework of the special theory is extended to include
+gravity, i.e. the mutual attraction of all massive bodies. Whereas
+the special theory has been confirmed by innumerable experiments, the general theory has not yet been confirmed conclusively. However, it is so far the most accepted, consistent
+and elegant theory of gravity and is widely used in astrophysics
+and cosmology for the description of the universe at large.
+The force of gravity, according to Einstein’s theory, has the
+effect of ‘curving’ space and time. This means that ordinary
+Euclidean geometry is no longer valid in such a curved space,
+just as the two-dimensional geometry of a plane cannot be
+applied on the surface of a sphere. On a plane, we can draw,
+for example, a square by marking off one metre on a straight line,
+making a right angle and marking off another metre, then
+making another right angle and marking off another metre,
+and finally making a third right angle and marking off one metre
+again, after which we are back at the starting point and the
+square is completed. On a sphere, however, this procedure
+does not work because the rules of Euclidean geometry do not
+hold on curved surfaces. In the same way, we can define a
+
+63
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+64
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+three-dimensional curved space to be one in which Euclidean
+geometry is no longer valid. Einstein’s theory, now, says that
+three-dimensional space is actually curved, and that the curvature is caused by the gravitational field of massive bodies.
+
+1.
+
+7,
+
+drawing a square on a plane and on a sphere
+
+Wherever there is a massive object, e.g. a star or a planet, the
+space around it is curved and the degree of curvature depends
+on the mass of the object. And as space can never be separated
+from time in relativity theory, time as well is affected by the
+presence of matter, flowing at different rates in different parts
+of the universe. Einstein’s general theory of relativity thus
+completely abolishes the concepts of absolute space and
+time. Not only are all measurements involving space and time
+relative; the whole structure of space-time depends on the
+distribution of matter in the universe, and the concept of
+‘empty space’ loses its meaning.
+The mechanistic world view of classical physics was based on
+the notion of solid bodies moving in empty space. This notion
+is still valid in the region that has been called the ‘zone of
+middle dimensions’, that is, in the realm of our daily experience
+where classical physics continues to be a useful theory. Both
+concepts-that of empty space and that of solid material
+bodies-are deeply ingrained in our habits of thought, so it is
+extremely difficult for us to imagine a physical reality where
+they do not apply. And yet, this is precisely what modern
+physics forces us to do when we go beyond the middle dimensions. ‘Empty space’ has lost its meaning in astrophysics and
+cosmology, the sciences of the universe at large, and the
+
+concept of solid objects was shattered by atomic physics, the
+science of the infinitely small.
+At the turn of the century, several phenomena connected
+with the structure of atoms and inexplicable in terms of classical
+physics were discovered. The first indication that atoms had
+some structure came from the discovery of X-rays; a new
+radiation which rapidly found its now well known application
+in medicine. X-rays, however, are not the only radiation emitted
+by atoms. Soon after their discovery, other kinds of radiation
+were discovered which are emitted by the atoms of so-called
+radioactive substances. The phenomenon of radioactivity gave
+definite proof of the composite nature of atoms, showing that
+the atoms of radioactive substances not only emit various
+types of radiation, but also transform themselves into atoms of
+completely different substances.
+Besides being objects of intense study, these phenomena
+were also used, in most ingenious ways, as new tools to probe
+deeper into matter than had ever been possible before. Thus
+Max von Laue used X-rays to study the arrangements of atoms
+in crystals, and Ernest Rutherford realized that the so-called
+alpha particles emanating from radioactive substances were
+high-speed projectiles of subatomic size which could be used
+to explore the interior of the atom. They could be fired at
+atoms, and from the way they were deflected one could draw
+conclusions about the atoms’ structure.
+When Rutherford bombarded atoms with these alpha
+particles, he obtained sensational and totally unexpected
+results. Far from being the hard and solid particles they were
+believed to be since antiquity, the atoms turned out to consist
+of vast regions of space in which extremely small particles-the
+electrons-moved around the nucleus, bound to it by electric
+forces. It is not easy to get a feeling for the order of magnitude
+of atoms, so far is it removed from our macroscopic scale. The
+diameter of an atom is about one hundred millionth of a centimetre. In order to visualize this diminutive size, imagine an
+orange blown up to the size of the Earth. The atoms of the
+orange will then have the size of cherries. Myriads of cherries,
+tightly packed into a globe of the size of the Earth-that’s a
+magnified picture of the atoms in an orange.
+An atom, therefore, is extremely small compared to macro-
+
+65
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+66
+T h e
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+scopic objects, but it is huge compared to the nucleus in its
+centre. In our picture of cherry-sized atoms, the nucleus of an
+atom will be so small that we will not be able to see it. If we
+blew up the atom to the size of a football, or even to room size,
+the nucleus would still be too small to be seen by the naked
+eye. To see the nucleus, we would have to blow up the atom
+to the size of the biggest dome in the world, the dome of St
+Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. In an atom of that size, the nucleus
+would have the size of a grain of salt! A grain of salt in the
+middle of the dome of St Peter’s, and specks of dust whirling
+around it in the vast space of the dome-this is how we can
+picture the nucleus and electrons of an atom.
+Soon after the emergence of this ‘planetary’ model of the
+atom, it was discovered that the number of electrons in the
+atoms of an element determine the element’s chemical properties, and today we know that the whole periodic table of
+elements can be built up by successively adding protons and
+neutrons to the nucleus of the lightest atom-hydrogen*-and
+the corresponding number of electrons to its atomic ‘shell’.
+The interactions between the atoms give rise to the various
+chemical processes, so that all of chemistry can now in principle
+be understood on the basis of the laws of atomic physics.
+These laws, however, were not easy to recognize. They were
+discovered in the 1920s by an international group of physicists
+including Niels Bohr from Denmark, Louis De Broglie from
+France, Erwin Schrddinger and Wolfgang Pauli from Austria,
+Werner Heisenberg from Germany, and Paul Dirac from
+England. These men joined their forces across all national
+borders and shaped one of the most exciting periods in modern
+science, which brought man, for the first time, into contact
+with the strange and unexpected reality of the subatomic
+world. Every time the physicists asked nature a question in an
+atomic experiment, nature answered with a paradox, and the
+more they tried to clarify the situation, the sharper the paradoxes
+became. It took them a long time to accept the fact that these
+paradoxes belong to the intrinsic structure of atomic physics,
+and to realize that they arise whenever one attempts to
+describe atomic events in the traditional terms of physics.
+*The hydrogen atom consists of just one proton and one electron.
+
+Once this was perceived, the physicists began to learn to ask
+the right questions and to avoid contradictions. In the words
+of Heisenberg, ‘they somehow got into the spirit of the quantum
+theory’, and finally they found the precise and consistent
+mathematical formulation of this theory.
+The concepts of quantum theory were not easy to accept
+even after their mathematical formulation had been completed.
+Their effect on the physicists’ imaginations was truly shattering.
+Rutherford’s experiments had shown that atoms, instead of
+being hard and indestructible, consisted of vast regions of
+space in which extremely small particles moved, and now
+quantum theory made it clear that even these particles were
+nothing like the solid objects of classical physics. The subatomic
+units of matter are very abstract entities which have a dual
+aspect. Depending on how we look at them, they appear
+sometimes as particles, sometimes as waves; and this dual
+nature is also exhibited by light which can take the form of
+electromagnetic waves or of particles.
+This property of matter and of light is very strange. It seems
+impossible to accept that something can be, at the same time,
+a particle-i.e. an entity confined to a very small volume-and
+0
+a particle
+
+a wave
+
+a wave, which is spread out over a large region of space. This
+contradiction gave rise to most of the koan-like paradoxes
+which finally led to the formulation of quantum theory. The
+whole development started when Max Planck discovered that
+the energy of heat radiation is not emitted continuously, but
+appears in the form of ‘energy packets’. Einstein called these
+energy packets ‘quanta’ and recognized them as a fundamental
+aspect of nature. He was bold enough to postulate that light
+and every other form of electromagnetic radiation can appear
+not only as electromagnetic waves, but also in the form of
+these quanta. The light quanta, which gave quantum theory
+its name, have since been accepted as bona fide particles and
+are now called photons. They are particles of a special kind,
+however, massless and always travelling with the speed of
+light.
+
+67
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+)
+68
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The apparent contradiction between the particle and the
+wave picture was solved in a completely unexpected way
+which called in question the very foundation of the mechanistic
+world view-the concept of the reality of matter. At the subatomic level, matter does not exist with certainty at definite
+places, but rather shows ‘tendencies to exist’, and atomic events
+do not occur with certainty at definite times and in definite
+ways, but rather show ‘tendencies to occur’. In the formalism
+of quantum theory, these tendencies are expressed as probabilities and are associated with mathematical quantities
+which take the form of waves. This is why particles can be
+waves at the same time. They are not ‘real’ three-dimensional
+waves like sound or water waves. They are ‘probability waves’,
+abstract mathematical quantities with all the characteristic
+properties of waves which are related to the probabilities of
+finding the particles at particular points in space and at particular times. All the laws of atomic physics are expressed in
+terms of these probabilities. We can never predict an atomic
+event with certainty; we can only say how likely it is to happen.
+Quantum theory has thus demolished the classical concepts
+of solid objects and of strictly deterministic laws of nature. At
+the subatomic level, the solid material objects of classical
+physics dissolve into wave-like patterns of probabilities, and
+these patterns, ultimately, do not represent probabilities of
+things, but rather probabilities of interconnections. A careful
+analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has
+shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as
+isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections
+between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent
+measurement. Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness
+of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world
+into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate
+into matter, nature does not show us any isolated ‘basic
+building blocks’, but rather appears as a complicated web of
+relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The
+human observer constitutes the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object
+can only be understood in terms of the object’s interaction
+with the observer. This means that the classical ideal of an
+
+objective description of nature is no longer valid. The Cartesian
+partition between the I and the world, between the observer
+and the observed, cannot be made when dealing with atomic
+matter. In atomic physics, we can never speak about nature
+without, at the same time, speaking about ourselves.
+The new atomic theory could immediately solve several
+puzzles which had arisen in connection with the structure of
+atoms and could not be explained by Rutherford’s planetary
+model. First of all, Rutherford’s experiments had shown that
+the atoms making up solid matter consist almost entirely of
+empty space, as far as the distribution of mass is concerned.
+But if all the objects around us, and we ourselves, consist
+mostly of empty space, why can’t we walk through closed
+doors? In other words, what is it that gives matter its solid
+aspect?
+A second puzzle was the extraordinary mechanical stability
+of atoms. In the air, for example, atoms collide millions of times
+every second and yet go back to their original form after each
+collision. No planetary system following the laws of classical
+mechanics would ever come out of these collisions unaltered.
+But an oxygen atom will always retain its characteristic configuration of electrons, no matter how often it collides with
+other atoms. This configuration, furthermore, is exactly the
+same in all atoms of a given kind. Two iron atoms, and consequently two pieces of pure iron, are completely identical,
+no matter where they come from or how they have been
+treated in the past.
+Quantum theory has shown that all these astonishing properties of atoms arise from the wave nature of their electrons.
+To begin with, the solid aspect of matter is the consequence of
+a typical ‘quantum effect’ connected with the dual wave/particle
+aspect of matter, a feature of the subatomic world which has
+no macroscopic analogue. Whenever a particle is confined to
+a small region of space it reacts to this confinement by moving
+around, and the smaller the region of confinement is, the faster
+the particle moves around in it. In the atom, now, there are
+two competing forces. On the one hand, the electrons are
+bound to the nucleus by electric forces which try to keep them
+as close as possible. On the other hand, they respond to their
+confinement by whirling around, and the tighter they are
+
+69
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+70
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+bound to the nucleus, the higher their velocity will be; in fact,
+the confinement of electrons in an atom results in enormous
+velocities of about 600 miles per second! These high velocities
+make the atom appear as a rigid sphere, just as a fast rotating
+propeller appears as a disc. It is very difficult to compress atoms
+any further and thus they give matter its familiar solid aspect.
+In the atom, then, the electrons settle in orbits in such a
+way that there is an optimal balance between the attraction
+of the nucleus and their reluctance to be confined. The atomic
+orbits, however, are very different from those of the planets in
+the solar system, the difference arising from the wave nature
+of the electrons. An atom cannot be pictured as a small
+planetary system. Rather than particles circling around the
+nucleus, we have to imagine probability waves arranged in
+different orbits. Whenever we make a measurement, we will
+find the electrons somewhere in these orbits, but we cannot
+say that they are ‘going around the nucleus’ in the sense of
+classical mechanics.
+In the orbits, the electron waves have to be arranged in
+such a way that ‘their ends meet’, i.e. that they form patterns
+known as ‘standing waves’. These patterns appear whenever
+waves are confined to a finite region, like the waves in a vibrating
+guitar string, or in the air inside a flute (see diagram overleaf). It is
+well known from these examples that standing waves can
+assume only a limited number of well-defined shapes. In the case
+of the electron waves inside an atom, this means that they can
+exist only in certain atomic orbits with definite diameters. The
+electron of a hydrogen atom, for example, can only exist in a
+certain first, second or third orbit, etc., and nowhere in between.
+Under normal conditions, it will always be in its lowest orbit,
+called the ‘ground state’ of the atom. From there, the electron
+can jump to higher orbits if it receives the necessary amount of
+energy, and then the atom is said to be in an ‘excited state’
+from which it will go back to its ground state after a while,
+the electron giving off the surplus energy in the form of a
+quantum of electromagnetic radiation, or photon. The states
+of an atom, i.e. the shapes and mutual distances of its electron
+orbits, are exactly the same for all atoms with the same number
+of electrons. This is why any two oxygen atoms, for example,
+
+71
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+standing-wave patterns in a vibrating string
+
+will be completely identical. They may be in different excited
+states, perhaps due to collisions with other atoms in the air,
+but after a while they will invariably return to exactly the same
+ground state. The wave nature of the electrons accounts thus
+for the identity of atoms and for their great mechanical
+stability.
+A further characteristic feature of atomic states is the fact
+that they can be completely specified by a set of integral
+numbers, called ‘quantum numbers’, which indicate the location and shape of the electron orbits. The first quantum number
+is the number of the orbit and determines the energy an
+electron must have to be in that orbit; two more numbers
+specify the detailed shape of the electron wave in the orbit
+and are related to the speed and orientation of the electron’s
+
+72
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+rotation.* The fact that these details are expressed by integral
+numbers means that the electron cannot change its rotation
+continuously, but can only jump from one value to another,
+just as it can only jump from one orbit to another. Again the
+higher values represent excited states of the atom, the ground
+state being the one where all the electrons are in the lowest
+possible orbits and have the smallest possible amounts of
+rotation.
+Tendencies to exist, particles reacting to confinement with
+motion, atoms switching suddenly from one ‘quantum state’
+to another, and an essential interconnectedness of all phenomena-these are some of the unusual features of the atomic
+world. The basic force, on the other hand, which gives rise to
+all atomic phenomena is familiar and can be experienced in
+the macroscopic world. It is the force of electric attraction
+between the positively charged atomic nucleus and the
+negatively charged electrons. The interplay of this force with
+the electron waves gives rise to the tremendous variety of
+structures and phenomena in our environment. It is responsible
+for all chemical reactions, and for the formation of molecules,
+that is, of aggregates of several atoms bound to each other by
+mutual attraction. The interaction between electrons and
+atomic nuclei is thus the basis of all solids, liquids and gases,
+and also of all living organisms and of the biological processes
+associated with them.
+In this immensely rich world of atomic phenomena, the
+nuclei play the role of extremely small, stable centres which
+constitute the source of the electric force and form the
+skeletons of the great variety of molecular structures. To
+understand these structures, and most of the natural.phenomena around us, it is not necessary to know more about the
+nuclei than their charge and their mass. In order to understand
+the nature of matter, however, to know what matter is ultimately
+made of, one has to study the atomic nuclei which contain
+practically all of its mass. In the 193Os, after quantum theory
+had unravelled the world of atoms, it was therefore the main
+*The ‘rotation’ of an electron in its orbit must not be understood in the classical
+sense; it is determined by the shape of the electron wave in terms of the
+probabilities for the particle’s existence in certain parts of the orbit.
+
+task of physicists to understand the structure of nuclei, their
+constituents and the forces which hold them together so
+tightly.
+The first important step towards an understanding of nuclear
+structure was the discovery of the neutron as the second
+constituent of the nucleus, a particle which has roughly the
+same mass as the proton (the first nuclear constituent)-about
+two thousand times the mass of the electron-but does not
+carry an electric charge. This discovery not only explained
+how the nuclei of all chemical elements were built up from
+protons and neutrons, but also revealed that the nuclear force,
+which kept these particles so tightly bound within the nucleus,
+was a completely new phenomenon. It could not be of electromagnetic origin since the neutrons were electrically neutral.
+Physicists soon realized that they were here confronted with a
+new force of nature which does not manifest itself anywhere
+outside the nucleus.
+An atomic nucleus is about one hundred thousand times
+smaller than the whole atom and yet it contains almost all of
+the atom’s mass. This means that matter inside the nucleus
+must be extremely dense compared to the forms of matter
+we are used to. Indeed, if the whole human body were compressed to nuclear density it would not take up more space
+than a pinhead. This high density, however, is not the only
+unusual property of nuclear matter. Being of the same quantum
+nature as electrons, the ‘nucleons’-as the protons and
+neutrons are often called-respond to their confinement with
+high velocities, and since they are squeezed into a much smaller
+volume their reaction is all the m-ore violent. They race about
+in the nucleus with velocities of about 40,000 miles per second!
+Nuclear matter is thus a form of matter entirely’different from
+anything we experience ‘up here’ in our macroscopic environment. We can, perhaps, picture it best as tiny drops of an
+extremely dense liquid which is boiling and bubbling most
+fiercely.
+The essential new aspect of nuclear matter which accounts
+for all its unusual properties is the strong nuclear force, and
+the feature that makes this force so unique is its extremely
+short range. It acts only when the nucleons come very near
+to each other, that is, when their distance is about two to
+
+73
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+74
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+three times their diameter. At such a distance, the nuclear
+force is strongly attractive, but when the distance becomes
+less the force becomes strongly repulsive so that the nucleons
+cannot approach each other any closer. In this way, the nuclear
+force keeps the nucleus in an extremely stable, though extremely
+dynamic equilibrium.
+The picture of matter which emerges from the study of
+atoms and nuclei shows that most of it is concentrated in tiny
+drops separated by huge distances. In the vast space between
+the massive and fiercely boiling nuclear drops move the
+electrons. These constitute only a tiny fraction of the total
+mass, but give matter its solid aspect and provide the links
+necessary to build up the molecular structures. They are also
+involved in the chemical reactions and are responsible for the
+chemical properties of matter. Nuclear reactions, on the other
+hand, generally do not occur naturally in this form of matter
+because the available energies are not high enough to disturb
+the nuclear equilibrium.
+This form of matter, however, with its multitude of shapes
+and textures and its complicated molecular architecture, can
+exist only under very special conditions, when the temperature
+is not too high, so that the molecules do not jiggle too much.
+When the thermal energy increases about a hundredfold, as
+it does in most stars, all atomic and molecular structures are
+destroyed. Most of the matter in the universe exists, in fact, in
+a state which is very different from the one just described. In
+the centre of the stars exist large accumulations of nuclear
+matter, and nuclear processes which occur only very rarely on
+earth predominate there. They are essential for the great variety
+of stellar phenomena observed in astronomy, most of which
+arise from a combination of nuclear and gravitational effects.
+For our planet, the nuclear processes in the centre of the Sun
+are of particular importance because they furnish the energy
+which sustains our terrestrial environment. It has been one of
+the great triumphs of modern physics to discover that the
+constant energy flow from the Sun, our vital link with the
+world of the very large, is a result of nuclear reactions, of
+phenomena in the world of the infinitely small.
+In the history of man’s penetration into this submicroscopic
+
+world, a stage was reached in the early 1930s when scientists
+thought they had now finally discovered the ‘basic building
+blocks’ of matter. It was known that all matter consisted of
+atoms and that all atoms consisted of protons, neutrons and
+electrons. These so-called ‘elementary particles’ were seen as
+the ultimate indestructible units of matter: atoms in the Democritean sense. Although quantum theory implies, as mentioned
+previously, that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units, this was not generally
+perceived at that time. The classical habits of thought were
+still so persistent that most physicists tried to understand matter
+in terms of its ‘basic building blocks’, and this trend of thought
+is, in fact, quite strong even today.
+Two further developments in modern physics have shown,
+however, that the notion of elementary particles as the primary
+units of matter has to be abandoned. One of these developments was experimental, the other theoretical, and both began
+in the 1930s. On the experimental side, new particles were
+discovered as physicists refined their experimental techniques
+and developed ingenious new devices for particle detection.
+Thus the number of particles increased from three to six by
+1935, then to eighteen by 1955, and today we know over two
+hundred ‘elementary’ particles. The two tables overleaf,
+taken from a recent publication,” show most of the particles
+known today. They illustrate convincingly that the adjective
+‘elementary’ is no longer very attractive in such a situation.
+As more and more particles were discovered over the years,
+it became clear that not all of them could be called ‘elementary’,
+and today there is a widespread belief among physicists that
+none of them deserves this name.
+This belief is enforced by the theoretical developments
+which paralleled the discovery of an ever-increasing number of
+particles. Soon after the formulation of quantum theory, it
+became clear that a complete theory of nuclear phenomena
+must not only be a quantum theory, but must also incorporate
+relativity theory. This is because the particles confined to
+dimensions of the size of nuclei often move so fast that their
+speed comes close to the speed of light. This fact is crucial for
+the description of their behaviour, because every description
+of natural phenomena involving velocities close to the speed
+
+75
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+76
+
+Meson Table
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+D
+
+(7701
+
+w
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+(7.93)
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+of light has to take relativity theory into account. It has to be,
+as we say, a ‘relativist/c’ description. What we need, therefore,
+for a full understanding of the nuclear world is a theory which
+incorporates both quantum theory and relativity theory. Such
+a theory has not yet been found, and therefore we have as
+yet been unable to formulate a complete theory of the nucleus.
+Although we know quite a lot about nuclear structure and
+about the interactions between nuclear particles, we do not
+yet understand the nature and complicated form of the
+nuclear force on a fundamental level. There is no complete
+theory of the nuclear particle world comparable to quantum
+theory for the atomic world. We do have several ‘quantumrelativistic’ models which describe some aspects of the world
+of particles very well, but the fusion of quantum and relativity
+theory into a complete theory of the particle world is still the
+
+central problem and great challenge of modern fundamental
+physics.
+Relativity theory has had a profound influence on our picture
+of matter by forcing us to modify our concept of a particle in
+an essential way. In classical physics, the mass of an object
+had always been associated with an indestructible material
+substance, with some ‘stuff’ of which all things were thought
+to be made. Relativity theory showed that mass has nothing
+to do with any substance, but is a form of energy. Energy,
+however, is a dynamic quantity associated with activity, or
+with processes. The fact that the mass of a particle is equivalent
+to a certain amount of energy means that the particle can
+no longer be seen as a static object, but has to be conceived
+as a dynamic pattern, a process involving the energy which
+manifests itself as the particle’s mass.
+This new view of particles was initiated by Dirac when he
+formulated a relativistic equation describing the behaviour of
+electrons. Dirac’s theory was not only extremely successful in
+accounting for the fine details of atomic structure, but also
+revealed a fundamental symmetry between matter and antimatter. It predicted the existence of an anti-electron with the
+same mass as the electron but with an opposite charge. This
+positively charged particle, now called the positron, was
+indeed discovered two years after Dirac had predicted it. The
+symmetry between matter and antimatter implies that for
+every particle there exists an antiparticle with equal mass and
+opposite charge. Pairs of particles and antiparticles can be
+created if enough energy is available and can be made to
+turn into pure energy in the reverse process of annihilation.
+These processes of particle creation and annihilation had
+been predicted from Dirac’s theory before they were actually
+discovered in nature, and since then they have been observed
+millions of times.
+The creation of material particles from pure energy is
+certainly the most spectacular effect of relativity theory, and it
+can only be understood in terms of the view of particles outlined above. Before relativistic particle physics, the constituents
+of matter had always been considered as being either elementary
+units which were indestructible and unchangeable, or as com-
+
+77
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+78
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+posite objects which could be broken up into their constituent
+parts; and the basic question was whether one could divide
+rnatter again and again, or whether one would finally arrive at
+some smallest indivisible units. After Dirac’s discovery, the
+whole question of the division of matter appeared in a new
+light. When two particles collide with high energies, they
+generally break into pieces, but these pieces are not smaller
+than the original particles. They are again particles of the same
+kind and are created out of the energy of motion (‘kinetic
+energy’) involved in the collision process. The whole problem
+of dividing matter is thus resolved in an unexpected sense.
+The only way to divide subatomic particles further is to bang
+them together in collision processes involving high energies.
+This way, we can divide matter again and again, but we never
+obtain smaller pieces because we just create particles out of
+the energy involved in the process. The subatomic particles are
+thus destructible and indestructible at the same time.
+This state of affairs is bound to remain paradoxical as long
+as we adopt the static view of composite ‘objects’ consisting
+of ‘basic building blocks’. Only when the dynamic, relativistic
+view is adopted does the paradox disappear. The particles are
+then seen as dynamic patterns, or processes, which involve a
+certain amount of energy appearing to us as their mass. In a
+collision process, the energy of the two colliding particles is
+redistributed to form a new pattern, and if it has been increased
+by a sufficient amount of kinetic energy, this new pattern
+may involve additional particles.
+High-energy collisions of subatomic particles are the
+principal method used by physicists to study the properties
+of these particles, and particle physics is therefore also called
+‘high-energy physics’. The kinetic energies required for the
+collision experiments are achieved by means of huge particle
+accelerators: enormous circular machines with circumferences
+of several miles in which protons are accelerated to velocities
+near the speed of light and are then made to collide with other
+protons or with neutrons. It is impressive that machines of
+*See photograph on pages 14-15, showing an aerial view of the accelerator
+at Fermilab, near Batavia, Illinois, which has a circumference of four miles
+(photograph taken in 1971 while the laboratory was still under construction).
+
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+that size are needed to study the world of the infinitely small.
+They are the supermicroscopes of our time.
+Most of the particles created in these collisions live for only
+an extremely short time-much less than a millionth of a
+second-after which they disintegrate again into protons,
+neutrons and electrons. In spite of their exceedingly short
+lifetime, these particles can not only be detected and their
+properties measured but are actually made to leave tracks
+which can be photographed! These particle tracks are produced in so-called bubble chambers in a manner similar to
+the way a jet plane makes a trail in the sky. The actual particles
+are many orders of magnitude smaller than the bubbles making
+up the tracks, but from the thickness and curvature of a track
+physicists can identify the particle that caused it. The picture
+overleaf shows such bubble chamber tracks. The points from
+which several tracks emanate are points of particle collisions,
+and the curves are caused by magnetic fields which the
+experimenters use to identify the particles. The collisions of
+particles are our main experimental method to study their
+properties and interactions, and the beautiful lines, spirals and
+curves traced by the particles in bubble chambers are thus of
+paramount importance for modern physics.
+
+80
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The high-energy scattering experiments of the past decades
+have shown us the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the
+particle world in the most striking way. Matter has appeared
+in these experiments as completely mutable. All particles can
+be transmuted into other particles; they can be created from
+energy and can vanish into energy. In this world, classical
+concepts like ‘elementary particle’, ‘material substance’ or
+‘isolated object’, have lost their meaning; the whole universe
+appears as a dynamic web of inseparable energy patterns. So
+far, we have not yet found a complete theory to describe this
+world of subatomic particles, but we do have several theoretical
+models which describe certain aspects of it very well. None of
+these models is free from mathematical difficulties, and they
+all contradict each other in certain ways, but all of them reflect
+the basic unity and the intrinsically dynamic character of
+matter. They show that the properties of a particle can only be
+understood in terms of its activity-of its interaction with the
+surrounding environment-and that the particle, therefore,
+cannot be seen as an isolated entity, but has to be understood
+as an integrated part of the whole.
+Relativity theory has not only affected our conception of
+particles in a drastic way, but also our picture of the forces
+between these particles. In a relativistic description of particle
+interactions, the forces between the particles-that is their
+mutual attraction or repulsion-are pictured as the exchange
+of other particles. This concept is very difficult to visualize. It is
+a consequence of the four dimensional space-time character of
+the subatomic world and neither our intuition nor our language
+can deal with this image very well. Yet it is crucial for an understanding of subatomic phenomena. It links the forces between
+constituents of matter to the properties of other constituents
+of matter, and thus unifies the two concepts, force and matter,
+which had seemed to be so fundamentally different ever since
+the Greek atomists. Both force and matter are now seen to
+have their common origin in the dynamic patterns which we
+call particles.
+The fact that particles interact through forces which manifest
+themselves as the exchange of other particles is yet another
+reason why the subatomic world cannot be decomposed into
+constituent parts. From the macroscopic level down to the
+
+nuclear level, the forces which hold things together are relatively
+weak and it is a good approximation to say that things consist
+of constituent parts. Thus a grain of salt can be said to consist
+of salt molecules, the salt molecules of two kinds of atoms,
+those atoms to consist of nuclei and electrons, and the nuclei
+of protons and neutrons. At the particle level, however, it is
+no longer possible to see things that way.
+In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of
+evidence that the protons and neutrons, too, are composite
+objects; but the forces holding them together are so strong
+or-what amounts to the same-the velocities acquired by the
+components are so high, that the relativistic picture has to be
+applied, where the forces are also particles. Thus the distinction
+between the constituent particles and the particles making up
+the binding forces becomes blurred and the approximation
+of an object consisting of constituent parts breaks down.
+The particle world cannot be decomposed into elementary
+components.
+In modern physics, the universe is thus experienced as a dynamic,
+inseparable whole which always includes the observer in an
+essential way. In this experience, ,the traditional concepts of
+space and time, of isolated objects, and of cause and effect,
+lose their meaning. Such an experience, however, is very
+similar to that of the Eastern mystics. The similarity becomes
+apparent in quantum and relativity theory, and becomes even
+stronger in the ‘quantum-relativistic’ models of subatomic
+physics where both these theories combine to produce the
+most striking parallels to Eastern mysticism.
+Before spelling out these parallels in detail, I shall give a
+brief account of the schools of Eastern philosophy which are
+relevant to the comparison for the reader who is not familiar
+with them. They are the various schools in the religious philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. In the following
+five chapters, the historical background, characteristic features
+and philosophical concepts of these spiritual traditions will be
+described, the emphasis being on those aspects and concepts
+which will be important for the subsequent comparison with
+physics.
+__---
+
+-
+
+-
+
+81
+The
+New
+Physics
+
+II THE
+WAY OF
+EASTERN
+MYSTICISM
+
+--.-_ --- _.
+
+------ _.. ~ --._ _.._ ..-.__- - .._ -~ ~,
+
+’ 5 HINDUISM
+
+For an understanding of any of the philosophies to be described, it is important to realize that they are religious in
+essence. Their main aim is the direct mystical experience of
+reality, and since this experience is religious by nature, they
+are inseparable from religion. More than for any other Eastern
+tradition this is true for Hinduism, where theconnection between
+philosophy and religion is particularly strong. It has been said
+that almost all thought in India is in a sense religious thought
+and Hinduism has not only influenced, throughout many
+centuries, India’s intellectual life, but almost completely
+determined her social and cultural life as well.
+Hinduism cannot be called a philosophy, nor is it a well
+defined religion. It is, rather, a large and complex socio-religious
+organism consisting of innumerable sects, cults and philosophical systems and involving various rituals, ceremonies and
+spiritual disciplines, as well as the worship of countless gods and
+goddesses. The many facets of this complex and yet persistent
+and powerful spiritual tradition mirror the geographical, racial,
+linguistic and cultural complexities of India’s vast subcontinent.
+The manifestations of Hinduism range from highly intellectual
+philosophies involving conceptions of fabulous range and
+depth to the nai’ve and childlike ritual practices of the masses.
+If the majority of the Hindus are simple villagers who keep the
+popular religion alive in their daily worship, Hinduism has, on
+the other hand, brought forth a large number of outstanding
+spiritual teachers to transmit its profound insights.
+The spiritual source of Hinduism lies in the Vedas, a collection
+of ancient scriptures written by anonymous sages, the socalled Vedic ‘seers’. There are four Vedas, the oldest of them
+
+86
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+being the Rig Veda. Written in ancient Sanskrit, the sacred
+language of India, the Vedas have remained the highest
+religious authority for most sections of Hinduism. In India,
+any philosophical system that does not accept the authority
+of the Vedas is considered to be unorthodox.
+Each of these Vedas consists of several parts which were
+composed at different periods, probably between 1500 and
+500 B.C. The oldest parts are sacred hymns and prayers.
+Subsequent parts deal with sacrificial rituals connected with
+the Vedic hymns, and the last, called the Upanishads, elaborate
+their philosophical and practical content. The Upanishads
+contain the essence of Hinduism’s spiritual message. They
+have guided and inspired India’s greatest minds for the last
+twenty-five centuries, in accordance with the advice given in
+their verses :
+Taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad,
+One should put upon it an arrow sharpened by
+meditation.
+Stretching it with a thought directed to the essence of
+That,
+Penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my friend.’
+The masses of the Indian people, however, have received
+the teachings of Hinduism not through the Upanishads, but
+through a large number of popular tales, collected in huge
+epics, which are the basis of the vast and colourful Indian
+mythology. One of those epics, the Mahabharata, contains
+India’s favourite religious text, the beautiful spiritual poem of
+the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita, as it is commonly called, is a
+dialogue between the god Krishna and the warrior Arjuna who
+is in great despair, being forced to combat his own kinsmen
+in the great family war which forms the main story of the
+Mahabharata. Krishna, disguised as Arjuna’s charioteer, drives
+the chariot right between the two armies and in this dramatic
+setting of the battlefield he starts to reveal to Arjuna the most
+profound truths of Hinduism. As the god speaks, the realistic
+backgrouna of the war between the two families soon fades
+away and it becomes clear that the battle of Arjuna is the
+spiritual battle of man, the battle of the warrior in search of
+enlightenment. Krishna himself advises Arjuna:
+
+Kill therefore with the sword of wisdom the doubt born
+of ignorance that lies in thy heart. Be one in self-harmony,
+in Yoga, and arise, great warrior, arise.2
+The basis of Krishna’s spiritual instruction, as of all Hinduism,
+is the idea that the multitude of things and events around us
+are but different manifestations of the same ultimate reality.
+This reality, called Brahman, is the unifying concept which
+gives Hinduism its essentially monistic character in spite of the
+worship of numerous gods and goddesses.
+Brahman, the ultimate reality, is understood as the ‘soul’,
+or inner essence, of all things. It is infinite and beyond all
+concepts; it cannot be comprehended by the intellect, nor
+can it be adequately described in words: ‘Brahman, beginningless, supreme: beyond what is and beyond what is not.‘3‘Incomprehensible is that supreme Soul, unlimited, unborn,
+not to be reasoned about, unthinkable.‘4 Yet, people want to
+talk about this reality and the Hindu sages with their characteristic penchant for myth have pictured Brahman as divine
+and talk about it in mythological language. The various aspects
+of the Divine have been given the names of the various gods
+worshipped by the Hindus, but the scriptures make it clear
+that all these gods are but reflections of the one ultimate
+reality :
+This that people say, Worship this god! Worship that
+god!-one after another-this is his‘[Brahman’s]
+creation
+indeed! And he himself is all the gods.5
+The manifestation of Brahman in the human soul is called
+Atman and the idea that Atman and Brahman, the individual
+and the ultimate reality, are one is the essence of the Upanishads:
+That which is the finest essence-this whole world has that
+as its soul. That is Reality. That is Atman. That art thou.6
+The basic recurring theme in Hindu mythology is the creation
+of the world by the self-sacrifice of Cod-‘sacrifice’ in the
+original sense of ‘making sacred’-whereby Cod becomes the
+world which, in the end, becomes again God. This creative
+activity of the Divine is called Ma, the play of God, and the
+world is seen as the stage of the divine play. Like most of
+Hindu mythology, the myth of Ma has a strong magical flavour.
+
+87
+Hinduism
+
+1
+88
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Brahman is the great magician who transforms himself into the
+world and he performs this feat with his ‘magic creative power’,
+which is the original meaning of maya in the Rig Veda. The
+word maya-one of the most important terms in Indian
+philosophy-has changed’ its meaning over the centuries.
+From the ‘might’, or ‘power’, of the divine actor and magician,
+it came to signify the psychological state of anybody under
+the spell of the magic play. As long as we confuse the myriad
+forms of the divine /i/a with reality, without perceiving the
+unity of Brahman underlying all these forms, we are under the
+spell of maya.
+Maya, therefore, does not mean that the world is an illusion,
+as is often wrongly stated. The illusion merely lies in our point
+of view, if we think that the shapes and structures, things and
+events, around us are realities of nature, instead of realizing that
+they are concepts of our measuring and categorizing minds.
+Maya is the illusion of taking these concepts for reality, of
+confusing the map with the territory.
+In the Hindu view of nature, then, all forms are relative, fluid
+and ever-changing maya, conjured up by the great magician
+of the divine play. The world of maya changes continuously,
+because the divine /i/a is a rhythmic, dynamic play. The dynamic
+force of the play is karma, another important concept of
+Indian thought. Karma means ‘action’. It is the active principle
+of the play, the total universe in action, where everything is
+dynamically connected with everything else. In the words of
+the Cita, ‘Karma is the force of creation, wherefrom all things
+have their life.”
+The meaning of karma, like that of maya, has been brought
+down from its original cosmic level to the human level where
+it has acquired a psychological sense. As long as our view of
+the world is fragmented, as long as we are under the spell of
+maya and think that we are separated from our environment
+and can act independently, we are bound by karma. Being
+free from the bond of karma means to realize the unity and
+harmony of all nature, including man, and to act accordingly.
+The Cita is very clear on this point:
+All actions take place in time by the interweaving of the
+forces of nature, but the man lost in selfish delusion thinks
+that he himself is the actor.
+
+But the man who knows the relation between the forces
+of Nature and actions, sees how some forces of Nature
+work upon other forces of Nature, and becomes not their
+slave.8
+
+7
+
+To be free from the spell of maya, to break the bonds of
+karma means to realize that all the phenomena we perceive
+with our senses are part of the same reality. It means to experience, concretely and personally, that everything, including
+our own self, is Brahman. This experience is called moksha, or
+‘liberation’ in Hindu philosophy and it is the very essence of
+Hinduism.
+Hinduism holds that there are innumerable ways of liberation.
+It would never expect all its followers to be able to approach
+the Divine in the same way and therefore it provides different
+concepts, rituals and spiritual exercises for different modes of
+awareness. The fact that many of these concepts or practices
+are contradictory does not worry the Hindus in the least,
+because they know that Brahman is beyond concepts and
+images anyway. From this attitude comes the great tolerance
+and inclusiveness which is characteristic of Hinduism.
+The most intellectual school is the Vedanta which is based
+on the Upanishads and emphasizes Brahman as a nonpersonal,
+metaphysical concept, free from any mythological content.
+In spite of its high philosophical and intellectual level, however,
+the Vedantist way of liberation is very different from any school
+of Western philosophy, involving as it does daily meditation
+and other spiritual exercises to bring about the union with
+Brahman.
+Another important and influential method of liberation is
+known as yoga, a word which means ‘to yoke’, ‘to join’, and
+which refers to the joining of the individual soul to Brahman.
+There are several schools, or ‘paths’ of yoga involving some
+basic physical training and various mental disciplines designed
+for people of different types and at different spiritual levels.
+For the common Hindu, the most popular way of approaching
+the Divine is to worship it in the form of a personal god or
+goddess, The fertile Indian imagination has created literally
+thousands of deities which appear in innumerable manifestations. The three most worshipped divinities in India today
+are Shiva, Vishnu and the Divine Mother. Shiva is one of the
+_
+
+89
+Hinduism
+
+90
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+oldest Indian gods who can assume many forms. He is called
+Mahesvara, the Great Lord, when he is represented as the
+personification of the fullness of Brahman and he can also
+impersonate many single aspects of the Divine, his most
+celebrated appearance being the one as Nataraja, the King of
+Dancers. As the Cosmic Dancer, Shiva is the god of creation
+and destruction who sustains through his dance the endless
+rhythm of the universe.
+Vishnu, too, appears under many guises, one of them being
+the god Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita. In general, Vishnu’s role
+is that of the preserver of the universe. The third divinity of this
+triad is Shakti, the Divine Mother, the archetypal goddess
+representing in her many forms the female energy of the
+universe.
+Shakti also appears as Shiva’s wife and the two are often
+shown in passionate embraces in magnificent temple sculptures
+which radiate an extraordinary sensuousness of a degree
+completely unknown in any Western religious art. Contrary to
+most Western religions, sensuous pleasure has never been
+suppressed in Hinduism, because the body has always been
+considered to be an integral part of the human being and not
+separated from the spirit. The Hindu, therefore, does not try
+to control the desires of the body by the conscious will, but
+aims at realizing himself with his whole being, body and mind.
+Hinduism has even developed a branch, the medieval Tantrism,
+where enlightenment is sought through a profound experience
+of sensual love ‘in which each is both’, in accordance with the
+words of the Upanishads:
+As a man, when in the embrace of a beloved wife, knows
+nothing within or without, so this person, when in the
+embrace of the intelligent Soul, knows nothing within or
+without.q
+Shiva was closely associated with this medieval form of
+erotic mysticism, and so were Shaktiand numerous other female
+deities which exist in great numbers in Hindu mythology. This
+abundance of goddesses shows again that in Hinduism the
+physical and sensuous side of human nature, which has always
+been associated with the female, is a fully integrated part of
+the Divine. Hindu goddesses are not shown as holy virgins,
+- _
+
+91
+Hinduism
+
+Stone sculpture,
+Khajuraho,
+
+India,
+
+circa A.D. 1ooO.
+
+but in sensual embraces of stunning beauty.
+The Western mind is easily confused by the fabulous number
+of gods and goddesses which populate Hindu mythology in
+their various appearances and incarnations. To understand
+how the Hindus can cope with this multitude of divinities, we
+must be aware of the basic attitude of Hinduism that in substance all these divinities are identical. They are all manifestations of the same divine reality, reflecting different aspects
+of the infinite, omnipresent, and-ultimately-incomprehensible k&man.
+
+6 BUDDHISM
+
+Buddhism has been, for many centuries, the dominant spiritual
+tradition in most parts of Asia, including the countries of
+Indochina, as well as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea and
+Japan. As with Hinduism in India, it has had a strong influence
+on the intellectual, cultural and artistic life of these countries.
+Unlike Hinduism, however, Buddhism goes back to a single
+founder, Siddhartha Gautama, the so-called ‘historic’ Buddha.
+He lived in India in the middle of the sixth century B.C., during
+the extraordinary period that saw the birth of so many spiritu-al
+and philosophical geniuses: Confucius and Lao Tzu in China,
+Zarathustra in Persia, Pythagoras and Heraclitus in Greece.
+If the flavour of Hinduism is mythological and ritualistic, that
+of Buddhism is definitely psychological. The Buddha was not
+interested in satisfying human curiosity about the origin of
+the world, the nature of the Divine, or similar questions. He
+was concerned exclusively with the human situation, with the
+suffering and frustrations of human beings. His doctrine,
+therefore, was not one of metaphysics, but one of psychotherapy. He pointed out the origin of human frustrations and
+the way to overcome them, taking up for this purpose the
+traditional Indian concepts of maya, karma, nirvana, etc., and
+giving them a fresh, dynamic and directly relevant psychological
+interpretation.
+After the Buddha’s death, Buddhism developed into two
+main schools, the Hinayana and the Mahayana. The Hinayana,
+or Small Vehicle, is an orthodox school which sticks to the letter
+of the Buddha’s teaching, whereas the Mahayana, or Great
+Vehicle, shows a more flexible attitude, believing that the spirit
+of the doctrine is more important than its original formulation.
+
+94
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The Hinayana school established itself in Ceylon, Burma and
+Thailand, whereas the Mahayana spread to Nepal, Tibet, China,
+and Japan and became, eventually, the more important of the
+two schools. In India itself, Buddhism was absorbed, after many
+centuries, by the flexible and assimilative Hinduism, and the
+Buddha was finally adopted as an incarnation of the manyfaced god Vishnu.
+As Mahayana Buddhism spread across Asia, it came into
+contact with peoples of many different cultures and mentalities
+who interpreted the Buddha’s doctrine from their own point
+of view, elaborating many of its subtle points in great detail
+and adding their own original ideas. In this way they kept
+Buddhism alive over the centuries and developed highly
+sophisticated philosophies with profound psychological insights.
+In spite of the high intellectual level of these philosophies,
+however, Mahayana Buddhism never loses itself in abstract
+speculative thought. As always in Eastern mysticism, the
+intellect is seen merely as a means to clear the way for the
+direct mystical experience, which Buddhists call the/awakening’.
+The essence of this experience is to pass beyond the world of
+intellectual distinctions and opposites to reach the world of
+acintya, the unthinkable, where reality appears as undivided
+and undifferentiated ‘suchness’.
+This was the experience Siddhartha Cautama had one night,
+after seven years of strenuous discipline in the forests. Sitting
+in deep meditation under the celebrated Bodhi Tree, the Tree
+of Enlightenment, he suddenly obtained the final and definite
+clarification of all his searches and doubts in the act of ‘unexcelled, complete awakening’ which made him the Buddha,
+that is, ‘the Awakened’. For the Eastern world, the Buddha’s
+image in the state of meditation is as significant as the image
+of the crucified Christ for the West, and has inspired countless
+artists all over Asia who have created magnificent sculptures
+of meditating Buddhas.
+According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha went to the Deer
+Park of Benares immediately after his awakening to preach his
+doctrine to his former fellow hermits. He expressed it in the
+celebrated form of the Four Noble Truths, a compact presenta-
+
+tion of the essential doctrine which is not unlike the statement
+of a physician, who first identifies the cause of humanity’s
+sickness, then affirms that the sickness can be cured, and
+finally prescribes the remedy.
+The First Noble Truth states the outstanding characteristic
+of the human situation, duhkha, which is suffering or frustration.
+This frustration comes from our difficulty in facing the basic
+fact of life, that everything around us is impermanent and
+transitory. ‘All things arise and pass away,” said the Buddha,
+and the notion that flow and change are basic features of
+nature lies at the root of Buddhism. Suffering arises, in the
+Buddhist view, whenever we resist the flow of life and try to
+cling to fixed forms which are all maya, whether they are
+things, events, people or ideas. This doctrine of impermanence
+includes also the notion that there is no ego, no self which is
+the persistent subject of our varying experiences. Buddhism
+holds that the idea of a separate individual self is an illusion,
+just another form of maya, an intellectual concept which has
+no reality. To cling to this concept leads to the same frustration
+as adherence to any other fixed category of thought.
+The Second Noble Truth deals with the cause of all suffering,
+trishna, which is clinging, or grasping. It is the futile grasping
+of life based on a wrong point of view which is called aviciya,
+or ignorance, in Buddhist philosophy. Out of this ignorance,
+we divide the perceived world into individual and separate
+things and thus attempt to confine the fluid forms of reality in
+fixed categories created by the mind. As long as this view
+prevails, we are bound to experience frustration after frustration. Trying to cling to things which we see as firm and persistent, but which in fact are transient and ever-changing, we
+are trapped in a vicious circle where every action generates
+further action and the answer to each question poses new
+questions. This vicious circle is known in Buddhism as samsara,
+the round of birth-and-death, and it is driven by karma, the
+never-ending chain of cause and effect.
+The Third Noble Truth states that the suffering and frustration
+can be ended. It is possible to transcend the vicious circle of
+samsara, to free oneself from the bondage of karma, and to
+reach a state of total liberation called nirvana. In this state, the
+false notions of a separate self have for ever disappeared and
+
+95
+Buddhism
+
+9
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+6
+
+the oneness of all life has become a constant sensation.
+Nirvana is the equivalent of moksha in Hindu philosophy and,
+being a state of consciousness beyond all intellectual concepts,
+it defies further description. To reach nirvana is to attain
+awakening, or Buddhahood.
+The Fourth Noble Truth is the Buddha’s prescription to end
+all suffering, the Eightfold Path of self-development which leads
+to the state of Buddhahood. The first two sections of this path,
+as already mentioned, are concerned with right seeing and
+right knowing, that is with the clear insight into the human
+situation that is the necessary starting point. The next four
+sectionsdealwithrightaction.TheygivetherulesfortheBuddhist
+way of life, which is a Middle Way between opposite extremes.
+The last two sections are concerned with right awareness and
+right meditation and describe the direct mystical experience of
+reality that is the final goal.
+The Buddha did not develop his doctrine into a consistent
+philosophical system, but regarded it as a means to achieve
+enlightenment. His statements about the world were confined
+to emphasizing the impermanence of all ‘things’. He insisted
+on freedom from spiritual authority, including his own, saying
+that he could only show the way to Buddhahood, and that it
+was up to every individual to tread this way to the end through
+his or her own efforts. The Buddha’s last words on his deathbed
+are characteristic of his world view and of his attitude as a
+teacher. ‘Decay is inherent in all compounded things,’ he said
+before passing away; ‘Strive on with diligence.‘*
+In the first few centuries after the Buddha’s death, several
+Great Councils were held by the leading monks of the Buddhist
+order at which the entire teaching was recited aloud and
+differences in interpretation were settled. At the fourth of
+these councils, which took place on the island of Ceylon (Sri
+Lanka) in the first century A.D., the memorized doctrine, which
+had been passed on orally for more than five hundred years, was
+for the first time recorded in writing. This record, written in the
+Pali language, is known as the Pali Canon and forms the basis of
+the orthodox Hinayana school. The Mahayana school, on the
+other hand, is based on a number of so-called s&as, scriptures
+of huge dimensions, which were written in Sanskrit one or two
+
+hundred years later and present the Buddha’s teaching in a
+much more elaborate and subtle way than the Pali Canon.
+The Mahayana school calls itself the Great Vehicle of
+Buddhism because it offers its adherents a great variety of
+methods, or ‘skilful means’ to attain Buddhahood. These range
+from doctrines emphasizing religious faith in the teachings of
+the Buddha, to elaborate philosophies involving concepts
+which come very close to modern scientific thought.
+The first expounder of the Mahayana doctrine, and one of
+the deepest thinkers among the Buddhist patriarchs, was
+Ashvaghosha, who lived in” the first century A.D. He spelled
+out the fundamental thoughts of Mahayana Buddhism-in
+particular those relating to the Buddhist concept of ‘suchness’in a small book called The Awakening of Faith. This lucid and
+extremely beautiful text, which reminds one of the Bhagavad
+Gita in many ways, constitutes the first representative treatise
+on the Mahayana doctrine and has become a principal
+authority for all schools of Mahayana Buddhism.
+Ashvaghosha probably had a strong influence on Nagarjuna,
+the most intellectual Mahayana philosopher, who used a highly
+sophisticated dialectic to show the limitations of all concepts
+of reality. With brilliant arguments he demolished the metaphysical propositions of his time and thus demonstrated that
+reality, ultimately, cannot be grasped with concepts and ideas.
+Hence, he gave it the name sunyata, ‘the void’, or ‘emptiness’,
+a term which is equivalent to Ashvaghosha’s tathata, or ‘suchness’; when the futility of all conceptual thinking is recognized,
+reality is experienced as pure suchness.
+Nagarjuna’s statement that the essential nature of reality
+is emptiness is thus far from being the nihilist statement for
+which it is often taken. It merely means that all concepts about
+reality formed by the human mind are ultimately void. Reality,
+or Emptiness, itself is not a state of mere nothingness, but is
+the very source of all life and the essence of all forms.
+The views of Mahayana Buddhism presented so far reflect
+its intellectual, speculative side. This, however, is only one
+side of Buddhism. Complementary to it is the Buddhist’s
+religious consciousness which involves faith, love and compassion. True enlightened wisdom (bodhi) is seen in the
+Mahayana as being composed of two elements which D. T.
+
+97
+Buddhism
+
+I
+98
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Suzuki has called the ‘two pillars supporting the great edifice
+of Buddhism’. They are prajna, which is transcendental wisdom,
+or intuitive intelligence, and Karuna, which is love or cornpassion.
+Accordingly, the essential nature of all things is described
+in Mahayana Buddhism not only by the abstract metaphysical
+terms Suchness and Void, but also by the term Dharmakaya,
+the ‘Body of Being’, which describes reality as it appears to the
+Buddhist’s religious consciousness. The Dharmakaya is similar
+to the Brahman in Hinduism. It pervades all material things in
+the universe and is also reflected in the human mind as bodhi,
+the enlightened wisdom. It is thus spiritual and material at the
+same time.
+The emphasis on love and compassion as essential parts of
+wisdom has found its strongest expression in the ideal of the
+Bodhisattva, one of the characteristic developments of
+Mahayana Buddhism. A Bodhisattva is a highly evolved human
+being on the way to becoming a Buddha, who is not seeking enlightenment for himself alone, but has vowed to help all other
+beings achieve Buddhahood before he enters into nirvana. The
+origin of this idea lies in the decision of the Buddha-presented
+in Buddhist tradition as a conscious and not at all easy decisionnot simply to enter nirvana, but to return to the world in order
+to show the path to salvation to his fellow human beings. The
+Bodhisattva ideal is also consistent with the Buddhist doctrine
+of non-ego, because if there is no separate individual self, the
+idea of one individual entering nirvana alone obviously does
+not make much sense.
+The element of faith, finally, is emphasized in the so-called
+Pure Land school of Mahayana Buddhism. The basis of this
+school is the Buddhist doctrine that the original nature of all
+human beings is that of a Buddha, and it holds that in order
+to enter nirvana, or the ‘Pure Land’, all one has to do is to
+have faith in one’s original Buddha nature.
+The culmination of Buddhist thought has been reached, according to many authors, in the so-called Avatamsaka school which
+is based on the sutra of the same name. This sutra is regarded
+as the core of Mahayana Buddhism and is praised by Suzuki
+in the most enthusiastic words:
+
+As to the Avatamsaka-sutra,
+it is really the consummation
+of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment, and Buddhist
+experience. To my mind, no religious literature in the
+world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, the
+depth of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composition as
+attained in this sutra. It is the eternal fountain of life from
+which no religious mind will turn back athirst or only
+partially satisfied.3
+It was this sutra which stimulated Chinese and Japanese
+minds more than anything else, when Mahayana Buddhism
+spread across Asia. The contrast between the Chinese and
+Japanese, on the one hand, and the Indians, on the other, is
+so great that they have been said to represent two poles of
+the human mind. Whereas the former are practical, pragmatic
+and socially minded, the latter are imaginative, metaphysical
+and transcendental. When the Chinese and Japanese philosophers began to translate and interpret the Avatamsaka, one
+of the greatest scriptures produced by the Indian religious
+genius, the two poles combined to form a new dynamic unity
+and the outcome were the ha-yen philosophy in China and
+the Kegon philosophy in Japan which constitute, according
+to Suzuki, ‘the climax of Buddhist thought which has been
+developing in the Far East for the last two thousand years’.4
+The central theme of the Avatamsaka is the unity and interrelation of all things and events; a conception which is not only
+the very essence of the Eastern world view, but also one of the
+basic elements of the world view emerging from modern
+physics. It will therefore be seen that the Avatamsaka Sutra,
+this ancient religious text, offers the most striking parallels to
+the models and theories of modern physics.
+
+99
+Buddhism
+
+lnkcake by Ch’eng Chum-fang, seventeenth century.
+
+7 CHINESE
+
+THOUGHT
+
+When Buddhism arrived in China, around the first century A.D.,
+it encountered a culture which was more than two thousand
+years old. In this ancient culture, philosophical thought had
+reached its culmination during the late Chou period (c. 500-221
+B.C.), the golden age of Chinese philosophy, and from then on
+had always been held in the highest esteem.
+From the beginning, this philosophy had two complementary
+aspects. The Chinese being practical people with a highly
+developed social consciousness, all their philosophical schools
+were concerned, in one way or the other, with life in society,
+with human relations, moral values and government. This,
+however, is only one aspect of Chinese thought. Complementary
+to it is that corresponding to the mystical side of the Chinese
+character, which demanded that the highest aim of philosophy
+should be to transcend the world of society and everyday life
+and to reach a higher plane of consciousness. This is the plane
+of the sage, the Chinese ideal of the enlightened man who has
+achieved mystical union with the universe.
+The Chinese sage, however, does not dwell exclusively on
+this high spiritual plane, but is equally concerned with worldly
+affairs. He unifies in himself the two complementary sides of
+human nature-intuitive wisdom and practical knowledge,
+contemplation and social action-which the Chinese have
+associated with the images of the sage and of the king. Fully
+realized human beings, in the words of Chuang Tzu, ‘by their
+stillness become sages, by their movement kings’.’
+During the sixth century B.C., the two sides of Chinese
+philosophy developed into two distinct philosophical schools,
+
+-_
+
+102
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Confucianism and Taoism. Confucianism was the philosophy
+of social organization, of common sense and practical know’ledge. It provided Chinese society with a system of education
+and with strict conventions of social etiquette. One of its main
+purposes was to form an ethical basis for the traditional Chinese
+family system with its complex structure and its rituals of
+ancestor worship. Taoism, on the other hand, was concerned
+primarily with the observation of nature and the discovery of
+its Way, or Tao. Human happiness, according to the Taoists,
+is achieved when men follow the natural order, acting spontaneously and trusting their intuitive knowledge.
+These two trends of thought represent opposite poles in
+Chinese philosophy, but in China they were always seen as
+poles of one and the same human nature, and thus as complementary. Confucianism was generally emphasized in the
+education of children who had to learn the rules and conventions necessary for life in society, whereas Taoism used to
+be pursued by older people in order to regain and develop the
+original spontaneity which had been destroyed by social
+conventions. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the NeoConfucian school attempted a synthesis of Confucianism,
+Buddhism and Taoism, which culminated in the philosophy of
+Chu Hsi, one of the greatest of all Chinese thinkers. Chu Hsi
+was an outstanding philosopher who combined Confucian
+scholarship with a deep understanding of Buddhism and
+Taoism, and incorporated elements of all three traditions in
+his philosophical synthesis.
+Confucianism derives its name from Kung Fu Tzu, or Confucius,
+a highly influential teacher with a large number of students
+who saw his main function as transmitting the ancient cultural
+heritage to his disciples. In doing so, however, he went beyond
+a simple transmission of knowledge for he interpreted the
+traditional ideas according to his own moral concepts. His
+teachings were based on the so-called Six Classics, ancient
+books of philosophical thought, rituals, poetry, music and
+history, which represented the spiritual and cultural heritage
+of the ‘holy sages’ of China’s past. Chinese tradition has
+associated Confucius with all of these works, either as author,
+
+commentator or editor; but according to modern scholarship
+he was neither the author, commentator, nor even the editor
+of any of the Classics. His own ideas became known through
+the Lun Yij, or Confucian Analects, a collection of aphorisms
+which was compiled by some of his disciples.
+The originator of Taoism was Lao Tzu, whose name literally
+means the ‘Old Master’ and who was, according to tradition,
+an older contemporary of Confucius. He is said to have been
+the author of a short book of aphorisms which is considered
+as the main Taoist scripture. In China, it is generally just called
+the Lao-tzu and in the West it is usually known as the Tao Te
+Ching, the ‘Classic of the Way and Power’, a name which was
+given to it in later times. I have already mentioned the paradoxical style and the powerful and poetic language of this
+book which Joseph Needham considers to be ‘without exception
+the most profound and beautiful work in the Chinese language’.*
+The second important Taoist book is the Chuang-tzu, a
+much larger book than the Tao Te Ching, whose author,
+Chuang Tzu, is said to have lived about two hundred years
+after Lao Tzu. According to modern scholarship, however, the
+Chuang-tzu, and probably also the Lao-tzu, cannot be seen as
+the work of a single author, but rather constitute a collection
+of Taoist writings compiled by different authors at different
+times.
+Both the Confucian Analects and the Tao Te Ching are written
+in the compact suggestive style which is typical of the Chinese
+way of thinking. The Chinese mind was not given to abstract
+logical thinking and developed a language which is very
+different from that which evolved in the West. Many of its
+words could be used as nouns, adjectives or verbs, and their
+sequence was determined not so much by grammatical rules
+as by the emotional content of the sentence. The classical
+Chinese word was very different from an abstract sign representing a clearly delineated concept. It was rather a sound
+symbol which had strong suggestive powers, bringing to mind
+an indeterminate complex of pictoriai images and emotions.
+The intention of the speaker was not so much to express an
+intellectual idea, but rather to affect and influence the listener.
+
+103
+Chinese
+Thought
+
+/
+
+104
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Correspondingly, the written character was not just an abstract
+sign, butLvas an organic pattern-a ‘gestalt’-which preserved
+the full complex of images and the suggestive power of the
+word.
+Since the Chinese philosophers expressed themselves in a
+language which was so well suited for their way of thinking,
+their writings and sayings could be short and inarticulate, and
+yet rich in suggestive images. It is clear that much of this
+imagery must be lost in an English translation. A translation of
+a sentence from the Tao Te Ching, for example, can only
+render a small part of the rich complex of ideas contained in
+the original, which is why different translations from this
+controversial book often look like totally different texts. As
+Fung Yu-Lan has said, ‘It needs a combination of all the translations already made and many others not yet made, to reveal
+the richness of the Lao-&u and the Confucian Analects in
+their original form.‘3
+The Chinese, like the Indians, believed that there is an ultimate
+reality which underlies and unifies the multiple things and
+events we observe:
+There are the three terms-‘complete’, ‘all-embracing’,
+‘the whole’. These names are different, but the reality
+sought in them is the same: referring to the One thing.4
+They called this reality the Tao, which originally meant ‘the
+Way’. It is the way, or process, of the universe, the order of
+nature. In later times, the Confucianists gave it a different
+interpretation. They talked about the Tao of man, or the Tao
+of human society, and ‘understood it as the right way of life
+in a inoral sense.
+In its original cosmic sense, the Tao is the ultimate, undeftnable reality and as such it is the equivalent of the Hinduist
+Brahman and the Buddhist Dharmakaya. It differs from these
+Indian concepts, however, by its intrinsically dynamic quality
+which, in the Chinese view, is the essence of the universe. The
+Tao is the cosmic process in which all things are involved;
+the world is seen as a continuous flow and change.
+Indian Buddhism, with its doctrine of impermanence, had
+
+quite a similar view, but it took this view merely as the basic
+premise of the, human situation and went on to elaborate its
+psychological consequences. The Chinese, on the other hand,
+not only believed that flow and change were the essential
+features of nature, but also that there are constant patterns in
+these changes, to be observed- by man. The sage recognizes
+these patterns and directs his actions according to them. In
+this way, he becomes ‘one with the fao’, living in harmony
+with nature and succeeding in everything he undertakes. In
+the words of Huai Nan Tzu, a philosopher of the second century
+B.C. :
+He who conforms to the course of the Tao, following the
+natural processes of Heaven and Earth, finds it easy to
+manage the whole world.5
+What, then, are the patterns of thecosmic Way which man
+has to recognize? The principal characteristic of the Tao is the
+cyclic nature of its ceaseless motion and change. ‘Returning
+is the motion of the Tao,’ says Lao Tzu, and ‘Going far means
+returning.‘6 The idea is that all developments in nature, those
+in the physical world as well as those of human situations,
+show cyclic patterns of coming and going, of expansion and
+contraction.
+This idea was no doubt deduced from the movements of
+the sun and moon and from the change of the seasons, but it
+was then also taken as a rule of life. The Chinese believe that
+whenever a situation develops to its extreme, it is bound to
+turn around and become its opposite. This basic belief has
+in times of distress and
+given them courage and perseverence
+has made them cautious and modest in times of success. It
+has led to the doctrine of the golden mean in which both
+Taoists and Confucianists believe. ‘The sage’, says Lao Tzu,
+‘avoids excess, extravagance and indulgence.”
+In the Chinese view, it is better to have too little than to have
+too much, and better to leave things undone than to overdo
+them, because although one may not get very far this way
+one is certain to go in the right direction. Just as the man who
+wants to go further and further East will end up in the West,
+
+105
+Chinese
+Thought
+
+106
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+those who accumulate more and more money in order to
+increase their wealth will end up being poor. Modern industrial
+society which is continuously trying to increase the ‘standard
+of living’ and thereby decreases the quality of life for all its
+members is an eloquent illustration of this ancient Chinese
+wisdom.
+The idea of cyclic patterns in the motion of the Tao was
+given a definite structure by the introduction of the polar
+opposites yin and yang. They are the two poles which set the
+limits for the cycles of change:
+The yang having reached its climax retreats in favour of
+the yin; the yin having reached its climax retreats in favour
+of the yang.8
+In the Chinese view, all manifestations of the Tao are
+generated by the dynamic interplay of these two polar forces.
+This idea is very old and many generations worked on the
+symbolism of the archetypal pair yin and yang until it became
+the fundamental concept of Chinese thought. The original
+meaning of the words yin and yang was that of the shady and
+sunny sides of a mountain, a meaning which gives a good idea
+of the relativity of the two concepts:
+That which lets now the dark, now the light appear is
+Tao.g
+
+From the very early times, the two archetypal poles of nature
+were represented not only by bright and dark, but also by male
+and female, firm and yielding, above and below. Yang, the
+strong, male, creative power, was associated with Heaven,
+whereas yin, the dark, receptive, female and maternal element,
+was represented by the Earth. Heaven is above and full of
+movement, the Earth-in the old geocentric view-is below
+and resting, and thus yang came to symbolize movement and
+yin rest. In the realm of thought, yin is the complex, female,
+intuitive mind, yang the clear and rational male intellect. Yin
+is the quiet, contemplative stillness of the sage, yang the strong,
+creative action of the king.
+The dynamic character of yin and yang is illustrated by the
+
+ancient Chinese symbol called rai-chi T’u, or ‘Diagram of the
+Supreme Ultimate’:
+
+This diagram is a symmetric arrangement of the dark yin and
+the bright yang, but the symmetry is not static. It is a rotational
+symmetry suggesting, very forcefully, a continuous cyclic
+movement:
+The yang returns cyclically to its beginning, the yin
+attains its maximum and gives place to the yanglo
+The two dots in the diagram symbolize the idea that each
+time one of the two forces reaches its extreme, it contains
+in itself already the seed of its opposite.
+The pair of yin and yang is the grand leitmotiv that permeates Chinese culture and determines all features of the
+traditional Chinese way of life. ‘Life’, says Chuang Tzu, ‘is the
+blended harmony of the yin and yang.“’ As a nation of farmers,
+the Chinese had always been familiar with the movements of
+the sun and moon and with the change of the seasons. Seasonal
+changes and the resulting phenomena of growth and decay in
+organic nature were thus seen by them as the clearest expres-
+
+107
+Chinese
+Thought
+
+110
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In the Changes there are images to reveal, there are
+judgements appended in order to interpret, good fortune
+and misfortune are determined in order to decide.13
+The purpose of consulting the I Ching was thus not merely
+to know the future, but rather to discover the disposition of
+the present situation so that proper action could be taken.
+This attitude lifted the I Ching above the level of an ordinary
+book of soothsaying and made it a book of wisdom.
+The use of the I Ching as a book of wisdom is, in fact, of far
+greater importance than its use as an oracle. It has inspired
+the leading minds of China throughout the ages, among them
+Lao Tzu, who drew some of his profoundest aphorisms from
+this source. Confucius studied it intensively and most of the
+commentaries on the text which make up the later strata of
+the book go back to his school. These commentaries, the
+so-called Ten Wings, combine the structural interpretation of
+the hexagrams with philosophical explanations.
+At the centre of the Confucian commentaries, as of the
+entire I Ching, is the emphasis on the dynamic aspect of all
+phenomena. The ceaseless transformation of all things and
+situations is the essential message of the Book of Changes:
+The Changes is a book
+From which one may not hold aloof.
+Its tao is forever changingAlteration, movement without rest,
+Flowing through the six empty places,
+Rising and sinking without fixed law,
+Firm and yielding transform each other
+They cannot be confined within a rule,
+It is only change that is at work here.14
+
+greatest and most significant in the three thousand years
+of Chinese cultural history has either taken its inspiration
+from this book, or has exerted’an influence on the interpretation of its text. Therefore it may safely be said that
+the seasoned wisdom of thousands of years has gone into
+the making of the I Ching.l*
+The Book of Changes is thus a work that has grown organically
+over thousands of years and consists of many layers stemming
+from the most important periods of Chinese thought. The
+starting point of the book was a collection of sixty-four figures,
+or ‘hexagrams’, of the following type, which are based on the
+yin-yang symbolism and were used as oracles. Each hexagram
+consists of six lines which may be either broken (yin) or unbroken (yang), the sixty-four of them constituting all possible
+combinations of that kind. These hexagrams, which will be
+-
+
+-
+
+discussed in greater detail later on, were considered as cosmic
+archetypes representing the patterns of the Tao in nature and
+in human situations. Each of them was given a title and was
+supplemented with a brief text, called the Judgement, to indicate the course of action appropriate to the cosmic pattern
+in question. The so-called Image is another brief text, added at
+a later date, which elaborates the meaning of the hexagram
+in a few, often extremely poetic lines. A third text interprets
+each of the hexagram’s six lines in a language charged with
+mythical images which are often difficult to understand.
+These three categories of texts form the basic parts of the
+book which were used for divination. An elaborate ritual
+involving fifty yarrow stalks Was used to determine the hexagram
+corresponding to the personal situation of the questioner. The
+idea was to make the cosmic pattern of that moment visible
+in the hexagram and to learn from the oracle which course of
+action was appropriate to it:
+
+109
+Chinese
+Thought
+
+I
+108
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+sions of the interplay between yin and yang, between the cold
+and dark winter and the bright and hot summer. The seasonal
+interplay of the two opposites is also reflected in the food we
+eat which contains elements of yin and yang. A healthy diet
+consists, for the Chinese, in balancing these yin and yang
+elements.
+Traditional Chinese medicine, too, is based on the balance
+of yin and yang in the human body, and any illness is seen as a
+disruption of this balance. The body is divided into yin and yang
+parts. Globally speaking, the inside of the body is yang, the
+body surface is yin; the back is yang, the front is yin; inside
+the body, there are yin and yang organs. The balance between
+all these parts is maintained by a continuous flow of ch’i, or
+vital energy, along a system of ‘meridians’ <which contain the
+acupuncture points. Each organ has a meridian associated
+with it in such a way that yang meridians belong to yin organs
+and vice versa. Whenever the flow between the yin and yang
+is blocked, the body falls ill, and the illness is cured by sticking
+needles into the acupuncture points to stimulate and restore
+the flow of ch’i.
+The interplay of yin and yang, the primordial pair of opposites,
+appears thus as the principle that guides all the movements
+of the Tao, but the Chinese did not stop there. They went on
+to study various combinations of yin and yang which they
+developed into a system of cosmic archetypes. This system is
+elaborated in the I Ching, or Book of Changes.
+The Book of Changes is the first among the six Confucian
+Classics and must be considered as a work which lies at the very
+heart of Chinese thought and culture. The authority and esteem
+it has enjoyed in China throughout thousands of years is
+comparable only to those of sacred scriptures, like the Vedas
+or the Bible, in other cultures. The noted sinologue Richard
+Wilhelm begins the introduction to his translation of the book
+with the following words:
+The Book of Changes-/ Ching in Chinese-is unquestionably one of the most important books in the world’s
+literature. Its origin go&back to mythical antiquity, and
+it has occupied the attention of the most eminent scholars
+of China down to the- present day. Nearly all that is
+
+AAagi c di agram
+fr ‘om the Taoist
+SI w dyr hasty.
+
+3n.
+
+8 TAOISM
+
+Of the two main Chinese trends of thought, Confucianism
+and Taoism, the latter is the one which is mystically oriented
+and thus more relevant for our comparison with modern physics.
+Like Hinduism and Buddhism, Taoism is interested in intuitive
+wisdom, rather than in rational knowledge. Acknowledging
+the limitations and the relativity of the world of rational
+thinking, Taoism is, basically, a way of liberation from this
+world and is, in this respect, comparable to the ways of Yoga
+or Vedanta in Hinduism, or to the Eightfold Path of the Buddha.
+In the context of Chinese culture, the Taoist liberation meant,
+more specifically, a liberation from the strict rules of convention.
+Mistrust of conventional knowledge and reasoning is stronger
+in Taoism than in any other school of Eastern philosophy. It is
+based on the firm belief that the human intellect can never
+comprehend the Tao. In the words of Chuang Tzu,
+The most extensive knowledge does not necessarily know
+it; reasoning will not make men wise in it. The sages
+have decided against both these methods.’
+Chuang Tzu’s book is full of passages reflecting the Taoist’s
+contempt of reasoning and argumentation. Thus he says,
+A dog is not reckoned good because he barks well, and a
+man is not reckoned wise because he speaks skilfully.2
+and
+Disputation is a proof of not seeing clearly.3
+Logical reasoning was considered by the Taoists as part of
+
+114
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the artificial world of man, together with social etiquette and
+moral standards. They were not interested in this world at all,
+but concentrated their attention fully on the observation of
+nature in order to discern the ‘characteristics of the Tao’.
+Thus they developed an attitude which was essentially scientific
+and only their deep mistrust in the analytic method prevented
+them from constructing proper scientific theories. Nevertheless,
+the careful observation of nature, combined with a strong
+mystical intuition, led the Taoist sages to profound insights
+which are confirmed by modern scientific theories.
+One of the most important insights of the Taoists was the
+realization that transformation and change are essential features
+of nature. A passage in the Chuang-tzu shows clearly how the
+fundamental importance of change was discerned by observing
+the organic world:
+In the transformation and growth of all things, every bud
+and feature has its proper form. In this we have their
+gradual maturing and decay, the constant flow of transformation and change.4
+The Taoists saw all changes in nature as manifestations of
+the dynamic interplay between the polar opposites yin and
+yang, and thus they came to believe that any pair of opposites
+constitutes a polar relationship where each of the two poles is
+dynamically linked to the other. For the Western mind, this
+idea of the implicit unity of all opposites is extremely difficult to
+accept. It seems most paradoxical to us that experiences and
+values which we had always believed to be contrary should
+be, after all, aspects of the same thing. In the East, however,
+it has always been considered as essential for attaining enlightenment to go ‘beyond earthly opposites’,5 and in China
+the polar relationship of all opposites lies at the very basis of
+Taoist thought. Thus Chuang Tzu says,
+The ‘this’ is also ‘that’. The ‘that’ is also ‘this’ . . . That the
+‘that’ and the ‘this’ cease to be opposites is the very
+essence of Tao. Only this essence, an axis as it were, is
+the centre of the circle responding to the endless changes.6
+From the notion that the movements of the Tao are a
+_
+
+continuous interplay between opposites, the Taoists deduced
+two basic rules for human conduct. Whenever you want to
+achieve anything, they said, you should start with its opposite.
+Thus Lao Tzu:
+In order to contract a thing, one should surely expand it
+first.
+In order to weaken, one will surely strengthen first.
+In order to overthrow, one will surely exalt first.
+‘In order to take, one will surely give first.’
+This is called subtle wisdom.’
+On the other hand, whenever you want to retain anything,
+you should admit in it something of its opposite:
+Be bent, and you will remain straight.
+Be vacant, and you will remain full.
+Be worn, and you will remain new.8
+This is the way of life of the sage who has reached a higher
+point of view, a perspective from which the relativity and polar
+relationship of all opposites are clearly perceived. These
+opposites include, first and foremost, the concepts of good
+and bad which are interrelated in the same way as yin and
+yang. Recognizing the relativity of good and bad, and thus of
+aI! moral standards, the Taoist sage does not strive for the
+good but rather tries to maintain a dynamic balance between
+good and bad. Chuang Tzu is very clear on this point:
+The sayings, ‘Shall we not follow and honour the right
+and have nothing to do with the wrong?’ and ‘Shall we not
+follow and honour those who secure good government
+and have nothing to do with those who produce disorder?
+show a want of acquaintance with the principles of
+Heaven and Earth and with the different qualities of things.
+It is like following and honouring Heaven and taking no
+account of Earth; it is like following and honouring the
+yin and taking no account of the.yang. It is clear that such
+a course cannot be pursued.g
+It is amazing that, at the same time when Lao Tzu and his
+followers developed their world view, the essential features of
+
+115
+Taoism
+
+116
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+this Taoist view were taught also in Greece, by a man whose
+teachings are known to us only in fragments and who was, and
+still is, very often misunderstood. This Greek Taoist’ was
+Heraclitus of Ephesus. He shared with Lao Tzu not only the
+emphasis on continuous change, which he expressed in his
+famous saying ‘Everything flows’, but also the notion that all
+changes are cyclic. He compared the world order to ‘an everliving fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures’,1o
+an image which is indeed very similar to the Chinese idea of
+the Tao manifesting itself in the cyclic interplay of yin and
+yangIt is easy to see how the concept of change as a dynamic
+interplay of opposites led Heraclitus, like Lao Tzu, to the discovery that all opposites are polar and thus united. The way
+up and down is one and the same,’ said the Greek, and ‘God
+is day night, winter summer, war peace, satiety hunger.‘”
+Like the Taoists, he saw any pair of opposites as a unity and
+was well aware of the relativity of all such concepts. Again
+the words of Heraclitus-‘Cold things warm themselves, warm
+cools, moist dries, parched is made wet’12-remind us strongly
+of those of Lao Tzu, ‘Easy gives rise to difficult . . . resonance
+harmonizes sound, after follows before.‘13
+It is surprising that the great similarity between the world
+views of those two sages of the sixth century B.C. is not generally
+known. Heraclitus is often mentioned in connection with
+modern physics, but hardly ever in connection with Taoism.
+And yet it is this connection which shows best that his world
+view was that of a mystic and thus, in my opinion, puts the
+parallels between his ideas and those of modern physics in the
+right perspective.
+When we talk about theTaoist concept of change, it is important
+to realize that this change is not seen as occurring as a consequence of some force, but rather as a tendency which is
+innate in all things and situations. The movements of the Tao
+are not forced upon it, but occur naturally and spontaneously.
+Spontaneity is the Tao’s principle of action, and since human
+conduct should be modelled on the operation of the Tao,
+spontaneity should also be characteristic of all human actions.
+
+Acting in harmony with nature thus means for the Taoists
+acting spontaneously and according to one’s true nature. It
+means trusting one’s intuitive intelligence, which is innate in
+the human mind just as the laws of change are innate in all
+things around us.
+The actions of the Taoist sage thus arise out of his intuitive
+wisdom, spontaneously and in harmony with his environment.
+He does not need to force himself, or anything around him, but
+merely adapts his actions to the movements of the Tao. In
+the words of Huai Nan Tzu,
+Those who follow the natural order flow in the current of
+the Tao.14
+Such a way of acting is called wu-wei in Taoist philosophy; a
+term which means literally ‘non-action’, and which Joseph
+Needham translates as ‘refraining from activity contrary to
+nature’, justifying this interpretation with a quotation from the
+Chuang-tzu :
+Non-action does not mean doing nothing and keeping
+silent. Let everything be allowed to do what it naturally
+does, so that its nature will be satisfied.15
+If one refrains from acting contrary to nature or, as Needham
+says, from ‘going against the grain of things’, one is in harmony
+with the Tao and thus one’s actions will be successful. This is
+the meaning of Lao Tzu’s seemingly so puzzling words, ‘By
+non-action everything can be done.‘16
+The contrast of yin and yang is not only the basic ordering
+principle throughout Chinese culture, but is also reflected in
+the two dominant trends of Chinese thought. Confucianism
+was rational, masculine, active and dominating. Taoism, on
+the other hand, emphasized all that was intuitive, feminine,
+mystical and yielding. ‘Not knowing that one knows is best,’
+says Lao Tzu, and ‘The sage carries on his business without
+action and gives his teachings without words.“’ The Taoists
+believed that by displaying the feminine, yielding qualities of
+human nature, it was easiest to lead a perfectly balanced life
+
+117
+Taoism
+
+118
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+in harmony with the Tao. Their ideal is best summed up in a
+passage from the Chuang-tzu which describes a kind of Taoist
+paradise:
+The men of old, while the chaotic condition was yet
+undeveloped, shared the placid tranquillity which belonged to the whole world. At that time the yin and yang
+were harmonious and still; their resting and movement
+proceeded without any disturbance; the four seasons
+had their definite times; not a single thing received any
+injury, and no living being came to a premature end.
+Men might be possessed of the faculty of knowledge,
+but they had no occasion for its use. This was what is
+called the state of perfect unity. At this time, there was
+no action on the part of anyone-but a constant manifestation of spontaneity.18
+
+Calligraphy by Ryokwan, eighteenth century.
+
+9 ZEN
+
+When the Chinese mind came in contact with Indian thought
+in the form of Buddhism, around the first century A.D., two
+parallel developments took place. On the one hand, the translation of the Buddhist sutras stimulated Chinese thinkers and.
+led them to interpret the teachings of the Indian Buddha in
+the light of their own philosophies. Thus arose an immensely
+fruitful exchange of ideas which culminated, as already mentioned, in the Hua-yen (Sanskrit: Avatamsaka) school of Buddhism
+in China and in the Kegon school in Japan.
+On the other hand, the pragmatic side of the Chinese
+mentality responded to the impact of Indian Buddhism by
+concentrating on its practical aspects and developing them
+into a special kind of spiritual discipline which was given the
+name Clan, a word usually translated as meditation. This
+Clan philosophy was eventually adopted by Japan, around
+A.D. 1200, and has been cultivated there, under the name of
+Zen, as a living tradition up to the present day.
+Zen is thus a unique blend of the philosophies and idiosyncrasies of three different cultures. It is a way of life which is
+typically Japanese, and yet it reflects the mysticism of India,
+the Taoists’ love of naturalness and spontaneity and the
+thorough pragmatism of the Confucian mind.
+In spite of its rather special character, Zen is purely Buddhistic.
+in its essence, because its aim is no other than that of the
+Buddha himself: the attainment of enlightenment, an experience known in Zen as satori. The enlightenment experience
+is the essence of all schools of Eastern philosophy, but Zen is
+unique in that it concentrates exclusively on this experience
+and is not interested in any further interpretations. In the words
+
+122
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+of Suzuki, ‘Zen is discipline in enlightenment.’ From the standpoint of Zen, the awakening of the Buddha and the Buddha’s
+teaching that everybody has the potential of attaining this
+awakening are the essence of Buddhism. The rest of the
+doctrine, as expounded in the voluminous sutras, is seen as
+supplementary.
+The experience of Zen is thus the experience of satori, and
+since this experience, ultimately, transcends all categories of
+thought, Zen is not interested in any abstraction or conceptualization. It has no special doctrine or philosophy, no
+formal creeds or dogmas, and it asserts that this freedom from
+all fixed beliefs makes it truly spiritual.
+More than any other school of Eastern mysticism, Zen is convinced that words can never express the ultimate truth. It
+must have inherited this conviction from Taoism, which
+showed the same uncompromising attitude. ‘If one asks about
+the Tao and another answers him,’ said Chuang Tzu, ‘neither
+of them knows it.”
+Yet the Zen experience can be passed on from teacher to
+pupil, and it has, in fact, been transmitted for many centuries
+by special methods proper to Zen. In a classic summary of
+four lines, Zen is described as
+A special transmission outside the scriptures,
+Not founded upon words and letters,
+Pointing directly to the human mind,
+Seeing into one’s nature and attaining Buddhahood.
+This technique of ‘direct pointing’ constitutes the special
+flavour of Zen. It is typical of the Japanese mind which is more
+intuitive than intellectual and likes to give out facts as facts
+without much comment. The Zen masters were not given to
+verbosity and despised all theorizing and speculation. Thus
+they developed methods of pointing directly to the truth, with
+sudden and spontaneous actions or words, which expose the
+paradoxes of conceptual thinking and, like the koans I have
+already mentioned, are meant to stop the thought process to
+make the student ready for the mystical experience. This
+technique is well illustrated by the following examples of short
+
+conversations between master and disciple. In these conversations, which make up most of the Zen literature, the masters
+talk as little as possible and use their words to shift the disciples’
+attention from abstract thoughts to the concrete reality.
+A monk, asking for instruction, said to Bodhidharma: ‘I
+have no peace of mind. Please pacify my mind.’
+‘Bring your mind here before me’, replied Bodhidharma,
+‘and I will pacify it !’
+‘But when I seek my own mind,’ said the monk, ‘I cannot
+find it.’
+‘There!’ snapped Bodhidharma, ‘I have pacified your
+mind !‘2
+A monk told Joshu: ‘I have just entered the monastery.
+Please teach me.’
+Joshu asked: ‘Have you eaten your rice porridge?
+The monk replied: ‘I have eaten.’
+Joshu said: Then you had better wash your bowl.‘3
+These dialogues bring out another aspect which is characteristic of Zen. Enlightenment in Zen does not mean withdrawal
+from the world but means, on the contrary, active participation
+in everyday affairs. This viewpoint appealed very much to the
+Chinese mentality which attached great importance to a
+practical, productive life and to the idea of family perpetuation,
+and could not accept the monastic character of Indian Buddhism.
+The Chinese masters always stressed that Wan, or Zen, is our
+daily experience, the ‘everyday mind’ as Ma-tsu proclaimed.
+Their emphasis was on awakening in the midst of everyday
+affairs and they made it clear that they saw everyday life not
+only as the way to enlightenment, but as enlightenment itself.
+In Zen, satori means the immediate experience of the Buddha
+nature of all things. First and foremost among these things are
+the objects, affairs and people involved in everyday life, so
+that while it emphasizes life’s practicalities, Zen is nevertheless
+profoundly mystical. Living entirely in the present and giving
+full attention to everyday affairs, one who has attained satori
+experiences the wonder and mystery of life in every single
+act:
+
+123
+Zen
+
+124
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+How wondrous this, how mysterious !
+I carry fuel, I draw water.4
+The perfection of Zen is thus to live one’s everyday life
+naturally and spontaneously. When Po-chang was asked to
+define Zen, he said, When hungry eat, when tired sleep.’
+Although this sounds simple and obvious, like so much in Zen,
+it is in fact quite a difficult task. To regain the naturalness of
+our original nature requires long training and constitutes a
+great spiritual achievement. In the words of a famous Zen
+saying,
+Before you study Zen, mountains are mountains and rivers
+are rivers; while you are studying Zen, mountains are no
+longer mountains and rivers are no longer rivers; but once
+you have had enlightenment, mountains are once again
+mountains and rivers again rivers.
+Zen’s emphasis on naturalness and spontaneity certainly
+shows its Taoist roots, but the basis for this emphasis is strictly
+Buddhistic. It is the belief in the perfection of our original nature,
+the realization that the process of enlightenment consists
+merely in becoming what we already are from the beginning.
+When the Zen master Po-chang was asked about seeking for
+the Buddha nature he answered, ‘It’s much like riding an ox in
+search of the ox.’
+There are two principal schools of Zen in Japan today which
+differ in their methods of teaching. The Rinzai or ‘sudden’
+school uses the koan method, as discussed in a previous
+chapter, and gives prominence to periodic formal interviews
+with the master, called sanzen, during which the student is
+asked to present his view of the koan he is trying to solve.
+The solving of a koan involves long periods of intense concentration leading up to the sudden insight of satori. An
+experienced master knows when the student has reached the
+verge of sudden enlightenment and is able to shock him or
+her into the satori experience with unexpected acts, such as a
+blow with a stick or a loud yell.
+
+The Soto or ‘gradual’ school avoids the shock methods of
+Rinzai and aims at the gradual maturing of the Zen student,
+‘like the spring breeze which caresses the flower helping it to
+bloom’.5 It advocates ‘quiet sitting’ and the use of one’s ordinary
+work as two forms of meditation.
+Both the Soto and Rinzai schools attach the greatest importance to zazen, or sitting meditation, which is practised in
+the Zen monasteries every day for many hours. The correct
+posture and breathing involved in this form of meditation is
+the first thing every student of Zen has to learn. In Rinzdi Zen,
+zazen is used to prepare the intuitive mind for the handling of
+the koan, and the Soto school considers it as the most important means to help the student mature and evolve towards
+satori. More than that, it is seen as the actual realization of
+one’s Buddha nature; body and mind being fused into a
+harmonious unity which needs no further improvement. As a
+Zen poem says,
+Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
+Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.6
+Since Zen asserts that enlightenment manifests itself in everyday affairs, it has had an enormous influence on all aspects of
+the traditional Japanese way of life. These include not only the
+arts of painting, calligraphy, garden design, etc., and the
+various crafts, but also ceremonial activities like serving tea or
+arranging flowers, and the martial arts of archery, swordsmanship and judo. Each of these activities is known in Japan as a
+do, that is, a tao or ‘way’ towards enlightenment. They all
+explore various characteristics of the Zen experience and can
+be used to train the mind and to bring it in contact with the
+ultimate reality.
+I have already mentioned the slow, ritualistic activities of
+cha-no-yu, the Japanese tea ceremony, the spontaneous
+movement of the hand required for calligraphy and painting,
+and the spirituality of bushido, the ‘way of the warrior’. All
+these arts are expressions of the spontaneity, simplicity and
+total presence of mind characteristic of the Zen life. While
+they all require a perfection of technique, real mastery is only
+achieved when technique is transcended and the art becomes
+
+125
+Zen
+
+126
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+an ‘artless art’ growing out of the unconscious.
+We are fortunate to have a wonderful description of such
+an ‘artless art’ in Eugen Herrigel’s little book Zen in the Art of
+Archery. Herrigel spent more than five years with a celebrated
+Japanese master to learn his ‘mystical’ art, and he gives us in
+his book a personal account of how he experienced Zen through
+archery. He describes how archery was presented to him as a
+religious ritual which is ‘danced’ in spontaneous, effortless and
+purposeless movements. It took him many years of hard
+practice, which transformed his entire being, to learn how to
+draw the bow ‘spiritually’, with a kind of effortless strength,
+and to release the string ‘without intention’, letting the shot
+‘fall from the archer like a ripe fruit’. When he reached the
+height of perfection, bow, arrow, goal and archer all melted
+into one another and he did not shoot, but ‘it’ did it for him.
+Herrigel’s description of archery is one of the purest accounts
+of Zen, because it does not talk about Zen at all.
+
+lo THE
+UNITY OF
+ALL THINGS
+Although the spiritual traditions described in the last five
+chapters differ in many details, their view of the world is
+essentially the same. It is a view which is based on mystical
+experience-on a direct non-intellectual experience of realityand this experience has a number of fundamental characteristics
+which are independent of the mystic’s geographical, historical,
+or cultural background. A Hindu and a Taoist may stress
+different aspects of the experience; a Japanese Buddhist may
+interpret his or her experience in terms which are very different
+from those used by an Indian Buddhist; but the basic elements
+of the world view which has been developed in all these
+traditions are the same. These elements also seem to be the
+fundamental features of the world view emerging from modern
+physics.
+The most important characteristic of the Eastern world
+view-one could almost say the essence of it-is the awareness
+of the unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events,
+the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestations
+of a basic oneness. All things are seen as interdependent and
+inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality. The Eastern traditions
+
+constantly refer to this ultimate, indivisible reality which
+manifests itself in all things, and of which all things are parts.
+It is called Brahman in Hinduism, Dharmakaya in Buddhism,
+Tao in Taoism. Because it transcends all concepts and categories,
+Buddhists also call it Tathata, or Suchness:
+What is meant by the soul as suchness, is the oneness of
+the totality of all things, the great all-including whole.’
+In ordinary life, we are not aware of this unity of all things,
+but divide the world into separate objects and events. This
+division is, of course, useful and necessary to cope with our
+everyday environment, but it is not a fundamental feature of
+reality. It is an abstraction devised by our discriminating and
+categorizing intellect. To believe that our abstract concepts
+of separate ‘things’ and ‘events’ are realities of nature is an
+illusion. Hindus and Buddhists tell us that this illusion is based
+on avidya, or ignorance, produced by a mind under the spell
+of maya. The principal aim of the Eastern mystical traditions is
+therefore to readjust the mind by centering and quietening it
+through meditation. The Sanskrit term for meditationsamadhi-means literally ‘mental equilibrium’. It refers to the
+balanced and tranquil state of mind in which the basic unity
+of the universe is experienced:
+Entering into the samadhi of purity, (one obtains) allpenetrating insight that enables one to become conscious
+of the absolute oneness of the universe.*
+The basic oneness of the universe is not only the central
+characteristic of the mystical experience, but is also one of
+the most important revelations of modern physics. It becomes
+apparent at the atomic level and manifests itself more and
+more as one penetrates deeper into matter, down into the
+realm of subatomic particles. The unity of all things and events
+will be a recurring theme throughout our comparison of
+modern physics and Eastern philosophy. As we study the
+various models of subatomic physics we shall see that they
+express again and again, in different ways, the same insightthat the constituents of matter and the basic phenomena
+involving them are all interconnected, interrelated and interdependent; that they cannot be understood as isolated entities,
+but only as integrated parts of the whole.
+
+132
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In this chapter, I shall discuss how the notion of the basic
+interconnectedness of nature arises in quantum theory, the
+theory of atomic phenomena, through a careful analysis of
+the process of observation.* Before entering this discussion,
+I haveto come back to thedistinction between the mathematical
+framework of a theory and its verbal interpretation. The mathematical framework of quantum theory has passed countless
+successful tests and is now universally accepted as a consistent
+and accurate description of all atomic phenomena. The verbal
+interpretation, on the other hand-i.e. the metaphysics of
+quantum theory-is on far less solid ground. In fact, in more
+than forty years physicists have not been able to provide a clear
+metaphysical model.
+The following discussion is based on the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory which was developed
+by Bohr and Heisenberg in the late 1920s and is still the most
+widely accepted model. In my discussion I shall follow the
+presentation given by Henry Stapp of the University of California3 which concentrates on certain aspects of the theory
+and on a certain type of experimental situation that is frequently
+encountered in subatomic physics.** Stapp’s presentation shows
+most clearly how quantum theory implies an essential interconnectedness of nature, and it also puts the theory in a
+framework that can readily be extended to the relativistic
+models of subatomic particles to be discussed later on.
+The starting point of the Copenhagen interpretation is the
+division of the physical world into an observed system (‘object’)
+and an observing system. The observed system can be an
+atom, a subatomic particle, an atomic process, etc. The observing system consists of the experimental apparatus and will
+include one or several human observers. A serious difficulty
+now arises from the fact that the two systems are treated in
+different ways. The observing system is described in the terms
+*Although I have suppressed all the mathematics and simplified the analysis
+considerably, the following discussion may nevertheless appear to be rather
+dry and technical. It should perhaps be taken as ‘yogic’ exercise which-like
+many exercises in the spiritual training of the Eastern traditions-may not be
+much fun, but may lead to a profound and beautiful insight into the essential
+nature of things.
+**Other aspects of quantum theory will be discussed in subsequent chapters,
+
+of classical physics, but these terms cannot be used consistently for the description of the observed ‘object’. We know
+that classical concepts are inadequate at the atomic level, yet
+we have to use them to describe our experiments and to state
+the results. There is no way we can escape this paradox. The
+technical language of classical physics is just a refinement of
+our everyday language and it is the only language we have
+to communicate our experimental results.
+The observed systems are described in quantum theory in
+terms of probabilities. This means that we can never predict
+with certainty where a subatomic particle will be at a certain
+time, or how an atomic process will occur. All we can do is
+predict the odds. For example, most of the subatomic particles
+known today are unstable, that is, they distintegrate-or
+‘decay’-into other particles after a certain time. It is not
+possible, however, to predict this time exactly. We can only
+predict the probability of decay after a certain time or, in
+other words, the average lifetime of a great number of particles
+of the same kind. The same applies to the ‘mode’ of decay.
+In general, an unstable particle can decay into various combinations of other particles, and again we cannot predict which
+combination a particular particle will choose. All we can predict
+is that out of a large number of particles 60 per cent, say, will
+decay in one way, 30 per cent in another way, and 10 per cent
+in a third way. It is clear that such statistical predictions need
+many measurements to be verified. Indeed, in the collision
+experiments of high-energy physics tens of thousands of
+particle collisions are recorded and analysed to determine the
+probability for a particular process.
+It is important to realize that the statistical formulation of the
+laws of atomic and subatomic physics does not reflect our
+ignorance of the physical situation, like the use of probabilities
+by insurance companies or gamblers. In quantum theory, we
+have come to recognize probability as a fundamental feature
+of the atomic reality which governs all processes, and even the
+existence of matter. Subatomic particles do not exist with
+certainty at definite places, but rather show ‘tendencies to
+exist’, and atomic events do not occur with certainty at definite
+times and in definite ways, but rather show ‘tendencies to
+occur’.
+
+133
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+134
+
+The
+
+It is not possible, for example, to say with certainty where
+an electron will be in an atom at a certain time. Its position
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+visual models of probability patterns
+
+depends on the attractive force binding it to the atomic nucleus
+and on the influence of the other electrons in the atom. These
+conditions determine a probability pattern which represents
+the electron’s tendencies to be in various regions of the atom.
+The picture above shows some visual models of such probability patterns. The electron is likely to be found where the
+patterns are bright and unlikely to be present where they are
+dark. The important point is that the entire pattern represents
+the electron at a given time. Within the pattern, we cannot
+speak about theelectron’s position, but only about its tendencies
+to be in certain regions. In the mathematical formalism of
+quantum theory, these tendencies, or probabilities, are
+represented by the so-called probability function, a mathematical quantity which is related to the probabilities of finding
+the electron in various places at various times.
+The contrast between the two kinds of description-classical
+terms for the experimental arrangement and probability
+functions for the observed objects-leads to deep metaphysical problems which have not yet been resolved. In practice,
+
+however, these problems are circumvented by describing the
+observing system in operational terms, that is, in terms of
+instructions which permit scientists to set up and carry out
+their experiments. In this way, the measuring devices and the
+scientists are effectively joined into one complex system which
+has no distinct, well-defined parts, and the experimental
+apparatus does not have to be described as an isolated physical
+entity.
+For the further discussion of the process of observation it
+will be useful to take a definite example, and the simplest
+physical entity that can be used is a subatomic particle, such
+as the electron. If we want to observe and measure such a
+particle, we must first isolate it, or even create it, in a process
+which can be called the preparation process. Once the particle
+has been prepared for observation, its properties can be
+measured, and this constitutes the process of measurement.
+The situation can be represented symbolically as follows.
+A particle is prepared in the region A, travels from A to B, and
+is measured in the region B. In practice, both the preparation
+and the measurement of the particle may consist of a whole
+series of quite complicated processes. In the collision experiments of high-energy physics, for example, the preparation of
+the particles used as projectiles consists in sending them around
+a circular track and accelerating them until their energy is
+sufficiently high. This process takes place in the particle accelerator. When the desired energy is reached, they are made
+to leave the accelerator (A) and travel to the target area (B)
+where they collide with other particles. These collisions take
+place in a bubble chamber where the particles produce visible
+tracks which are photographed. The properties of the particles
+are then deduced from a mathematical analysis of their
+tracks; such an analysis can be quite complex and is often
+carried out with the help of computers. All these processes
+and activities constitute the act of measurement.
+The important point in this analysis of observation is that
+the particle constitutes an intermediate system connecting the
+processes at A and B. It exists and has meaning only in this
+context; not as an isolated entity, but as an interconnection
+between the processes of preparation and measurement. The
+properties of the particle cannot be defined independently of
+
+135
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+136
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+measurement
+
+observation of a particle in atomic physics
+
+these processes. If the preparation or the measurement is
+modified, the properties of the particle will change too.
+On the other hand, the fact that we speak about ‘the particle’,
+or any other observed system, shows that we have some
+independent physical entity in mind which is first prepared
+and then measured. The basic problem with observation in
+atomic physics is, then-in the words of Henry Stapp-that
+‘the observed system is required to be isolated in order to be
+defined, yet interacting in order to be observed.‘4 This problem
+is resolved in quantum theory in a pragmatic way by requiring
+that the observed system be free from the external disturbances
+caused by the process of observation during some interval
+between its preparation and subsequent measurement. Such
+a condition can be expected if the preparing and measuring
+devices are physically separated by a large distance, so that
+the observed object can travel from the region of preparation
+to the region of measurement.
+How large, then, does this distance have to be? In principle,
+it must be infinite. In the framework of quantum theory, the
+concept of a distinct physical entity can be defined precisely
+only if this entity is infinitely far away from the agencies of
+observation. In practice, this is of course not possible; neither
+is it necessary. We have to remember, here, the basic attitude
+of modern science-that all its concepts and theories are
+approximate.* In the present case, this means that the concept
+*See p. 41
+
+of a distinct physical entity need not have a precise definition,
+but can be defined approximately. This is done in the following
+way.
+The observed object is a manifestation of the interaction
+between the processes of preparation and measurement. This
+interaction is generally complex and involves various effects
+extending over different distances; it has various ‘ranges’, as
+we say in physics. Now, if the dominant part of the interaction
+has a long range, the manifestation of this long-range effect
+will travel over a large distance. It will then be free from external
+disturbances and can be referred to as a distinct physical
+entity. In the framework of quantum theory, distinct physical
+entities are therefore idealizations which are meaningful only
+to the extent that the main part of the interaction has a long
+range. Such a situation can be defined mathematically in a
+precise way. Physically, it means that the measuring devices
+are placed so far apart that their main interaction occurs
+through the exchange of a particle or, in more complicated
+cases, of a network of particles. There will always be other
+effects present as well, but as long as the separation of the
+measuring devices is large enough these effects can be neglected. Only when the devices are not placed far enough apart
+will the short-range effects become dominant. In such a case,
+the whole macroscopic system forms a unified whole and the
+notion of an observed object breaks down.
+Quantum theory thus reveals an essential interconnectedness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the
+world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate
+into matter, we find that it is made of particles, but these are
+not the ‘basic building blocks’ in the sense of Democritus and
+Newton. They are merely idealizations which are useful from
+a practical point of view, but have no fundamental significance.
+In the words of Niels Bohr, ‘Isolated material particles are
+abstractions, their properties being definable and observable
+only through their interaction with other systems.‘5
+The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory is not
+universally accepted. There are several counterproposals and
+the philosophical problems involved are far from being settled.
+The universal interconnectedness of things and events, however, seems to be a fundamental feature of the atomic reality
+--..---.
+
+137
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+138
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+which does not depend on a particular interpretation of the
+mathematical theory. The following passage from a recent
+article by David Bohm, one of the main opponents of the
+Copenhagen interpretation, confirms this fact most eloquently.
+One is led to a new notion of unbroken wholeness which
+denies the classical idea of analyzability of the world into
+separately and independently existing parts . . . We have
+reversed the usual classical notion that the independent
+‘elementary parts’ of the world are the fundamental
+reality, and that the various systems are merely particular
+contingent forms and arrangements of these parts.
+Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and
+that relatively independently behaving parts are merely
+particular and contingent forms within this whole.”
+At the atomic level, then, the solid material objects of
+classical physics dissolve into patterns of probabilities, and
+these patterns do not represent probabilities of things, but
+rather probabilities of interconnections. Quantum theory
+forces us to see the universe not as a collection of physical
+objects, but rather as a complicated web of relations between
+the various parts of a unified whole. This, however, is the way
+in which Eastern mystics have experienced the world, and
+some of them have expressed their experience in words which
+are almost identical with those used by atomic physicists.
+Here are two examples:
+The material object becomes . . . something different from
+what we now see, not a separate object on the background
+or in the environment of the rest of nature but an indivisible part and even in a subtle way an expression of
+the unity of all that we see.’
+Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence
+and are nothing in themselves.8
+If these statements could be taken as an account of how
+nature appears in atomic physics, the following two statements
+
+from atomic physicists could, in turn, be read as a description
+of the mystical experience of nature:
+An elementary particle is not an independently existing
+unanalyzable entity. It is, in essence, a set of relationships
+that reach outward to other things?
+The world thus appears as a complicated tissue of events,
+in which connections of different kinds alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of
+the whole.1°
+The picture of an interconnected cosmic web which emerges
+from modern atomic physics has been used extensively in
+the East to convey the mystical experience of nature. For the
+Hindus, Brahman is the unifying thread in the cosmic web,
+the ultimate ground of all being:
+He on whom the sky, the earth, and the atmosphere
+Are woven, and the wind, together with all life-breaths,
+Him alone know as the one SOUI.~~
+In Buddhism, the image of the cosmic web plays an even
+greater role. The core of the Avatamsaka Sutra, one of the
+main scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism,* is the description of
+the world as a perfect network of mutual relations where all
+things and events interact with each other in an infinitely
+complicated way. Mahayana Buddhists have developed many
+parables and similes to illustrate this universal interrelatedness,
+some of which will be discussed later on, in connection with
+the relativistic version of the ‘web philosophy’ in modern
+physics. The cosmic web, finally, plays a central role in Tantric
+Buddhism, a branch of the Mahayana which originated in
+India around the third century A.D. and constitutes today the
+main school of Tibetan Buddhism. The scriptures of this school
+are called the Tantras, a word whose Sanskrit root means ‘to
+weave’ and which refers to the interwovenness and interdependence of all things and events.
+*See p. 99
+
+139
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+In Eastern mysticism, this universal interwovenness always
+includes the human observer and his or her consciousness, and
+this is also true in atomic physics. At the atomic level, ‘objects’
+can only be understood in terms of the interaction between the
+processes of preparation and measurement. The end of this
+chain of processes lies always in the consciousness of the
+human observer. Measurements are interactions which create
+‘sensations’ in our consciousness-for example, the visual
+sensation of a flash of light, or of a dark spot on a photographic
+plate-and the laws of atomic physics tell us with what probability an atomic object will give rise to a certain sensation if we
+let it interact with us. ‘Natural science’, says Heisenberg, ‘does
+not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay
+between nature and ourselves.‘12
+The crucial feature of atomic physics is that the human
+observer is not only necessary to observe the properties of an
+object, but is necessary even to define these properties. In
+atomic physics, we cannot talk about the properties of an
+object as such. They are only meaningful in the context of the
+object’s interaction with the observer. In the words of Heisenberg, ‘What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed
+to our method of questioning.‘13 The observer decides how he
+is going to set up the measurement and this arrangement will
+determine, to some extent, the properties of the observed
+object. If the experimental arrangement is modified, the
+properties of the observed object will change in turn.
+This can be illustrated with the simple case of a subatomic
+particle. When observing such a particle, one may choose to
+measure-among other quantities-the particle’s position and
+its momentum (a quantity defined as the particle’s mass times
+its velocity). We shall see in the next chapter that an important
+law of quantum theory-Heisenberg’s uncertainty principlesays that these two quantities can never be measured simultaneously with precision- We can either obtain a precise
+knowledge about the particle’s position and remain completely
+ignorant about its momentum (and thus about its velocity), or
+vice versa; or we can have a rough and imprecise knowledge
+about both quantities. The important point now is that this
+limitation has nothing to do with the imperfection of our
+measuring techniques. It is a principle limitation which is
+
+inherent in the atomic reality. If we decide to measure the
+particle’s position precisely, the particle simply does not have
+a well-defined momentum, and if we decide to measure the
+momentum, it does not have a well-defined position.
+In atomic physics, then, the scientist cannot play the role
+of a detached objective observer, but becomes involved in
+the world he observes to the extent that he influences the
+properties of the observed objects. John Wheeler sees this
+involvement of the observer as the most important feature of
+quantum theory and he has therefore suggested replacing the
+word ‘observer’ by the word ‘participator’. In Wheeler’s own
+words,
+Nothing is more important about the quantum principle
+than this, that it destroys the concept of the world as
+‘sitting out there’, with the observer safely separated
+from it by a 20 centimeter slab of plateglass. Even to observe
+so miniscule an object as an electron, he must shatter
+the glass. He must reach in. He must install his chosen
+measuring equipment. It is up to him to decide whether he
+shall measure position or momentum. To install the
+equipment to measure the one prevents and excludes his
+installing the equipment to measure the other. Moreover,
+the measurement changes the state of the electron. The
+universe will never afterwards be the same. To describe
+what has happened, one has to cross out that old word
+‘observer’ and put in its place the new word ‘participator’.
+In some strange sense the universe is a participatory
+universe.14
+The idea of ‘participation instead of observation’ has been
+formulated in modern physics only recently, but it is an idea
+which is well known to any student of mysticism. Mystical
+knowledge can never be obtained just by observation, but
+only by full participation with one’s whole being. The notion
+of the participator is thus crucial to the Eastern world view,
+and the Eastern mystics have pushed this notion to the extreme,
+to a point where observer and observed, subject and object,
+are not only inseparable but also become indistinguishable.
+The mystics are not satisfied with a situation analogous to
+
+141
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+142
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+atomic physics, where the observer and the observed cannot
+be separated, but can still be distinguished. They go much
+further, and in deep meditation they arrive at a point where
+the distinction between observer and observed breaks down
+completely, where subject and object fuse into a unified
+undifferentiated whole. Thus the Upanishads say,
+Where there is a duality, as it were, there one sees
+another; there one smells another; there one tastes
+another . . . But where everything has become just one’s
+own self, then whereby and whom would one see? then
+whereby and whom would one smell? then whereby and
+whom would one taste/l5
+This, then, is the final apprehension of the unity of all things.
+It is reached- so the mystics tell us-in a state of consciousness where one’s individuality dissolves into an undifferentiated
+oneness, where the world of the senses is transcended and
+the notion of ‘things’ is left behind. In the words of Chuang
+Tzu,
+My connection with the body and its parts is dissolved.
+My perceptive organs are discarded. Thus leaving my
+material form and bidding farewell to my knowledge, I
+become one with the Great Pervader. This I call sitting
+and forgetting all things.‘6
+Modern physics, of course, works in a very different framework and cannot go that far in the experience of the unity of
+all things. But it has made a great step towards the world view
+of the Eastern mystics in atomic theory. Quantum theory has
+abolished the notion of fundamentally separated objects, has
+introduced the concept of the participator to replace that of
+the observer, and may even find it necessary to include the
+human consciousness in its description of the world.* It has
+come to see the universe as an interconnected web of physical
+and mental relations whose parts are only defined through
+their connections to the whole. To summarize the world view
+*This point will be discussed further in Chapter 18.
+
+emerging from atomic physics, the words of a Tantric Buddhist,
+Lama Anagarika Govinda, seem to be perfectly apropos:
+The Buddhist does not believe in an independent or
+separately existing external world, into whose dynamic
+forces he could insert himself. The external world and his
+inner world are for him only two sides of the same fabric,
+in which the threads of all forces and of all events, of all
+forms of consciousness and of their objects, are woven
+into an inseparable net of endless, mutually conditioned
+relations.”
+
+143
+The
+Unity of
+All Things
+
+11 BEYOND
+THE WORLD
+OF OPPOSITES
+When the Eastern mystics tell us that they experience all
+things and events as manifestations of a basic oneness, this
+does not mean that they pronounce all things to be equal.
+They recognize the individuality of things, but at the same
+time they are aware that all differences and contrasts are
+relative within an all-embracing unity. Since in our normal state
+of consciousness, this unity of all contrasts-and especially
+the unity of opposites-is extremely hard to accept, it constitutes one of the most puzzling features of Eastern philosophy.
+It is, however, an insight which lies at the very root of the
+Eastern world view.
+Opposites are abstract concepts belonging to the realm of
+thought, and as such they are relative. By the very act of
+focusing our attention on any one concept we create its
+opposite. As Lao Tzu says, When all in the world understand
+beauty to be beautiful, then ugliness exists; when all understand goodness to be good, then evil exists.” The mystic
+transcends this realm of intellectual concepts, and in transcending it he becomes aware of the relativity and polar relationship of all opposites. He realizes that good and bad,
+pleasure and pain, life and death, are not absolute experiences
+belonging to different categories, but are merely two sides of
+the same reality; extreme parts of a single whole. The awareness
+that all opposites are polar, and thus a unity, is seen as one of
+the highest aims of man in the spiritual traditions of the East.
+‘Be in truth eternal, beyond earthly opposites!’ is Krishna’s
+advice in the Bhagavad Cita, and the same advice is given to
+the followers of Buddhism. Thus D. T. Suzuki writes,
+-~
+
+I
+
+146
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The fundamental idea of Buddhism is to pass beyond the
+world of opposites, a world built up by intellectual distinctions and emotional defilements, and to realize the
+spiritual world of non-distinction, which involves achieving
+an absolute point of view.2
+The whole of Buddhist teaching-and in fact the whole of
+Eastern mysticism-revolves about this absolute point of
+view which is reached in the world of acintya, or ‘no-thought’,
+where the unity of all opposites becomes a vivid experience.
+In the words of a Zen poem,
+At dusk the cock announces dawn;
+At midnight, the bright sun.3
+The notion that all opposites are polar-that light and dark,
+winning and losing, good and evil, are merely different aspects
+of the same phenomenon-is one of the basic principles of the
+Eastern way of life. Since all opposites are interdependent,
+their conflict can never result in the total victory of one side,
+but will always be a manifestation of the interplay between
+the two sides. In the East, a virtuous person is therefore not
+one who undertakes the impossible task of striving for the
+good and eliminating the bad, but rather one who is able to
+maintain a dynamic balance between good and bad.
+This notion of dynamic balance is essential to the way in
+which the unity of opposites is experienced in Eastern mysticism.
+It is never a static identity, but always a dynamic interplay
+between two extremes. This point has been emphasized most
+extensively by the Chinese sages in their symbolism of the
+archetypal poles yin and yang. They called the unity lying
+behind yin and yang the Tao and saw it as a process which
+brings about their interplay: That which lets now the dark,
+now the light appear is Tao.‘4
+The dynamic unity of polar opposites can be illustrated with
+the simple example of a circular motion and its projection.
+Suppose you have a ball going round a circle. If this movement
+is projected on to a screen, it becomes an oscillation between
+two extreme points. CTo keep the analogy with Chinese thought,
+I have written TAO in the circle and have marked the extreme
+points of the oscillation with YIN and YANG.) The ball goes
+
+--
+
+round the circle with constant speed, but in the projection it
+slows down as it reaches the edge, turns around, and then
+accelerates again only to slow down once more-and so on,
+
+147
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+YIN
+
+YANG .
+
+dynamic unity of polar opposites
+in endless cycles. In any projection of that kind, the circular
+movement will appear as an oscillation between two opposite
+points, but in the movement itself the opposites are unified
+and transcended. This image of a dynamic unification of
+opposites was indeed very much in the minds of the Chinese
+thinkers, as can be seen from the passage in the Chuang-tzu
+quoted previously :*
+That the ‘that’ and the ‘this’ cease to be opposites is the
+very essence of Tao. Only the essence, an axis as it were,
+is the centre of the circle responding to the endless
+changes.
+One of the principal polarities in life is the one between the
+male and female sides of human nature. As with the polarity
+of good and bad, or of life and death, we tend to feel uncomfortable with the male/female polarity in ourselves, and
+therefore we bring one or the other side into prominence.
+Western society has traditionally favoured the male side rather
+than the female. Instead of recognizing that the personality
+of each man and of each woman is the result of an interplay
+between female and male elements, it has established a static
+*See p. 114
+
+.
+
+Shiva Mahesvara, Elephanta, India, eighth centuryA.D.
+
+Shiva
+
+Ardhanari,
+
+Elephanta,
+
+India,
+
+eighth
+
+century
+
+order where all men are supposed to be masculine and all
+women feminine, and it has given men the leading roles and
+most of society’s privileges. This attitude has resulted in an
+over-emphasis of all the yang-or male-aspects of human
+nature: activity, rational thinking, competition, aggressiveness,
+and so on. The yin-or female-modes of consciousness,
+which can be described by words like intuitive, religious,
+mystical, occult or psychic, have constantly been suppressed
+in our male-oriented society.
+In Eastern mysticism, these female modes are developed and
+a unity between the two aspects of human nature is sought.
+A fully realized human being is one who, in the words of Lao
+Tzu, ‘knows the masculine and yet keeps to the feminine’.
+In many Eastern traditions the dynamic balance between the
+male and female modes of consciousness is the principal aim
+of meditation, and is often illustrated in works of art. A superb
+sculpture of Shiva in the Hindu temple of Elephanta shows
+three faces of the god: on the right, his male profile displaying
+virility and will-power; on the left, his female aspect-gentle,
+charming, seductive-and in the centre the sublime union of
+
+A.D
+
+the two aspects in the magnificent head of Shiva Mahesvara,
+the Great Lord, radiating serene tranquillity and transcendental
+aloofness. In the same temple, Shiva is also represented in
+androgynous form-half male, half female-the flowing movement of the gods body and the serene detachment of his/her
+face symbolizing, again, the dynamic unification of the male
+and female.
+In Tantric Buddhism, the male/female polarity is often
+illustrated with the help of sexual symbols. Intuitive wisdom is
+seen as the passive, female quality of human nature, love and
+compassion as the active, male quality, and the union of both in
+the process of enlightenment is represented by ecstatic sexual
+embraces of male and female deities. The Eastern mystics
+affirm that such a union of one’s male and female modes can
+only be experienced on a higher plane of consciousness where
+the realm of thought and language is transcended and all
+opposites appear as a dynamic unity.
+I have already asserted that a similar plane has been reached
+in modern physics. The exploration of the subatomic world
+has revealed a reality which repeatedly transcends language
+and reasoning, and the unification of concepts which had
+hitherto seemed opposite and irreconcilable turns out to be
+one of the most startling features of this new reality. These
+seemingly irreconcilable concepts are generally not the ones
+the Eastern mystics are concerned with-although sometimes
+they are-but their unification at a non-ordinary level of reality
+provides a parallel to Eastern mysticism. Modern physicists
+should therefore be able to gain insights into some of the
+central teachings of the Far East by relating them to experiences
+in their own field. A small but growing number of young
+physicists have indeed found thisa most valuableand stimulating
+approach to Eastern mysticism.
+Examples of the unification of opposite concepts in modern
+physics can be found at the subatomic level, where particles
+are both destructible and indestructible; where matter is
+both continuous and discontinuous, and force and matter are
+but different aspects of the same phenomenon. In all these
+examples, which will be discussed extensively in subsequent
+chapters, it turns out that the framework of opposite concepts,
+derived from our everyday experience, is too narrow for the
+world of subatomic particles. Relativity theory is crucial for
+7
+
+149
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+150
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the description of this world, and in the ‘relativistic’ framework
+the classical concepts are transcended by going to a higher
+dimension, the four-dimensional space-time. Space and time
+themselves are two concepts which had seemed entirely
+different, but have been unified in relativistic physics. This
+fundamental unity is the basis of the unification of the opposite
+concepts mentioned above. Like the unity of opposites experienced by the mystics, it takes place on a ‘higher plane’, i.e. in
+a higher dimension, and like that experienced by the mystics
+it is a dynamic unity, because the relativistic space-time reality
+is an intrinsically dynamic reality where objects are also
+processes and all forms are dynamic patterns.
+To experience the unification of seemingly separate entities
+in a higher dimension we do not need relativity theory. It can
+also be experienced by going from one to two dimensions, or
+from two to three. In the example of a circular motion and its
+projection given opposite the opposite poles of the oscillation
+in one dimension (along a line) are unified in the circular movement in two dimensions (in one plane). The drawing overleaf
+represents another example, involving a transition from two
+to three dimensions. It shows a ‘doughnut’ ring cut horizontally
+by a plane. In the two dimensions of that plane, the surfaces of
+the cut appear as two completely separate discs, but in three
+dimensions they are recognized as being parts of one and the
+same object. A similar unification of entities which seem
+separate and irreconcilable is achieved in relativity theory by
+going from three to four dimensions. The four-dimensional
+world of relativistic physics is the world where force and matter
+are unified; where matter can appear as discontinuous particles
+or as a continuous field. In these cases, however, we can no
+longer visualize the unity very well. Physicists can ‘experience’
+the four-dimensional space-time world through the abstract
+mathematical formalism of their theories, but their visual
+imagination-like everybody else’s-is limited to the threedimensional world of the senses. Our language and thought
+patterns have evolved in this three-dimensional world and
+therefore we find it extremely hard to deal with the fourdimensional reality of relativistic physics.
+Eastern mystics, on the other hand, seem to be able to
+experience a higher-dimensional reality directly and con/s
+
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+cretely. In the state of deep meditation, they can transcend the
+three-dimensional world of everyday life, and experience a
+totally different reality where all opposites are unified into an
+organic whole. When the mystics try to express this experience
+in words, they are faced with the same problems as the physicists
+trying to interpret the multidimensional reality of relativistic
+physics. In the words of Lama Covinda,
+An experience of higher dimensionality is achieved by
+integration of experiences of different centres and levels
+of consciousness. Hence the indescribability of certain
+experiencesof meditation on the planeof three-dimensional
+consciousness and within a system of logic which reduces
+the possibilities of expression by imposing further limits
+upon the process of thinking.5
+The four-dimensional world of relativity theory is not the
+only example in modern physics where seemingly contradictory
+and irreconcilable concepts are seen to be nothing more than
+different aspects of the same reality. Perhaps the most famous
+case of such a unification of contradictory concepts is that of
+the concepts of particles and waves in atomic physics.
+At the atomic level, matter has a dual aspect: it appears as
+particles and as waves. Which aspect it shows depends on the
+
+152
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+situation. In some situations the particle aspect is dominant,
+in others the particles behave more like waves; and this dual
+nature is also exhibited by light and all other electromagnetic
+radiation. Light, for example, is emitted and absorbed in the
+form of ‘quanta’, or photons, but when these particles of light
+travel through space they appear as vibrating electric and
+magnetic fields which show all the characteristic behaviour
+of waves. Electrons are normally considered to be particles,
+and yet when a beam of these particles is sent through a small
+slit it is diffracted just like a beam of light-in other words
+electrons, too, behave like waves.
+
+a particle
+
+a wave
+
+This dual aspect of matter and radiation is indeed most
+startling and gave rise to many of the ‘quantum koans’ which
+led to the formulation of quantum theory. The picture of a
+wave which is always spread out in space is fundamentally
+different from the particle picture which implies a sharp location.
+It has taken physicists a long time to accept the fact that matter
+manifests itself in ways which seem to be mutually exclusive;
+that particles are also waves, waves also particles.
+Looking at the two pictures, a lay person might be tempted
+to think that the contradiction can be resolved by saying that
+the picture on the right-hand side simply represents a particle
+moving in a wave pattern. This argument, however, rests on a
+misunderstanding of the nature of waves. Particles moving in
+wave patterns do not exist in nature. In a water wave, for example,
+the water particles do not move along with the wave but move
+in circles as the wave passes by. Similarly, the air particles in a
+sound wave merely oscillate back and forth, but do not propagate along with the wave. What is transported along the
+wave is the disturbance causing the wave phenomenon, but
+not any material particle. In quantum theory, therefore, we do
+not speak about a particle’s trajectory when we say that the
+particle is also a wave. What we mean is that the wave pattern
+as a whole is a manifestation of the particle. The picture of
+
+travelling waves is thus totally different from that of travelling
+particles; as different-in the words of Victor Weisskopf-‘as
+the notion of waves on a lake from that of a school of fish
+swimming in the same direction’.6
+
+direction of wave
+
+a water wave
+The phenomenon of waves is encountered in many different
+contexts throughout physics and can be described with the
+same mathematical formalism whenever it occurs. The same
+mathematical forms are used to describe a light wave, a
+vibrating guitar string, a sound wave, or a water wave. In
+quantum theory, these forms are used again to describe the
+waves associated with particles. This time, however, the waves
+are much more abstract. They are closely related to the
+statistical nature of quantum theory, i.e. to the fact that atomic
+phenomena can only be described in terms of probabilities.
+The information about the probabilities for a particle is contained in a quantity called the probability function, and the
+mathematical form of this quantity is that of a wave, that is to
+say, it is similar to the forms used for the description of other
+types of waves. The waves associated with particles, however,
+are not ‘real’ three-dimensional waves, like water waves or
+sound waves, but are ‘probability waves’; abstract mathematical quantities which are related to the probabilities of
+finding the particles in various places and with various properties.
+The introduction of probability waves, in a sense, resolves
+the paradox of particles being waves by putting it in a totally
+new context; but at the same time it leads to another pair of
+opposite concepts which is even more fundamental, that of
+existence and non-existence. This pair of opposites, too, is
+transcended by the atomic reality. We can never say that an
+atomic particle exists at a certain place, nor can we say that
+it does not exist. Being a probability pattern, the particle has
+
+153
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+1
+I
+
+154
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+tendencies to exist in various places and thus manifests a strange
+kind of physical reality between existence and non-existence.
+We cannot, therefore, describe the state of the particle in
+terms of fixed opposite concepts. The particle is not present at
+a definite place, nor is it absent. It does not change its position,
+nor does it remain at rest. What changes is the probability
+pattern, and thus the tendencies of the particle to exist in
+certain places. In the words of Robert Oppenheimer,
+If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron
+remains the same, we must say ‘no’; if we ask whether
+the electron’s position changes with time, we must say
+‘no’; if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say
+‘no’; if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say ‘no’.’
+The reality of the atomic physicist, like the reality of the
+Eastern mystic, transcends the narrow framework of opposite
+concepts. Oppenheimer’s words thus seem to echo the words
+of the Upanishads,
+It moves. It moves not.
+It is far, and It is near.
+It is within all this,
+And It is outside of all this.8
+Force and matter, particles and waves, motion and rest,
+existence and non-existence-these are some of the opposite
+or contradictory concepts which are transcended in modern
+physics. Of all these opposite pairs, the last seems to be the
+most fundamental, and yet, in atomic physics we have to go
+even beyond the concepts of existence and non-existence.
+This is the feature of quantum theory which is most difficult
+to accept and which lies at the heart of the continuing discussion about its interpretation. At the same time, the transcending of the concepts of existence and non-existence is also
+one of the most puzzling aspects of Eastern mysticism. Like
+the atomic physicists, the Eastern mystics deal with a reality
+which lies beyond existence and non-existence, and they
+frequently emphasize this important fact. Thus Ashvaghosha:
+
+Suchness is neither that which is existence, nor that which
+is non-existence, nor that which is at once existence and
+non-existence, nor that which is not at once existence
+and non-existence.9
+Faced with a reality which lies beyond opposite concepts,
+physicists and mystics have to adopt a special way of thinking,
+where the mind is not fixed in the rigid framework of classical
+logic, but keeps moving and changing its viewpoint. In atomic
+physics, for example, we are now used to applying both the
+particle and the wave concept in our description of matter.
+We have learned how to play with the two pictures, switching
+from one to the other and back, in order to cope with the
+atomic reality. This is precisely the way in which the Eastern
+mystics think when they try to interpret their experience of a
+reality beyond opposites. In the words of Lama Govinda, The
+Eastern way of thinking rather consists in a circling round the
+object of contemplation . . . a many-sided, i.e. multi-dimensional
+impression formed from the superimposition of single impressions from different points of view.‘lO
+To see how one can switch back and forth between the
+particle picture and the wave picture in atomic physics, let us
+examine the concepts of waves and particles in more detail.
+A wave is a vibrational pattern in space and time. We can look
+at it at a definite instant of time and will then see a periodic
+pattern in space, as in the following example. This pattern is
+characterized by an amplitude A, the extension of the vibration,
+and a wavelength L, the distance between two successive crests.
+
+a wave pattern
+
+Alternatively, we can look at the motion of a definite point of
+the wave and will then see an oscillation characterized by a
+certain frequency, the number of times the point oscillates
+
+--
+
+155
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+156
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+back and forth every second. Now let us turn to the particle
+picture. According to classical ideas, a particle has a welldefined position at any time, and its state of motion can be
+described in terms of its velocity and its energy of motion.
+Particles moving with a high velocity also have a high energy.
+Physicists, in fact, hardly use ‘velocity’ to describe the particle’s
+state of motion, but rather use a quantity called ‘momentum’
+which is defined as the particle’s mass times its velocity.
+Quantum theory, now, associates the properties of a
+probability wave with the properties of the corresponding
+particle by relating the amplitude of the wave at a certain place
+to the probability of finding the particle at that place. Where
+the amplitude is large we are likely to find the particle if we
+look for it, where it is small, unlikely. The wave train pictured
+on p. 155, for example, has the same amplitude throughout its
+length, and the particle can therefore be found anywhere
+along the wave with the same likelihood.*
+The information about the particle’s state of motion is
+contained in the wavelength and frequency of the wave. The
+wavelength is inversely proportional to the momentum of the
+particle, which means that a wave with a small wavelength
+corresponds to a particle moving with a high momentum (and
+thus with a high velocity). The frequency of the wave is proportional to the particle’s energy; a wave with a high frequency
+means that the particle has a high energy. In the case of light,
+for example, violet light has a high frequency and a short
+wavelength and consists therefore of photons of high energy
+and high momentum, whereas red light has a low frequency
+and a long wavelength corresponding to photons of low energy
+and momentum.
+A wave which is spread out like the one in our example
+does not tell us much about the position of the corresponding
+particle. It can be found anywhere along the wave with the
+same likelihood. Very often, however, we deal with situations
+where the particle’s position is known to some extent, as for
+example in the description of an electron in an atom. In such
+*In this example, one must not think that the particle is more likely to be found
+where the wave has crests than in the places where it has troughs. The static
+wave pattern in the picture is merely a ‘snap shot’ of a continual vibration during
+which every point along the wave reaches the top of a crest in periodic intervals.
+..-
+
+_.-- l_ll_-__________. -~.--.
+
+a case, the probabilities of finding the particle in various places
+must be confined to a certain region. Outside this region they
+must be zero. This can be achieved by a wave pattern like the
+one in the following diagram which corresponds to a particle
+confined to the region X. Such a pattern is called a wave
+packet.* It is composed of several wave trains with various
+
+157
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+a wave packet corresponding to a particle
+located somewhere in the region X
+wavelengths which interfere with each other destructively**
+outside the region X, so that the total amplitude-and thus the
+probability of finding the particle there-is zero, whereas they
+build up the pattern inside X. This pattern shows that the
+particle is located somewhere inside the region X, but it does
+not allow us to localize it any further. For points inside the
+region we can only give the probabilities for the presence of
+the particle. (The particle is most likely to be present in the
+centre where the probability amplitudes are large, and less
+likely near the ends of the wave packet where the amplitudes
+are small.) The length of the wave packet represents therefore
+the uncertainty in the location of the particle.
+The important property of such a wave packet now is that
+it has no definite wavelength, i.e. the distances between two
+successive crests are not equal throughout the pattern. There
+*For simplicity, we deal here only with one dimension of space, i.e. with the
+position of the particle somewhere along a line. The probability patterns shown
+on p. 134 are two-dimensional examples corresponding to more complicated
+wave packets.
+“See p. 47.
+
+__.-
+
+158
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+is a spread in wavelength the amount of which depends on
+the length of the wave packet: the shorter the wave packet,
+the larger the spread in wavelength. This has nothing to do
+with quantum theory, but simply follows from the properties
+of waves. Wave packets do not have a definite wavelength.
+Quantum theory comes into play when we associate the wavelength with the momentum of the corresponding particle. If
+the wave packet does not have a well-defined wavelength, the
+particle does not have a well-defined momentum. This means
+that there is not only an uncertainty in the particle’s position,
+corresponding to the length of the wave packet, but also an
+uncertainty in its momentum, caused by the spread in wavelength. The two uncertainties are interrelated, because the
+spread in wavelength (i.e. the uncertainty of momentum)
+depends on the length of the wave packet (i.e. on the uncertainty of position). tf we want to localize the particle more
+precisely, that is, if we want to confine its wave packet to a
+smaller region, this will result in an increase in the spread in
+wavelength and thus in an increase in the uncertainty of the
+particle’s momentum.
+The precise mathematical form of this relation between the
+uncertainties of position and momentum of a particle is known
+as Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation, or uncertainty principle.
+It means that, in the subatomic world, we can never know
+both the position and momentum of a particle with great
+accuracy. The better we know the position, the hazier will its
+momentum be and vice versa. We can decide to undertake a
+precise measurement of either of the two quantities; but then
+we will have to remain completely ignorant about the other
+one. It is important to realize, as was pointed out in the previous
+chapter, that this limitation is not caused by the imperfection
+of our measuring techniques, but is a limitation of principle.
+If we decide to measure the particle’s position precisely, the
+particle simply does not have a well-defined momentum, and
+vice versa.
+The relation between the uncertainties of a particle’s position
+and momentum is not the only form of the uncertainty principle.
+Similar relations hold between other quantities, for example
+between the time an atomic event takes and the energy it
+involves. This can be seen quite easily by picturing our wave
+
+packet not as a pattern in space, but as a vibrational pattern
+in time. As the particle passes a particular point of observation,
+the vibrations of the wave pattern at that point will start with
+small amplitudes which will increase and then decrease again
+until finally the vibration will stop altogether. The time it takes
+to go through this pattern represents the time during which
+the particle passes our point of observation. We can say that
+the passage occurs within this time span, but we cannot
+localize it any further. The duration of the vibration pattern
+represents therefore the uncertainty in the temporal location
+of the event.
+Now, as the spatial pattern of the wave packet does not
+have a well-defined wavelength, the corresponding vibrational
+pattern in time does not have a well-defined frequency. The
+spread in frequency depends on the duration of the vibrational
+pattern, and since quantum theory associates the frequency of
+the wave with the energy of the particle, the spread in the
+pattern’s frequency corresponds to an uncertainty in the
+particle’s energy. The uncertainty in the location of an event
+in time thus becomes related to an uncertainty in energy in the
+same way as the uncertainty of a particle’s location in space is
+related to an uncertainty in momentum. This means that we
+can never know both the time at which an event occurs and
+the energy involved in it with great accuracy. Events occurring
+inside a short time span involve a large uncertainty in energy;
+events involving a precise amount of energy can be localized
+only within a long period of time.
+The fundamental importance of the uncertainty principle is
+that it expresses the limitations of our classical concepts in a
+precise mathematical form. As described previously, the subatomic world appears as a web of relations between the various
+parts of a unified whole. Our classical notions, derived from
+our ordinary macroscopic experience, are not fully adequate
+to describe this world. To begin with, the concept of a distinct
+physical entity, like a particle, is an idealization which has no
+fundamental significance. It can only be defined in terms of its
+connections to the whole, and these connections are of a
+statistical nature-probabilities rather than certainties. When
+we describe the properties of such an entity in terms of classical
+concepts-like position, energy, momentum, etc.-we find
+
+159
+Beyond
+the World
+of Opposites
+
+160
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+that there are pairs of concepts which are interrelated and
+cannot be defined simultaneously in a precise way. The more
+we impose one concept on the physical ‘object’, the more the
+other concept becomes uncertain, and the precise relation
+between the two is given by the uncertainty principle.
+For a better understanding of this relation between pairs of
+classical concepts, Niels Bohr has introduced the notion of
+complementarity. He considered the particle picture and the
+wave picture as two complementary descriptions of the same
+reality, each of them being only partly correct and having a
+limited range of application. Each picture is needed to give a
+full description of the atomic reality, and both are to be applied
+within the limitations given by the uncertainty principle.
+This notion of complementarity has become an essential
+part of the way physicists think about nature and Bohr has
+often suggested that it might be a useful concept also outside
+the field of physics; in fact, the notion of complementarity
+proved to be extremely useful 2,500 years ago. It played an
+essential role in ancient Chinese thought which was based on
+the insight that opposite concepts stand in a polar-or complementary-relationship to each other. The Chinese sages
+represented this complementarity of opposites by the archetypal
+poles yin and yang and saw their dynamic interplay as the
+essence of all natural phenomena and all human situations.
+Niels Bohr was well aware of the parallel between his concept
+of complementarity and Chinese thought. When he visited
+China in 1937, at a time when his interpretation of quantum
+theory had already been fully elaborated, he was deeply
+impressed by the ancient Chinese notion of polar opposites,
+and from that time he maintained an interest in Eastern
+culture. Ten years later, Bohr was knighted as an acknowledgment of his outstanding achievements in science and important
+contributions to Danish cultural life; and when he had to choose
+a suitable motif for his coat-of-arms his choice fell on the
+Chinese symbol of t’ai-chi representing the complementary
+relationship of the archetypal opposites yin and yang. In
+choosing this symbol for his coat-of-arms together with the
+inscription Contraria sunt complementa (Opposites are complementary), Niels Bohr acknowledged the profound harmony
+between ancient Eastern wisdom and modern Western science.
+_--._
+
+12 SPACE-TIME
+
+Modern physics has confirmed most dramatically one of the
+basic ideas of Eastern mysticism; that all the concepts we use
+to describe nature are limited, that they are not features
+of reality, as we tend to believe, but creations of the mind; parts
+of the map, not of the territory. Whenever we expand the
+realm of our experience, the limitations of our rational mind
+become apparent and we have to modify, or even abandon,
+some of our concepts.
+Our notions of space and time figure prominently on our
+map of reality. They serve to order things and events in our
+environment and are therefore of paramount importance not
+only in our everyday life, but also in owr attempts to understand
+nature through science and philosophy. There is no law of
+physics which does not require the concepts of space and time
+for its formulation. The profound. modification of these basic
+concepts brought about by relativity theory was therefore one
+of the greatest revolutions in the history of science.
+Classical physics was based on the notion both of an
+absolute, three-dimensional space, independent of the material
+objects it contains, and obeying the laws of Euclidean geometry,
+and of time as a separate dimension which again is absolute
+-I--__-.._-- --- - -
+
+162
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+and flows at an even rate, independent of the material world.
+In the West, these notions of space and time were so deeply
+rooted in the minds of philosophers and scientists that they
+were taken as true and unquestioned properties of nature.
+The belief that geometry is inherent in nature, rather than
+part of the framework we use to describe nature, has its origin
+in Greek thought. Demonstrative geometry was the central
+feature of Greek mathematics and had a profound influence on
+Creek philosophy. Its method of starting from unquestioned
+axioms, and deriving theorems from these by deductive
+reasoning, became characteristic of Creek philosophical
+thought; geometry was therefore at the very centre of all
+intellectual activities and formed the basis of philosophical
+training. The gate of Plato’s Academy in Athens is said to have
+borne the inscription, ‘You are not allowed to enter here,
+unless you know geometry.’ The Greeks believed that their
+mathematical theorems were expressions of eternal and exact
+truths about the real world, and that geometrical shapes were
+manifestations of absolute beauty. Geometry was considered
+to be the perfect combination of logic and beauty and was
+thus believed to be of divine origin. Hence Plato’s dictum, ‘God
+is a geometer.’
+Since geometry was seen as the revelation of God, it was
+obvious to the Creeks that the heavens should exhibit perfect
+geometrical shapes. This meant that the heavenly bodies had
+to move in circles. To present the picture as being even more
+geometrical they were thought to be fixed to a series of concentric crystalline spheres urhich moved as a whole, with the
+Earth at the centre.
+In subsequent centuries, Greek geometry continued to exert
+a strong influence on Western philosophy and science. Euclid’s
+Elements was a standard textbook in European schools until
+the beginning of this century, and Euclidean geometry was
+taken to be the true nature of space for more than two thousand
+years. It took an Einstein to make scientists and philosophers
+realize that geometry is not inherent in nature, but is imposed
+upon it by the mind. In the words of Henry Margenau,
+The central recognition of the theory of relativity is that
+geometry . . . is a construct of the intellect. Only when this
+
+discovery is accepted can the mind feel free to tamper
+with the time-honoured notions of space and time, to
+survey the range of possibilities available for defining
+them, and to select that formulation which agrees with
+observation.’
+Eastern philosophy, unlike that of the Greeks, has always
+maintained that space and time are constructs of the mind.
+The Eastern mystics treated them like all other intellectual
+concepts; as relative, limited, and illusory. In a Buddhist text,
+for example, we find the words,
+It was taught by the Buddha, oh Monks, that . . . the past,
+the future, physical space, . . . and individuals are nothing
+but names, forms of thought, words of common usage,
+merely superficial realities2
+Thus in the Far East, geometry never attained the status it had
+in ancient Greece, although this does not mean that the
+Indians and Chinese had little knowledge of it. They used it
+extensively in building altars of precise geometrical shapes, in
+measuring the land and mapping out the heavens, but never
+to determine abstract and eternal truths. This philosophical
+attitude is also reflected in the fact that ancient Eastern science
+generally did not find it necessary to fit nature into a scheme of
+straight lines and perfect circles. Joseph Needham’s remarks
+about Chinese astronomy are very interesting in this connection :
+The Chinese [astronomers] did not feel the need for
+[geometricallforms of explanation-the component organisms in the universal organism followed their Tao each
+according to its own nature, and their motions could be
+dealt with in the essentially ‘non-representational’ form of
+algebra. The Chinese were thus free from that obsession
+of European astronomers for the circle as the most perfect
+figure, . . . nor did they experience the medieval prison of
+the crystalline spheres3
+Thus the ancient Eastern philosophers and scientists already
+
+163
+Space-Time
+
+164
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+had the attitude which is so basic to relativity theory-that
+our notions of geometry are not absolute and unchangeable
+properties of nature, but intellectual constructions. In the
+words of Ashvaghosha,
+Be it clearly understood that space is nothing but a mode
+of particularisation and that it has no real existence of its
+own . . . Space exists only in relation to our particularising
+consciousness.4
+The same applies to our idea of time. The Eastern mystics link
+the notions of both space and time to particular states of
+consciousness. Being able to go beyond the ordinary state
+through meditation, they have realized that the conventional
+notions of space and time are not the ultimate truth. The
+refined notions of space and time resulting from their mystical
+experiences appear to be in many ways similar to the notions
+of modern physics, as exemplified by the theory of relativity.
+What, then, is this new view of space and time which emerged
+from relativity theory? It is based on the discovery that all space
+and time measurements are relative. The relativity of spatial
+specifications was, of course, nothing new. It was well known
+before Einstein that the position of an object in space can
+only be defined relative to some other object. This is usually
+done with the help of three coordinates and the point from
+which the coordinates are measured may be called the location
+of the ‘observer’.
+To illustrate the relativity of such coordinates, imagine two
+observers floating in space and observing an umbrella, as drawn
+opposite. Observer A sees the umbrella to his left and slightly
+inclined, so that the upper end is nearer to him. Observer B, on
+the other hand, sees the umbrella to his right and in such a
+way that the upper end is farther away. By extending this twodimensional example to three dimensions, it becomes clear
+that all spatial specifications-such as ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘up’, ‘down’,
+‘oblique’, etc.-depend on the position of the observer and
+are thus relative. This was known long before relativity theory.
+As far as time is concerned, however, the situation in classical
+physics was entirely different. The temporal order of two events
+
+3
+
+165
+Space-Time
+
+two observers, A and 6, observing an umbrella
+
+was assumed to be independent of any observer. Specifications
+referring to time- such as ‘before’, ‘after’ or ‘simultaneous’were thought to have an absolute meaning independent of
+any coordinate system.
+Einstein recognized that temporal specifications, too, are
+relative and depend on the observer. In everyday life, the
+impression that we can arrange the events around us in a
+unique time sequence is created by the fact that the velocity
+of light-186,000 miles per second-is so high, compared to
+any other velocity we experience, that we can assume we are
+observing events at the instant they are occurring. This, however, is incorrect. Light needs some time to travel from the
+event to the observer. Normally, this time is so short that the
+propagation of light can be considered to be instantaneous;
+but when the observer moves with a high velocity with respect
+to the observed phenomena, the time span between the
+occurrence of an event and its observation plays a crucial role
+in establishing a sequence of events. Einstein realized that in
+
+166
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+such a case, observers moving at different velocities will order
+events differently in time.* Two events which are seen as
+occurring simultaneously by one observer may occur in
+different temporal sequences for others. For ordinary velocities,
+the differences are so small that they cannot be detected, but
+when the velocities approach the speed of light, they give rise
+to measurable effects. In high energy physics, where the
+events are interactions between particles moving almost at
+the speed of light, the relativity of time is well established and
+has been confirmed by countless experiments.**
+The relativity of time also forces us to abandon the Newtonian
+concept of an absolute space. Such a space was seen as containing a definite configuration of matter at every instant; but
+now that simultaneity is seen to be a relative concept, depending
+on the state of motion of the observer, it is no longer possible
+to define such a definite instant for the whole universe. A distant
+event which takes place at some particular instant for one
+observer may happen earlier or later for another observer.
+It is therefore not possible to speak about ‘the universe at a
+given instant’ in an absolute way; there is no absolute space
+independent of the observer.
+Relativity theory has thus shown that all measurements
+involving space and time lose their absolute significance and
+has forced us to abandon the classical concepts of an absolute
+space and an absolute time. The fundamental importance of
+this development has been clearly expressed by Mendel Sachs
+in the following words:
+The real revolution that came with Einstein’s theory . . .
+was the abandonment of the idea that the space-time
+coordinate system has objective significance as a separate
+physical entity. Instead of this idea, relativity theory
+implies that the space and time coordinates are only the
+elements of a language that is used by an observer to
+describe his environment.5
+*To derive this result it is essential to take into account the fact that the speed
+of light is the same for all observers.
+**Note that in this case, the observer is at rest in his laboratory, but the events
+he observes are caused by particles moving ate different velocities. The effect is
+the same. What counts is the relative motion of observer and observed events.
+Which of the two moves with respect to the laboratory is irrelevant.
+
+This statement from a contemporary physicist shows the close
+affinity between the notions of space and time in modern
+physics and those held by the Eastern mystics who say, as
+quoted before, that space and time ‘are nothing but names,
+forms of thought, words of common usage’.
+Since space and time are now reduced to the subjective role
+of the elements of the language a particular observer uses for
+his or her description of natural phenomena, each observer
+will describe the phenomena in a different way. To abstract
+some universal natural laws from their descriptions, they have
+to formulate these laws in such a way that they have the same
+form in all coordinate systems, i.e. for all observers in arbitrary
+positions and relative motion. This requirement is known as
+the principle of relativity and was, in fact, the starting point
+of relativity theory. It is interesting that the germ of the theory
+of relativity was contained in a paradox which occurred to
+Einstein when he was only sixteen. He tried to imagine how a
+beam of light would look to an observer who travelled along
+with it at the speed of light, and he concluded that such an
+observer would see the beam of light as an electromagnetic
+field oscillating back and forth without moving on, i.e. without
+forming a wave. Such a phenomenon, however, is unknown in
+physics. It seemed thus to the young Einstein that something
+which was observed by one observer to be a well-known
+electromagnetic phenomenon, namely a light wave, would
+appear as a phenomenon contradicting the laws of physics to
+another observer, and this he could not accept. In later years,
+Einstein realized that the principle of relativity can be satisfied
+in the description of electromagnetic phenomena only if all
+spatial and temporal specifications are relative. The laws of
+mechanics, which govern the phenomena associated with
+moving bodies, and the laws of electrodynamics, the theory of
+electricity and magnetism, can then be formulated in a common
+‘relativistic’ framework which incorporates time with the three
+space coordinates as a fourth coordinate to be specified relative
+to the observer.
+In order to check whether the principle of relativity is satisfied,
+that is, whether the equations of one’s theory look the same in
+all coordinate systems, one must of course be able to translate
+
+168
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the space and time specifications from one coordinate system,
+or ‘frame of reference’, to the other. Such translations, or ‘transformations’ as they are called, were already well known and
+widely used in classical physics. The transformation between
+the two reference frames pictured on p. 165, for example, expresses each of the two coordinates of observer A (one horizontal and one vertical, as indicated by the arrow-headed
+cross in the drawing) as a combination of the coordinates of
+observer B, and vice versa. The exact expressions can be easily
+obtained with the help of elementary geometry.
+In relativistic physics, a new situation arises because time
+is added to the three space coordinates as a fourth dimension.
+Since the transformations between different frames of reference
+express each coordinate of one frame as a combination of the
+coordinates of the other frame, a space coordinate in one
+frame will in general appear as a mixture of space and time
+coordinates in another frame. This is indeed an entirely new
+situation. Every change of coordinate systems mixes space and
+time in a mathematically well-defined way. The two can therefore no longer be separated, because what is space to one
+observer will be a mixture of space and time to another.
+Relativity theory has shown that space is not three-dimensional
+and time is not a separate entity. Both are intimately and
+inseparably connected and form a four-dimensional continuum
+which is called ‘space-time’. This concept of space-time was
+introduced by Hermann Minkowski in a famous lecture in 1908
+with the following words:
+The views of space and time which I wish to lay before
+you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics,
+and therein lies their strength. They are radical. Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to
+fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union
+of the two will preserve an independent reality.6
+The concepts of space and time are so basic for the description of natural phenomena that their modification entails an
+alteration of the whole framework we use in physics to describe
+nature. In the new framework, space and time are treated on an
+equal footing and are connected inseparably. In relativistic
+
+physics, we can never talk about space without talking about
+time, and vice versa. This new framework has to be used
+whenever phenomena involving high velocities are described.
+The intimate link between space and time was well known
+in astronomy, in a different context, long before relativity
+theory. Astronomers and astrophysicists deal with extremely
+large distances, and here again the fact that light needs some
+time to travel from the observed object to the observer is important. Because of the finite velocity of light, the astronomer
+never looks at the universe in its present state, but always looks
+back into the past. It takes light eight minutes to travel from
+the Sun to the Earth, and hence we see the Sun, at any moment,
+as it existed eight minutes ago. Similarly, we see the nearest
+star as it existed four years ago, and with our powerful telescopes
+we can see galaxies as they existed millions of years ago.
+The finite velocity of light is by no means a handicap for
+astronomers but is a great advantage. It allows them to observe
+the evolution of stars, star clusters or galaxies at all stages just
+by looking out into space and back into time. All types of
+phenomena that happened during the past millions of years
+can actually be observed somewhere in the skies. Astronomers
+are thus used to the importance of the link between space and
+time. What relativity theory tells us is that this link is important
+not only when we deal with large distances, but also when we
+deal with high velocities. Even here on Earth, the measurement
+of any distance is not independent of time, because it involves
+the specification of the observer’s state of motion and thus a
+reference to time.
+The unification of space and time entails-as mentioned in
+the previous chapter-a unification of other basic concepts,
+and this unifying aspect is the most characteristic feature of
+the relativistic framework. Concepts which seemed totally
+unrelated in nonrelativistic physics are now seen to be but
+different aspects of one and the same concept. This feature
+gives the relativistic framework great mathematical elegance
+and beauty. Many years of work with relativity theory have
+made us appreciate this elegance and become thoroughly
+familiar with the mathematical formalism. However, this has
+not helped our intuition very much. We have no direct sensory
+experience of the four-dimensional space-time, nor of the other
+
+169
+Space-Time
+
+170
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+relativistic concepts. Whenever we study natural phenomena
+involving high velocities, we find it very hard to deal with these
+concepts both at the level of intuition and ordinary language.
+For example, in classical physics it was always assumed that
+rods in motion and at rest have the same length. Relativity
+theory has shown that this is not true. The length of an object
+depends on its motion relative to the observer and it changes
+with the velocity of that motion. The change is such that the
+object contracts in the direction of its motion. A rod has its
+maximum length in a frame of reference where it is at rest, and
+it becomes shorter with increasing velocity relative to the
+observer. In the ‘scattering’ experiments of high-energy physics,
+where particles collide with extremely high velocities, the
+relativistic contraction is so extreme that spherical particles
+are reduced to ‘pancake’ shapes.
+It is important to realize that it makes no sense to ask which
+is the ‘real’ length of an object, just as it makes no sense in
+our everyday life to ask for the real length of somebody’s
+shadow.Theshadow isa projection of points in three-dimensional
+space on to a two-dimensional plane, and its length will be
+different for different angles of projection. Similarly, the length
+of a moving object is the projection of points in four-dimensional
+space-time on to three-dimensional space, and its length is
+different in different frames of reference.
+What is true for lengths is also true for time intervals. They,
+too, depend on the frame of reference, but contrary to spatial
+distances they become longer as the velocity relative to the
+observer increases. This means that clocks in motion run
+slower; time slows down. These clocks can be of varying
+types: mechanical clocks, atomic clocks, or even a human
+heartbeat. If one of two twins went on a fast round-trip into
+outer space, he would be younger than his brother when he
+came back home, because all his ‘clocks’-his heartbeat,
+bloodflow, brainwaves, etc.-would slow down during the
+journey, from the point of view of the man on the ground.
+The traveller himself, of course, would not notice anything
+unusual, but on his return he would suddenly realize that his
+twin brother was now much older. This ‘twin paradox’ is
+perhaps the most famous paradox of modern physics. It has
+provoked heated discussions in scientific journals, some of
+
+which are still going on; an eloquent proof of the fact that the
+reality described by relativity theory cannot easily be grasped
+by our ordinary understanding.
+The slowing down of clocks in motion, unbelievable as it
+sounds, is well tested in particle physics. Most of the subatomic
+particles are unstable, i.e. they disintegrate after a certain time
+into other particles. Numerous experiments have confirmed
+the fact that the lifetime* of such an unstable particle depends
+on its state of motion. It increases with the speed of the particle.
+Particles moving with 80 per cent of the speed of light live about
+I.7 times as long as their slow ‘twin brothers’, and at 99 per
+cent of the speed of light they live about 7 times as long. This,
+again, does not mean that the intrinsic lifetime of the particle
+changes. From the particle’s point of view, its lifetime is always
+the same, but from the point of view of the laboratory observer
+the particle’s ‘internal clock’ has slowed down, and therefore
+it lives longer.
+All these relativistic effects only seem strange because we
+cannot experience the four-dimensional space-time world
+with our senses, but can only observe its three-dimensional
+‘images’. These images have different aspects in different
+frames of reference; moving objects look different from objects
+at rest, and moving clocks run at a different rate. These effects
+will seem paradoxical if we do not realize that they are only
+the projections of four-dimensional phenomena, just as shadows
+are projections of three-dimensional objects. If we could
+visualize the four-dimensional space-time reality, there would
+be nothing paradoxical at all.
+The Eastern mystics, as mentioned above, seem to be able to
+attain non-ordinary states of consciousness in which they
+transcend the three-dimensional world of everyday life to
+experience a higher, multidimensional reality. Thus Aurobindo
+speaks about ‘a subtle change which makes the sight see in.a
+sort of fourth dimension’.’ The dimensions of these states of
+consciousness may not be the same as the ones we are dealing
+with in relativistic physics, but it is striking that they have led
+*A small technical point should perhaps be mentioned. When we speak about
+the lifetime of a certain kind of unstable particle, we always mean the average
+lifetime. Due to the statistical character of subatomic physics, we cannot make
+any statement about individual particles.
+
+171
+Space-Time
+
+172
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the mystics towards notions of space and time which are very
+similar to those implied by relativity theory.
+Throughout Eastern mysticism, there seems to be a strong
+intuition for the ‘space-time’ character of reality. The fact that
+space and time are inseparably linked, which is so characteristic
+of relativistic physics, is stressed again and again. This intuitive
+notion of space and time has, perhaps, found its clearest
+expression and its most far-reaching elaboration in Buddhism,
+and in particular in the Avatamsaka school of Mahayana
+Buddhism. The Avatamsaka Sutra, on which this school is based,*
+gives a vivid description of how the world is experienced in
+the state of enlightenment. The awareness of an ‘interpenetration of space and time’-a perfect expression to describe spacetime-is repeatedly emphasized in the sutra and is seen as an
+essential characteristic of the enlightened state of mind. In the
+words of D. T. Suzuki,
+The significance of the Avatamsaka and its philosophy is
+unintelligible unless we once experience . . . a state of complete dissolution where there is no more distinction
+between mind and body, subject and object . . . We look
+around and perceive that . . . every object is related to
+every other object . . . not only spatially, but temporally.
+. . . As a fact of pure experience, there is no space without
+time, no time without space; they are interpenetrating.8
+One could hardly find a better way of describing the relativistic
+concept of space-time. In comparing Suzuki’s statement to
+the one, quoted before, by Minkowski, it is also interesting to
+note that both the physicist and the Buddhist emphasize the
+fact that their notions of space-time are based on experience;
+on scientific experiments in one case, and on mystical experience
+in the other.
+In my opinion, the time-minded intuition of Eastern mysticism
+is one of the main reasons why its views of nature seem to
+correspond, in general, much better to modern scientific
+views than do those of most Creek philosophers. Greek natural
+philosophy was, on the whole, essentially static and largely
+*See p. 98
+
+based on geometrical considerations. It was, one could say,
+extremely ‘non-relativistic’, and its strong influence on Western
+thought may well be one of the reasons why we have such
+great conceptual difficulties with relativistic models in modern
+physics. The Eastern philosophies, on the other hand, are
+‘space-time’ philosophies, and thus their intuition often comes
+very close to the views of nature implied by our modern
+relativistic theories.
+Because of the awareness that space and time are intimately
+connected and interpenetrating, the world views of modern
+physics and of Eastern mysticism are both intrinsically dynamic
+views which contain time and change as essential elements.
+This point will be discussed in detail in the following chapter,
+and constitutes the second main theme recurring throughout
+this comparison of physics and Eastern mysticism, the first
+being the unity of all things and events. As we study the
+relativistic models and theories of modern physics, we shall
+see that all of them are impressive illustrations of the two
+basic elements of the Eastern world view-the basic oneness
+of the universe and its intrinsically dynamic character.
+The theory of relativity discussed so far is known as the ‘special
+theory of relativity’. It provides a common framework for the
+description of the phenomena associated with moving bodies
+and with electricity and magnetism, the basic features of this
+framework being the relativity of space and time and their
+unification into four-dimensional space-time.
+In the ‘general theory of relativity’, the framework of the
+special theory is extended to include gravity. The effect of
+gravity, according to general relativity, is to make space-time
+curved. This, again, is extremely hard to imagine. We can
+easily imagine a two-dimensional curved surface, such as the
+surface of an egg, because we can see such curved surfaces
+lying in three-dimensional space. The meaning of the word
+curvature for two-dimensional curved surfaces is thus quite
+clear; but when it comes to three-dimensional space-let
+alone four-dimensional space-time-our imagination abandons
+us. Since we cannot look at three-dimensional space ‘from
+outside’, we cannot imagine how it can be ‘bent in some
+direction’.
+
+173
+Space-Time
+
+174
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+To understand the meaning of curved space-time, we have
+to use curved two-dimensional surfaces as analogies. Imagine,
+for example, the surface of a sphere. The crucial fact which
+makes the analogy to space-time possible is that the curvature
+is an intrinsic property of that surface and can be measured
+without going into three-dimensional space. A two-dimensional
+insect confined to the surface of the sphere and unable to
+experience three-dimensional space could nevertheless find
+out that the surface on which he is living is curved, provided
+that he can make geometrical measurements.
+To see how this works, we have to compare the geometry
+of our bug on the sphere with that of a similar insect living on a
+flat surface.* Suppose the two bugs begin their study of geometry
+by drawing a straight line, defined as the shortest connection
+between two points. The result is shown below. We see that
+the bug on the flat surface drew a very nice straight line; but
+what did the bug on the sphere do? For him, the line he drew
+
+drawing a’straight line’ on a plane and on a sphere
+is the shortest connection between the two points A and B,
+since any other line he may draw will be longer; but from our
+point of view we recognize it as a curve (the arc of a great
+circle, to be precise). Now suppose that the two bugs study
+triangles. The bug on the plane will find that the three angles
+of any triangle add up to two right angles, i.e. to 180°; but the
+bug on the sphere will discover that the sum of the angles in
+* Thefollowingexamples are taken from R. P. Feynman, R. B. Leighton and M. Sands,
+The Feynman Lectures on Physics (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1966), vol. II,
+ch. 42.
+
+175
+Space-Time
+
+on a sphere a triangle can have three right angles
+
+his triangles is always greater than 180°. For small triangles,
+the excess is small, but it increases as the triangles become
+larger; and as an extreme case, our bug on the sphere wi1.l
+even be able to draw triangles with three right angles. Finally,
+let the two bugs draw circles and measure their circumference.
+The bug on the plane will find that the circumference is always
+equal to 27r times the radius, independent of the size of the
+circle. The bug on the sphere, on the other hand, will notice
+that the circumference is always less than 27~ times the radius.
+As can be seen in the figure below, our three-dimensional point
+of view allows us to see that what the bug calls the radius of
+his circle is in fact a curve which is always longer than the
+true radius of the circle.
+
+drawing a circle on a sphere
+
+As the two insects continue to study geometry, the one on
+
+176
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+h\ a
+
+the plane should discover the axioms and laws of Euclidean
+geometry, but his colleague on the sphere will discover different
+laws. The difference will be small for small geometrical figures,
+but will increase as the figures become larger. The example of
+the two bugs shows that we can always determine whether a
+surface is curved or not, just by making geometrical measurements on the surface, and by comparing the results with those
+predicted by Euclidean geometry. If there is a discrepancy,
+the surface is curved; and the larger the discrepancy is-for a
+given size of figures-the stronger the curvature.
+In the same way, we can define a curved three-dimensional
+space to be one in which Euclidean geometry is no longer
+valid. The laws of geometry in such a space will be of a different,
+‘non-Euclidean’ type. Such a non-Euclidean geometry was
+introduced as a purely abstract mathematical idea in the
+nineteenth century by. the mathematician Georg Riemann,
+and it was not considered to be more than that, until Einstein
+made the revolutionary suggestion that the three-dimensional
+space in which we live is actually curved. According to Einstein’s
+theory, the curvature of space is caused by the gravitational
+fields of massive bodies. Wherever there is a massive object,
+the space around it is curved, and the degree of curvature, that
+is, the degree to which the geometry deviates from that of
+Euclid, depends on the mass of the object.
+The equations relating the curvature of space to the distribution of matter in that space are called Einstein’s field
+equations. They can be applied not only to determine the local
+variations of curvature in the neighbourhood of stars and
+planets, but also to find out whether there is an overall curvature
+of space on a large scale. In other words, Einstein’s equations
+can be used to determine the structure of the universe as a
+whole. Unfortunately, they do not give a unique answer.
+Several mathematical solutions of the equations are possible,
+and these solutions constitute the various models of the
+universe studied in cosmology, some of which will be discussed
+in the following chapter. To determine which of them corresponds to the actual structure of our universe is the main task
+of present-day cosmology.
+Since space can never be separated from time in relativity
+theory, the curvature caused by gravity cannot be limited to
+three-dimensional space, but must extend to four-dimensional
+
+space-time and this is, indeed, what the general theory of
+relativity predicts. In a curved space-time, the distortions
+caused by the curvature affect not only the spatial relationships
+described by geometry but also the lengths of time intervals.
+Times does not flow at the same rate as in ‘flat space-time’,
+and as the curvature varies from place to place, according
+to the distribution of massive bodies, so does the flow of time.
+It is important to realize, however, that this variation of the
+flow of time can only be seen by an observer who remains in
+a different place from the clocks used to measure the variation.
+If the observer, for example, went to a place where time flows
+slower, all her clocks would slow down too and she would have
+no means of measuring the effect.
+In our terrestrial environment, the effects of gravity on space
+and time are so small that they are insignificant, but in astrophysics, which deals with extremely massive bodies, like planets,
+stars and galaxies, the curvature of space-time is an important
+phenomenon. All observations have so far confirmed Einstein’s
+theory and thus force us to believe that space-time is indeed
+curved. The most extreme effects of the curvature of space-time
+become apparent during the gravitational collapse of a massive
+star. According to current ideas in astrophysics, every star
+reaches a stage in its evolution where it collapses due to the
+mutual gravitational attraction of its particles. Since this
+attraction increases rapidly as the distance between the
+particles decreases, the collapse accelerates and if the star is
+massive enough, that is, if it is more than twice as massive as
+the Sun, no known process can prevent the collapse from going
+on indefinitely.
+As the star collapses and becomes more and more dense,
+the force of gravity on its surface becomes stronger and
+stronger, and consequently the space-time around it becomes
+more and more curved. Because of the increasing force of
+gravity on the star’s surface, it becomes more and more
+difficult to get away from it, and eventually the star reaches a
+stage where nothing-not even light-can escape from its
+surface. At that stage, we say that an ‘event horizon’ forms
+around the star, because no signal can get away from it to
+communicate any event to the outside world. The space around
+the star is then so strongly curved that all the light is trapped
+in it and cannot escape. We are not able to see such a star,
+
+177
+Space-Time
+
+178
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+because its light can never reach us and for this reason it is
+called a black hole. The existence of black holes was predicted
+on the grounds of relativity theory as early as 1916 and they 7
+have lately received a great deal of attention because some
+recently discovered stellar phenomena might indicate the
+existence of a heavy star moving around some unseen partner
+which could be a black hole.
+Black holes are among the most mysterious and most
+fascinating objects investigated by modern astrophysics and
+illustrate the effects of relativity theory in a most spectacular
+way. The strong curvature of space-time around them prevents
+not only all their light from reaching us, but has an equally
+striking effect on time. If a clock, flashing its signals to us, were
+attached to the surface of the collapsing star, we’would observe
+these signals to slow down as the star approached the event
+horizon, and once the star had become a black hole, no clock
+signals would reach us any more. To an outside observer, the
+flow of time on the star’s surface slows down as the star collapses and it stops altogether at the event horizon. Therefore,
+the complete collapse of the star takes an infinite time. The star
+itself, however, experiences nothing peculiar when it collapses
+beyond the event horizon. Time continues to flow normally
+and the collapse is completed after a finite period of time, when
+the star has contracted to a point of infinite density. So how
+long -does the collapse really take, a finite time or an infinite
+time? In the world of relativity theory, such a question does
+not make sense. The lifetime of a collapsing star, like all other
+time spans, is relative and depends on the frame of reference
+of the observer.
+In the general theory of relativity, the classical concepts of
+space and time as absolute and independent entities are
+completely abolished. Not only are all measurements involving
+space and time relative, depending on the state of motion of
+the observer, but the whole structure of space-time is inextricably linked to the distribution of matter. Space is curved
+to different degrees and time flows at different rates in different
+parts of the universe. We have thus come to apprehend that
+our notions of a three-dimensional Euclidean space and of
+linear flowing time are limited to our ordinary experience of
+the physical world and have to be completely abandoned when
+we extend this experience.
+
+The Eastern sages, too, talk about an extension of their experience of the world in higher states of consciousness, and
+they affirm that these states involve a radically different
+experience of space and time. They emphasize not only that
+they go beyond ordinary three-dimensional space in meditation,
+but also-and even more forcefully-that the ordinary awareness of time is transcended. Instead of a linear succession of
+instants, they experience-so they say-an infinite, timeless,
+and yet dynamic present. In the following passages, three
+Eastern mystics speak about the experience of this ‘eternal
+now’; Chuang Tzu, the Taoist sage; Hui-neng, the Sixth Zen
+Patriarch; and D. T. Suzuki, the contemporary Buddhist
+scholar.
+Let us forget the lapse of time; let us forget the conflict
+of opinions. Let us make our appeal to the infinite, and
+take up our positions there.g
+Chuang Tzu
+The absolute tranquillity is the present moment. Though
+it is at this moment, there is no limit to this moment, and
+herein is eternal del/ght.lO
+/-hi-neng
+In this spiritual world there are no time divisions such as
+the past, present and future; for they have contracted
+themselves into a single moment of the present where life
+quivers in its true sense . . . The past and the future are
+both rolled up in this present moment of illumination,
+and this present moment is not something standing still
+with all its contents, for it ceaselessly moves on.”
+D. T. Suzuki
+Talking about an experience of timeless present is almost
+impossible, because all words like ‘timeless’, ‘present’, ‘past’,
+‘moment’, etc., refer to the conventional notions of time. It is
+thus extremely difficult to understand what the mystics mean
+in passages like those quoted; but here again, modern physics
+may facilitate the understanding, as it can be used to illustrate
+graphically how its theories transcend ordinary notions of
+time.
+-~
+
+179
+Space-Time
+
+I!
+180
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In relativistic physics, the history of an object, say a particle,
+can be represented in a so-called ‘space-time diagram’ (see
+figure below). In these diagrams, the horizontal direction
+represents space,* and the vertical direction, time. The path
+of the particle through space-time is called its ‘world line’. If
+the particle is at rest, it nevertheless moves through time, and
+its world line is, in that case, a straight vertical line. If the
+particle moves in space, its world line will be inclined; the
+greater the inclination of the world line, the faster the particle
+moves. Note that the particles can only move upwards in
+time, but can move backwards or forwards in space. Their
+world lines can be inclined towards the horizontal to various
+degrees, but can never become completely horizontal, since
+this would mean that a particle travels from one place to the
+other in no time at all.
+Space-time diagrams are used in relativistic physics to
+picture the interactions between various particles. For each
+process, we can draw a diagram and associate a definite
+
+TT\/\/
+time
+
+rest
+
+backwards forwards
+slow motion
+
+backwards forwards
+fast motion
+b space
+
+world lines of particles
+mathematical expression with it which gives us the probability
+for that process to occur. The collision, or ‘scattering’, process
+between an electron and a photon, for example, may be
+represented by a diagram like the one overleaf. This diagram is
+read in the following way (from the bottom to the top, according
+to the direction of time): an electron (denoted by e- because
+of its negative charge) collides with a photon (denoted by y‘gamma’); the photon is absorbed by the electron which continues its path with a different velocity (different inclination of
+the world line); after a while, the electron emits the photon
+*Space, in these diagrams, has only one dimension; the other two dimensions
+have to be suppressed to make a plane diagram possible.
+
+again and reverses its direction of motion.
+The theory which constitutes the proper framework for
+these space-time diagrams, and for the mathematical expressions associated with them, is called ‘quantum field
+theory’. It is one of the main relativistic theories of modern
+physics whose basic concepts will be discussed later on. For
+our discussion of space-time diagrams, it will be sufficient to
+know two characteristic features of the theory. The first is the
+fact that all interactions involve the creation and destruction
+of particles, like the absorption and emission of the photon in
+our diagram; and the second feature is a basic symmetry
+between particles and antiparticles. For every particle, there
+exists an antiparticle with equal mass and opposite charge.
+The antiparticle of the electron, for example, is called the
+time
+
+space
+b
+
+electron-photon scattering
+positron and is usually denoted by e+. The photon, having no
+charge, is its own antiparticle. Pairs of electrons and positrons
+can be created spontaneously by photons, and can be made
+to turn into photons in the reverse process of annihilation.
+The space-time diagrams, now, are greatly simplified if the
+following trick is adopted. The arrowhead on a world line is no
+longer used to indicate the direction of motion of the particle
+(which is unnecessary, anyway, since all particles move forwards
+in time, i.e. upwards in the diagram). Instead, the arrowhead is
+used to distinguish between particles and antiparticles: if it
+points upwards, it indicates a particle (e.g. an electron), if it
+-.
+T
+
+181
+Space-Time
+
+182
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+points downwards an antiparticle (e.g. a positron). The photon,
+being its own antiparticle, is represented by a world line without
+any arrowhead. With this modification, we can now omit all
+the labels in our diagram without causing any confusion: the
+lines with arrowheads represent electrons, those without
+arrowheads, photons. To make the diagram even simpler, we
+can also leave out the space axis and the time axis, remembering
+that the direction of time is from the bottom to the top, and
+that the forward direction in space is from left to right. The
+resulting space-time diagram for the electron-photon scattering
+process looks then as follows.
+
+electron-photon scattering
+If we want to picture the scattering process between a photon
+and a positron, we can draw the same diagram and just
+reverse the direction of the arrowheads:
+
+positron-photon scattering
+
+So far, there has been nothing unusual in our discussion of
+space-time diagrams. We have read them from the bottom
+to the top, according to our conventional notion of a linear
+flow of time. The unusual aspect is connected with diagrams
+containing positron lines, like the one picturing the positronphoton scattering. The mathematical formalism of field theory
+suggests that these lines can be interpreted in two ways;
+either as positrons moving forwards in time, or as electrons
+moving backwards in time! The interpretations are mathematically identical; the same expression describes an antiparticle moving from the past to the future, or a particle moving
+from the future to the past. Our two diagrams can thus be
+
+seen as picturing the same process evolving in different
+directions in time. Both of them can be interpreted as the
+scattering of electrons and photons, but in one process the
+particles move forwards in time, in the other they move
+backwards.* The relativistic theory of particle interactions shows
+thus a complete symmetry with regard to the direction of time.
+All space-time diagrams may be read in either direction. For
+every process, there is an equivalent process with the direction
+*The dashed lines are always interpreted as photons, whether they move forwards
+or backwards in time, because the antiparticle of a photon is again a photon.
+
+183
+Space-Time
+
+184
+!
+I
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+of time reversed and particles replaced by antiparticles.*
+To see how this surprising feature of the world of subatomic
+particles affects our views of space and time, consider the
+process shown in the diagram below . Reading the diagram
+in the conventional way, from the bottom to the top, we will
+interpret it as follows: an electron (represented by a solid line)
+and a photon (represented by a dashed line) approach each
+other; the photon creates an electron-positron pair at point
+A, the electron flying off to the right, the positron to the left;
+the positron then collides with the initial electron at point
+B and they annihilate each other, creating a photon in the
+process which flies off to the left. Alternatively, we may also
+interpret the process as the interaction of the two photons
+with a single electron travelling first forwards in time, then
+backwards, and then forwards again. For this interpretation,
+we just follow the arrows on the electron line all the way
+through; the electron travels to point B where it emits a photon
+and reverses its direction to travel backwards through time to
+point A; there it absorbs the initial photon, reverses its direction
+again and flies off travelling forwards through time. In a ‘way,
+the second interpretation is much simpler because,$ve just
+
+scattering process involving photons, electrons and a positron
+* Recent experimental evidence suggests that this might not be true for a particular process involving a ‘super-weak interaction’. Apart from this process, for
+which the role of time-reversal symmetry is not yet clear, all particle interactions
+seem to show a basic symmetry with regard to the direction of time.
+
+follow the world line of one particle. On the other hand, we
+notice immediately that in doing so we run into serious difficulties
+of language. The electron travels ‘first’ to point B, and ‘then’ to
+A; yet the absorption of the photon at A happens before the
+emission of the other photon at B.
+The best way to avoid these difficulties is to see space-time
+diagrams like the one above not as chronological records of
+the paths of particles through time, but rather as four-dimensional patterns in space-time representing a network of interrelated events which does not have any definite direction of
+time attached to it. Since all particles can move forwards and
+backwards in time, just as they can move left and right in space,
+it does not make sense to impose a one-way flow of time on
+the diagrams. They are simply four-dimensional maps traced
+out in space-time in such a way that we cannot speak of any
+temporal sequence. In the words of Louis De Broglie:
+In space-time, everything which for each of us constitutes
+the past, the present, and the future is given en bloc . . .
+Each observer, as his time passes, discovers, so to speak,
+new slices of space-time which appear to him as successive
+aspects of the material world, though in reality the ensemble
+of events constituting space-time exist prior to his knowledge of them.12
+
+\
+
+This, then, is the full meaning of space-time in relativistic
+physics. Space and time are fully equivalent; they are unified
+into a four-dimensional continuum in which the particle interactions can stretch in any direction. If we want to picture
+these interactions, we have to picture them in one ‘fourdimensional snap shot’ covering the whole span of time as well
+as the whole region of space. To get the right feeling for the
+relativistic world of particles, we must ‘forget the lapse of time’,
+as Chuang Tzu says, and this is why the space-time diagrams
+of field theory can be a useful analogy to the space-time
+experience of the Eastern mystic. The relevance of the analogy
+is made evident by the following remarks by Lama Govinda
+concerning Buddhist meditation :
+If we speak of the space-experience in meditation, we are
+dealing with an entirely different dimension . . . In this
+.~
+p
+
+185
+Space-Time
+
+186
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+space-experience the temporal sequence is converted into
+a simultaneous co-existence, the side by side existence
+of things . . . and this again does not remain static but
+becomes a living continuum in which time and space are
+integrated.13
+Although the physicists use their mathematical formalism
+and their diagrams to picture interactions ‘en bloc’ in fourdimensional space-time, they say that in the actual world each
+observer can only experience the phenomena in a succession
+of space-time sections, that is, in a temporal sequence. The
+mystics, on the other hand, maintain that they can actually
+experience the full span of space-time where time does not
+flow any longer. Thus the Zen master Dogen:
+It is believed by most that time passes; in actual fact, it
+stays where it is. This idea of passing may be called time,
+but it is an incorrect idea, for since one sees it only as
+passing, one cannot understand that it stays just where it
+is.14
+Many of the Eastern teachers emphasize that thought must
+take place in time, but that vision can transcend it. ‘Vision’, says
+Covinda, ‘is bound up with a space of a higher dimension, and
+therefore timeless.‘15 The space-time of relativistic physics is a
+similar timeless space of a higher dimension. All events in it
+are interconnected, but the connections are not causal.
+Particle interactions can be interpreted in terms of cause and
+effect only when the space-time diagrams are read in a definite
+direction, e.g. from the bottom to the top. When they are
+taken as four-dimensional patterns without any definite direction
+of time attached to them, there is no ‘before’ and no ‘after’,
+and thus no causation.
+Similarly, the Eastern mystics assert that in transcending time,
+they also transcend the world of cause and effect. Like our
+ordinary notions of space and time, causation is an idea which
+is limited to a certain experience of the world and has to be
+abandoned when this experience is extended. In the words of
+Swami Vivekananda,
+
+Time, space, and causation are like the glass through
+which the Absolute is seen . . . In the Absolute there is
+neither time, space, nor causation.16
+The Eastern spiritual traditions show their followers various
+ways of going beyond the ordinary experience of time and of
+freeing themselves from the chain of cause and effect-from
+the bondage of karma, as the Hindus and Buddhists say. It has
+therefore been said that Eastern mysticism is a liberation from
+time. in a way, the same may be said of relativistic physics.
+
+187
+Space-Time
+
+13 THE
+
+DYNAMIC
+UNIVERSE
+
+The central aim of Eastern mysticism is to experience all
+phenomena in the world as manifestations of the same ultimate
+reality. This reality is seen as the essence of the universe,
+underlying and unifying the multitude of things and events
+we observe. The Hindus call it &&man, the Buddhists Dharmakaya (the Body of Being), or Tathata (Suchness), and the Taoists
+Tao; each affirming that it transcends our intellectual concepts
+and defies further description. This ultimate essence, however,
+cannot be separated from its multiple manifestations. It is
+central to its very nature to manifest itself in myriad forms
+which come into being and disintegrate, transforming themselves into one another without end. In its phenomenal aspect,
+the cosmic One is thus intrinsically dynamic, and the apprehension of its dynamic nature is basic to all schools of Eastern
+mysticism. Thus D. T. Suzuki writes about the Kegon school of
+Mahayana Buddhism,
+The central idea of Kegon is to grasp the universe dynamically whose characteristic is always to move onward, to be
+forever in the mood of moving, which is life.’
+This emphasis on movement, flow and change is not only
+characteristic of the Eastern mystical traditions, but has been
+an essential aspect of the world view of mystics throughout
+the ages. In ancient Greece, Heraclitus taught that ‘everything
+flows’ and compared the world to an ever-living fire, and in
+Mexico, the Yaqui mystic Don Juan talks about the ‘fleeting
+world’ and affirms that ‘to be a man of knowledge one needs
+to be light and fluid.‘*
+--.
+
+---
+
+‘-
+
+------
+
+_- -_ -
+
+190
+The’
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In Indian philosophy, the main terms used by Hindus and
+Buddhists have dynamic connotations. The word Brahman is
+derived from the Sanskrit root brih-to grow-and thus
+suggests a reality which is dynamic and alive. In the words of
+S. Radhakrishnan, The word Brahman means growth and is
+suggestive of life, motion and progress.‘3 The &an&ha& refer
+to Brahman as ‘this unformed, immortal, moving’,4 thus
+associating it with motion even though it transcends all
+forms.
+The Rig Vecfa uses another term to express the dynamic
+nature of the universe, the term Rita. This word comes from
+the root ri-to move; its original meaning in the Rig Veda
+being ‘the course of all things’, ‘the order of nature’. It plays
+an important role in the legends of the Veda and is connected
+with all the Vedic gods. The order of nature was conceived by
+the Vedic seers, not as a static divine law, but as a dynamic
+principle which is inherent in the universe. This idea is not
+unlike the Chinese conception of Tao-The Way’-as the
+way in which the universe works, i.e. the order of nature. Like
+the Vedic seers, the Chinese sages saw the world in terms of
+flow and change, and thus gave the idea of a cosmic order an
+essentially dynamic connotation. Both concepts, Rita and Tao,
+were later brought down from their original cosmic level to
+the human level and were interpreted in a moral sense; Rita
+as the universal law which all gods and men must obey, and
+Tao as the right way of life.
+The Vedic concept of Rita anticipates the idea of karma
+which was developed later to express the dynamic interplay
+of all things and events. The word karma means ‘action’ and
+denotes the ‘active’, or dynamic, interrelation of all phenomena.
+In the words of the Bhagavad Cita, ‘All actions take place in
+time by the interweaving of the forces of nature.‘5 The Buddha
+took up the traditional concept of karma and gave it a new
+meaning by extending the idea of dynamic interconnections
+to the sphere of human situations. Karma thus came to signify
+the never-ending chain of cause and effect in human life which
+the Buddha had broken in attaining the state of enlightenment.
+Hinduism has also found many ways of’ expressing the
+dynamic nature of the universe in mythical language. Thus
+Krishna says in the Gita, ‘If I did not engage in action, these
+7
+
+worlds would perish,‘6 and Shiva, the Cosmic Dancer, is
+perhaps the most perfect personification of the dynamic
+universe. Through his dance, Shiva sustains the manifold
+phenomena in the world, unifying all things by immersing
+them in his rhythm and making them participate in the dancea magnificent image of the dynamic unity of the universe.
+The general picture-emerging from Hinduism is one of an
+organic, growing and rhythmically moving cosmos; of a
+universe in which everything is fluid and ever-changing, all
+static forms being maya, that is, existing only as illusory concepts. This last idea-the impermanence of all forms-is the
+starting point of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that ‘all compounded things are impermanent’, and that all suffering in the
+world arises from our trying to cling to fixed forms-objects,
+people or ideas-instead of accepting the world as it moves
+and changes. The dynamic world view lies thus at the very
+root of Buddhism. In the words of S. Radhakrishnan:
+
+191
+The
+Dynamic
+Universe
+
+A wonderful philosophy of dynamism was formulated by
+Buddha 2,500 years ago . . . Impressed with the transitoriness of objects, the ceaseless mutation and transformation
+of things, Buddha formulated a philosophy of change. He
+reduces substances, souls, monads, things to forces,
+movements, sequences and processes, and adopts a
+dynamic conception of reality.’
+Buddhists call this world of ceaseless change samsara,
+which means, literally, ‘incessantly in motion’; and they affirm
+that there is nothing in it which is worth clinging to. So for the
+Buddhists, an enlightened being is one who does not resist
+the flow of life, but keeps moving with it. When the Ch’an
+monk’ Yin-men was asked, What is the Tao?’ he answered
+simply, Walk on!’ Accordingly, Buddhists also call the Buddha
+the Tathagata, or ‘the one who comes and goes thus’. In
+Chinese philosophy, the flowing and ever-changing reality is
+called the Tao and is seen as a cosmic process in which all
+things are involved. Like the Buddhists, the Taoists say that one
+should not resist the flow, but should adapt one’s actions to it.
+This, again, is characteristic of the sage-the enlightened
+being. If the Buddha is one who ‘comes and goes thus’, the
+
+-.
+
+192
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Taoist sage is one who ‘flows’, as Huai Nan Tzu says,* ‘in the
+current of the Tao’.
+The more one studies the religious and philosophical texts of
+the Hindus, Buddhists and Taoists, the more it becomes
+apparent that in all of them the world is conceived in terms of
+movement, flow and change. This dynamic quality of Eastern
+philosophy seems to be one of its most important features.
+The Eastern mystics see the universe as an inseparable web,
+whose interconnections are dynamic and not static. The cosmic
+web is alive; it moves, grows and changes continually. Modern
+physics, too, has come to conceive of the universe as such a
+web of relations and, like Eastern mysticism; has recognized
+that this web is intrinsically dynamic. The dynamic aspect of
+matter arises in quantum theory as a consequence of the
+wave-nature of subatomic particles, and is even more essential
+in relativity theory, as we shall see, where the unification of
+space and time implies that the being of matter cannot be
+separated from its activity. The properties of subatomic particles
+can therefore only be understood in a dynamic context; in
+terms of movement, interaction and transformation.
+According to quantum theory, particles are also waves, and
+this implies that they behave in a very peculiar way. Whenever
+a subatomic particle is confined to a small region of space, it
+reacts to this confinement by moving around. The smaller the
+region of confinement, the faster will the particle ‘jiggle’ around
+in it. This behaviour is a typical ‘quantum effect’, a feature of
+the subatomic world which has no macroscopic analogy. To
+see how it comes about, we have to remember that particles
+are represented, in quantum theory, by wave packets. As
+discussed previously,** the length of such a wave packet
+represents the uncertainty in the location of the particle. The
+following wave pattern, for example, corresponds to a particle
+located somewhere in the region X; where exactly we cannot
+say with certainty. If we want to localize the particle more
+precisely, i.e. if we want to confine it to a smaller region, we
+have to squeeze its wave packet into this region (see diagram
+*See p.117.
+**Seep. 158.
+
+-~
+
+193
+The
+Dynamic
+Universe
+
+4
+
+X
+
+b
+
+a wave packet
+below ). This, however, will affect the wavelength of the wave
+packet, and consequently the velocity of the particle. As a result,
+the particle will move around; the more it is confined, the faster
+it will move.
+
+squeezing the wave packet into a smaller region
+
+The tendency of particles to react to confinement with
+motion implies a fundamental ‘restlessness’ of matter which is
+characteristic of the subatomic world. In this world, most of
+the material particles are bound to the molecular, atomic and
+nuclear structures, and therefore are not at rest but have an
+inherent tendency to move about-they are intrinsically
+restless. According to quantum theory, matter is thus never
+quiescent, but always in a state of motion. Macroscopically,
+the material objects around us may seem passive and inert,
+but when we magnify such a ‘dead’ piece of stone or metal,
+T
+
+194
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+we see that it is full of activity. The closer we look at it, the
+more alive it appears. All the material objects in our environment are made of atoms which link up with each other in
+various ways to form an enormous variety of molecular
+structures which are not rigid and motionless, but oscillate
+according to their temperature and in harmony with the
+thermal vibrations of their environment. In the vibrating atoms,
+the electrons are bound to the atomic nuclei by electric forces
+which try to keep them as close as possible, and they respond
+to this confinement by whirling around extremely fast. In the
+nuclei, finally, the protons and neutrons are pressed into a
+minute volume by the strong nuclear forces, and consequently
+race about with unimaginable velocities.
+Modern physics, then, pictures matter not at all as passive
+and inert, but as being in a continuous dancing and vibrating
+motion whose rhythmic patterns are determined by the
+molecular, atomic and nuclear structures. This is also the way
+in which the Eastern mystics see the material world. They all
+emphasize that the universe has to be grasped dynamically,
+as it moves, vibrates and dances; that nature is not in a static,
+but a dynamic equilibrium. In the words of a Taoist text,
+The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness. Only
+when there is stillness in movement can the spiritual
+rhythm appear which pervades heaven and earth.8
+In physics, we recognize the dynamic nature of the universe
+not only when we go to small dimensions-to the world of
+atoms and nuclei-but also when we turn to large dimensionsto the world of stars and galaxies. Through our powerful telescopes we observe a universe in ceaseless motion. Rotating
+clouds of hydrogen gas contract to form stars, heating up in
+the process until they become burning fires in the sky. When
+they have reached that stage, they still continue to rotate,
+some of them ejecting material into space which spirals outwards and condenses into planets circling around the star.
+Eventually, after millions of years, when most of its hydrogen
+fuel is used up, a star expands, and then contracts again in the
+final gravitational collapse. This collapse may involve gigantic
+explosions, and may even turn the star into a black hole. All
+- -. ___--__
+
+‘7
+
+196
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+these activities-the formation of stars out of interstellar gas
+clouds, their contraction and subsequent expansion, and their
+final collapse-can all actually be observed somewhere in the
+skies.
+The spinning, contracting, expanding or exploding stars
+cluster into galaxies of various shapes-flat discs, spheres,
+spirals, etc.-which, again, are not motionless but rotate. Our
+galaxy, the Milky Way, is an immense disc of stars and gas
+turning in space like a huge wheel, so that all its stars-including the Sun and its planets-move around the galaxy’s
+centre. The universe is, in fact, full of galaxies strewn through
+all the space we can see; all spinning like our own.
+When we study the universe as a whole, with its millions of
+galaxies, we have reached the largest scale of space and time;
+and again, at that cosmic level, we discover that the universe
+is not static-it is expanding! This has been one of the most
+important discoveries in modern astronomy. A detailed analysis
+of the light received from distant galaxies has shown that the
+whole swarm of galaxies expands and that it does so in a well
+orchestrated way; the recession velocity of any galaxy we
+observe is proportional to the galaxy’s distance. The more
+distant the galaxy, the faster it moves away from us; at double
+the distance, the recession velocity will also double. This is
+true not only for distances measured from our galaxy, but
+applies to any point of reference. Whichever galaxy you happen
+to be in, you will observe the other galaxies rushing away from
+you; nearby galaxies at several thousand miles per second,
+farther ones at higher speeds, and the farthest at velocities
+approaching the speed of light. The light from galaxies beyond
+that distance will never reach us, because they move away
+from us faster than the speed of light. Their light is-in the
+words of Sir Arthur Eddington-‘like a runner on an expanding
+track with the winning post receding faster than he can run’.
+To have a better idea of the way in which the universe
+expands, we have to remember that the proper framework for
+studying its large-scale features is Einstein’s general theory of
+relativity. According to this theory, space is not ‘flat’, but is
+‘curved’, and the precise way in which it is curved is related to
+the distribution of matter by Einstein’s field equations. These
+equations can be used to determine the structure of the
+
+universe as a whole; they are the starting point of modern
+cosmology.
+When we talk about an expanding universe in the framework
+of general relativity, we mean an expansion in a higher dimension. Like the concept of curved space, we can only visualize
+such a concept with the help of a two-dimensional analogy.
+Imagine a balloon with a large number of dots on its surface.
+The balloon represents the universe, its two-dimensional
+curved surface representing the three-dimensional curved
+
+.. . ..
+Q
+
+space, and the dots on the surface the galaxies in that space.
+When the balloon is blown up, all the distances between the
+dots increase. Whichever dot you choose to sit on, all the other
+dots will move away from you. The universe expands in the
+same way: whichever galaxy an observer happens to be in,
+the other galaxies will all move away from him.
+An obvious question to be asked about the expanding
+universe is: how did it all start? From the relation between the
+distance of a galaxy and its recession velocity-which is
+known as Hubble’s law-one can calculate the starting point
+of the expansion, in other words, the age of the universe.
+Assuming that there has been no change in the rate of expansion, which is by no means certain, one arrives at an age of
+the order of 10,000 million years. This, then, is the age of the
+universe. Most cosmologists believe today that the universe
+came into being in a highly dramatic event about 10,000
+million years ago, when its total mass exploded out of a small
+
+197
+The
+Dynamic
+Universe
+
+198
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+primeval fireball. The present expansion of the universe is seen
+as the remaining thrust of this initial explosion. According to
+this ‘big-bang’ model, the moment of the big bang marked
+the beginning of the universe and the beginning of space and
+time. If we want to know what happened before that moment,
+we run-again-into severe difficulties of thought and language.
+-It-r the words of Sir Bernard Lovell,
+There we reach the great barrier of thought because we
+begin to struggle with the concepts of time and space
+before they existed in terms of our everyday experience.
+I feel as though I’ve suddenly driven into a great fog
+barrier where the familiar world has disappeared.g
+As far as the future of the expanding universe is concerned,
+Einstein’s equations do not provide a unique answer. They
+allow for several different solutions corresponding to different
+models of the universe. Some models predict that the expansion
+will continue for ever; according to others, it is slowing down
+and will eventually change into a contraction. These models
+describe an oscillating universe, expanding for billions of
+years, then contracting until its total mass has condensed into
+a small ball of matter, then expanding again, and so on without
+end.
+This idea of a periodically expanding and contracting universe,
+which involves a scale of time and space of vast proportions,
+has arisen not only in modern cosmology, but also in ancient
+Indian mythology. Experiencing the universe as an organic and
+rhythmically moving cosmos, the Hindus were able to develop
+evolutionary cosmologies which come very close to our modern
+scientific models. One of these cosmologies is based on the
+H i n d u m y t h o f / i / a - t h e d i v i n e p l a y - i n w h i c h Brahman
+transforms himself into the world.* Lila is a rhythmic play
+which goes on in endless cycles, the One becoming the
+many and the many returning into the One. In the Bhagavad
+Cita, the god Krishna describes this rhythmic play of creation
+in the following words:
+*See p. 87
+
+At the end of the night of time all things return to my
+nature; and when the new day of time begins I bring them
+again into light.
+Thus through my nature I bring forth all creation and
+this rolls around in the circles of time.
+But I am not bound by this vast work of creation. I am and
+I watch the drama of works.
+I watch and in its work of creation nature brings forth all
+that moves and moves not: and thus the revolutions of
+the world go round.‘0
+The Hindu sages were not afraid to identify this rhythmic
+divine play with the evolution of the cosmos as a whole. They
+pictured the universe as periodically expanding and contracting and gave the name kalpa to the unimaginable time
+span between the beginning and the end of one creation. The
+scale of this ancient myth is indeed staggering; it has taken
+the human mind more than two thousand years to come up
+again with a similar concept.
+From the world of the very large, from the expanding cosmos,
+let us now return to the world of the infinitely small. Physics in
+the twentieth century has been characterized by an everprogressing penetration into this world of submicroscopic
+dimensions, down into the realms of atoms, nuclei and their
+constituents. This exploration of the submicroscopic world
+has been motivated by one basic question which has occupied
+and stimulated human thought throughout the ages: what is
+matter made of? Ever since the beginning of natural philosophy,
+man has speculated about this question, trying to find the
+‘basic stuff’ of which all matter is made; but only in our century
+has it been possible to seek an answer by undertaking experiments. With the help of a highly sophisticated technology,
+physicists were able to explore first the structure of atoms,
+finding that they consisted of nuclei and electrons, and then
+the structure of the atomic nuclei which were found to consist
+of protons and neutrons, commonly called nucleons. In the
+last two decades, they have gone yet another step farther and
+
+199
+The
+Dynamic
+Universe
+
+200
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+have begun to investigate the structure of the nucleons-the
+constituents of the atomic nuclei-which, again, do not seem
+to be the ultimate elementary particles, but seem to be
+composed of other entities.
+The first step in the penetration into ever deeper layers of
+matter-the exploration of the world of atoms-has led to
+several profound modifications of our view of matter which
+have been discussed in the previous chapters. The second step
+was the penetration of the world of atomic nuclei and their
+constituents, and it has forced us to change our views in a
+way which is no less profound. In this world, we deal with
+dimensions which are a hundred thousand times smaller than
+atomic dimensions, and consequently the particles confined to
+such small dimensions move considerably faster than those
+confined to atomic structures. They move, in fact, so fast that
+they can only be described adequately in the framework of
+the special theory of relativity. To understand the properties
+and interactions of subatomic particles, it is thus necessary to
+use a framework which takes into account both quantum
+theory and relativity theory, and it is relativity theory which
+forces us to modify our view of matter once more.
+The characteristic feature of the relativistic framework is,
+as mentioned previously, that it unifies basic concepts which
+seemed totally unrelated before. One of the most important
+examples is the equivalence of mass and energy which is
+expressed mathematically by Einstein’s famous equation
+E=mc*. To understand the profound significance of this
+equivalence, we first have to understand the meaning of energy,
+and the meaning of mass.
+Energy is one of the most important concepts used in the
+description of natural phenomena. As in everyday life, we say
+that a body has energy when it has the capacity for doing
+work. This energy can take a great variety of forms. It can be
+energy of motion, energy of heat, gravitational energy, electrical
+energy, chemical energy, and so on. Whatever the form is,
+it can be used to do work. A stone, for example, can be given
+gravitational energy by lifting it up to some height. When
+it is dropped from that height, its gravitational energy is
+transformed into energy of motion (‘kinetic energy’), and when
+the stone hits the ground it can do work by breaking some-
+
+thing. Taking a more constructive example, electrical energy
+or chemical energy can be transformed into heat energy and
+used for domestic purposes. In physics, energy is always
+associated with some process, or some kind of activity, and its
+fundamental importance lies in the fact that the total energy
+involved in a process is always conserved. It may change its
+form in the most complicated way, but none of it can get lost.
+The conservation of energy is one of the most fundamental
+laws of physics. It governs all known natural phenomena and
+no violation of the law has so far been observed.
+The mass of a body, on the other hand, is a measure of its
+weight, i.e. of the pull of gravity on the body. Besides that, mass
+measures the inertia of an object, i.e. its resistance against
+being accelerated. Heavy objects are harder to accelerate
+than light objects, a fact which is well known to anybody who
+has ever pushed a car. In classical physics, mass was furthermore associated with an indestructible material substance,
+i.e. with the ‘stuff’ of which all things were thought to be made.
+Like energy, it was believed to be rigorously conserved, so that
+no mass could ever get lost.
+Now, relativity theory tells us that mass is nothing but a
+form of energy. Energy can not only take the various forms
+known in classical physics, but can also be locked up in the
+mass of an object. The amount of energy contained, for
+example, in a particle is equal to the particle’s mass, m, times
+c2, the square of the speed of light; thus
+
+Once it is seen to be a form of energy, mass is no longer
+required to be indestructible, but can be transformed into other
+forms of energy. This can happen when subatomic particles
+collide with one another. In such collisions, particles can be
+destroyed and the energy contained in their masses can be
+transformed into kinetic energy, and distributed among the
+other particles participating in the collision. Conversely, when
+particles collide with very high velocities, their kinetic energy
+can be used to form the masses of new particles. The photo-
+
+201
+The
+Dynamic
+Universe
+
+202
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+graph below shows an extreme example of such a collision: a
+proton enters the bubble chamber from the left, knocks an
+electron out of an atom (spiral track), and then collides with
+
+another proton to create sixteen new particles in the collision
+process.
+The creation and destruction of material particles is one of
+the most impressive consequences of the equivalence of mass
+and energy. In the collision processes of high-energy physics,
+mass is no longer conserved. The colliding particles can be
+destroyed and their masses may be transformed partly into
+the masses, and partly into the kinetic energies of the newly
+created particles. Only the total energy involved in such a
+process, that is, the total kinetic energy plus the energy
+contained in all the masses, is conserved. The collisions of
+subatomic particles are our main tool to study their properties
+and the relation between mass and energy is essential for
+their description. It has been verified innumerable times and
+particle physicists are completely familiar with the equivalence
+of mass and energy; so familiar, in fact, that they measure
+the masses of particles in the corresponding energy units.
+The discovery that mass is nothing but a form of energy has
+forced us to modify our concept of a particle in an essential
+way. In modern physics, mass is no longer associated with a
+material substance, and hence particles are not seen as consisting of any basic ‘stuff’, but as bundles of energy. Since
+energy, however, is associated with activity, with processes,
+the implication is that the nature of subatomic particles is
+
+intrinsically dynamic. To understand this better, we must
+remember that these particles can only be conceived in relativistic terms, that is, in terms of a framework where space and
+time are fused into a four-dimensional continuum. The particles
+must not be pictured as static three-dimensional objects, like
+billiard balls or grains of sand, but rather as four-dimensional
+entities in space-time. Their forms have to be understood
+dynamically, as forms in space and time. Subatomic particles
+are dynamic patterns which have a space aspect and a time
+aspect. Their space aspect makes them appear as objects
+with a certain mass, their time aspect as processes involving
+the equivalent energy.
+These dynamic patterns, or ‘energy bundles’, form the stable
+nuclear, atomic and molecular structures which build up
+matter and give it its macroscopic solid aspect, thus making us
+believe that it is made of some material substance. At the
+macroscopic level, this notion of substance is a useful approximation, but at the atomic level it no longer makes sense. Atoms
+consist of particles and these particles are not made of any
+material stuff. When we observe them, we never see any
+substance; what we observe are dynamic patterns continually
+changing into one another-a continuous dance of energy.
+Quantum theory has shown that particles are not isolated
+grains of matter, but are probability patterns, interconnections
+in an inseparable cosmic web. Relativity theory, so to speak,
+has made these patterns come alive by revealing their intrinsically dynamic character. It has shown that the activity of
+matter is the very essence of its being. The particles of the
+subatomic world are not only active in the sense of moving
+around very fast; they themselves are processes! The existence
+of matter and its activity cannot be separated. They are but
+different aspects of the same space-time reality.
+It has been argued in the previous chapter that the awareness
+of the ‘interpenetration’ of space and time has led the Eastern
+mystics to an intrinsically dynamic world view. A study of their
+writings reveals that they conceive the world not only in terms
+of movement, flow and change, but also seem to have a strong
+intuition for the ‘space-time’ character of material objects
+which is so typical of relativistic physics. Physicists have to
+take into account the unification of space and time when they
+
+The
+Dy namic
+Universe
+
+204
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+study the subatomic world and, consequently, they view the
+objects of this world-the particles-not statically, but
+dynamically, in terms of energy, activity and processes. The
+Eastern mystics, in their non-ordinary states of consciousness,
+seem to be aware of the interpenetration of space and time at
+a macroscopic level, and thus they see the macroscopic
+objects in a way which is very similar to the physicists’ conception of subatomic particles. This is particularly striking in
+Buddhism. One of the principal teachings of the Buddha was
+that ‘all compounded things are impermanent’. In the original
+Pali version of this famous saying,” the term used for ‘things’
+is sankhara (Sanskrit: samskara), a word which means first of all
+‘an event’ or ‘a happening’-also ‘a deed’, ‘an act’-and only
+secondarily ‘an existing thing’. This clearly shows that Buddhists
+haveadynamic conception of things asever-changing processes.
+In the words of D. T. Suzuki,
+Buddhists have conceived an object as an event and not
+as a thing or substance . . . The Buddhist conception of
+‘things’ as samskara (or sankhara), that is, as ‘deeds’, or
+‘events’, makes it clear that Buddhists understand our
+experience in terms of time and movement.12
+Like modern physicists, Buddhists see all objects as processes
+in a universal flux and deny the existence of any material
+substance. This denial is one of the most characteristic features
+of all schools of Buddhist philosophy. It is also characteristic of
+Chinese thought which developed a similar view of things as
+transitory stages in the ever-flowing Tao and was more concerned with their interrelations than with their reduction to a
+fundamental substance. While European philosophy tended
+to find reality in substance,’ writes Joseph Needham, ‘Chinese
+philosophy tended to find it in relation.“3
+In the dynamic world views of Eastern mysticism and of
+modern physics, then, there is no place for static shapes, or
+for any material substance. The basic elements of the universe
+are dynamic patterns; transitory stages in the ‘constant flow
+of transformation and change’, as Chuang Tzu calls it.
+According to our present knowledge of matter, its basic
+patterns are the subatomic particles, and the understanding of
+
+their properties and interactions is the principal aim of modern
+fundamental physics. We know today over two hundred
+particles, most of them being created artificially in collision
+processes and living only an extremely short time; far less than
+a millionth of a second! It is thus quite obvious that these
+short-lived particles represent merely transitory patterns of
+dynamic processes. The main questions with regard to these
+patterns, or particles, are the following. What are their distinguishing features? Are they composite and, if so, what do
+they consist of or-better-what other patterns do they
+involve? How do they interact with one another, i.e. what are
+the forces between them? Lastly, if the particles themselves
+are processes, what kind of processes are they?
+We have become aware that in particle physics all these
+questions are inseparably connected. Because of the relativistic
+nature of subatomic particles, we cannot understand their
+properties without understanding their mutual interactions,
+and because of the basjc interconnectedness of the subatomic
+world we shall not understand any one particle before understanding all the others. The following chapters will show how
+far we have come in understanding the particles’ properties
+and interactions. Although we are still lacking a complete
+quantum-relativistic theory of the subatomic world, several
+partial theories and models have been developed which
+describe some aspects of this world very successfully. A discussion of the most important of these models and theories
+will show that they all involve philosophical conceptions which
+are in striking agreement with those in Eastern mysticism.
+
+14 EMPTINESS
+
+AND
+FORM
+The classical, mechanistic world view was based on the notion
+of solid, indestructible particles moving in the void. Modern
+physics has brought about a radical revision of this picture.
+It has led not only to a completely new notion of ‘particles’,
+but has also transformed the classical concept of the void in a
+profound way. This transformation took place in the so-called
+field theories. It began with Einstein’s idea of associating the
+gravitational field with the geometry of space, and became
+even more pronounced when quantum theory and relativity
+theory were combined to describe the force fields of subatomic
+particles. In these ‘quantum field theories’, the distinction
+between particles and the space surrounding them loses its
+original sharpness and the void is recognized as a dynamic
+quantity of paramount importance.
+The field concept was introduced in the nineteenth century
+by Faraday and Maxwell in their description of the forces
+between electric charges and currents. An electric field is a
+condition in the space around a charged body which will
+produce a force on any other charge in that space. Electric
+fields are thus created by charged bodies and their effects
+can only be felt by charged bodies. Magnetic fields are produced by charges in motion, i.e. by electric currents, and the
+magnetic forces resulting from them can be felt by other
+moving charges. In classical electrodynamics, the theory
+constructed by Faraday and Maxwell, the fields are primary
+physical entities which can be studied without any reference
+to material bodies. Vibrating electric and magnetic fields can
+travel through space in the form of radio waves, light waves, or
+other kinds of electromagnetic radiation.
+
+208
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Relativity theory has made the structure of electrodynamicsmuch more elegant by unifying the concepts of both charges
+and currents and electric and magnetic fields. Since all motion
+is relative, every charge can also appear as a current-in a
+frame of reference where it moves with respect to the observer
+-and consequently, its electric field can also appear as a
+magnetic field. In the relativistic formulation of electrodynamics,
+the two fields are thus unified into a single electromagnetic
+field.
+The concept of a field has been associated not only with the
+electromagnetic force, but also with that other major force in
+the large-scale world, the force of gravity. Gravitational fields
+are created and felt by all massive bodies, and the resulting
+forces are always forces of attraction, contrary to the electromagnetic fields which are felt only by charged bodies and
+which give rise to attractive and repulsive forces. The proper
+field theory for the gravitational field is the general theory of
+relativity, and in this theory the influence of a massive body on
+the surrounding space is more far-reaching than the corresponding influence of a charged body in electrodynamics.
+Again, the space around the object is ‘conditioned’ in such a
+way that another object will feel a force, but this time the
+conditioning affects the geometry, and thus the very structure
+of space.
+Matter and empty space-the full and the void-were the
+two fundamentally distinct concepts on which the atomism
+of Democritus and of Newton was based. In general relativity,
+these two concepts can no longer be separated. Wherever
+there is a massive body, there will also be a gravitational field,
+and this field will manifest itself as the curvature of the space
+surrounding that body. We must not think, however, that the
+field fills the space and ‘curves’ it. The two cannot be distinguished; the field is the curved space! In general relativity, the
+gravitational field and the structure, or geometry, of space are
+identical. They are represented in Einstein’s field equations by
+one and the same mathematical quantity. In Einstein’s theory,
+then, matter cannot be separated from its field of gravity, and
+the field of gravity cannot be separated from the curved space.
+Matter and space are thus seen to be inseparable and interdependent parts of a single whole.
+
+Material objects not only determine the structure of the
+surrounding space but are, in turn, influenced by their environment in an essential way. According to the physicist and
+philosopher Ernst Mach, the inertia of a material object-the
+object’s resistance against being accelerated-is not an
+intrinsic property of matter, but a measure of its interaction
+with all the rest of the universe. In Mach’s view, matter only
+has inertia because there is other matter in the universe. When
+a body rotates, its inertia produces centrifugal forces (used,
+for example, in a spin-drier to extract water from wet laundry),
+but these forces appear only because the body rotates ‘relative
+to the fixed stars’, as Mach has put it. If those fixed stars were
+suddenly to disappear, the inertia and the centrifugal forces of
+the rotating body would disappear with them.
+This conception of inertia, which has become known as
+Mach’s principle, had a deep influence on Albert Einstein and
+was his original motivation for constructing the general theory
+of relativity. Due to the considerable mathematical complexity of Einstein’s theory, physicists have not yet been able
+to agree whether it actually incorporates Mach’s principle or
+not. Most physicists believe, however, that it should be incorporated, in one way or another, into a complete theory of
+gravity.
+Thus modern physics shows us once again-and this time at
+the macroscopic level-that material objects are not distinct
+entities, but are inseparably linked to their environment; that
+their properties can only be understood in terms of their
+interaction with the rest of the world. According to Mach’s
+principle, this interaction reaches out to the universe at large,
+to the distant stars and galaxies. The basic unity of the cosmos
+manifests itself, therefore, not only in the world of the very
+small but also in the world of the very large; a fact which is
+increasingly acknowledged in modern astrophysics and cosmology. In the words of the astronomer Fred Hoyle,
+Present-day developments in cosmology are coming to
+suggest rather insistently that everyday conditions could
+not persist but for the distant parts of the Universe, that all
+our ideas of space and geometry would become entirely
+invalid if the distant parts of the Universe were taken
+
+209
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+210
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+away. Our everyday experience even down to the smallest
+details seems to be so closely integrated to the grand-scale
+features of the Universe that it is well-nigh impossible to
+contemplate the two being separated,’
+The unity and interrelation between a material object and
+its environment, which is manifest on the macroscopic
+scale in the general theory of relativity, appears in an even
+more striking form at the subatomic level. Here, the ideas of
+classical field theory are combined with those of quantum
+theory to describe the interactions between subatomic
+particles. Such a combination has not yet been possible for
+the gravitational interaction because of the complicated
+mathematical form of Einstein’s theory of gravity; but the other
+classical field theory, electrodynamics, has been merged with
+quantum theory into a theory called ‘quantum electrodynamics’
+which describes all electromagnetic interactions between subatomic particles. This theory incorporates both quantum
+theory and relativity theory. It was the first ‘quantum-relativistic’
+model of modern physics and is still the most successful.
+The striking new feature of quantum electrodynamics arises
+from the combination of two concepts; that of the electromagnetic field, and that of photons as the particle manifestations of electromagnetic waves. Since photons are also electromagnetic waves, and since these waves are vibrating fields,
+the photons must be manifestations of electromagnetic fields.
+Hence the concept of a ‘quantum field’, that is, of a field which
+can take the form of quanta, or particles. This is indeed an
+entirely new concept which has been extended to describe
+all subatomic particles and their interactions, each type of
+particle corresponding to a different field. In these ‘quantum
+field theories’, the classical contrast between the solid particles
+and the space surrounding them is completely overcome. The
+quantum field is seen as the fundamental physical entity; a
+continuous medium which is present everywhere in space.
+Particles are merely local condensations of the field; concentrations of energy which come and go, thereby losing their individual character and dissolving into the underlying field. In
+the words of Albert Einstein:
+. ~.~-.-.
+
+We may therefore regard matter as being constituted by
+the regions of space in which the field is extremely intense
+. . . There is no place in this new kind of physics both for
+the field and matter, for the field is the only reality.*
+The conception of physical things and phenomena as
+transient manifestations of an underlying fundamental entity
+is not only a basic element of quantum field theory, but also a
+basic element of the Eastern world view. Like Einstein, the
+Eastern mystics consider this underlying entity as the only
+reality: all its phenomenal manifestations are seen as transitory
+and illusory. This reality of the Eastern mystic cannot be
+identified with the quantum field of the physicist because it is
+seen as the essence of a// phenomena in this world and,
+consequently, is beyond all concepts and ideas. The quantum
+field, on the other hand, is a well-defined concept which only
+accounts for some of the physical phenomena. Nevertheless,
+the intuition behind the physicist’s interpretation of the subatomic world, in terms of the quantum field, is closely paralleled
+by that of the Eastern mystic who interprets his or her experience
+of the world in terms of an ultimate underlying reality. Subsequent to the emergence of the field concept, physicists have
+attempted to unify the various fields into a single fundamental
+field which would incorporate all physical phenomena. Einstein,
+in particular, spent the last years of his life searching for such a
+unified field. The Brahman of the Hindus, like the Dharmakaya
+of the Buddhists and the Tao of the Taoists, can be seen,
+perhaps, as the ultimate unified field from which spring not
+only the phenomena studied in physics, but all other phenomena
+as well.
+In the Eastern view, the reality underlying all phenomena is
+beyond all forms and defies all description and specification.
+It is therefore often said to be formless, empty or void. But this
+emptiness is not to be taken for mere nothingness. It is, on the
+contrary, the essence of all forms and the source of all life.
+Thus the Upanishads say,
+Brahman is life. Brahman is joy. Brahman is the Void . . .
+Joy, verily, that is the same as the Void.
+The Void, verily, that is the same as joy.3
+
+211
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+1
+,
+I
+1
+
+212
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Buddhists express the same idea when they call the ultimate
+reality Sunyata-‘Emptiness’, or ‘the Void-and affirm that it
+is a living Void which gives birth to all forms in the phenomenal
+world. The Taoists ascribe a similar infinite and endless creativity
+to the Tao and, again, call it empty. The Tao of Heaven is
+empty and formless’ says the Kuan-tzq4 and Lao Tzu uses
+several metaphors to illustrate this emptiness. He often compares the Tao to a hollow valley, or to a vessel which is for
+ever empty and thus has the potential of containing an infinity
+of things.
+In spite of using terms like empty and void, the Eastern sages
+make it clear that they do not mean ordinary emptiness when
+they talk about Brahman, Sunyata or Tao, but, on the contrary,
+a Void which has an infinite creative potential. Thus, the Void
+of the Eastern mystics can easily be compared to the quantum
+field of subatomic physics. Like the quantum field, it gives birth
+to an infinite variety of forms which it sustains and, eventually,
+reabsorbs. As the Upanishads say,
+Tranquil, let one worship It
+As that from which he came forth,
+As that into which he will be dissolved,
+As that in which he breathes.5
+The phenomenal manifestations of the mystical Void, like
+the subatomic particles, are not static and permanent, but
+dynamic and transitory, coming into being and vanishing in
+one ceaseless dance of movement and energy. Like the subatomic world of the physicist, the phenomenal world of the
+Eastern mystic is a world of samsara-of continuous birth and
+death. Being transient manifestations of the Void, the things in
+this world do not have any fundamental identity. This is especially emphasized in Buddhist philosophy which denies the
+existence of any material substance and also holds that the
+idea of a constant ‘self’ undergoing successive experiences is an
+illusion. Buddhists have frequently compared this illusion of a
+material substance and an individual self to the phenomenon
+of a water wave, in which the up-and-down movement of the
+water particles makes us believe that a ‘piece’ of water moves
+
+over the surface.* It is interesting to note that physicists have
+used the same analogy in the context of field theory to point
+out the illusion of a material substance created by a moving
+particle. Thus Hermann Weyl writes:
+According to the Field theory of matter1 a material particle
+such as an electron is merely a small domain of the electrical
+field within which the field strength assumes enormously
+high values, indicating that a comparatively huge field
+energy is concentrated in a very small space. Such an
+energy knot, which by no means is clearly delineated
+against the remaining field, propagates through empty
+space like a water wave across the surface of a lake; there
+is no such thing as one and the same substance of which
+the electron consists at all times.6
+In Chinese philosophy, the field idea is not only implicit in
+the notion of the Tao as being empty and formless, and yet
+producing all forms, but is also expressed explicitly in the
+concept of ch’i. This term played an important role in almost
+every Chinese school of natural philosophy and was particularly
+important in Neo-Confucianism; the school which attempted
+a synthesis of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.**The word
+ch’i literally means ‘gas’ or ‘ether’, and was used in ancient
+China to denote the vital breath or energy animating the
+cosmos. In the human body, the ‘pathways of ch’i’ are the
+basis of traditional Chinese medicine. The aim of acupuncture
+is to stimulate the flow of ch’i through these channels. The
+flow of ch’i is also the basis of the flowing movements of T’ai
+Chi Ch’uan, the Taoist dance of the warrior.
+The Neo-Confucians developed a notion of ch’i which bears
+the most striking resemblance to the concept of the quantum
+field in modern physics. Like the quantum field, ch’i is conceived
+as a tenuous and non-perceptible form of matter which is
+present throughout space and can condense into solid material
+objects. In the words of Chang Tsai:
+*See page 152.
+** See p. 102.
+
+213
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+214
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+When the ch’i condenses, its visibility becomes apparent
+so that there are then the shapes (of individual things).
+When it disperses, its visibility is no longer apparent and
+there are no shapes. At the time of its condensation, can
+one say otherwise than that this is but temporary? But
+at the time of its dispersing, can one hastily say that it is
+then non-existent?’
+Thus ch’i condenses and disperses rhythmically, bringing forth
+all forms which eventually dissolve into the Void. As Chang
+Tsai says again,
+The Great Void cannot but consist of ch’i; this ch’i cannot
+but condense to form all things; and these things cannot
+but become dispersed so as to form (once more) the Great
+Void.8
+As in quantum field theory, the field-or the ch’i-is not
+only the underlying essence of all material objects, but also
+carries their mutual interactions in the form of waves. The
+following descriptions of the field concept in modern physics
+by Walter Thirring, and of the Chinese view of the physical
+world by Joseph Needham, make the strong similarity apparent.
+Modern theoretical physics . . . has put our thinking about
+the essence of matter in a different context. It has taken
+our gaze from the visible-the particles-to the underlying entity, the field. The presence of matter is merely a
+disturbance of the perfect state of the field at that place;
+something accidental, one could almost say, merely a
+‘blemish’. Accordingiy, there are no simple laws describing
+the forces between elementary particles .., Order and
+symmetry must be sought in the underlying field.g
+The Chinese physical universe in ancient and medieval
+times was a perfectly continuous whole. Ch’i condensed
+in palpable matter was not particulate in any important
+sense, but individual objects acted and reacted with all
+other objects in the world . . . in a wave-like or vibratory
+manner dependent, in the last resort, on the rhythmic
+.
+
+alternation at all levels of the two fundamental forces,
+the yin and the yang. Individual objects thus had their
+intrinsic rhythms. And these were integrated . . . into the
+general pattern of the harmony of the world.lO
+With the concept of the quantum field, modern physics has
+found an unexpected answer to the old question of whether
+matter consists of indivisible atoms or of an underlying continuum. The field is a continuum which is present everywhere
+in space and yet in its particle aspect has a discontinuous,
+‘granular’ structure. The two apparently contradictory concepts
+are thus unified and seen to be merely different aspects of the
+same reality. As always in a relativistic theory, the unification
+of the two opposite concepts takes place in a dynamic way:
+the two aspects of matter transform themselves endlessly into
+one another. Eastern mysticism emphasizes a similar dynamic
+unity between the Void and the forms which it creates. In the
+words of Lama Govinda:
+The relationship of form and emptiness cannot be conceived as a state of mutually exclusive opposites, but
+only as two aspects of the same reality, which co-exist and
+are in continual co-operation.11
+The fusion of these opposite concepts into a single whole
+has been expressed in a Buddhist sutra in the celebrated
+words:
+Form is emptiness, and emptiness is indeed form. Emptiness
+is not different from form, form is not different from
+emptiness. What isform that isemptiness, what isemptiness
+that is form.‘2
+The field theories of modern physics have led not only to a
+new view of subatomic particles but have also decisively
+modified our notions about the forces between these particles.
+The field concept was originally linked to the concept of force,
+and even in quantum field theory it is still associated with the
+forces between particles. The electromagnetic field, for
+example, can manifest itself as a ‘free field’ in the form of
+..
+
+215
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+216
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+travelling waves/photons, or it can play the role of a field of
+force between charged particles. In the latter case, the force
+manifests itself as the exchange of photons between the
+interacting particles. The electric repulsion between two
+electrons, for example, is mediated through these photon
+exchanges.
+This new notion of a force may seem difficult to understand,
+but it becomes much clearer when the process of exchanging
+a photon is pictured in a space-time diagram. The diagram
+below shows two electrons approaching each other, one of
+them emitting the photon (denoted by ~4 at the point A, the
+other one absorbing it at the point B. When the first electror
+
+ee-
+
+A
+
+0’
+
+Y 0’
+a’
+
+B
+
+e-
+
+e-
+
+4
+
+4
+
+mutual repulsion of two electrons
+through the exchange of a photon
+
+emits the photon it reverses its direction and changes its
+velocity .(as can be seen from the different direction and
+inclination of its world line), and so does the second electron
+when it absorbs the photon. In the end, the two electrons fly
+apart, having repelled each other through the exchange of
+the photon. The full interaction between the electrons will
+involve a series of photon exchanges, and as a result the
+electrons will appear to deflect one another along smooth
+curves.
+In terms of classical physics, one would say that the electrons
+exert a repulsive force on one another. This, however, is now
+
+seen to be a very imprecise way of describing the situation.
+Neither of the two electrons ‘feels’ a force when they approach
+each other. All they do is interact with the exchanged photons.
+The force is nothing but the collective macroscopic effect of
+these multiple photon exchanges. The concept of force is
+therefore no longer useful in subatomic physics. It is a classical
+concept which we associate (even if only subconsciously) with
+the Newtonian idea of a force being felt over a distance. In the
+subatomic world there are no such forces, but only interactions between particles, mediated through fields, that is,
+through other particles. Hence, physicists prefer to speak about
+interactions, rather than about forces.
+According to quantum field theory, all interactions take
+place through the exchange of particles. In the case of electromagnetic interactions, the exchanged particles are photons;
+nucleons, on the other hand, interact through the much
+stronger nuclear force-or ‘strong interaction’-which manifests itself as the exchange of a new kind of particles called
+‘mesons’. There are many different types of mesons which
+can be exchanged between protons and neutrons. The closer
+the nucleons are to each other, the more numerous and heavy
+the mesons they exchange. The interactions between nucleons
+are thus linked to the properties of the exchanged mesons and
+these, in turn, interact mutually through the exchange of other
+particles. For this reason, we shall not be able to understand
+the nuclear force on a fundamental level without understanding
+the whole spectrum of subatomic particles.
+In quantum field theory, all particle interactions can be
+pictured in space-time diagrams, and each diagram is associated
+with a mathematical expression which allows one to calculate
+the probability for the corresponding process to occur. The
+exact correspondence between the diagrams and the mathematical expressions was established in 1949 by Richard Feynman,
+since when the diagrams have been known as Feynman
+diagrams. A crucial feature of the theory is the creation and
+destruction of particles. For example, the photon in our diagram
+is created in the process of emission at point A, and is destroyed
+when it is absorbed at point B. Such a process can only be
+conceived in a relativistic theory where particles are not seen
+
+217
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+218
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+as indestructible objects, but rather as dynamic patterns
+involving a certain amount of energy which can be redistributed
+when new patterns are formed.
+The creation of a massive particle is only possible when the
+energy corresponding to its mass is provided, for example, in
+a collision process. In the case of the strong interactions, this
+energy is not always available, as when two nucleons interact
+with one another in an atomic nucleus. In such cases, the
+exchange of massive mesons should therefore not be possible.
+Yet, these exchanges do take place. Two protons, for example,
+may exchange a ‘pi-meson’, or ‘pion’, whose mass is about one
+seventh of the proton mass:
+
+exchange of a pion (71) between
+two protons(p)
+
+The reason why exchange processes of that kind can happen,
+in spite of the apparent lack of energy for creating the meson,
+is to be found in a ‘quantum effect’ connected with the uncertainty principle. As discussed previously,* subatomic events
+ocurring within a short time span involve a large uncertainty
+of energy. The exchange of mesons, i.e. their creation and
+subsequent destruction, are events of that kind. They take
+place during such a short time that the uncertainty of energy
+is enough to allow for the creation of the mesons. These mesons
+are called ‘virtual’ particles. They are different from the ‘real’
+mesons created in collision processes, because they can only
+exist during the period of time allowed by the uncertainty
+principle. The heavier the mesons are (i.e. the more energy is
+required to create them), the shorter is the time allowed for
+the exchange process. This is why nucleons can exchange
+heavy mesons only when they are very close together. The
+exchange of virtual photons, on the other hand, can take place
+over indefinite distances because the photons, being massless,
+can be created with indefinitely small amounts of energy. This
+analysis of nuclear and electromagnetic forces enabled Hideki
+Yukawa in 1935 not only to predict the existence of the pion,
+twelve years before it was observed, but also approximately to
+estimate its mass from the range of the nuclear force.
+In quantum field theory, then, all interactions are pictured
+as the exchange of virtual particles. The stronger the interaction, i.e. the stronger the resulting ‘force’ between the
+particles, the higher the probability of such exchange processes;
+the more frequently will virtual particles be exchanged. The
+role of virtual particles, however, is not limited to these interactions. One nucleon alone, for example, may very well emit
+a virtual particle and reabsorb it shortly afterwards. Provided
+the created meson disappears within the time allowed by the
+uncertainty principle, there is nothing to forbid such a process.
+The corresponding Feynman diagram for a neutron emitting
+and reabsorbing a pion is reproduced overleaf.
+The probability for such ‘self-interaction’ processes is very
+high for nucleons because of their strong interaction. This
+means that nucleons are, in fact, emitting and absorbing virtual
+*See p. 159
+
+219
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+220
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+n
+
+a neutron (n) emitting and
+reabsorbing a pion
+
+f
+particles all the time. According to field theory, they have to
+be regarded as centres of continuous activity surrounded by
+clouds of virtual particles. The virtual mesons have to disappear
+very shortly after their creation, which means they cannot
+move very far away from the nucleon. The meson cloud is
+thus very small. Its outer regions are populated by light mesons
+(mostly pions), the heavier mesons having to be absorbed after
+a much shorter time and therefore being confined to the inner
+parts of the cloud.
+Every nucleon is surrounded by such a cloud of virtual
+mesons which live only for an exceedingly short period of
+time. However, virtual mesons may become real mesons under
+special circumstances. When a nucleon is hit by another particle
+moving with a high velocity, some of the energy of motion of
+that particle may be transferred to a virtual meson to free it
+from the cloud. This is how real mesons are created in highenergy collisions. On the other hand, when two nucleons
+come so near to each other that their meson clouds overlap,
+some of the virtual particles may not go back to be absorbed
+by the nucleon which originally created them, but may ‘jump
+across’ to be absorbed by the other nucleon. This is how the
+exchange processes arise which constitute the strong interactions.
+
+This picture shows clearly that the interactions between
+particles, and thus the ‘forces’ between them, are determined
+by the composition of their virtual clouds. The range of an
+interaction, that is, the distance between the particles at which
+the interaction will set in, depends on the extension of the
+virtual clouds, and the detailed form of the interaction will
+depend on the properties of the particles present in the clouds.
+Thus the electromagnetic forces are due to the presence of
+virtual photons ‘within’ charged particles, whereas the strong
+interactions between nucleons arise from the presence of
+virtual pions and other mesons ‘within’ the nucleons. In field
+theory, the forces between particles appear as intrinsic properties of the particles. Force and matter, the two concepts
+that were so sharply separated in Greek and Newtonian atomism,
+are now seen to have their common origin in the dynamic
+patterns that we call particles.
+Such aview of forces is also characteristic of Eastern mysticism
+which regards motion and change as essential and intrinsic
+properties of all things. ‘All rotating things’, says Chang Tsai
+with reference to the heavens, ‘have a spontaneous force and
+thus their motion is not imposed on them from outside’;13
+and in the I Ching we read,
+Rhe natural1 laws are not forces external to things, but
+represent the harmony of movement immanent in them.14
+This ancient Chinese description of forces as representing the
+harmony of movement within things seems particularly appropriate in the light of quantum field theory, where the forces
+between particles are seen as reflecting dynamic patterns
+(the virtual clouds) inherent in these particles.
+The field theories of modern physics force us to abandon the
+classical distinction between material particles and the void.
+Einstein’s field theory of gravity and quantum field theory both
+show that particles cannot be separated from the space
+surrounding them. On the one hand, they determine the
+structure of that space, whilst on the other hand they cannot
+be regarded as isolated entities, but have to be seen as condensations of a continuous field which is present throughout
+
+221
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+222
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+space. In quantum field theory, this field is seen as the basis of
+all particles and of their mutual interactions.
+The field exists always and everywhere; it can never be
+removed. It is the carrier of all material phenomena. It is
+the ‘void’ out of which the proton creates the pi-mesons.
+Being and fading of particles are merely forms of motion
+of the field.15
+
+/c1’
+
+The distinction between matter and empty space finally had
+to be abandoned when it became evident that virtual particles
+can come into being spontaneously out of the void, and vanish
+again into the void, without any nucleon or other strongly
+interacting particle being present. Here is a ‘vacuum diagram’
+for such a process: three particles-a proton (p), an antiproton
+Cp), and a pion (x)-are formed out of nothing and disappear
+again into the vacuum. According to field theory, events of
+that kind happen all the time. The vacuum is far from empty.
+On the contrary, it contains an unlimited number of particles
+which come into being and vanish without end.
+
+P
+
+1’
++7c
+/
+
+1’
+
+1’
+
+a vacuum diagram
+Here then, is the closest parallel to the Void of Eastern
+mysticism in modern physics. Like the Eastern Void, the ‘physical
+vacuum’-as it is called in field theory-is not a state of mere
+nothingness, but contains the potentiality for all forms of the
+particle world. These forms, in turn, are not independent
+physical entities but merely transient manifestations of the
+
+underlying Void. As the sutra says, ‘Form is emptiness, and
+emptiness is indeed form.’
+The relation between the virtual particles and the vacuum
+is an essentially dynamic relation; the vacuum is truly a ‘living
+Void, pulsating in endless rhythms of creation and destruction.
+The discovery of the dynamic quality of the vacuum is seen by
+many physicists as one of the most important findings of
+modern physics. From its role as an empty container of the
+physical phenomena, the void has emerged as a dynamic
+quantity of utmost importance. The results of modern physics
+thus seem to confirm the words of the Chinese sage Chang
+Tsai :
+When one knows that the Great Void is full of ch’i,
+one realises that there is no such thing as nothingness.‘6
+
+223
+Emptiness
+and
+Form
+
+15 THE
+COSMIC
+DANCE
+The exploration of the subatomic world in the twentieth century
+has revealed the intrinsically dynamic nature of matter. It has
+shown that the constituents of atoms, the subatomic particles,
+are dynamic patterns which do not exist as isolated entities,
+but as integral parts of an inseparable network of interactions.
+These interactions involve a ceaseless flow of energy manifesting itself as the exchange of particles; a dynamic interplay
+in which particles are created and destroyed without end in
+a continual variation of energy patterns. The particle interactions give rise to the stable structures which build up the
+material world, which again do not remain static, but oscillate
+in rhythmic movements. The whole universe is thus engaged
+in endless motion and activity; in a continual cosmic dance of
+energy.
+This dance involves an enormous variety of patterns but,
+surprisingly, they fall into a few distinct categories. The study
+of the subatomic particles and their interactions thus reveals
+a great deal of order. All atoms, and consequently all forms of
+matter in our environment, are composed of only three massive
+particles: the proton, the neutron and the electron. A fourth
+particle, the photon, is massless and represents the unit of
+electromagnetic radiation. The proton, the electron and the
+photon are all stable particles, which means they live for ever
+unless they become involved in a collision process where they
+can be annihilated. The neutron, on the other hand, can disintegrate spontaneously. This disintegration is called ‘beta
+decay’ and is the basic process of a certain type of radioactivity.
+It involves the transformation of the neutron into a proton,
+accompanied by the creation of an electron and a new type
+of massless particle, called the neutrino. Like the proton and
+
+226
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the electron, the neutrino is also stable. It is commonly denoted
+by the Greek letter v (‘nu’), and the process of beta decay is
+symbolically written as
+n+p+e-+tr
+The transformation of neutrons into protons in the atoms of a
+radioactive substance entails a transformation of these atoms
+into atoms of an entirely different kind. The electrons which
+are created in the process are emitted as a powerful radiation
+which is widely used in biology, medicine and industry. The
+neutrinos, on the other hand, although emitted in equal number,
+are very difficult to detect because they have neither mass nor
+electric charge.
+As mentioned previously, there is an antiparticle for every
+particle, with equal mass but opposite charge. The photon is
+its own antiparticle; the antiparticle of the electron is called
+the positron; then there is an antiproton, an antineutron, and
+an antineutrino. The massless particle created in beta decay
+is not, in fact, the neutrino but the antineutrino (denoted by
+VI, so that the process is correctly written as
+n+p+e-+v’
+The particles mentioned so far represent only a fraction of
+the subatomic particles known today. All the others are
+unstable and decay after a very short time into other particles,
+some of which may decay again until a combination of stable
+particles remains. The study of unstable particles is very
+expensive as they have to be newly created in collision processes
+for each investigation, which involves huge particle accelerators,
+bubble chambers, and other extremely sophisticated devices
+for particle detection.
+Most unstable particles live only for an extremely short time,
+compared with the human time scale; less than a millionth of a
+second. However, their lifetime has to be regarded in relation
+to their size which is also diminutive. When looked at in this
+way, it can be seen that many of them live for a relatively long
+period, and that one millionth of a second is, in fact, an enormous
+time span in the particle world. A human being can move
+across a distance a few times his or her size in a second. For
+a particle, the equivalent time span would therefore be the
+-__._
+_ _ _..“l”_-._- ~-..---------------------.
+. .___-.__ -
+
+the stable and relatively long-lived particles
+
+227
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+SYMBOL
+NAME
+
+PARTICLE
+
+photon
+z
+,o
+B
+
+.
+
+2
+
+SI
+E”
+
+Y
+
+neutrino
+
+VC
+
+vlc
+
+Je
+
+0,
+
+electron
+
+e-
+
+e+
+
+muon
+
+u-
+
+u+
+
+pion
+
+?l+
+
+K+
+
+kaon
+eta
+
+E
+2
+3
+AZ
+
+ANTIPARTICLE
+
+nQ
+
+K’
+
+1
+
+n-
+
+r
+
+K-
+
+T)
+
+!!
+
+*
+I
+
+proton
+
+P
+
+i3
+
+neutron
+
+n
+
+ii
+
+omega
+
+The table shows thirteen different types of particles, many of which appear in
+different ‘charge states’. The pions, for example, can have positive charge (n+),
+negative charge (X-J, or be electrically neutral (16’). There are two kinds of
+neutrinos, one interacting only with electrons (v,), the other only with muons
+(~4. The antiparticles are listed as well, three of the particles (y, no, 7) being
+their own antiparticles. Particles are arranged in the order of increasing mass:
+the photon and the neutrinos are massless; the electron is the lightest massive
+particle; the muons, pions, and kaons are a few hundred times heavier than
+the electron; the other particles are one to three thousand times heavier.
+
+time it needs to travel over a distance a few times its own
+size; a unit of time which one could call a ‘particle second’.*
+To cross a medium-sized atomic nucleus, a particle needs
+about ten of these ‘particle seconds’ if it travels at a speed
+close to the speed of light, as particles do in the collision
+experiments. Among the great number of unstable particles,
+there are about two dozen which can travel across at least
+* Physicists write this time unit as 1O-23 seconds which is a shorthand notation
+for a decimal number with 23 noughts in front of the figure 1 (including the one
+in front of the decimal point), i.e. for 0.0PI seconds.
+.~
+
+.
+
+228
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+several atoms before they decay. This is a distance of some
+100,000 times their size and corresponds to a time of a few
+hundred ‘particle hours’. These particles are listed in the table
+overleaf, together with the stable particles already mentioned.
+Most of the unstable particles in the table will; in fact, cover a
+whole centimetre, or even several centimetres, before they
+decay, and those which live longest, a millionth of a second,
+can travel several hundred metres before decaying; an
+enormous length compared with their size.
+All the other particles known so far belong to a category
+called ‘resonances’ which will be discussed in more detail in
+the subsequent chapter. They live for a considerably shorter
+time, decaying after a few ‘particle seconds’, so that they can
+never travel farther than a few times their size. This means
+they cannot be seen in the bubble chamber; their existence
+can only be inferred indirectlv. The tracks seen in bubble
+chamber pictures can only be traced by particles listed in the
+table.
+All these particles can be created and annihilated in collision
+processes; each one can also be exchanged as a virtual particle
+and thus contribute to the interaction between other particles.
+This would seem to result in a vast number of different particle
+interactions, but fortunately, although we do not yet know
+why, all these interactions seem to fall into four categories
+with markedly different interaction strengths:
+The strong interactions
+The electromagnetic interactions
+The weak interactions
+The gravitational interactions
+Among them, the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions
+are the most familiar, because they are experienced in the
+large-scale world. The gravitational interaction acts between
+all particles, but is so weak it cannot be detected experimentally.
+In the macroscopic world, however, the huge number of
+particles making up massive bodies combine their gravitational
+interaction to produce the force of gravity which is the
+
+dominating force in the universe at large. Electromagnetic
+interactions take place between all charged particles. They are
+responsible for the chemical processes, and the formation of
+all atomic and molecular structures. The strong Interactions
+hold the protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.
+They constitute the nuclear force, by far the strongest of all
+forces in nature. Electrons, for example, are bound to the
+atomic nuclei by the electromagnetic force with energies of
+about ten units (called electron volts), whereas the nuclear
+force holds protons and neutrons together with energies of
+about ten million units!
+The nucleons are not the only particles interacting through
+the strong interactions. In fact, the overwhelming majority are
+strongly interacting particles. Of all the particles known today,
+only five (and their antiparticles) do not participate in the
+strong interactions. These are the photon and the four ‘leptons’
+listed in the top part of the table. Thus all the particles fall into
+two broad groups: leptons and ‘hadrons’, or strongly interacting particles. The hadrons are further divided into ‘mesons’
+and ‘baryons’ which differ in various ways, one of them being
+that all baryons have distinct antiparticles, whereas a meson
+can be its own antiparticle.
+The leptons are involved in the fourth type of interactions,
+the weak interactions. These are so weak, and have such a
+short range, that they cannot hold anything together, whereas
+the other three give rise to binding forces-the strong interactions holding together the atomic nuclei, the electromagnetic
+interactions the atoms and molecules, and the gravitational
+interactions the planets, stars and galaxies. The weak interactions manifest themselves only in certain kinds of particle
+collisions and in particle decays, such as the beta decay
+mentioned earlier.
+All interactions between hadrons are mediated by the
+exchange of other hadrons. It is these exchanges of massive
+particles that cause the strong interactions to have such a
+short range.* They extend only over a distance of a few particle
+sizes and can therefore never build up a macroscopic force.
+Strong interactions are thus not experienced in the everyday
+*See
+
+p. 219
+
+229
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+230
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+world. The electromagnetic interactions, on the other hand,
+are mediated by the exchange of massless photons and thus
+their range is indefinitely long,* which is why the electric and
+magnetic forces are encountered in the large-scale world.
+The gravitational interactions, too, are believed to be mediated
+by a massless particle, called the ‘graviton’, but- they are so
+weak that it has not yet been possible to observe the graviton,
+although there is no serious reason to doubt its existence.
+The weak interactions, finally, have an extremely short range
+-much shorter than that of the strong interactions-and are
+therefore assumed to be produced by the exchange of a very
+heavy particle, called the ‘W-meson’. This hypothetical particle
+is believed to play a role analogous to that of the photon in the
+electromagnetic interactions, except for its large mass. This
+analogy is, in fact, the basis of the most recent developments
+in field theory in which the formulation of a unified theory of
+electromagnetic and weak interactions is attempted.
+
+*See p. 219.
+.~
+
+----
+
+---
+
+In many of the collision processes of high-energy physics,
+the strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions combine to
+produce an intricate sequence of events. The initial colliding
+particles are often destroyed, and several new particles are
+created which either undergo further collisions or decay,
+sometimes in several steps, into the stable particles which
+finally remain. The picture opposite shows a bubble-chamber
+photograph* of such a sequence of creation and destruction.
+It is an impressive illustration of the mutability of matter at
+the particle level, showing a cascade of energy in which various
+patterns, or particles, are formed and dissolved.
+
+Opposite and above
+An intricate sequence of particle collisions and decays: a negative pion (a-1,
+coming in from the left, collides with a proton-i.e. with the nucleus of a hydrogen
+atom-‘sitting’ in the bubble chamber; both particles are annihilated. and a
+neutron (n) plus two kaons (K- and K+) are created; the neutron flies off without
+leaving a track; the K- collides with another proton in the chamber, the two
+particles annihilating each other and creating a lambda (AI and a photon (7).
+Neither of these two neutral particles is visible, but the A decays after a very short
+time into a proton (p) and a K, both of which produce tracks. The short distance
+between the creation of the A and its decay can be made out very clearly in the
+photograph. The K+, finally, which was created in the initial collision, travels for
+a while before decaying into three pions.
+*Notice that only the charged particles produce tracks in the bubble chamber;
+these are bent by magnetic fields in a clockwise direction for positively charged
+particles, and anti-clockwise for negative particles.
+
+231
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+232
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In these sequences, the creation of matter is particularly
+striking when a massless, but highly energetic photon, which
+cannot be seen in the bubble chamber, suddenly explodes into
+a pair of charged particles-an electron and a positronsweeping out in divergent curves. Here is a beautiful example
+of a process involving two of these pair creations.
+
+A sequence of events involving two pair creations: an antiproton ( p), comin from below, collides with one of the protons in the bubble chamber to
+create a n+(flying
+
+off to the left), a n-(flying off to the right), and two photons
+
+( y), each of which creates an electron-positron pair, the positrons (e+) curvrng to the right, the electrons (e-) to the left.
+
+The higher the initial energy in these collision processes, the
+more particles can be created. The following photograph shows
+the creation of eight pions in a collision between an antiproton and a proton, and the next one is an example of an
+extreme case; the creation of sixteen particles in a single
+collision between a pion and a proton.
+
+233
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+234
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Creation of eight pions in a collision between an antiproton @) and a proton
+(sitting in the bubble chamber); see photograph on preceding page
+
+creation of sixteen particles in a pion-proton collision
+
+All these collisions have been produced artificially in the
+laboratory by the use of huge machines in which the particles
+are accelerated to the required energies. In most natural
+phenomena here on Earth, the energies are not high enough
+for massive particles to be created. In outer space, however,
+the situation is entirely different. Subatomic particles occur in
+large numbers in the centre of the stars where collision processes similar to the ones studied in the accelerator laboratories
+take place naturally all the time. In some stars, these processes
+produce an extremely strong electromagnetic radiation-in
+the form of radio waves, light waves or X-rays-which is the
+astronomer’s primary source of information about the universe.
+Interstellar space, as well as the space between the galaxies,
+is thus filled with electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies, i.e. with photons of various energies. These, however,
+are not the only particles travelling through the cosmos.
+‘Cosmic radiation’ contains not only photons but also massive
+particles of all kinds whose origin is still a mystery. Most of them
+are protons, some of which can have extremely high energies;
+much higher than those achieved in the most powerful particle
+accelerators.
+When these highly energetic ‘cosmic rays’ hit the atmosphere
+of the Earth, they collide with the nuclei of the atmosphere’s
+air molecules and produce a great variety of secondary particles
+which either decay or undergo further collisions, thus creating
+more particles which collide and decay again, and so on, until
+the last of them reach the Earth. In this way, a single proton
+plunging into the Earth’s atmosphere can give rise to a whole
+cascade of events in which its original kinetic energy is transformed’ into a shower of various particles, and is gradually
+absorbed as they penetrate the air undergoing multiple
+collisions. The same phenomenon that can be observed in the
+collision experiments of high-energy physics thus occurs
+naturally but more intensely all the time in the Earth’s atmosphere; a continual flow of energy going through a great variety
+of particle patterns in a rhythmic dance of creation and destruction.Overleaf is a magnificent picture of this energy dance which
+was taken by accident when an unexpected cosmic-ray shower
+hit a bubble chamber at the European research centre CERN
+during an experiment.
+
+235
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+236
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+A shower of about 100 particles produced by a cosmic ray which found its
+way into a bubble chamber by accident. The roughly horizontal tracks in the
+picture belong to the particles coming out of the accelerator
+
+The processes of creation and destruction occurring in the
+world of particles are not only those which can be seen in
+the bubble chamber photographs. They also include the
+creation and destruction of virtual particles which are exchanged in particle interactions and do not live long enough
+to be observed. Take, for example, the creation of two pions
+in a collision between a proton and an antiproton. A space-time
+diagram of this event would look like this (remember that the
+direction of time in these diagrams is from the bottom to the
+top!):
+\
+
+\
+
+/
+\
+
+\
+7r+ k,
+
+/
+
+/L
+
+It shows the world lines of the proton (p) and the antiproton Q.3
+which collide at one point in space and time, annihilating each
+other and creating the two pions (z+ and ~3. This diagram,
+however, does not give the full picture. The interaction between
+the proton and the antiproton can be pictured as the exchange
+of a virtual neutron, as the diagram below shows.
+
+Similarly, the process shown in the following photograph
+where four pions are created in a proton-antiproton collision,
+can be pictured as a more complicated exchange process
+involving the creation and destruction of three virtual particles;
+two neutrons and one proton.
+
+237
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+238
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The corresponding Feynman diagram looks as follows:*
+
+*The following diagrams are merely schematic and do not give the correct
+angles of the particle lines. Notice also that the initial proton sitting in the
+bubble chamber does not appear in the photograph, but has a world line in
+the space-time diagram because it moves in time.
+
+These examples illustrate how the lines in the bubblechamber photographs give only a rough picture of the particle
+interactions. The actual processes involve much more complicated networks of particle exchanges. The situation becomes,
+in fact, infinitely more complex when we remember that each
+of the particles involved in the interactions emits and reabsorbs
+virtual particles incessantly. A proton, for example, will emit
+and reabsorb a neutral pion every now and then; at other
+times, it may emit a 71+ and turn into a neutron which will
+absorb the ;n+ after a short while and transform itself back into
+the proton. In the Feynman diagrams, the proton lines will in
+those cases have to be replaced by the following diagrams:
+
+(a)
+
+(b)
+Feynman diagrams showing a proton emitting
+and reabsorbing virtual pions
+
+In these virtual processes, the initial particle may disappear
+completely for a short time, as in diagram (b). A negative pion,
+to take another example, may create a neutron (n) plus an
+antiproton (p) which then annihilate one another to re-establish
+the original pion:
+
+239
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+240
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+creation of a virtual neutron-antiproton pair
+
+It is important to realize that all these processes follow the
+laws of quantum theory, and thus are tendencies, or probabilities, rather than actualities. Every proton exists potentially,
+i.e. with a certain probability, as a proton plus a 710, as a neutron
+plus a z+, and in many other ways. The examples shown above
+are only the simplest virtual processes. Much more complicated
+patterns arise when the virtual particles create other virtual
+particles, thus generating a whole network of virtual interactions.* In his book The World of Elementary Particles, Kenneth
+Ford has constructed a complicated example of such a network
+involving the creation and destruction of eleven virtual
+particles, and he comments on it: ‘TThe diagram] pictures one
+such sequence of events, quite horrendous looking, but
+perfectly real. Every proton occasionally goes through exactly
+this dance of creation and destruction.”
+Ford is not the only physicist to have used phrases like
+‘dance of creation and destruction’ and ‘energy dance’. The
+ideas of rhythm and dance naturally come into mind when
+‘It should be noted that the possibilities are not completely arbitrary, but are
+restricted by several general laws to be discussed in the subsequent chapter.
+
+241
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+a network of virtual interactions; from Ford, op. cit.
+
+one tries to imagine the flow of energy going through the
+patterns that make up the particle world. Modern physics has
+shown us that movement and rhythm are essential properties
+of matter; that all matter, whether here on Earth or in outer
+space, is involved in a continual cosmic dance.
+The Eastern mystics have a dynamic view of the universe
+similar to that of modern physics, and consequently it is not
+surprising that they, too, have used the image of the dance to
+convey their intuition of nature. A beautiful example of such
+an image of rhythm and dance is given by Alexandra DavidNeel in her Tibetan journey, where she describes how she met
+a Lama who referred to himself as a ‘master of sound’ and
+gave her the following account of his view of matter:
+
+242
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+All things . . . are aggregations of atoms that dance and by
+their movements produce sounds. When the rhythm of
+the dance changes, the sound it produces also changes . . .
+Each atom perpetually sings its song, and the sound, at
+every moment, creates dense and subtle forms.2
+The similarity of this view to that of modern physics becomes
+particularly striking when we remember that sound is a wave
+with a certain frequency which changes when the sound does,
+and that particles, the modern equivalent of the old concept
+of atoms, are also waves with frequencies proportional to their
+energies. According to field theory, each particle does indeed
+‘perpetually sing its song’, producing rhythmic patterns of
+energy (the virtual particles) in ‘dense and subtle forms’.
+The metaphor of the cosmic dance has found its most profound and beautiful expression in Hinduism in the image of
+the dancing god Shiva. Among his many incarnations, Shiva,
+one of the oldest and most popular Indian gods,* appears as
+the King of Dancers. According to Hindu belief, all life is part
+of a great rhythmic process of creation and destruction, of
+death and rebirth, and Shiva’s dance symbolizes this eternal
+life-death rhythm which goes on in endless cycles. In the words
+of Ananda Coomaraswamy,
+In the night of B&man, Nature is inert, and cannot dance
+till Shiva wills it: He rises from His rapture, and dancing
+sends through inert matter pulsing waves of awakening
+sound, and lo! matter also dances, appearing as a glory
+round about Him. Dancing, He sustains its manifold
+phenomena. In the fullness of time, still dancing, He
+destroys all forms and names by fire and gives new rest.
+This is poetry, but none the less science.3
+The Dance of Shiva symbolizes not only the cosmic cycles
+of creation and destruction, but also the daily rhythm of birth
+and death which is seen in Indian mysticism as the basis of all
+existence. At the same time, Shiva reminds us that the manifold
+forms in the world are maya-not fundamental, but illusory
+l
+
+See p. 89.
+
+243
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+Shiva Nataraja,
+Bra1 imai nical bron
+SOC,Ith
+
+lrIdia,
+
+twc 4fth cent u ry.
+
+and ever-changing-as he keeps creating and dissolving them
+in the ceaseless flow of his dance. As Heinrich Zimmer has put
+it:
+His gestures wild and full of grace, precipitate the cosmic
+illusion; his flying arms and legs and the swaying of his
+torso produce-indeed, they are-the continuous creation-destruction of the universe, death exactly balancing
+birth, annihilation the end of every coming-forth.4
+Indian artists of the tenth and twelfth centuries have represented Shiva’s cosmic dance in magnificent bronze sculptures
+
+244
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+of dancing figures with four arms whose superbly balanced
+and yet dynamic gestures express the rhythm and unity of Life.
+The various meanings of the dance are conveyed by the details
+of these figures in a complex pictorial allegory. The upper right
+hand of the god holds a drum to symbolize the primal sound
+of creation, the upper ieft bears a tongue of flame, the element
+of destruction. The balance of the two hands represents the
+dynamic balance of creation and destruction in the world,
+accentuated further by the Dancer’s calm and detached face
+in the centre of the two hands, in which the polarity of creation
+and destruction is dissolved and transcended. The second right
+hand is raised in the sign of ‘do not fear’, symbolizing maintainance, protection and peace, while the remaining left hand
+points down to the uplifted foot which symbolizes release from
+the spell of maya. The god is pictured as dancing on the body
+of a demon, the symbol of man’s ignorance which has to be
+conquered before liberation can be attained.
+Shiva’s dance-in the words of Coomaraswamy- is ‘the
+clearest image of the activity of Cod which any art or religion
+can boast ~f’.~ As the god is a personification of Brahman, his
+activity is that of Brahman’s myriad manifestations in the
+world. The dance of Shiva is the dancing universe; the ceaseless
+flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns
+that melt into one another.
+Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and
+destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and
+in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the
+very essence of inorganic matter. According to quantum
+field theory, all interactions between the constituents of matter
+take place through the emission and absorption of virtual
+particles. More than that, the dance of creation and destruction
+is the basis of the very existence of matter, since all material
+particles ‘self-interact’ by emitting and reabsorbing virtual
+particles. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also
+is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and
+destruction.
+The patterns of this dance are an essential aspect of each
+particle’s nature and determine many of its properties. For
+example, the energy involved in the emission and absorption
+
+of virtual particles is equivalent to a certain amount of mass
+which contributes to the mass of the self-interacting particle.
+Different particles develop different patterns in their dance,
+requiring different amounts of energy, and hence have different
+masses. Virtual particles, finally, are not only an essential part
+of all particle interactions and of most of the particles’ properties, but are also created and destroyed by the vacuum.
+Thus, not only matter, but also the void, participates in the
+cosmic dance, creating and destroying energy patterns without
+end.
+For the modern physicists, then, Shiva’s dance is the dance
+of subatomic matter. As in Hindu mythology, it is a continual
+dance of creation and destruction involving the whole cosmos;
+the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena. Hundreds
+of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing
+Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists
+have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns
+of the cosmic dance. The bubble-chamber photographs of
+interacting particles, which bear testimony to the continual
+rhythm of creation and destruction in the universe, are visual
+images of the dance of Shiva equalling those of the Indian
+artists in beauty and profound significance. The metaphor of
+the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art,
+and modern physics. It is indeed, as Coomaraswamy has said,
+‘poetry, but none the less science’.
+
+245
+The
+cosmic
+Dance
+
+16 QUARK
+
+SYMMETRIES
+
+A New Koan?
+The subatomic world is one of rhythm, movement and continual change. It is not, however, arbitrary and chaotic, but
+follows very definite and clear patterns. To begin with, all
+particles of a given kind are completely identical; they have
+exactly the same mass, electric charge, and other characteristic
+properties. Furthermore, all charged particles carry electric
+charges exactly equal (or opposite) to that of the electron, or
+charges of exactly twicethat amount. The same is true of other
+quantities that are characteristic attributes of the particles;
+they do not take arbitrary values but are restricted to a limited
+number, which allows us to arrange the particles into a few
+distinct groups, or ‘families’. This leads to the question of how
+these definite patterns arise in the dynamic and ever-changing
+particle world,
+The emergence of clear patterns in the structure of matter
+is not a new phenomenon, but was already observed in the
+world of atoms. Like subatomic particles, atoms of a given
+kind are completely identical and the different kinds of atoms,
+of chemical elements, have been arranged into several groups
+in the periodic table. This classification is now well understood;
+it is based on the number of protons and neutrons present in
+the atomic nuclei and on the distribution of the electrons in
+spherical orbits, or ‘shells’, around the nuclei. As discussed
+previously,* the wave nature of the electrons restricts the
+mutual distance of their orbits and the amount of rotation an
+electron can have in a given orbit to a few definite values
+corresponding to specific vibrations of the electron waves.
+
+248
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Consequently, definite patterns arise in the atomic structure
+which are characterized by a set of integral ‘quantum numbers’
+and reflect the vibration patterns of the electron waves in their
+atomic orbits. These vibrations determine the ‘quantum states’
+of an atom and ascertain that any two atoms will be completely
+identical when they are both in their ‘ground state’ or in the
+same ‘excited state’.
+The patterns in the particle world show great similarities to
+those in the world of atoms. Most particles, for example, spin
+about an axis like a top. Their spins are restricted to definite
+values which are integral multiples of some basic unit. Thus the
+baryons can only have spins of l/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc., whereas the
+mesons have spins of 0, 1, 2, etc. This is strongly reminiscent of
+the amounts of rotation electrons are known to display in their
+atomic orbits, which are also restricted to definite values
+specified by integral numbers.
+The analogy to the atomic patterns is further enforced by
+the fact that all strongly interacting particles, or hadrons, seem
+to fall into sequences whose members have identical properties
+except for their masses and spins. The higher members of these
+sequences are the extremely short-lived particles called
+‘resonances’ which have been discovered in great numbers
+over the past decade. The masses and spins of the resonances
+increase in a well-defined way within each sequence, which
+seem to extend indefinitely. These regularities suggest an
+analogy to the excited states of atoms and have led physicists
+to see the higher members of a hadron sequence not as different
+particles, but merely as excited states of the member with the
+lowest mass. Like an atom, a hadron can thus exist in various
+short-lived excited states involving higher amounts of rotation
+(or spin) and energy (or mass).
+The similarities between the quantum states of atoms and
+hadrons suggest that hadrons, too, are composite objects with
+internal structures that are capable of being ‘excited, that is,
+of absorbing energy to form a variety of patterns. At present,
+however, we do not understand how these patterns are formed.
+In atomic physics, they can be explained in terms of the
+properties and mutual interactions of the atom’s constituents
+(the protons, neutrons and electrons), but in particle physics
+such an explanation has not yet been possible. The patterns
+---~
+
+T-‘-
+
+_---I__.- ___----- - -.- ---- .--. - -.-... -._
+
+found in the particle world have been determined and classified
+in a purely empirical way and cannot yet be derived from the
+details of the particles’ structure.
+The essential difficulty particle physicists have to face lies in
+the fact that the classical notion of composite ‘objects’ consisting of a definite set of ‘constituent parts’ cannot be applied
+to subatomic particles. The only way to find out what the
+‘constituents’ of these particles are is to break them up by
+banging them together in collision processes involving high
+energies. When this is done, however, the resulting fragments
+are never ‘smaller pieces’ of the original particles. Two protons,
+for example, can break up into a great variety of fragments
+when they collide with high velocities, but there will never be
+‘fractions of a proton’ among them. The fragments will always
+be entire hadrons which are formed out of the kinetic energies
+and masses of the colliding protons. The decomposition of a
+particle into its ‘constituents’ is thus far from being definite,
+depending, as it does, on the energy involved in the collision
+process. We are dealing here with a crucially relativistic situation
+where dynamic energy patterns are dissolved and rearranged,
+and the static concepts of composite objects and constituent
+parts cannot be applied to these patterns. The ‘structure’ of a
+subatomic particle can only be understood in a dynamic
+sense; in terms of processes and interactions.
+The way in which particles break up into fragments in collision processes is determined by certain rules, and as the
+fragments are again particles of the same kind, these rules can
+also be used to describe the regularities which can be observed
+in the particle world. In the ‘sixties, when most of the presently
+known particles were discovered and ‘families’ of particles
+began to appear, most physicists-quite naturally-concentrated their efforts on mapping out the emerging regularities,
+rather than tackling the arduous problem of finding the dynamic
+causes of the particle patterns. And in doing so, they were very
+successful.
+The notion of symmetry played an important role in this
+research. By generalizing the common concept of symmetry
+and giving it a more abstract meaning, physicists were able to
+develop it into a powerful tool which proved extremely useful
+in the classification of particles. In everyday life, the most
+__ .,.. __
+
+_ll_-l--__l_ -.- .--._ ~-.
+
+249
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+250
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+common case of symmetry is associated with mirror reflection;
+a figure is said to be symmetric when you can draw a line
+through it and thereby divide it into two parts which are exact
+mirror images of each other. Higher degrees of symmetry are
+exhibited by patterns which allow several lines of symmetry
+to be drawn, like the following pattern used in Buddhist
+symbolism.
+
+Reflection, however, is not the only operation associated with
+symmetry. A figure is also said to be symmetric if it looks the
+
+251
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+same after it has been rotated through a certain angle. The
+shape of the Chinese yin-yang diagram, for example, is based
+on such a rotational symmetry.
+In particle physics, symmetries are associated with many
+other operations besides reflections and rotations, and these
+can take place not only in ordinary space (and time), but also
+in abstract mathematical spaces. They are applied to particles,
+or groups of particles, and since the particles’ properties are
+inseparably linked to their mutual interactions, the symmetries
+also apply to the interactions, i.e. to the processes in which
+the particles are involved. The reason that these symmetry
+operations are so useful lies in the fact that they are closely
+related to ‘conservation laws’. Whenever a process in the
+particle world displays a certain symmetry, there is a measurable
+quantity which is ‘conserved’; a quantity, that is, which
+remains constant during the process. These quantities provide
+elements of constancy in the complex dance of subatomic
+matter and are thus ideal to describe the particle interactions.
+Some quantities are conserved in all interactions, others only
+in some of them, so that each process is associated with a set
+of conserved quantities. Thus the symmetries in the particles’
+properties appear as conservation laws in their interactions.
+Physicists use tne two concepts interchangeably, referring
+sometimes to the symmetry of a process, sometimes to the
+
+252
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+-.
+
+corresponding conservation law, whichever is more convenient
+in the particular case.
+There are four basic conservation laws which seem to be
+observed in all processes, three of them being connected with
+simple symmetry operations in ordinary space and time. All
+particle interactions are symmetric with respect to displacements in space-they will look exactly the same whether they
+take place in London or in New York. They are also symmetric
+with respect to displacements in time, which means they will
+occur in the same way on a Monday or on a Wednesday. The
+first of these symmetries is connected with the conservation
+of momentum, the second with the conservation of energy.
+This means that the total momentum of all particles involved
+in an interaction, and their total energy (including all their
+masses), will be exactly the same before and after the interaction. The third basic symmetry is one with respect to orientation in space. In a particle collision, for example, it does not
+make any difference whether the colliding particles approach
+each other along an axis oriented north-south or east-west.
+As a consequence of this symmetry, the total amount of rotation
+involved in a process (which includes the spins of the individual
+particles) is always conserved. Finally, there is the conservation
+of electric charge. It is connected with a more complicated
+symmetry operation, but in its formulation as a conservation
+law it is very simple: the total charge carried by all particles
+involved in an interaction remains constant.
+There are several more conservation laws which correspond
+to symmetry operations in abstract mathematical spaces, like
+the one connected with charge conservation. Some of them
+hold for all interactions, as far as we know, others only for
+some of them (e.g. for strong and electromagn.etic
+interactions,
+but not for weak interactions). The corresponding conserved
+quantities can be seen as ‘abstract charges’ carried by the
+particles. Since they always take integer values (, _+ 1, + 2, etc.),
+or ‘half-integer’ values (f l/2, f 3/2, + 5/2, etc.), they are called
+quantum numbers, in analogy to the quantum numbers in
+atomic physics. Each particle, then, is characterized by a set
+of quantum numbers which, in addition to its mass, specify its
+properties completely.
+Hadrons, for example, carry definite values of ‘isospin’ and
+
+isospin
+
+b
+
+-1
+
+- %
+
+0
+
+‘I2
+
+I
+
+I
+
+I
+
+I
+
++
+
+1
+I
+
+hyperchange
+
+I
+K’
+
+1
+
+K+
+-----7
+
+If\
+\
+//
+
+’
+\
+
+‘\
+
+/
+
+\
+\
+
+I’
+
+\
+W ’
+
+0
+
+n- (; -----,+,----2)
+/
+\
+
+/
+
+\
+
+\
+
+/
+\
+
+’
+
+‘,
+\
+
+-1
+
+Ii
+
+‘, ,I’
+-----a L’
+
+KY
+
+-0
+K
+
+the meson octet
+
+‘hypercharge’, two quantum numbers which are conserved in
+all strong interactions. If the eight mesons listed in the table in
+the previous chapter are arranged according to the values of
+these two quantum numbers, they are seen to fall into a neat
+hexagonal pattern known as the ‘meson octet’. This arrangement exhibits a great deal of symmetry; for example, particles
+and antiparticles occupy opposite places in the hexagon, the
+two particles in the centre being their own antiparticles. The
+eight lightest baryons form exactly the same pattern which is
+called the baryon octet. This time, however, the antiparticles
+are not contained in the octet, but form an identical ‘anti-octet’.
+The remaining baryon in our particle table, the omega, belongs
+to a different pattern, called the ‘baryon decuplet’, together
+with nine resonances. All the particles in a given symmetry
+pattern have identical quantum numbers, except for isospin
+and hypercharge which give them their places in the pattern.
+For example, all mesons in the octet have zero spin (i.e. they
+do not spin at all); the baryons in the octet have a spin of l/2,
+and those in the decuplet have a spin of 3/2.
+
+253
+
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+254
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+n
+”
+
++------
+
+PaD
+/‘\
+
+v----7‘\
+/
+‘1
+/
+/
+\\
+//
+\
+/
+\\
+//
+\
+/
+\
+\
+\
+\
+1’
+1’
+\
+\
+W’
+W’
+- - - - - -------a---- - 2 ‘)
+)
+1-t’
+1-t’
+*
+*
+\
+\
+/A\
+/A\
+I’
+I’
+\
+\
+1
+1
+\
+\
+\
+\
+\
+\
+’
+’
+\
+\
+1’
+1’
+’
+’
+//
+//
+’’ /
+/
+‘d
+‘d
+- a - - - -2
+-== --a----2==
+
+I+
+
+the baryon octet
+KT------*-------(r-----A’
+A+
+6
+
+A+ +
+
+\
+7
+1’ ‘\
+/ ‘1
+\
+\
+\
+\
+/
+\
+/
+\
+\
+1’
+\
+\
+\
+l
+/
+\d
+W’
+\ /I
+1’
+“fJ+----)+---- yz+
+“+----go+--\
+
+I\
+/
+\
+/
+\
+\
+/
+1’
+\
+1’
+/
+-!, ,I
+,’
+= y------y
+
+\
+\
+\
+
+\
+\
+\
+\
+
+/
+/
+
+‘“’
+‘“I
+irk-
+
+the baryon decuplet
+The quantum numbers, then, are used to arrange particles
+into families forming neat symmetric patterns, to specify the
+places of the individual particles within each pattern, and at
+the same time to classify the various particle interactions
+according to the conservation laws they exhibit. The two related
+concepts of symmetry and conservation are thus seen to be
+extremely useful for expressing the regularities in the particle
+world.
+_..
+_
+
+-
+
+It is surprising that most of these regularities can be represented in a very simple way if one assumes that all hadrons are
+made of a small number of elementary entities which have so
+far eluded direct observation. These entities have been given
+the fanciful name ‘quarks’ by Murray Cell-Mann who referred
+his fellow physicists to the line in James Joyce’s Finnegan’s
+Wake, ‘Three quarks for Muster Mark’, when he postulated
+their existence. Cell-Mann succeeded in accounting for a
+large number of hadron patterns, such as the octets and the
+decuplet discussed above, by assigning appropriate quantum
+numbers to his three quarks and their antiquarks, and then
+putting these building blocks together in various combinations
+to form baryons and mesons whose quantum numbers are
+obtained simply by adding those of their constituent quarks.
+In this sense, baryons can be said to ‘consist of’ three quarks,
+their antiparticles of the corresponding antiquarks, and
+mesons of a quark plus an antiquark.
+The simplicity and efficiency of this model is striking, but it
+leads to severe difficulties if quarks are taken seriously as actual
+physical constituents of hadrons. So far, no hadrons have ever
+been broken up into their constituent quarks, in spite of
+bombarding them with the highest energies available, which
+means that quarks would have to be held together by extremely
+strong binding forces. According to our present understanding
+of particles and their interactions, these forces can only manifest
+themselves through the exchange of other particles, and
+consequently these other particles, too, would be present
+inside each hadron. If this were so, however, they would also
+contribute to the hadron’s properties and thus destroy the
+simple additive scheme of the quark model.
+In other words, if quarks are held together by strong interaction forces, these must involve other particles and the quarks
+must consequently show some kind of ‘structure’, just like all
+the other strongly interacting particles. For the quark model,
+however, it is essential to have pointlike, structureless quarks.
+Because of this fundamental difficulty, it has so far not been
+possible to formulate the quark model in a consistent dynamic
+way which accounts for the symmetries and for the binding
+forces.
+On the experimental side, there has been a fierce but, so
+
+255
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+256
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+far, unsuccessful ‘hunt for the quark over the past decade.
+If single quarks exist, they should be quite conspicuous because
+Cell-Mann’s model requires them to possess some very unusual
+properties, like electric charges of l/3 and 2/3 of that of the
+electron, which do not appear anywhere in the particle world.
+So far, no particles with these properties have been observed
+in spite of the most intensive search. This persistent failure to
+detect them experimentally, plus the serious theoretical objections to their existence, have made the reality of quarks
+extremely doubtful.
+On the other hand, the quark model continues to be very
+successful in accounting for the regularities found in the
+particle world, although it is no longer used in its original
+simple form. In Cell-Mann’s original model, all hadrons could
+be built from three kinds of quarks and their antiquarks, but in
+the mean time physicists have had to postulate additional
+quarks to account for the great variety of hadron patterns.
+Cell-Mann himself recently proposed that each quark can
+appear in three different varieties which he called-most
+appropriately in a lecture in Paris-‘red, white, and blue quarks’.
+This increased the total number of quarks to nine, and since
+then three more quarks have been postulated,* which allowed
+one of the speakers at a recent physics conference to refer to
+them facetiously as ‘the twelve observed quarks’.
+The great number of regularities that can be successfully
+described in terms of these twelve quarks is truly impressive.
+There can be no doubt that hadrons exhibit ‘quark symmetries’,
+even though our present understanding of particles and interactions precludes the existence of physical quarks. At present,
+in the summer of 1974, the paradoxes surrounding the quark
+model are becoming increasingly sharp. A great deal of experimental data support the quark model; others contradict it
+violently. No one has ever seen a quark, and according ‘to our
+basic ideas about particle interactions quarks cannot exist. Yet,
+hadrons very often behave exactly as if they consisted of
+pointlike elementary constituents. This situation is strongly
+reminiscent of the early days of atomic physics when equally
+striking paradoxes led the physicists to a major breakthrough
+*The fourth triplet of quarks implies the existence of a new type of hadrons.
+The recently discovered ‘psi particles’ may be of that kind.
+
+in their understanding of atoms. The quark puzzle has all the
+traits of a new koan which, in turn, could lead to a major
+breakthrough in our understanding of subatomic particles.
+The discovery of symmetric patterns in the particle world has
+led many physicists to believe that these patterns reflect the
+fundamental laws of nature. During the past fifteen years, a
+great deal of effort has been devoted to the search for an
+ultimate ‘fundamental symmetry’ that would incorporate all
+known particles and thus ‘explain’ the structure of matter. This
+aim reflects a philosophical attitude which has been inherited
+from the ancient Greeks and cultivated throughout many
+centuries. Symmetry, together with geometry, played an
+important role in Greek science, philosophy and art, where it
+was identified with beauty, harmony and perfection. Thus the
+Pythagoreans regarded symmetric number patterns as the
+essence of all things; Plato believed that the atoms of the four
+elements had the shapes of regular solids, and most Greek
+astronomers thought that the heavenly bodies moved in
+circles because the circle was the geometrical figure with the
+highest degree of symmetry.
+The attitude of Eastern philosophy with regard to symmetry
+is in striking contrast to that of the ancient Greeks. Mystical
+traditions in the Far East frequently use symmetric patterns as
+symbols or as meditation devices, but the concept of symmetry
+does not seem to play any major role in their philosophy. Like
+geometry, it is thought to be a construct of the mind, rather
+than a property of nature, and thus of no fundamental importance. Accordingly, many Eastern art forms have a striking
+predilection for asymmetry and often avoid all regular or geometrical shapes. The Zen-inspired paintings of China and Japan,
+often executed in the so-called ‘one-corner’ style, or the
+irregular arrangements of flagstones in Japanese gardens clearly
+illustrate this aspect of Far-Eastern culture.
+It would seem, then, that the search for fundamental symmetries in particle physics is part of our Hellenic heritage which
+is, somehow, inconsistent with the general world view that
+begins to emerge from modern science. The emphasis on
+symmetry, however, is not the only aspect of particle physics.
+In contrast to the ‘static’ symmetry approach, there has always
+
+257
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Flagstones in Katsura Palace Grounds, Kyoto, japan
+
+been a ‘dynamic’ school of thought which does not regard the
+particle patterns as fundamental features of nature, but attempts
+to understand them as a consequence of the dynamic nature
+and essential interrelation of the subatomic world. The remaining two chapters show how this school of thought has
+given rise, in the past decade, to a radically different view of
+
+symmetries and laws of nature which is in harmony with the
+world view of modern physics described so far and which is in
+perfect agreement with Eastern philosophy.
+
+“Birds by the Lake:’ by Liang K’ai,‘Southern
+
+Sung dynasty.
+
+259
+Quark
+Symmetries
+
+------
+
+----ZG
+
+-m
+---m
+------
+
+-m
+m-m
+---,- --dz
+---
+
+--
+
+-w
+--
+
+I
+--mm
+---0
+-5=
+I-..._._.~
+_.--.
+_-. .-.
+
+17 PATTERNS
+
+OF
+CHANGE’
+To explain the symmetries in the particle world in terms of a
+dynamic model, that is, one describing the interactions between
+the particles, is one of the major challenges of present-day
+physics. The problem, ultimately, is how to take into account
+simultaneously quantum theory and relativity theory. The
+particle patterns seem to reflect the ‘quantum nature’ of the
+particles, since similar patterns occur in the world of atoms.
+In particle physics, however, they cannot be explained as wave
+patterns in the framework of quantum theory, because the
+energies involved are so high that relativity theory has to be
+applied. Only a ‘quantum-relativistic’ theory of particles,
+therefore, can be expected to account for the observed
+symmetries.
+Quantum field theory was the ‘first model of that kind. It
+gave an excellent description of the electromagnetic interactions between electrons and photons, but it is much less
+appropriate for the description of strongly interacting particles.
+As more and more of these particles were discovered, physicists
+soon realized that it was highly unsatisfactory to associate each
+of them with a fundamental field, and when the particle world
+revealed itself as an increasingly complex tissue of interconnected processes, they had to look for other models to
+represent this dynamic and ever-changing reality. What was
+needed was a mathematical formalism which would be able
+to describe in a dynamic way &great variety of hadron
+oatterns: their continual transformation into one another,
+their mutual interaction through the exchange of other
+particles, the formation of ‘bound states’ of two or more
+hadrons, and their decay into various particle combinations.
+All these processes, which are often given the general name
+
+262
+
+T h e
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+‘particle reactions’, are essential features of the strong interactions and have to be accounted for in a quantum-relativistic
+model of hadrons.
+The framework which seems to be most appropriate for the
+description of hadrons and their interactions is called ‘S-matrix
+theory’. Its key concept, the ‘S matrix’, was originally proposed
+by Heisenberg in 1943 and has been developed, over the past
+two decades, into a complex mathematical structure which
+seems to be ideally suited to describe the strong interactions.
+The S matrix is a collection of probabilities for all possible
+reactions involving hadrons. It derives its name from the fact
+that one can imagine the whole assemblage of possible hadron
+reactions arranged in an infinite array of the kind mathematicians call a matrix. The letter S is a remainder of the
+original name ‘scattering matrix’ which refers to collision-or
+‘scattering’-processes, the majority of particle reactions.
+In practice, of course, one is never interested in the entire
+collection of hadron processes, but always in a few specific
+reactions. Therefore, one never deals with the whole S matrix,
+D
+
+C
+
+A
+
+x
+
+B
+
+but only with those of its parts, or ‘elements’, which refer to the
+processes under consideration. These are represented symbolically by diagrams like the one above which pictures one of
+the simplest and most general particle reactions: two particles,
+A and B, undergo a collision to emerge as two different particles,
+C and D. More complicated processes involve a greater number
+of particles and are represented by diagrams like the following.
+
+It must be emphasized that these S-matrix diagrams are very
+different from the Feynman diagrams of field theory. They do
+not picture the detailed mechanism of the reaction, but merely
+specify the initial and final particles. The standard process
+A+B+C+D, for example, might be pictured in field theory
+as the exchange of a virtual particle V, whereas in S-matrix
+
+theory, one simply draws a circle without specifying what goes
+on inside it. Furthermore, the S-matrix diagrams are not spacetime diagrams, but more general symbolic representations of
+particle reactions. These reactions are not assumed to take
+place at definite points in space and time, but are described in
+terms of the velocities (or, more precisely, in terms of the
+momenta) of the incoming and outgoing particles.
+This means, of course, that an S-matrix diagram contains
+much less information than a Feynman diagram. On the other
+hand, S-matrix theory avoids a difficulty which is characteristic
+of field theory. The combined effects of quantum and relativity
+theory make it impossible to localize an interaction between
+definite particles precisely. Due to the uncertainty principle,
+the uncertainty of a particle’s velocity will increase as its region
+of interaction is localized more sharply,* and consequently,
+the amount of its kinetic energy will be increasingly uncertain.
+Eventually, this energy will become large enough for new
+particles to be created, in accordance with relativity theory,
+and then one can no longer be certain of dealing with the
+original reaction. Therefore, in a theory which combines both
+quantum and relativity theories, it is not possible to specify
+the position of individual particles precisely. If this is done, as
+in field theory, one has to put up with mathematical inconsistencies which are, indeed, the main problem in all quantum
+field theories. S-matrix theory bypasses this problem by
+*See p. 157
+
+263
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+264
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+specifying the momenta of the particles and remaining sufficiently vague about the region in which the reaction occurs.
+The important new concept in S-matrix theory is the shift of
+emphasis from objects to events; its basic concern is not with
+the particles, but with their reactions. Such a shift from objects
+to events is required both by quantum theory and by relativity
+theory. On the one hand, quantum theory has made it clear
+that a subatomic particle can only be understood as a manifestation of the interaction between various processes of
+measurement. It is not an isolated object but rather an occurrence, or event, which interconnects other events in a particular
+way. In the words of Heisenberg:
+[In modern physicsl, one has now divided the world not
+into different groups of objects but into different groups
+of connections . . . What can be distinguished is the kind
+of connection which is primarily important in a certain
+phenomenon . . . The world thus appears as a complicated
+tissue of events, in which connections of different kinds
+alternate or overlap or combine and thereby determine
+the texture of the whole.’
+Relativity theory, on the other hand, has forced us to conceive
+of particles in terms of space-time: as four-dimensional patterns,
+as processes rather than objects. The S-matrix approach combines both of these viewpoints. Using the four-dimensional
+mathematical formalism of relativity theory, it describes all
+properties of hadrons in terms of reactions (or, more precisely,
+in terms of reaction probabilities), and thus establishes an
+intimate link between particles and processes. Each reaction
+involves particles which link it to other reactions and thus
+build up a whole network of processes.
+A neutron, for example, may participate in two successive
+reactions involving different particles; the first, say, a proton
+and a z-, the second a Z- and a K+.The neutron thus interconnects these two reactions and integrates them into a larger
+process (see diagram (a) opposite). Each of the initial and final
+particles in this process will be involved in other reactions; the
+proton, for example, may emerge from an interaction between a
+
+265
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+K+ and a A (see diagram (b) above) ; the K+ in the original reaction may be linked to a K-and a n0; then- to three more pions.
+The original neutron is thus seen to be part of a whole network of interactions; of a ‘tissue of events’,-all described by the
+S matrix. The interconnections in such a network cannot be
+determined with certainty, but are associated with probabilities.
+Each reaction occurs with some probability, which depends
+on the available energy and on the characteristics of the
+reaction, and these probabilities are given by the various
+elements of the S matrix.
+This approach allows one to define the structure of a hadron
+in a thoroughly dynamic way. The neutron in our network,
+for example, can be seen as a ‘bound state’ of the proton and
+
+264
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the n- from which it arises, and also as a bound state of the
+C- and the K+ into which it disintegrates. Either of these hadron
+combinations, and many others, may form a neutron, and
+consequently they can be said to be components of the
+neutron’s ‘structure’. The structure of a hadron, therefore, is
+not understood as a definite arrangement of constituent parts,
+but is given by all sets of particles which may interact with
+one another to form the hadron under consideration. Thus a
+proton exists potentially as a neutron-pion pair, a kaon-lambda
+pair, and so on. The proton also has the potential of disintegrating
+into any of these particle combinations if enough energy is
+available. The tendencies of a hadron to exist in various manifestations are expressed by the probabilities for the corresponding reactions, all of which may be regarded as aspects of
+the hadron’s internal structure.
+
+267
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+a network of reactions involving protons, antiprotons, a lambda-antilambda
+pair, and several pions
+
+By defining the structure of a hadron as its tendency to
+undergo various reactions, S-matrix theory gives the concept
+of structure an essentially dynamic connotation. At the same
+time, this notion of structure is in perfect agreement with the
+experimental facts. Whenever hadrons are broken up in
+high-energy collision experiments, they disintegrate into
+combinations of other hadrons; thus they can be said to ‘consist’
+potentially of these hadron combinations. Each of the particles
+emerging from such a collision will, in turn, undergo various
+reactions, thus building up a whole network of events which
+can be photographed in the bubble chamber. The picture on
+
+268
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+page 267 and the ones in Chapter 15 are examples of such networks of reactions.
+Although it is a matter of chance which network will arise
+in a particular experiment, each network is nevertheless
+structured according to definite rules. These rules are the
+conservation laws mentioned before; only those reactions can
+occur in which a well-defined set of quantum numbers is
+conserved. To begin with, the total energy has to remain
+constant in every reaction. This means that a certain combination of particles can emerge from a reaction only if the energy
+carried into the reaction is high enough to provide the required
+masses. Furthermore, the emerging group of .particles must
+collectively carry exactly the same quantum numbers that
+have been carried into the reaction by the initial particles.
+For example, a proton and a X-, carrying a total electric charge
+of zero, may be dissolved in a collision and rearranged to
+emerge as a neutron plus a n”, but they cannot emerge as a
+neutron and a z+, as this pair would carry a total charge of
++1.
+The hadron reactions, then, represent a flow of energy in
+which particles are created and dissolved, but the energy can
+only flow through certain ‘channels’ characterized by the
+quantum numbers conserved in the strong interactions. In
+S-matrix theory, the concept of a reaction channel is more
+fundamental than that of a particle. It is defined as a set of
+
+quantum numbers which can be carried by various hadron
+combinations and often also by a single hadron. Which combination of hadrons flows through a particular channel is a
+matter of probability but depends, first of all, on the available
+energy. The diagram opposite, for example, shows an interaction between a proton and a n- in which a neutron is formed
+as an intermediate state. Thus, the reaction channel is made
+up first by two hadrons, then by a single hadron, and finally
+by the initial hadron pair. The same channel can be made up,
+if more energy is available, by a A-K0 pair, a Z--K+ pair, and
+by various other combinations.
+The notion of reaction channels is particularly appropriate
+to deal with resonances, those extremely short-lived hadron
+states which are characteristic of all strong interactions. They
+are such ephemeral phenomena that physicists were first
+reluctant to classify them as particles, and today the clarification
+of their properties still constitutes one of the major tasks in
+experimental high-energy physics. Resonances are formed in
+hadron collisions and disintegrate almost as soon as they come
+into being. They cannot be seen in the bubble chamber, but
+can be detected due to a very special behaviour of reaction
+probabilities. The probability for two colliding hadrons to
+undergo a reaction-to interact with one another-depends
+on the energy involved in the collision. If the amount of this
+energy is modified, the probability will also change; it may
+increase or decrease with increasing energy, depending on the
+details of the reaction. At certain values of energy, however,
+the reaction probability is observed to increase sharply; a
+reaction is much more likely to occur at these values than at
+any other energy. This sharp increase is associated with the
+formation of a short-lived intermediate hadron with a mass
+corresponding to the energy at which the increase is observed.
+The reason why these short-lived hadron states are called
+resonances is related to an analogy that can be drawn to the
+well-known resonance phenomenon encountered in connection with vibrations. In the case of sound, for example, the
+air in a cavity will in general respond only weakly to a sound
+wave coming from outside, but will begin to ‘resonate’, or
+vibrate very strongly, when the sound wave reaches-a certain
+frequency called the resonance frequency. The channel of a
+
+269
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+270
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+hadron reaction can be compared to such a resonant cavity,
+since the energy of the colliding hadrons is related to the
+frequency of the corresponding probability wave. When this
+energy, or frequency, reaches a certain value the channel
+begins to resonate; the vibrations of the probability wave
+suddenly become very strong and thus cause a sharp increase
+in the reaction probability. Most reaction channels have several
+resonance energies, each of them corresponding to the mass
+of an ephemeral intermediate hadron state which is formed
+when the energy of the colliding particles reaches the resonance
+value.
+In the framework of S-matrix theory, the problem of whether
+one should call the resonances ‘particles’ or not does not
+exist. All particles are seen as intermediate states in a network
+of reactions, and the fact that the resonances live for a much
+shorter period than other hadrons does not make them fundamentally different. In fact, the word ‘resonance’ is a very appropriate term. It applies both to the phenomenon in the reaction
+channel and to the hadron which is formed during that
+phenomenon, thus showing the intimate link between particles
+and reactions. A resonance is a particle, but not an object.
+It is much better described as an event, an occurrence or a
+happening.
+This description of hadrons in particle physics recalls to
+mind the words of D. T. Suzuki quoted above:* ‘Buddhists
+have conceived an object as an event and not as a thing or
+substance.’ What Buddhists have realized through their
+mystical experience of nature has now been rediscovered
+through the experiments and mathematical theories of modern
+science.
+In order to describe all hadrons as intermediate states in a
+network of reactions, one has to be able to account for the
+forces through which they mutually interact. These are the
+strong-interation forces which deflect, or ‘scatter’, colliding
+hadrons, dissolve and rearrange them in different patterns, and
+bind groups of them together to form intermediate bound
+states. In S-matrix theory, as in field theory, the interaction
+*See p. 204.
+
+1
+forces are associated with particles, but the concept of virtual
+particles is not used. Instead, the relation between forces and
+particles is based on a special property of the S matrix known
+as ‘crossing’. To illustrate this property, consider the following
+diagram picturing the interaction between a proton and a II -.
+
+x
+P
+
+R-
+
+P
+
+7r
+
+271
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+If this diagram is rotated through 90°, and if we keep the
+convention adopted previously,* that arrows pointing down-
+
+7l-
+
+7r+
+
+P
+P
+#
+wards indicate antiparticles, the new diagram will represent a
+reaction between an antiproton (j3 and a proton (p) which
+emerge from it as a pair of pions, the n+ being the antiparticle of
+the n- in the original reaction.
+The ‘crossing’ property of the S matrix, now, refers to the
+fact that both these processes are described by the same
+S-matrix element. This means that the two diagrams represent
+merely two different aspects, or ‘channels’, of the same
+reaction.** Particle physicists are used to switching from one
+channel to the other in their calculations, and instead of rotating
+the diagrams they just read them upwards or across from the
+*See p. 181
+**ln fact, the diagram can be rbtated further, and individual lines can be ‘crossed’
+to obtain different processes which are still described by the same 5matrix
+element. Each element represents altogether six different processes, but only
+the two mentioned above are relevant for our discussion of interaction forces.
+
+-,
+
+272
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+left, and talk about the ‘direct channel’ and the ‘cross channel’.
+Thus the reaction in our example is read as p+7t+p+nin the direct channel, and as p+p-+z-+z+ in the cross
+channel.
+
+cross channel
+
+I
+
+direct channel
+p+n-+p+7t-
+
+The connection between forces and particles is established
+through the intermediate states in the two channels. In the
+direct channel of our exampl.e, the proton and the 7c- can
+form an intermediate neutron, whereas the cross channel can
+be made up by an intermediate neutral pion (x0). This pion-
+
+1
+the intermediate state in the cross channel-is interpreted as
+the manifestation of the force which acts in the direct channel
+binding the proton and the rc- together to form the neutron.
+Thus both channels are needed to associate the forces with
+particles; what appears as a force in one channel is manifest
+as an intermediate particle in the other.
+Although it is relatively easy to switch from one channel to
+the other mathematically, it is extremely difficult-if at all
+possible-to have an intuitive picture of the situation. This is
+because ‘crossing’ is an essentially relativistic concept arising
+in the context of the four-dimensional formalism of relativity
+theory, and thus very difficult to visualize. A similar situation
+occurs in field theory where the interaction forces are pictured
+as the exchange of virtual particles. In fact, the diagram showing
+the intermediate pion in the cross channel is reminiscent of
+the Feynman diagrams picturing these particle exchanges,*
+and one might say, loosely speaking, that the proton and the
+Z- interact ‘through the exchange of a fl. Such words are
+often used by physicists, but they do not fully describe the
+situation. An adequate description can only be given in terms
+of direct and cross channels, that is, in abstract concepts which
+are almost impossible to visualize.
+In spite of the different formalism, the general notion of an
+interaction force in S-matrix theory is quite similar to that in
+field theory. In both theories, the forces manifest themselves
+as particles whose mass determines the range of the force,**
+and in both theories they are recognized as intrinsic properties
+of the interacting particles; they reflect the structure of the
+particles’ virtual clouds in field theory, and are generated by
+bound states of the interacting particles in S-matrix theory.
+The parallel to the Eastern view of forces discussed previously***
+applies thus to both theories. This view of interaction forces,
+furthermore, implies the important conclusion that all known
+particles must have some internal structure, because only then
+can they interact with the observer and thus be detected. In
+* It should be remembered, however, that S-matrix diagrams are not space-time
+diagrams but symbolic representations of particle reactions. The switching from
+one channel to the other takes place in an abstract mathematical space.
+**See p. 219.
+***See p. 221.
+
+273
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+274
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+the words of Geoffrey Chew, one of the principal architects of
+S-matrix theory, ‘A truly elementary particle-completely
+devoid of internal structure-could not be subject to any
+forces that would allow us to detect its existence. The mere
+knowledge of a particle’s existence, that is to say, implies that
+the particle possesses internal structureY2
+A particular advantage of the S-matrix formalism is the fact
+that it is able to describe the ‘exchange’ of a whole family of
+hadrons. As mentioned in the previous chapter, all hadrons
+seem to fall into sequences whose members have identical
+properties except for their masses and spins. A formalism
+proposed originally by Tullio Regge makes it possible to treat
+each of these sequences as a single hadron existing in various
+excited states. In recent years, it has been possible to incorporate
+the Regge formalism into the S-matrix framework where it has
+been used very successfully for the description of hadron
+reactions. This has been one of the most important developments in S-matrix theory and can be seen as a first step towards
+a dynamic explanation of particle patterns.
+The framework of the S matrix, then, is able to describe the
+structure of hadrons, the forces through which they mutually
+interact, and some of the patterns they form, in a thoroughly
+dynamic way in which each hadron is understood as an
+integral part of an inseparable network of reactions. The main
+challenge, and so far unsolved problem, in S-matrix theory is
+to use this dynamic description to account for the symmetries
+which give rise to the hadron patterns and conservation laws
+discussed in the previous chapter. In such a theory, the hadron
+symmetries would be reflected in the mathematical structure
+of the S matrix in such a way that it contains only elements
+which correspond to reactions allowed by the conservation
+laws. These laws would then no longer have the status of
+empirical regularities but would be a consequence of the
+S-matrix structure, and thus a consequence of the dynamic
+nature of hadrons.
+At present, physicists are trying to achieve this ambitious
+aim by postulating several general principles which restrict the
+mathematical possibilities of constructing S-matrix elements
+and thus give the S matrix a definite structure. So far, three of
+
+these general principles have been established. The first is
+suggested by relativity theory and by our macroscopic experience of space and time. It says that the reaction probabilities
+(and thus the S-matrix elements) must be independent of displacements of the experimental apparatus in space and time,
+independent of its orientation in space, and independent of
+the state of motion of the observer. As discussed in the previous
+chapter, the independence of a particle reaction with regard
+to changes of orientation and displacements in space and time
+implies the conservation of the total amount of rotation,
+momentum and energy involved in the reaction. These
+‘symmetries’ are essential for our scientific work. If the results
+of an experiment changed according to where and when it
+was performed, science in its present form would be impossible.
+The last requirement, finally-that the experimental results
+must not depend on the observer’s motion-is the principle
+of relativity which is the basis of relativity theory.*
+The second general principle is suggested by quantum
+theory. It asserts that the outcome of a particular reaction can
+only be predicted in terms of probabilities and, furthermore,
+that the sum of the probabilities for all possible outcomesincluding the case of no interaction between the particlesmust be equal to one. In other words, we can be certain that
+the particles will either interact with one another, or not. This
+seemingly trivial statement turns out to be, in fact, a very
+powerful principle, known under the name of ‘unitarity’, which
+severely restricts the possibilities of constructing S-matrix
+elements.
+The third and final principle is related to our notions of cause
+and effect and is known as the principle of causality. It states
+that energy and momentum are transferred over spatial
+distances only. by particles, and that this transfer occurs in
+such a way that a particle can be created in one reaction and
+destroyed in another only if the latter reaction occurs after
+the former. The mathematical formulation of the causality
+principle implies that the S matrix depends in a smooth way
+on the energies and momenta of the particles involved in a
+reaction, except for those values at which the creation of new
+*See p. 167
+
+275
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+I
+
+276
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+particles becomes possible. At those values, the mathematical
+structure of the S matrix changes abruptly; it encounters what
+mathematicians call a ‘singularity’. Each reaction channel
+contains several of these singularities, that is, there are several
+values of energy and momentum in each channel at which
+new particles can be created. The ‘resonance energies’ mentioned before are examples of such values.
+The fact that the S matrix exhibits singularities is a consequence of the causality principle, but the location of the
+singularities is not determined by it. The values of energy and
+momentum at which particles can be created are different for
+different reaction channels and depend on the masses and
+other properties of the created particles. The locations of the
+singularities thus reflect the properties of these particles, and
+since all hadrons can be created in particle reactions, the
+singularities of the S matrix mirror all the patterns and symmetries of hadrons.
+The central aim of S-matrix theory is, therefore, to derive the
+singularity structure of the S matrix from the general principles.
+Up to now, it has not been possible to construct a mathematical
+model which satisfies all three principles, and it may well be
+that they are sufficient to determine all the properties of the S
+matrix-and thus all the properties of hadrons-uniquely.*
+If this turns out to be the case, the philosophical implications
+of such a theory would be very profound. All three of the
+general principles are related to our methods of observation
+and measurement, that is, to the scientific framework. If they
+are sufficient to determine the structure of hadrons, this would
+mean that ‘the basic structures of the physical world are
+determined, ultimately, by the way in which we look at this
+world. Any fundamental change in our observational methods
+would imply a modification of the general principles which
+would lead to a different structure of the S matrix, and would
+thus imply a different structure of hadrons.
+Such a theory of subatomic particles reflects the impossibility
+of separating the scientific observer from the observed pheno*This conjecture, known as the ‘bootstrap’ hypothesis, will be discussed in
+more detail in the subsequent chapter.
+
+1
+mena, which has already been discussed in connection with
+quantum theory,* in its most extreme form. It implies, ultimately,
+that the structures and phenomena we observe in nature are
+nothing but creations of our measuring and categorizing
+mind.
+That this is so is one of the fundamental tenets of Eastern
+philosophy. The Eastern mystics tell us again and again that all
+things and events we perceive are creations of the mind,
+arising from a particular state of consciousness and dissolving
+again if this state is transcended. Hinduism holds that all shapes
+and structures around us are created by a mind under the
+spell of maya, and it regards our tendency to attach deep
+significance to them as the basic human illusion. Buddhists call
+this illusion avidya, or ignorance, and see it as the state of a
+‘defiled’ mind. In the words of Ashvaghosha,
+When the oneness of the totality of things is not recognised,
+then ignorance as well as particularisation arises, and all
+phases of the defiled mind are thus developed . . . All
+phenomena in the world are nothing but the illusory
+manifestation of the mind and have no reality on their
+own.3
+This is also the recurring theme of the Buddhist Yogacara
+school which holds that all forms we perceive are ‘mind only’;
+projections, or ‘shadows’, of the mind:
+Out of mind spring innumerable things, conditioned by
+discrimination . . . These things people accept as an
+external world . . . What appears to be external does not
+exist in reality; it is indeed mind that is seen as multiplicity;
+the body, property, and above-all these, I say, are
+nothing but mind.4
+In particle physics, the derivation of the hadron patterns from
+the general principles of S-matrix theory is a long and arduous
+task, and so far only a few small steps have been taken towards
+achieving it. Furthermore, the theory in its present form
+cannot be applied to the electromagnetic interactions that
+*Seep.140
+--
+
+277
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+278
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+give rise to the atomic structures and dominate the world of
+chemistry and biology. Nevertheless, the possibility that the
+hadron patterns will some day be derived from the general
+principles, and thus be seen to depend on our scientific
+framework, must be taken seriously. It is an exciting conjecture that this may be a general feature of particle physics
+which will also appear in future theories of electromagnetic,
+weak, and gravitational interactions. If this turns out to be
+true, modern physics will have come a long way towards
+agreeing with the Eastern sages that the structures of the
+physical world are maya, or ‘mind only’.
+S-matrix theory comes very close to Eastern thought not
+only in its ultimate conclusion, but also in its general view of
+matter. It describes the world of subatomic particles as a
+dynamic network of events and emphasizes change and transformation rather than fundamental structures or entities. In
+the East, such an emphasis is particularly strong in Buddhist
+thought where all things are seen as dynamic, impermanent
+and illusory. Thus S. Radhakrishnan writes:
+How do we come to think of things, rather than of processes in this absolute flux? By shutting our eyes to the
+successive events. It is an artificial attitude that makes
+sections in the stream of change, and calls them things . . .
+When we shall know the truth of things, we shall realise
+how absurd it is for us to worship isolated products of the
+incessant series of transformations as though they were
+eternal and real. Life is no thing or state of a thing, bu It a
+continuous movement or change.5
+Both the modern physicist and the Eastern mystic thave
+realized that all phenomena in this world of change and
+transformation are dynamically interrelated. Hindus
+Buddhists see this interrelation as a cosmic law, the law of
+karma, but they are generally not concerned with any specific
+patterns in the universal network of events. Chinese philosophy,
+on the other hand, which also emphasizes movement and
+change, has developed the notion of dynamic patterns which
+are continually formed and dissolved again in the cosmic flow
+of the Tao. In the I Ching, or Book of Changes, these patterns
+have been elaborated into a system of archetypal symbols,
+the so-called hexagrams.
+-..
+_.
+
+The basic ordering principle of the patterns in the /Ching*
+is the interplay of the polar opposites yin and yang. The yang
+, the yin by a broken line
+is represented by a solid line (I
+I-1, and the whole system of hexagrams is built up
+naturally from these two lines. By combining them in pairs,
+four configurations are obtained,
+
+and by adding a third line to each of these, eight ‘trigrams’
+are generated :
+
+In ancient China, the trigrams were considered to represent
+all possible cosmic and human situations. They were given
+names reflecting their basic characteristics-such as The
+Creative’, The Receptive’, ‘The Arousing’, etc.-and they were
+associated with many images taken from nature and from social
+life. They represented, for example, heaven, earth, thunder,
+water, etc., as well as a family consisting of father, mother,
+three sons and three daughters. They were, furthermore,
+associated with the cardinal points and with the seasons of the
+year, and were often arranged as follows:
+summer
+s
+
+spring
+
+autumn
+w
+
+E
+
+mm
+N
+winter
+*See p. 108
+
+I
+
+_--
+
+-
+
+279
+
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+280
+
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+In this arrangement, the eight trigrams are grouped around
+a circle in the ‘natural order’ in which they were generated,
+starting from the top (where the Chinese always place the
+south) and placing the first four trigrams on the left side of the
+circle, the second four on the right side. This arrangement
+shows a high degree of symmetry, opposite trigrams having
+yin and yang lines interchanged.
+
+two regular arrangements of the 64 hexagrams
+
+In order to increase the number of possible combinations
+further, the eight trigrams were combined in pairs by placing
+one above the other. In this way, sixty-four hexagrams were
+obtained, each consisting of six solid or broken lines. The
+hexagrams were arranged in several regular patterns, among
+which the two illustrated on the opposite page were the most
+common; a square of eight times eight hexagrams, and a
+circular sequence showing the same symmetry as the circular
+arrangement of the trigrams.
+The sixty-four hexagrams are the cosmic archetypes on
+which the use of the I Ching as an oracle book is based.
+For the interpretation of any hexagram, the various meanings
+
+of its two trigrams have to be taken into account. For example,
+when the trigram The Arousing’ is situated above the trigram
+The Receptive’ the hexagram is interpreted as movement
+meeting with devotion and thus inspiring enthusiasm, which
+is the name given to it.
+
+the Arousing
+
+the Receptive
+
+Enthusiasm
+
+The hexagram for Progress, to give another example, represents
+‘The Clinging’ above ‘The Receptive’ which is interpreted as
+the sun rising over the earth and thus as a symbol of rapid,
+easy progress.
+
+the Clinging
+
+~~
+
+the Receptive
+
+Progress
+
+In the I Ching, the trigrams and hexagrams represent the
+patterns of the Tao which are generated by the dynamic interplay of the yin and the yang, and are reflected in all cosmic and
+human situations. These situations, therefore, are not seen as
+static, but rather as stages in a continuous flow and change.
+This is the basic idea of the Book of Changes which is expressed
+in its very title. All things and situations in the world are subject
+to change and transformation, and so are their images, the
+trigrams and hexagrams. They are in a state of continual
+transition; one changing into another, solid lines pushing
+outwards and breaking in two, broken lines pushing inwards
+and growing together.
+Because of its notion of dynamic patterns, generated by
+change and transformation, the I Ching is perhaps the closest
+analogy to S-matrix theory in Eastern thought. In both systems,
+the emphasis is on processes rather than objects. In S-matrix
+theory, these processes are the particle reactions that give rise
+to all the phenomena in the world of hadrons. In the I Ching,
+the basic processes are called ‘the changes’ and are seen as
+essential for an understanding of all natural phenomena:
+.=7
+
+281
+
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+282
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+The changes are what has enabled the holy sages to
+reach all depths and to grasp the seeds of all things6
+These changes are not regarded as fundamental laws imposed
+on the physical world, but rather-in the words of Hellmut
+Wilhelm-as ‘an inner tendency according to which development takes place naturally and spontaneously’.7 The same can
+be said of the ‘changes’ in the particle world. They, too, reflect
+the inner tendencies of the particles which are expressed, in
+S-matrix theory, in terms of reaction probabilities.
+The changes in the world of hadrons give rise to structures
+and symmetric patterns which are represented symbolically
+by the reaction channels. Neither the structures nor the
+symmetries are regarded as fundamental features of the
+hadron world, but are seen as consequences of the particles’
+dynamic nature, that is, of their tendencies for change and
+transformation.
+In the I Ching, too, the changes give rise to structures-the
+trigrams and hexagrams. Like the channels of particle reactions,
+these are symbolic representations of patterns of change. As
+the energy flows through the reaction channels, the ‘changes’
+flow through the lines of the hexagrams:
+Alteration, movement without rest,
+Flowing through the six empty places,
+Rising and sinking without fixed law,
+It is only change that is at work here!
+In the Chinese view, all things and phenomena around us
+arise out of the patterns of change and are represented by the
+various lines of the trigrams and hexagrams. Thus the things in
+the physical world are not seen as static, independent objects,
+but merely as transitional stages in the cosmic process which
+is the Tao:
+The Tao has changes and movements. Therefore the lines
+are called changing lines. The lines have gradations, therefore they represent things.9
+As in the world of particles, the structures generated by the
+3.
+
+changes can be arranged in various symmetric patterns, such
+as the octagonal pattern formed by the eight trigrams, in
+which opposite trigrams have yin and yang lines interchanged.
+This pattern is even vaguely similar to the meson octet discussed in the previous chapter, in which particles and antiparticles occupy opposite places. The important point, how:
+ever, is not this accidental similarity, but the fact that both
+modern physics and ancient Chinese thought consider change
+and transformation as the primary aspect of nature, and see
+the structures and symmetries generated by the changes as
+secondary. As he explains in the introduction to his translation’
+of the I Ching, Richard Wilhelm regards this idea as the fundamental concept of the Book of Changes:
+
+The eight trigrams . . . were held to be in a state of continual
+transition, one changing into another, just as transition
+from one phenomenon to another is continually taking
+place in the physical world. Here we have the fundamental
+concept of the Book of Changes. The eight trigrams are
+symbols standing for changing transitional states; they are
+images that are constantly undergoing change. Attention
+centers not on things in their state of being-as is chiefly
+the case in the Occident-but upon their movements in
+change. The eight trigrams therefore are not representations of things as such but of their tendencies in movement.lO
+In modern physics, we have come to see the ‘things’ of the
+subatomic world in very much the same way, laying stress
+upon movement, change and transformation and regarding
+the particles as transient stages in an ongoing cosmic process.
+
+283
+Patterns
+of
+Change
+
+18 INTERPENETRATION
+
+So far, our exploration of the world view suggested by modern
+physics has repeatedly shown that the idea of ‘basic building
+blocks’ of matter is no longer tenable. In the past, this concept
+was extremely successful in explaining the physical world in
+terms of a few atoms; the structures of the atoms in terms of
+a few nuclei surrounded by electrons; and finally, the structures
+of the nuclei in terms of two nuclear ‘building blocks’, the
+proton and the neutron. Thus atoms, nuclei and hadrons were,
+in turn, considered to be ‘elementary particles’. None of them,
+however, fulfilled that expectation. Each time, these particles
+turned out to be composite structures themselves, and
+physicists hoped that the next generation of constituents would
+finally reveal themselves as the ultimate components of matter.
+On the other hand, the theories of atomic and subatomic
+physics made the existence of elementary particles increasingly
+unlikely. They revealed a basic interconnection of matter,
+showing that energy of motion can be transformed into mass,
+and suggesting that particles are processes rather than objects.
+All these developments strongly indicated that the simple
+mechanistic picture of basic building blocks had to be abandoned, and yet many physicists are still reluctant to do so.
+The age-old tradition of explaining complex structures by
+breaking them down into simpler constituents is so deeply
+ingrained in Western thought that the search for these basic
+components is still going on.
+There is, however, a radically different school of thought in
+particle physics which starts from the idea that nature cannot
+be reduced to fundamental entities, such as elementary particles
+or fundamental fields. It has to be understood entirely through
+_--
+
+-
+
+286
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+its self-consistency, with its components being consistent both
+with one another and with themselves. This idea has arisen in
+the context of S-matrix theory and is known as the ‘bootstrap’
+hypothesis. Its originator and main advocate is Geoffrey Chew
+who, on the one hand, has developed the idea into a general
+‘bootstrap’ philosophy of nature and, on the other, has used
+it (in collaboration with other physicists) to construct specific
+models of particles formulated in S-matrix language. Chew has
+described the bootstrap hypothesis in several articles’ which
+provide the basis for the following presentation.
+The bootstrap philosophy constitutes the final rejection of
+the mechanistic world view in modern physics. Newton’s
+universe was constructed from a set of basic entities with
+certain fundamental properties, which had been created by
+God and thus were not amenable to further analysis. In one
+way or another, this notion was implicit in all theories of
+natural science until the bootstrap hypothesis stated explicitly
+that the world cannot be understood as an assemblage of
+entities which cannot be analysed further. In the new world
+view, the universe is seen as a dynamic web of interrelated
+events. None of the properties of any part of this web is fundamental; they all follow from the properties of the other parts,
+and the overall consistency of their mutual interrelations
+determines the structure of the entire web.
+Thus, the bootstrap philosophy represents the culmination
+of a view of nature that arose in quantum theory with the
+realization of an essential and universal interrelationship,
+acquired its dynamic content in relativity theory, and was
+formulated in terms of reaction probabilities in S-matrix theory.
+At the same time, this view of nature came ever closer to the
+Eastern world view and is now in harmony with Eastern thought,
+both in its general philosophy and in its specific picture of
+matter.
+The bootstrap hypothesis not only denies the existence of
+fundamental constituents of matter, but accepts no fundamental entities whatsoever-no fundamental laws, equations
+or principles-and thus abandons another idea which has
+been an essential part of natural science for hundreds of years.
+The notion of fundamental laws of nature was derived from
+the belief in a divine lawgiver which was deeply rooted in the
+
+Judaeo-Christian tradition. In the words of Thomas Aquinas:
+There is a certain Eternal Law, to wit, Reason, existing in
+the mind of Cod and governing the whole universe.*
+This notion of an eternal, divine law of nature greatly influenced
+Western philosophy and science. Descartes wrote about the
+‘laws which Cod has put into nature’, and Newton believed
+that the highest aim of his scientific work was to give evidence
+of the ‘laws impressed upon nature by Cod’. To discover the
+ultimate fundamental laws of nature remained the aim of
+natural scientistsfor the three centuries following Newton.
+In modern physics, a very different attitude has now developed.
+Physicists have come to see that all their theories of natural
+phenomena, including the ‘laws’ they describe, are creations
+of the human mind; properties of our conceptual map of
+reality, rather than of reality itself. This conceptual scheme is
+necessarily limited and approximate,* as are all the scientific
+theories and ‘laws of nature’ it contains. All natural phenomena
+are ultimately interconnected, and in order to explain any one
+of them we need to understand all the others, which is obviously
+impossible. What makes science so successful is the discovery
+that approximations are possible. If one is satisfied with an
+approximate ‘understanding’ of nature, one can describe
+selected groups of phenomena in this way, neglecting other
+phenomena which are less relevant. Thus one can explain
+many phenomena in terms of a few, and consequently understand different aspects of nature in an approximate way without
+having to understand everything at once. This is the scientific
+method; all scientific theories and models are approximations
+to the true nature of things, but the error involved in the
+approximation is often small enough to make such an approach
+meaningful. In particle physics, for example, the gravitational
+interaction forces between particles are usually ignored, as
+they are many orders of magnitude weaker than those of the
+other interactions. Although the error caused by this omission
+is exceedingly small, it is clear that the gravitational interactions
+will have to be included in future, more accurate theories of
+particles.
+Thus physicists construct a sequence of partial and approxi‘See pp. 28,4-l
+
+287
+Interpenetration
+
+288
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+mate theories, each of them being more accurate than the
+previous one, but none of them representing a complete and
+final account of natural phenomena. Like these theories, all
+the ‘laws of nature’ they describe are mutable, destined to be
+replaced by more accurate laws when the theories are improved.
+The incomplete character of a theory is usually reflected in its
+arbitrary parameters or ‘fundamental constants’, that is, in
+quantities whose numerical values are not explained by the
+theory, but have to be inserted into it after they have been
+determined empirically. Quantum theory cannot explain the
+value used for the mass of the electron, nor field theory the
+magnitude of the electron’s charge, or relativity theory that of
+the speed of light. In the classical view, these quantities were
+regarded as fundamental constants of nature which did not
+require any further explanation. In the modern view, their role
+of ‘fundamental constants’ is seen as temporary and reflecting
+the limitations of the present theories. According to the bootstrap philosophy, they should be explained, one by one, in
+future theories as the accuracy and scope of these theories
+increase. Thus the ideal situation should be approached, but
+may never be reached, where the theory does not contain
+any unexplained ‘fundamental’ constants, and. where all its
+‘laws’ follow from the requirement of overall self-consistency.
+It is important to realize, however, that even such an ideal
+theory must possess some unexplained features, although not
+necessarily in the form of numerical constants. As long as it is
+a scientific theory, it will require the acceptance, without
+explanation, of certain concepts which form the scientific
+language. To push the bootstrap idea further would lead
+beyond science:
+In the broad sense, the bootstrap idea, although fascinating
+and useful, is unscientific . . . Science, as we know it, requires
+a language based on some unquestioned framework.
+Semantically, therefore, an attempt to explain all concepts
+can hardly be called ‘scientific’.3
+It is evident that the complete ‘bootstrap’ view of nature, in
+which all phenomena in the universe are uniquely determined
+by mutual self-consistency, comes very close to the Eastern
+
+world view. An indivisible universe, in which all things and
+events are interrelated, would hardly make sense unless it
+were self-consistent. In a way, the requirement of self-consistency, which forms the basis of the bootstrap hypothesis,
+and the unity and interrelation of all phenomena, which are
+so strongly emphasized in Eastern mysticism, are just different
+aspects of the same idea. This close connection is most clearly
+expressed in Taoism. For the Taoist sages, all phenomena in
+the world were part of the cosmic Way-the Tao-and the
+laws followed by the Tao were not laid down by any divine
+lawgiver, but were inherent in its nature. Thus we read in the
+Tao Te Ching :
+Man follows the laws of earth;
+Earth follows the laws of heaven;
+Heaven follows the laws of Tao;
+Tao follows the laws of its intrinsic nature.4
+Joseph Needham, in his thorough study of Chinese science
+and civilization, discusses at great length how the Western
+concept of fundamental laws of nature, with its original implication of a divine lawgiver, has no counterpart in Chinese
+thought. ‘In the Chinese world view’, Needham writes, ‘the
+harmonious cooperation of all beings arose, not from the orders
+of a superior authority external to themselves, but from the
+fact that they were all parts in a hierarchy of wholes forming a
+cosmic pattern, and what they obeyed were the internal
+dictates of their own natures.‘5
+According to Needham, the Chinese did not even have a
+word corresponding to the classical Western idea of a ‘law of
+nature’. The term which comes closest to it is Ii, which the NeoConfucian philosopher Chu Hsi* describes as ‘the innumerable
+vein-like patterns included in the Tao’.6 Needham translates
+lias’principleoforganisation’andgivesthefollowingcomments:
+In its most ancient meaning, it signified the pattern in
+things, the markings of jade or fibres in muscle . . . It
+acquired the common dictionary meaning ‘principle’,
+but always conserved the undertone of ‘pattern’ . . . There
+‘See p. 102.
+
+289
+Interpenetration
+
+290
+I
+
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+is ‘law’ implicit in it, but this law is the law to which parts
+of wholes have to conform by virtue of their very existence
+as parts of wholes . . . The most important thing about
+parts is that they have to fit precisely into place with the
+other parts in the whole organism which they compose.7
+It is easy to see how such a view led the Chinese thinkers to
+the idea which has only recently been developed in modern
+physics, that self-consistency is the essence of all laws of
+nature. The following passage by Ch’en Shun, an immediate
+pupil of Chu Hsi who lived around A.D. 1200, gives a very
+clear account of this idea in words which could be taken as
+a perfect explanation of the notion of self-consistency in the
+bootstrap philosophy:
+Li is a natural and unescapable law of affairs and things . . .
+The meaning of ‘natural and unescapable’ is that (human)
+affairs and (natural) things are made just exactly to fit into
+place. The meaning of ‘law’ is that the fitting into place
+occurs without the slightest excess or deficiency . . . The
+men of old, investigating things to the utmost, and searching
+out Ii, wanted to elucidate the natural unescapableness
+of (human) affairs and (natural) things, and this simply
+means that what they were looking for was all the exact
+places where things precisely fit together. Just that.8
+In the Eastern view then, as in the view of modern physics,
+everything in the universe is connected to everything else and
+no part of it is fundamental. The properties of any part are
+determined, not by some fundamental law, but by the properties
+of all the other parts. Both physicists and mystics realize the
+resulting impossibility of fully explaining any phenomenon, but
+then they take different attitudes. Physicists, as discussed before,
+are satisfied with an approximate understanding of nature. The
+Eastern mystics, on the other hand, are not interested in
+approximate, or ‘relative’ knowledge. They are concerned with
+‘absolute’ knowledge involving an understanding of the totality
+of Life. Being well aware of the essential interrelationship of the
+universe, they realize that to explain something means, ultimately, to show how it is connected to everything else. As this
+is impossible, the Eastern mystics insist that no single phenomenon can be explained. Thus Ashvaghosha:
+
+All things in their fundamental nature are not namable
+or explicable. They cannot be adequately expresssed in
+any form of language.g
+The Eastern sages, therefore, are generally not interested in
+explaining things, but rather in obtaining a direct non-intellectual
+experience of the unity of all things. This was the attitude of
+the Buddha who answered all questions about life’s meaning,
+the origin of the world, or the nature of nirvana, with a ‘noble
+silence’. The nonsensical answers of Zen masters, when asked
+to explain something, seem to have the same purpose; to make
+the student realize that everything is a consequence of all the
+rest; that ‘explaining’ nature just means to show its unity;
+that, ultimately, there is nothing to explain. When a monk
+asked Tozan, who was weighing some flax, What is Buddha?
+Tozan said, This flax weighs three pounds’;lO and when Joshu
+was asked why Bodhidharma came to China, he replied, ‘An
+oak tree in the garden.‘”
+To free the human mind from words and explanations is one
+of the main aims of Eastern mysticism. Both Buddhists and
+Taoists speak of a ‘network of words’, or a ‘net of concepts’,
+thus extending the idea of the interconnected web to the
+realm of the intellect. As long as we try to explain things, we
+are bound by karma: trapped in our conceptual network. To
+transcend words and explanations means to break the bonds
+of karma and attain liberation.
+The world view of the Eastern mystics shares with the bootstrap
+philosophy of modern physics not only an emphasis on the
+mutual interrelation and self-consistency of all phenomena,
+but also the denial of fundamental constituents of matter. In a
+universe which is an inseparable whole and where all forms
+are fluid and ever-changing, there is no room for any fixed
+fundamental entity. The notion of ‘basic building blocks’ of
+matter is therefore generally not encountered in Eastern
+thought. Atomic theories of matter have never been developed
+in Chinese thought, and although they have arisen in some
+schools of Indian philosophy, they are rather peripheral to
+Indian mysticism. In Hinduism, the notion of atoms is prominent
+in the Jaina system (which is regarded as unorthodox since it
+does not accept the authority of the Vedas). In Buddhist philo-
+
+291
+Interpenetration
+
+292
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+sophy, atomic theories have arisen in two schools of Hinayana
+Buddhism, but are treated as illusory products of avidya by the
+more important Mahayana branch. Thus Ashvaghosha states:
+When we divide some gross (or composite) matter, we can
+reduce it to atoms. But as the atom will also be subject to
+further division, all forms of material existence, whether
+gross or fine, are nothing but the shadow of particularisation
+and we cannot ascribe any degree of (absolute or independent) reality to them.‘*
+The principal schools of Eastern mysticism thus agree with
+the view of the bootstrap philosophy that the universe is an
+interconnected whole in which no part is any more fundamental
+than the other, so that the properties of any one part are
+determined by those of all the others. In that sense, one might
+say that every part ‘contains’ all the others and, indeed, a
+vision of mutual embodiment seems to be characteristic of
+the mystical experience of nature. In the words of Sri Aurobindo,
+Nothing to the supramental sense is really finite; it is
+founded on a feeling of all in each and of each in all.‘3
+This notion of ‘all in each and each in all’ has found its most
+extensive elaboration in the Avatamsaka school of Mahayana
+Buddhism* which is often considered to be the final culmination
+of Buddhist thought. It is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra,
+traditionally believed to have been delivered by the Buddha
+while he was in deep meditation after his Awakening. This
+voluminous sutra, which has so far not been translated into
+any Western language, describes in great detail how the world
+is perceived in the enlightened state of consciousness, when
+‘the solid outlines of individuality melt away and the feeling
+of finiteness no longer oppresses us.‘14 In its last part, called
+the Candavyuha, it tells the story of a young pilgrim, Sudhana,
+and gives the most vivid account of his mystical experience of
+the universe, which appears to him as a perfect network of
+mutual relations, where all things and events interact with
+each other in such a way that each of them contains, in itself,
+*See p. 98.
+
+all the others. The following passage from the sum, paraphrased
+by D. T. Suzuki, uses the image of a magnificently decorated
+tower to convey Sudhana’s experience:
+The Tower is as wide and spacious as the sky itself. The
+ground is paved with (innumerable) precious stones of all
+kinds, and there are within theTower Iinnumerable) palaces,
+porches, windows, staircases, railings, and passages, all of
+which are made of the seven kinds of precious gems . . .
+And within this Tower, spacious and exquisitely ornamented, there are also hundreds of thousands . . . of towers,
+each one of which is as exquisitely ornamented as the
+main Tower itself and as spacious as the sky. And all these
+towers, beyond calculation in number, stand not at all in
+one another’s way; each preserves its individual existence
+in perfect harmony with all the rest; there is nothing here
+that bars one tower being fused with all the others individually and collectively; there is a state of perfect
+intermingling and yet of perfect orderliness. Sudhana,
+the young pilgrim, sees himself in all the towers as well as
+in each single tower, where all is contained in one and
+each contains all.15
+The Tower in this passage is, of course, a metaphor for the
+universe itself, and the perfect mutual interfusion of its parts
+is known in Mahayana Buddhism as ‘interpenetration’. The
+Avatamsaka makes it clear that this interpenetration is an
+essentially dynamic interrelation which takes place not only
+spatially but also temporally. As mentioned previously,* space
+and time are also seen as interpenetrating.
+The experience of interpenetration in the state of enlightenment can be seen as a mystical vision of the complete ‘bootstrap’ situation, where all phenomena in the universe are
+harmoniously interrelated. In such a state of consciousness,
+the realm of the intellect is transcended and causal explanations
+become unnecessary, being replaced by the direct experience
+of the mutual interdependence of all things and events. The
+Buddhist concept of interpenetration thus goes far beyond any
+*See p.172
+
+293
+Interpenetration
+
+294
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+scientific bootstrap theory. Nevertheless, there are models of
+subatomic particles in modern physics, based on the bootstrap
+hypothesis, which show the most striking parallels to the views
+of Mahayana Buddhism.
+When the bootstrap idea is formulated in a scientific context,
+it has to be limited and approximate, and its main approximation
+consists in neglecting all but the strong interactions. Since these
+interaction forces are about a hundred times stronger than
+the electromagnetic ones, and many more orders of magnitude
+stronger than weak and gravitational interactions, such an
+approximation seems reasonable. The scientific bootstrap,
+then, deals exclusively with strongly interacting particles, or
+hadrons, and is therefore often called the ‘hadron bootstrap’.
+It is formulated in the framework of S-matrix theory and its
+aim is to derive all properties of hadrons and their interactions
+uniquely from the requirement of self-consistency. The only
+‘fundamental laws’ accepted are the general S-matrix principles
+discussed in the previous chapter, which are required by our
+methods of observation and measurement and thus constitute
+the unquestioned framework necessary for all science. Other
+properties of the S matrix may have to be postulated temporarily
+as ‘fundamental principles’, but will be expected to emerge as
+a necessary consequence of self-consistency in the complete
+theory. The postulate that all hadrons form sequences described
+by the Regge formalism* may he of that kind.
+In the language of S-matrix theory, then, the bootstrap
+hypothesis suggests that the full S matrix, and thus all the
+properties of hadrons, can be determined uniquely from the
+general principles because there is only one possible S matrix
+consistent with all three of them. This conjecture receives
+support from the fact that physicists have never come close
+to constructing a mathematical model which satisfies the
+three general principles. If the only consistent S matrix is the
+one describing a// properties and interactions of hadrons, as
+the bootstrap hypothesis assumes, the physicists’ failure to
+construct a-consistent partial S matrix becomes understandable.
+The phenomena involving hadrons are so complex that it is
+‘See Q. 274.
+_..
+
+by no means certain whether the complete self-consistent S
+matrix will ever be constructed, but one can envisage a series
+of partially successful models of smaller scope. Each of them
+would be intended to cover only a part of hadron physics and
+would therefore contain some unexplained parameters representing its limitations, but the parameters of one model may
+be explained by another. Thus more and more hadron phenomena may gradually be covered with ever-increasing accuracy
+by a mosaic of interlocking models whose net number of
+unexplained parameters will keep decreasing. The adjective
+‘bootstrap’ is thus never appropriate for any individual model,
+but can only be applied to a combination of mutually consistent
+models, none of which is any more fundamental than the
+others. As Chew has put it, ‘A physicist who is able to view any
+number of different partially successful models without
+favoritism is automatically a bootstrapper.’
+A number of partial models of that kind already exist,
+formulated in S-matrix language and describing certain aspects
+of hadron phenomena. The most successful of them are the
+so-called ‘dual models’ which make extensive use of the dual
+description of hadron reactions in terms of direct and cross
+channels.* These models incorporate, for the first time, two of
+the three general principles** plus the crossing property of the
+S matrix and the Regge formalism. They constitute so far the
+most promising attempts at carrying out the bootstrap
+programme.
+The picture of hadrons which emerges from these bootstrap
+models is often summed up in the provocative phrase, ‘every
+particle consists of all other particles’. It must not be imagined,
+however, that each hadron contains all the others in a classical,
+static sense. Rather than ‘containing’ one another, hadrons
+‘involve’ one another in the dynamic and probabilistic sense
+of S-matrix theory, each hadron being a potential ‘bound state’
+of all sets of particles which may interact with one another
+to form the hadron under consideration.*** In that sense, all
+hadrons are composite structures whose components are
+*See p. 272.
+**They do not satisfy the so-called ‘unitarity principle’; see p. 274.
+***seep.
+
+266.
+
+295
+
+Interpenetration
+
+2%
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+again hadrons, and none of them is any more elementary than
+the others. The binding forces holding the structures together
+manifest themselves through the exchange of particles, and
+these exchanged particles are again hadrons. Each hadron,
+therefore, plays three roles: it is a composite structure, it may
+be a constituent of another hadron, and it may be exchanged
+between constituents and thus constitute part of the forces
+holding a structure together. The concept of ‘crossing’ is crucial
+for this picture. Each hadron is held together by forces associated
+with the exchange of other hadrons in the cross channel, each
+of which is, in turn, held together by forces to which the first
+hadron makes a contribution. Thus, ‘each particle helps to
+generate other particles, which in turn generate it.“’ The whole
+set of hadrons generates itself in this way or pulls itself up, so to
+say, by its ‘bootstraps’. The idea, then, is that this extremely
+complex bootstrap mechanism is self-determining, that is, that
+there is only one way in which it can be achieved. In other
+words, there is only one possible self-consistent set of hadronsthe one found in nature.
+In the hadron bootstrap, all particles are dynamically composed
+of one another in a self-consistent way, and in that sense can
+be said to ‘contain’ one another. In Mahayana Buddhism, a
+very similar notion is applied to the whole universe. This cosmic
+network of interpenetrating things and events is illustrated in
+the Avatamsaka Sutra by the metaphor of Indra’s net, a vast
+network of precious gems hanging over the palace of the god
+Indra. In the words of Sir Charles Eliot:
+In the heaven of Indra, there is said to be a network of
+pearls, so arranged that if you look at one you see all the
+others reflected in it. In the same way each object in the
+world is not merely itself but involves every other object
+and in fact is everything else. ‘In every particle of dust,
+there are present Buddhas without number.‘18
+The similarity of this image with that of the hadron bootstrap
+is indeed striking. The metaphor of Indra’s net may justly be
+called the first bootstrap model, created by the Eastern sages
+some 2,500 years before the beginning of particle physics.
+
+-.
+
+. _ - -
+
+Buddhists insist that the concept of interpenetration is not
+comprehensible intellectually, but is to be experienced by an
+enlightened mind in the state of meditation. Thus D. T. Suzuki
+writes :
+The Buddha [in the Gandavyuhal is no more the one who
+is living in the world conceivable in space and time. His
+consciousness is not that of an ordinary mind which must
+be regulated according to the senses and logic . . . The
+Buddha of the Gandavyuha lives in a spiritual world which ’
+has its own rules.19
+In modern physics, the situation is quite similar. The idea of
+every particle containing all the others is inconceivable in
+ordinary space and time. It describes a reality which, like the
+one of the Buddha, has its own rules. In the case of the hadron
+bootstrap, they are the rules of quantum theory and relativity
+theory, the key concept being that the forces holding particles
+together are themselves particles exchanged in the cross
+channels. This concept can be given a precise mathematical
+meaning, but is almost impossible to visualize. It is a specifically
+relativistic feature of the bootstrap, and since we have no
+direct experience of the four-dimensional world of space-time,
+it is extremely difficult to imagine how a single particle can
+contain all other particles and at the same time be part of
+each of them. This, however, is exactly the view of the
+Mahayana:
+When the one is set against all the others, the one is seen
+as pervading them all and at the same time embracing
+them all in itself.”
+The idea of each particle containing all the others has not
+only arisen in Eastern mysticism, but also in Western mystical
+thought. It is implicit, for example, in William Blake’s famous
+lines :
+To see a world in a grain of sand
+And a heaven in a wild flower,
+Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
+And eternity in an hour.
+
+297
+Interpenetration
+
+298
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Here again, a mystical vision has led to an image of the bootstrap type; if the poet sees the world in a grain of sand, the
+modern physicist sees the world in a hadron.
+A similar image appears in the philosophy of Leibniz who
+considered the world as being made of fundamental substances
+called ‘monads’, each of which mirrored the whole universe.
+This led him to a view of matter which shows similarities to
+that of Mahayana Buddhism and to the hadron bootstrap.*
+In his Monadology, Leibniz writes :
+Each portion of matter may be conceived of as a garden
+full of plants, and as a pond full of fishes. But each branch
+of the plant, each member of the animal, each drop of itshumors, is also such a garden or such a pond.21
+It is interesting that the similarity of these lines to the
+passages of the Avatamsaka Sutra mentioned before may stem
+from an actual Buddhist influence on Leibniz. Joseph Needham
+has argued 22 that Leibniz was well acquainted with Chinese
+thought and culture through translations he received from
+Jesuit monks, and that his philosophy might very well have
+been inspired by the Neo-Confucian school of Chu Hsi with
+which he was familiar. This school, however, has one of its
+roots in Mahayana Buddhism, and in particular in the Avatamsaka
+(Chinese: ha-yen) school of the Mahayana branch. Needham,
+in fact, mentions the parable of Indra’s net of pearls explicitly
+in connection with the Leibnizian monads.
+A more detailed comparison of Leibniz’ notion of ‘mirroring
+relations’ between monads with the idea of interpenetration in
+the Mahayana seems to show,. however, that the two are
+rather different, and that the Buddhist conception of matter
+comes much closer to the spirit of modern physics than that
+of Leibniz. The principal difference between the Monadology
+and the Buddhist view seems to be that the Leibnizian monads
+are fundamental substances which are seen as the ultimate
+constituents of matter. Leibniz begins the Monadology with
+the words, The monad of which we shall here speak is merely
+*The parallels between Leibniz’ view of matter and the hadron bootstrap have
+recently been discussed; see C. Gale, ‘Chew’s Monadology’, journal of History
+of Ideas, vol. 35 (April-June 1974), pp. 339-48.
+
+a simple substance, which enters into composites; simple,
+that is to say, without parts.’ He goes on to say, ‘And these
+monads are the true atoms of nature, and, in a word, the
+elements of all things.‘23 Such a ‘fundamentalist’ view is in
+striking contrast to the bootstrap philosophy, and is also totally
+different from the view of Mahayana Buddhism which rejects
+all fundamental entities or substances. Leibniz’ fundamentalist
+way of thinking is also reflected in his view of forces which he
+regards as laws ‘imprinted by divine decree’ and essentially
+different from matter. ‘Forces and activity’, he writes, ‘cannot
+
+299
+Interpenetration
+
+be states of a merely passive thing like matter.‘” Again, this
+is contrary to the views of modern physics and of Eastern
+mysticism.
+As far as the actual interrelation between the monads is
+concerned, the main difference to the hadron bootstrap seems
+to be that monads do not interact with each other; they ‘have
+no windows’, as Leibniz says, and merely mirror one another.
+In the hadron bootstrap, on the other hand, as in the Mahayana,
+the emphasis is on the interaction, or ‘interpenetration’, of all
+particles. Furthermore, the bootstrap and the Mahayana views
+of matter are both ‘space-time’ views which see objects as
+events whose mutual interpenetration can only be understood
+if one realizes that space and time, too, are interpenetrating.
+The bootstrap hypothesis is not yet firmly established and the
+technical difficulties involved in its implementation are considerable. Nevertheless, physicists already speculate about
+extending the self-consistent approach beyond the description
+of hadrons. In the present context of S-matrix theory, such an
+extension is not possible. The framework of the S matrix has
+been developed specifically to describe the strong interactions
+and cannot beapplied to the rest of particle physics, the principal
+reason being that it cannot accommodate the massless particles
+which are characteristic of all the other interactions. To enlarge
+the hadron bootstrap, therefore, a more general framework
+will have to be found, and in this new framework some of the
+concepts which are at present accepted without explanation
+will have to be ‘bootstrapped’; they will have to be derived,
+that is, from the overall self-consistency. According to Geoffrey
+Chew, these might include our conception of macroscopic
+
+I
+
+300
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+space-time and, perhaps, even that of human consciousness:
+Carried to its logical extreme, the bootstrap conjecture
+implies that the existence of consciousness, along with
+all other aspects of nature, is necessary for self-consistency
+of the whole.25
+This view, again, is in perfect harmony with the views of the
+Eastern mystical traditions which have always regarded consciousness as an integral part of the universe. In the Eastern
+view, human beings, like all other life forms, are parts of an
+inseparable organic whole. Their intelligence, therefore, implies
+that the whole, too, is intelligent. Man is seen as the living
+proof of cosmic intelligence; in us, the universe repeats over
+and over again its ability to produce forms through which it
+becomes consciously aware of itself.
+In modern physics, the question of consciousness has arisen
+in connection with the observation of atomic phenomena.
+Quantum theory has made it clear that these phenomena
+can only be understood as links in a chain of processes, the
+end of which lies in the consciousness of the human observer.*
+In the words of Eugene Wigner, ‘It was not possible to formulate
+the laws of [quantum theory1 in a fully consistent way without
+reference to consciousness.‘26 The pragmatic formulation of
+quantum theory used by the scientists in their work does not
+refer to their consciousness explicitly. Wigner and other
+physicists have argued, however, that the explicit inclusion of
+human consciousness may be an essential aspect of future
+theories of matter.
+Such a development would open exciting possibilities for a
+direct interaction between physics and Eastern mysticism.
+The understanding of one’s consciousness and of its relation
+to the rest of the universe is the starting point of all mystical
+experience. The Eastern mystics have explored various modes
+of consciousness throughout centuries, and the conclusions
+they have reached are often radically different from the ideas
+held in the West. If physicists really want to include the nature
+of human consciousness in their realm of research, a study of
+Eastern ideas may well provide them with stimulating new
+viewpoints.
+
+-.
+
+*See p. 140
+
+Thus the future enlargement of the hadron bootstrap, with
+the ‘bootstrapping’ of space-time and of human consciousness
+it may require, opens up unprecedented possibilities which
+may well go beyond the conventional framework of science:
+Such a future step would be immensely more profound
+than anything comprising the hadron bootstrap; we
+would be obliged to confront the elusive concept of
+observation and, possibly, even that of consciousness.
+Our current struggle with the hadron bootstrap may thus
+be only a foretaste of a completely new form of human
+intellectual endeavor, one that will not only lie outside of
+physics but will not even be describable as ‘scientific’.27
+Where, then, does the bootstrap idea lead us?This, of course,
+nobody knows, but it is fascinating to speculate about its
+ultimate fate. One can imagine a network of future theo,ries
+covering an ever-increasing range of natural phenomena with
+ever-increasing accuracy; a network which will contain fewer
+and fewer unexplained features, deriving more and more of its
+structure from the mutual consistency of its parts. Some day,
+then, a point will be reached where the only unexplained
+features of this network of theories will be the elements of the
+scientific framework. Beyond that point, the theory will no
+longer be able to express its results in words, or in rational
+concepts, and will thus go beyond science. Instead of a bootstrap theory of nature, it will become a bootstrap vision of
+nature, transcending the realms of thought and language;
+leading out of science and into the world of acintya, the unthinkable. The knowledge contained in such a vision will be
+complete, but cannot be communicated in words. It will be
+the knowledge which Lao Tzu had in mind, more than two
+thousand years ago, when he said:
+He who knows does not speak,
+He who speaks does not know.*8
+
+.
+
+301
+Interpenetration
+
+I
+
+xexp[- icp,( 7”) - vTn]dVexp[- ie( 7’) -
+
+,t-t9,.- rp,=(iT-R)I~(F-~‘)-(W--‘)(t.
+.
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+The Eastern religious philosophies are concerned with timeless
+mystical knowledge which lies beyond reasoning and cannot
+be adequately expressed in words. The relation of this knowledge
+to modern physics is but one of its many aspects and, like all
+the others, it cannot be demonstrated conclusively but has to
+be experienced in a direct intuitive way. What I hope to have
+achieved, to some extent, therefore, is not a rigorous demonstration, but rather to have given the reader an opportunity to
+relive, every now and then, an experience which has become
+for me a source of continuing joy and inspiration; that the
+principal theories and models of modern physics lead to a
+view of the world which is internally consistent and in perfect
+harmony with the views of Eastern mysticism.
+For those who have experienced this harmony, the significance of the parallels between the world views of physicists
+and mystics is beyond any doubt. The interesting question,
+then, is not whether these parallels exist, but why; and, furthermore, what their existence implies.
+In trying to understand the mystery of Life, man has followed
+many different approaches. Among them, there are the ways
+of the scientist and mystic, but there are many more; the ways
+of poets, children, clowns, shamans, to name but a few. These
+ways have resulted in different descriptions of the world, both
+verbal and non-verbal, which emphasize different aspects.
+All are valid and useful in the context in which they arose. All
+of them, however, are only descriptions, or representations, of
+reality and are therefore limited. None can give a complete
+picture of the world.
+The mechanistic world view of classical physics is useful for
+
+304
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+--
+
+the description of the kind of physical phenomena we encounter in our everyday life and thus appropriate for dealing
+with our daily environment, and it has also proved extremely
+successful as a basis for technology. It is inadequate, however,
+for the description of physical phenomena in the submicroscopic realm. Opposed to the mechanistic conception of the
+world is the view of the mystics which may be epitomized by
+the word ‘organic’, as it regards all phenomena in the universe
+as integral parts of an inseparable harmonious whole. This
+world view emerges in the mystical traditions from meditative
+states of consciousness. In their description of the world, the
+mystics use concepts which are derived from these nonordinary experiences and are, in general, inappropriate for a
+scientific description of macroscopic phenomena. The organic
+world view is not advantageous for constructing machines,
+nor for coping with the technical problems in an overpopulated
+world.
+In everyday life, then, both the mechanistic and the organic
+views of the universe are valid and useful; the one for science
+and technology, the other for a balanced and fulfilled spiritual
+life. Beyond the dimensions of our everyday environment,
+however, the mechanistic concepts lose their validity and have
+to be replaced by organic concepts which are very similar to
+those used by the mystics. This is the essential experience of
+modern physics which has been the subject of our discussion.
+Physics in the twentieth century has shown that the concepts
+of the organic world view, although of little value for science
+and technology on the human scale, become extremely useful
+at the atomic and subatomic level. The organic view, therefore,
+seems to be more fundamental than the mechanistic. Classical
+physics, which is based on the latter, can be derived from
+quantum theory, which implies the former, whereas the reverse
+is not possible. This seems to give a first indication why we
+might expect the world views of modern physics and Eastern
+mysticism to be similar. Both emerge when man enquires into
+the essential nature of things- into the deeper realms of matter
+in physics; into the deeper realms of consciousness in mysticism
+-when he discovers a different reality behind the superficial
+mechanistic appearance of everyday life.
+c
+The parallels between the views of physicists and mystics
+_ ___..._ . .
+
+_
+
+become even more plausible when we recall the other similarities
+which exist in spite of their different approaches. To begin with,
+their method is thoroughly empirical. Physicists derive their
+knowledge from experiments; mystics from meditative insights.
+Both are observations, and in both fields these observations
+are acknowledged as the only source of knowledge. The object
+of observation is of course very different in the two cases. The
+mystic looks within and explores his or her consciousness at
+its various levels, which include the body as the physical
+manifestation of the mind. The experience of one’s body is,
+in fact, emphasized in many Eastern traditions and is often seen
+as the key to the mystical experience of the world. When we
+are healthy, we do not feel any separate parts in our body but
+are aware of it as an integrated whole, and this awareness
+generates a feeling of well-being and happiness. In a similar
+way, the mystic is aware of the wholeness of the entire cosmos
+which is experienced as an extension of the body. In the words
+of Lama Covinda,
+To the enlightened man . . . whose consciousness embraces
+the universe, to him the universe becomes his ‘body’,
+while his physical body becomes a manifestation of the
+Universal Mind, his inner vision an expression of the highest
+reality, and his speech an expression of eternal truth and
+mantric power.’
+In contrast to the mystic, the physicist begins his enquiry
+into the essential nature of things by studying the material
+world. Penetrating into ever deeper realms of matter, he has
+become aware of the essential unity of all things and events.
+More than that, he has also learnt that he himself and his
+consciousness are an integral part of this unity. Thus the mystic
+and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting
+from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The
+harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian
+wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical
+to Atman, the reality within.
+A further similarity between the ways of the physicist and
+mystic is the fact that their observations take place in realms
+which are inaccessible to the ordinary senses. In modern physics,
+
+305
+Epilogue
+
+306
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+these are the realms of the atomic and subatomic world; in
+mysticism they are non-ordinary states of consciousness in
+which the sense world is transcended. Mystics often talk about
+experiencing higher dimensions in which impressions of
+different centres of consciousness are integrated into a
+harmonious whole. A similar situation exists in modern physics
+where a four-dimensional ‘space-time’ formalism has been
+developed which unifies concepts and observations belonging
+to different categories in the ordinary three-dimensional world.
+In both fields, the multi-dimensional experiences transcend the
+sensory world and are therefore almost impossible to express
+in ordinary language.
+We see that the ways of the modern physicist and the
+Eastern mystic, which seem at first totally unrelated, have, in
+fact, much in common. It should not be too surprising, therefore, that there are striking parallels in their descriptions of the
+world. Once these parallels between Western science and
+Eastern mysticism are accepted, a number of questions will
+arise concerning their implications. Is modern science, with all
+its sophisticated machinery, merely rediscovering ancient
+wisdom, known to the Eastern sages for thousands of years?
+Should physicists, therefore, abandon the scientific method
+and begin to meditate? Or can there be a mutual influence
+between science and mysticism; perhaps even a synthesis?
+I think all these questions have to be answered in the
+negative. I see science and mysticism as two complementary
+manifestations of the human mind; of its rational and intuitive
+faculties. The modern physicist experiences the world through
+an extreme specialization of the rational mind; the mystic
+through an extreme specialization of the intuitive mind. The
+two approaches are entirely different and involve far more than
+a certain view of the physical world. However, they are complementary, as we have learned to say in physics. Neither is
+comprehended in the other, nor can either of them be reduced
+to the other, but both of them are necessary, supplementing
+one another for a fuller understanding of the world. To paraphrase an old Chinese saying, mystics understand the roots of
+the Tao but not its branches; scientists understand its branches
+but not its roots. Sciencedoes not need mysticism and mysticism
+does not need science; but man needs both. Mystical experi-
+
+ence is necessary to understand the deepest nature of things,
+and science is essential for modern life. What we need, there,fore, is not a synthesis but a dynamic interplay between
+mystical intuition and scientific analysis.
+So far, this has not been achieved in our society. At present,
+our attitude is too yang-to use again Chinese phraseologytoo rational, male and aggressive. Scientists themselves are a
+typical example. Although their theories are leading to a world
+view which is similar to that of the mystics, it is striking how
+littlethis hasaffected theattitudesof most scientists. In mysticism,
+knowledge cannot be separated from a certain way of life
+which becomes its living manifestation. To acquire mystical
+knowledge means to undergo a transformation; one could
+even say that the knowledge is the transformation. Scientific
+knowledge, on the other hand, can often stay abstract and
+theoretical. Thus most of today’s physicists do not seem to
+realize the philosophical, cultural and spiritual implications of
+their theories. Many of them actively support a society which
+is still based on the mechanistic, fragmented world view,
+without seeing that science points beyond such a view, towards
+a oneness of the universe which includes not only our natural
+environment but also our fellow human beings. I believe that
+the world view implied by modern physics is inconsistent with
+our present society, which does not reflect the harmonious
+interrelatedness we observe in nature. To achieve such a state
+of dynamic balance, a radically different social and economic
+structure will be needed: a cultural revolution in the true sense
+of the word. The survival of our whole civilization may depend
+on whether we can bring about such a change. It will depend,
+ultimately, on our ability to adopt some of the yin attitudes of
+Eastern mysticism; to experience the wholeness of nature and
+the art of living with it in harmony.
+
+307
+
+Epilogue
+
+NOTES
+
+I THE WAY OF PHYSICS
+Chapter 1: Modern Physics-A Path with a Heart?
+1 J. R. Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding, pp. 8-9.
+2 N. Bohr, Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge, p. 20.
+3 W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 202.
+4 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, p. 78.
+5 Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, 3.7.15.
+Chapter 2: Knowing and Seeing
+1 W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 125.
+2 Chuang Tzu, trans. James Legge, ch. 26.
+3 Katha Upanishad, 3.15.
+4 Kena Upanishad, 3.
+5 Quoted in J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. II, p. 85.
+6 W. James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 388.
+7 6. Russell, History of Western Philosophy, p. 37.
+8 D. T. Suzuki, On lndian Mahayana Buddhism, p. 237.
+9 J. Needham, op. cit., vol. II, p. 33.
+10 From the Zenrin kushu, in I. Muira & R. Fuller Sasaki, The Zen Koan,
+p. 103.
+11 D. T. Suzuki, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, p. 235.
+12 In Carlos Castaneda, A separate Reality, p. 20.
+13 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, ch. 41.
+14 Ibid., ch. 48.
+15 Chuang Tzu, op. cit., ch. 13.
+16 In P. Kapleau, Three Pillars of Zen, pp. 53-4.
+17 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Hinduism and Buddhism, p. 33.
+18 In A W. Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 183.
+19 ibid., 2.187.
+Chapter 3: Beyond Language
+1 W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 177.
+2 D. T. Suzuki, On Indian Mahayana Buddhism, p. 239.
+3 W. Heisenberg, op. cit., pp. 178-9.
+
+310
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+4 In D. T. Suzuki, The Essence of Buddhism, p. 26.
+5 In P. Kapleau, Three Pillars of Zen, p. 135.
+6 W. Heisenberg, op. cit., p. 42.
+Chapter 4: The New Physics
+1 D. T. Suzuki, The fssence of Buddhism, p. 7.
+2 W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 167.
+3 In P. A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, p. 45.
+4 N. Bohr, Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature, p. 2.
+5 S. Aurobindo, On Yoga II, Tome One, p. 327.
+6 Quoted in M. Capek, The Philosophical Impact of Contemporary Physics,
+p. 7.
+7 Ibid., p. 36.
+8 In M. P Crosland (ed.), The Science of Matter, p. 76.
+9 Quoted in M. Capek, op. cit., p. 122.
+IO Quoted in j. Jeans, The Growth of Physical Science, p. 237.
+11 Tables of Particle Properties, published by the Particle Data Group in
+Physics Letters,Vol. 50B, No. 1,1974.
+II THE WAY OF EASTERN MYSTICISM
+Chapter 5: Hinduism
+1 Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.3.
+2 Bhagavad Cita, 4.42.
+3 Bhagavad Cita, 13.12.
+4 Maitri Upanishad, 6.17.
+5 Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.6.
+6 Chandogya Upanishad, 6.9.4.
+7 Bhagavad Cita, 8.3.
+8 Ibid., 3.27-8.
+9 Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, 4.3.21.
+Chapter 6: Buddhism
+1 Dhammapada, 113.
+2 Digha Nikaya, ii, 154.
+3 D. T. Suzuki, On Indian Mahayana Buddhism, p. 122.
+4 D.T. Suzuki, The Essence of Buddhism, p. 54.
+Chapter 7: Chinese Thought
+1 Chuang Tzu, trans. James Legge, ch. 13.
+2 J. Needham,
+Science and Civilisation in China, vol. II, p, 35.
+3 Fung Yu-Lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p. 14.
+4 Chuang Tzu, op. cit., ch. 22.
+5 Quoted in J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. II, p. 51.
+6 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, chs. 40 and 25.
+7 Ibid., ch. 29.
+8 Wang Ch’ung, A.D. 80, quoted in ). Needham, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 7.
+9 R. Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, p. 297.
+10 Kuei Ku Tzu, fourth century B.C., quoted in J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol.
+IV, p. 6.
+
+11 Chuang Tzu, op. cit., ch. 22.
+12 R. Wilhelm, op. cit., p. xlvii.
+I3 Ibid., p. 321.
+14 Ibid., p. 348.
+Chapter 8: Taoism
+1 Chuang Tzu, trans. James Legge, ch. 22.
+2 Ibid., ch. 24.
+3 Ibid., ch. 2.
+4 Ibid., ch. 13.
+5 Bhagavad Cita, 2.45.
+6 Quoted in Fung Yu-Lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p. 112.
+7 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, ch. 36.
+8 Ibid., ch. 22.
+9 Chuang Tzu, op. cit.;ch. 17.
+10 In C. S. Kirk, Heraclitus-The Cosmic Fragments, p. 307.
+11 Ibid., pp. 105,184.
+12 Ibid., p. 149.
+13 Lao Tzu, op. cit., ch. 2.
+14 Quoted in 1. Needham,
+Science and Civilisation in China, vol. II, p. 88.
+15 Ibid., pp. 68-9.
+16 Lao Tzu, op. cit., ch. 48.
+17 Lao Tzu, op. cit., chs. 71, 2.
+18 Chuang Tzu, op. cit., ch. 16.
+Chapter 9: Zen
+1 Chuang Tzu, trans. James Legge, ch. 22.
+2 In A. W. Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 87.
+3 In P. Reps, Zen flesh, Zen Bones, p. 96.
+4 In D. T. Suzuki, Zen andlapanese Culture, p. 16.
+5 In P. Kapleau, Three Pillars of Zen, p. 49.
+6 From the Zenrin kushu; in A. W. Watts, op. cit., 134.
+III
+
+THE
+
+PARALLELS
+
+Chapter 10: The Unity of All Things
+1 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, p. 55.
+2 Ibid., p. 93.
+3 H. P. Stapp, ‘S-Matrix Interpretation of Quantum Theory,’ Physical Review, vol. 03 (March 15th, 1971), pp. 1303-20.
+4 Ibid., p. 1303.
+5 N. Bohr, Atomic Physics and the Description of Nature, p. 57.
+6 D. Bohm & B. Hiley, ‘On the Intuitive Understanding of Nonlocality as
+Implied by Quantum Theory,’ Foundations of Physics, vol. 5 (1975), pp.
+96, 102.
+7 S. Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 993.
+8 Nagarjuna, quoted in T R. V. Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, p. 138.
+dhism, p. 138.
+9 H. P. Stapp, op. cit., p. 1310.
+
+311
+Notes
+
+312
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+IO W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 107.
+11 Mundaka Upanishad, 2.2.5.
+12 W. Heisenberg, op. cit., p. 81.
+13 Ibid., p. 58.
+14 J. A. Wheeler, in J. Mehra (ed.), The Physicist’s Conception of Nature,
+p. 244.
+15 Brihad-aranyaka Upnishad, 4.5.15.
+16 Chuang Tzu, trans. James Legge, ch. 6.
+17 Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p. 93.
+Chapter 11: Beyond the World of Opposites
+1 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, ch. 1.
+2 D. T. Suzuki, The Essence of Buddhism, p. 18.
+3 Quoted in A. W. Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 117.
+4 R. Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, p. 297.
+5 Lama Anagarika Covinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p. 136.
+6 V. F. Weisskopf, Physics in the Twentieth Century-Selected Essays, p. 30.
+7 J. R. Oppenheimer, Science and the Common Understanding, pp. 42-3.
+8 Isa-Upanishad, 5.
+9 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, p. 59.
+10 Lama Anagarika Govinda, ‘Logic and Symbol in the Multi-Dimensional
+Conception of the Universe: Main Currents, vol. 25, p. 60.
+Chapter 12: Space-time
+1 In P, A. Schilpp (ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, p. 250.
+2 Madhyamika Karika Vrtti, quoted in T. R. V. Murti, The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, p. 198.
+3 J. Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. III, p. 458.
+4 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, p. 107.
+5 M. Sachs, ‘Space Time and Elementary Interactions in Relativity,’ Physics
+Today, vol. 22 (February 1969), p. 53.
+6 In A. Einstein et al., The Principle of Relativity, p. 75.
+7 S. Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p, 993.
+8 D. T. Suzuki, Preface to B. L. Suzuki, Mahayana Buddhism, p. 33.
+9 Chuang Tzu, trans, James Legge, ch. 2.
+IO Quoted in A. W. Watts, The Way of Zen, p. 201.
+11 D.T. Suzuki, On Indian Mahayana Buddhism, pp. 148-9.
+12 In P A. Schilpp, op. cit., p. 114.
+13 Lama Anagarika Covinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p. 116.
+14 Dogen Zenji, Shobogenzo; in J. Kennett, Selling Water by the.River,
+p. 140.
+15 Govinda, op. cit., p. 270.
+16 S. Vivekananda, lnana Yoga, p. 109.
+Chapter 13: The Dynamic Universe
+
+.
+
+1 D.T. Suzuki, The Essence of Buddhism, p. 53.
+2 Carlos Castaneda, A Separate Reality, p. 16.
+3 S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, p. 173.
+4 Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad,
+2.3.3.
+5 Bhagavad Cita, 8.3.
+. ..~..
+._ _ ,_I-.- --__- - _~~.- ___^ . .
+
+.
+
+.“_
+
+6 Ibid., 3.24.
+7 S. Radhakrishnan, op. cit., p. 367.
+8 Ts’ai-ken tan; quoted in T Leggett, A first Zen Reader, p. 229, and in
+N. W . ROSS, Three Ways of Asian Wisdom, p. 144.
+9 A. C. B. Lovell, The IndividuaI and the Universe, p, 93.
+10 Bhagavad Cita, 9.7-10.
+11 Digha Nikaya, ii, 198.
+12 D.T. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 55.
+13 J. Needham, Science and Civifisation in China, vol. II, p, 478.
+Chapter 14: Emptiness and Form
+1 F. Hoyle, Frontiers of Astronomy, p. 304.
+2 Quoted in M. Capek, The Philosophical Impact of Contemporary Physics, p. 319.
+3 Chandogya Upanishad, 4.10.4.
+4 Kuan-tzu, trans. W. A. Rickett, XIII, 36: a very large socio-philosophical
+work, traditionally attributed to the noted statesman Kuan Chung of the
+seventh century B.C. but most likely a composite work compiled around
+the third century B.C. and reflecting various philosophical schools.
+5 Chandogya Upanishad, 3.14.1.
+6 H. Weyl, Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, p. 171.
+7 Quoted in Fung Yu-Ian, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, p. 279.
+8 Ibid., p. 280.
+9 W. Thirring, ‘Urbausteine der Materie,! Almanach der bterreichischen
+Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. 118 (1968), p. 160.
+10 J. Needham, Science and Civifisation in China, vol. IV, pp. 8-9.
+11 Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p. 223.
+12 Prajna-paramita-hridaya Sutra, in F. M. Muller (ed.), Sacred Books of
+the East, vol. XLIX, ‘Buddhist Mahayana Sutrasl
+13 Quoted in J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. II, p. 62.
+14 Commentary to the hexagram Yti, in R. Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book
+of Changes, p. 68.
+15 W. Thirring, op. cit., p. 159.
+16 Quoted in J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. IV, p. 33.
+Chapter 15: The Cosmic Dance
+1 K. W. Ford, The World of Elementary Particles, p. 209.
+2 A. David-Neel, Tibetan journey, pp. 186-7.
+3 A. K. Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Shiva, p. 78.
+4 H. Zimmer, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civifisation, p. 155.
+5 A. K. Coomaraswamy, op. cit., p. 67.
+Chapter 17: Patterns of Change
+1 W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 107.
+2 C. F. Chew, ‘Impasse for the Elementary Particle Concept: The Great
+ideas Today, (William Benton, Chicago, 1974), p. 99.
+3 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, pp. 79,86.
+4 Lankavatara Sutra, in D. T. Suzuki, Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, p.
+242.
+5 S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, p. 369.
+- -
+
+Notes
+
+314
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+6 R. Wilhelm, The I Ching or Book of Changes, p. 315.
+7 H. Wilhelm, Change, p. 19.
+8 R. Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 348.
+9 Ibid., p. 352.
+10 R. Wilhelm, op. cit., p. I.
+Chapter 18: Interpenetration
+1 C. F. Chew, “’ Bootstrap”: A Scientific Idea?: Science, vol. 161 (May 23rd,
+1968), pp. 762-5; ‘Hadron Bootstrap: Triumph or Frustration?: Physics Today, vol. 23 (October 1970), pp. 23-8; ‘Impasse for the Elementary Particle
+Concept, The Great ideas Today (William Benton, Chicago, 1974).
+Science and Civilisation in China, vol. II, p. 538.
+2 Quoted in J. Needham,
+3 C. F. Chew, “Bootstrap”: A Scientific /dea?,‘op. cit., pp. 762-3.
+4 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, ch. 25.
+5 J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. II, p. 582.
+6 J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. II, p. 484.
+7 Ibid., pp. 558,567.
+8 Quoted in J. Needham,
+op. cit., vol. II, p. 566.
+9 Ashvaghosha, The Awakening of Faith, p. 56.
+10 In P. Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, p. 104.
+11 Ibid., p. 119.
+12 Ashvaghosha, op. cit., p. 104.
+13 5. Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 989.
+14 D. T. Suzuki, On lndian Mahayana Buddhism, p. 150.
+15 Ibid., pp. 183-4.
+16 G. F. Chew, “Hadron Bootstrap: Triumph or Frustration?: op. cit., p. 27.
+17 G. F. Chew, M. Cell-Mann and A. H. Rosenfeld, ‘Strongly Interacting
+Particles: Scientific American, vol. 210 (February 1964), p. 93.
+18 C. Eliot, /apanese Buddhism, pp. 109-10.
+19 D. T. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 148.
+20 D. T. Suzuki, The Essence of Buddhism, p. 52.
+21 In P P Wiener, Leibniz-Selections, p. 547.
+op. cit., vol. II, pp. 4% ff.
+22 In J. Needham,
+23 In P. P. Wiener, op. cit., p. 533.
+24 Ibid., p. 161.
+25 G. F. Chew, “‘Bootstrap”: A Scientific Idea?: op. cit., p. 763.
+26 E. P Wigner, Symmetries and Reflections-Scientific Essays, p. 172.
+27 G. F. Chew, “‘Bootstrap”: A Scientific Idea?: op. cit., p. 765.
+28 Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, trans. Ch’u Ta-Kao, ch. 81.
+EPILOGUE
+1 Lama
+
+Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p. 225.
+
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+Jeans, J., The Growth of Physical Science, Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge
+University Press, 1951.
+Kapleau, P., Three Pillars of Zen, Boston: Beacon Press, 1967.
+Kennett, J., Selling Water by the River, New York: Vintage Books, 1972.
+Keynes, G. (Ed.), Blake Complete Writings, New York: Oxford University
+Press, 1969.
+Cosmic fragments, Cambridge, Eng.: CamKirk, G. S., Heraclitus-The
+bridge University Press, 1970.
+Korzybski, A., Science andsanity, Lakeville, Conn.: The International NonAristotelian Library, 1958.
+Krishnamurti, J., Freedom from the Known, New York: Harper & Row,
+1969.
+Kuan Tzu, transl. W. A. Rickett, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press,
+1965.
+Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, transl. Ch’u Ta-Kao, New York: Samuel Weiser, 1973.
+Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, transl. Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, New York:
+Vintage Books, 1972.
+
+Leggett, T., A First Zen Reader, Rutland, Vermont: C. E. Tuttle, 1972.
+Lovell, A. C. B., The Individual and the Universe, New York: Harper, 1959.
+-Our Present Knowledge of the Universe, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
+University Press, 1967.
+Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Bhagavad Cita, Chapters l-6, transl. and commentary, Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books, 1973.
+Mascara, J., The Bhagavad Cita, Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books, 1970.
+-The Dhammapada, Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books, 1973.
+Mehra, J. (Ed.), The Physicist’s Conception of Nature, D. Reidel, Dordrecht-Holland, 1973.
+Miura, I. and Fuller-Sasaki, R., The Zen Koan, New York: Harcourt Brace
+& World, 1965.
+Muller, F. M. (Ed.), Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX, Buddhist Mahayana Sutras, New York: Oxford University Press.
+Murti, T. R. V., The Central Philosophy of Buddhism, London: Allen &
+Unwin, 1955.
+Needham, J., Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1956.
+Oppenheimer, J. R., Science and the Common Understanding, New York:
+Oxford University Press, 1954.
+Radhakrishnan, S., lndian Philosophy, New York: Macmillan, 1958.
+Reps, P., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, New York: Anchor Books.
+Ross, N. W., Three Ways of Asian Wisdom, New York: Simon & Schuster,
+1966.
+Russell, B., History of Western Philosophy, New York: Simon & Schuster,
+1945.
+Sachs, M., Space Time and Elementary Interactions in Relativity, Physics
+Today, Vol. 22, pp. 51-60, February 1969.
+Sciama, D. W., The Unity of the Universe, London: Faber and Faber, 1959.
+Schilpp, P. A. (Ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, Evanston, III.:
+The Library of Living Philosophers, 1949.
+State, W. 1, The Teachings of the Mystics, New York: New American
+Library, 1960.
+Stapp, H. P., S-Matrix Interpretation of Quantum Theory, Physical Review,
+Vol. D3, pp. 1303-20, March 15,197l.
+Suzuki, D. T., The Essence of Buddhism, Kyoto, Japan: Hozokan, 1968.
+-Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, New York: Schocken Books, 1963.
+-On Indian Mahayana Buddhism, E. Conze (Ed.), New York: Harper &
+Row, 1968.
+-Zen and lapanese Culture, New York: Bollingen Series, 1959.
+-Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,1952.
+-Preface to B. L. Suzuki, Mahayana Buddhism, London: Allen & Unwin,
+1959.
+Thirring, W., Urbausteine der Materie, Almanach der Gsterreichischen
+Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vol. 118, pp. 153-162, Vienna, Austria,
+1968.
+Vivekananda, S., jnana Yoga, New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center,
+1972.
+
+317
+Bibliography
+
+318
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Watts, A. W., The Way of Zen, New York: Vintage Books, 1957.
+Weisskopf, V. F., Physics in the Twentieth Century, Selected Essays, Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1972.
+Weyl, H., Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, Princeton, NJ.:
+Princeton University Press, 1949.
+Whitehead, A. N., The Interpretation of Science, Selected Essays, A. H.
+Johnson (Ed.), Indianapolis, N.Y.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961.
+Wiener, I? P., Leibniz-Selections, New York: Ch. Scribner’s Sons, 1951.
+Wigner, E. P., Symmetries and Reflections, Scientific Essays, Cambridge,
+Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1970.
+Wilhelm, H., Change-Eight Lectures on the I Ching, New York: Harper
+Torchbooks, 1964.
+Wilhelm, R., The I Ching or Book of Changes, Princeton, NJ.: Princeton
+University Press, 1967.
+-The Secret of the Golden Flower, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
+1972.
+Woodward, F. L. (Transl. and Ed.), Some Sayings of the Buddha, New York:
+Oxford University Press, 1973.
+Zimmer, H., Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization, Princeton,
+N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972.
+
+INDEX
+
+ABSTRACTION 27,32ff, 122,131
+accelerator 78,135,226,235
+a c i n t y a 94,146,301
+acupuncture 108,213
+air 69,235
+alpha particle 65
+amplitude 155ff
+Anaximander 20
+antimatter 77
+antiparticle 77,18lff, 226ff, 253,
+255,271,283
+antiproton 222,226,233f,
+236f,
+240,267,271
+antiquarks 255f
+approximation 41f, 287
+archery 129
+Aristotle 21f
+art
+Buddhist 94
+Eastern 39,257
+Greek 257
+I n d i a n 90,243,245
+Japanese 125
+religious 245
+Ashvaghosha 97
+quoted 24,131,155,164,
+277,
+290,335
+astronomy 74,169,235
+Chinese 163
+Greek 162,257
+astrophysics 63,64,169,177f,
+209
+Atman 87,305
+atomic world 45,51, 76, 306
+a t o m s 11,81,194,202,215,229,
+242,285
+Chinese view 291
+
+classification 247
+constituents 50,199,203,
+225,
+248
+Democritean view 55,75,208
+Greek view 21,80,221
+Indian view 291f
+mechanical stability 69
+Newtonian view 50,55, 208,
+221
+planetary model 66,69f
+size 65
+structure 65f, 69ff, 199,248,285
+Aurobindo, Sri 54,138,171, 292
+A v a t a m s a k a 98f, 121,139,172,
+292f, 296,298
+avidya 24,95,131, 277,292
+awakening 94,%, 122,123,292
+B A R Y O N 76,227,229,248,253ff
+beta decay 225f, 229
+B h a g a v a d C i t a 40,86ff, 9 7
+quoted 87ff, 114,145,190f, 198
+big bang 198
+binding force 81,229,255,296
+birth and death 212,242,244
+black hole 177,194
+Blake, William 297
+bodhi 97
+Bodhidharma 123,291
+Bodhisattva 98,305
+Bohm, David 138
+Bohr, Niels 50,66,132,16Off
+q u o t e d 18,54,137
+bootstrap
+hypothesis 277,286,289,294ff,
+299
+.
+
+320
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+models 42, 286,295
+philosophy 286ff, 299ff
+
+Brahman 87ff, 98,104,131,139,
+189f, 198,211,242, 244,305
+bubble chamber 79,135,202,
+
+226ff, 231 ff, 235ff 245,267,269
+
+Buddha 35, 37,93ff,113,121f, 163,
+190f, 191,204,29lf, 297
+Buddhahood 96,98
+Buddha nature 34,48,123ff
+Buddhism 19,34, 37, 46,47, 81,
+93ff,102,113,121ff,131,145,191,
+
+204,213
+
+Chinese 43,48
+Japanese 43,48
+Tibetan 139
+building blocks of matter 21, 50,
+68,75f, 137, 255,285,291
+
+bush;& 4 0 , 1 2 5
+
+CALLIGRAPHY 39,125
+Cartesian division 22f, 57, 69
+cascade particle 227
+Castaneda, Carlos
+quoted 16,35,189
+categories 95,122,145
+cause and effect 17,54,81,95,
+186f, 275
+C h ’ a n 35,121,123,191
+change
+Buddhist view 95
+Chineseview 105,114,116,190
+Eastern view 24,189,192, 203f,
+
+221,278
+
+Heraclitus 116
+in I Ching 110,281ff
+in modern physics 204,247,
+
+278,282
+
+Chang Tsai 213f, 221,223
+charge, electric 59,73,77,207f,
+
+256
+
+of subatomic particles 73,77,
+l81,226f, 247,252,268,288
+chemical element 66, 73,247
+Ch’en Sun 290
+Chew, Geoffrey 42,274,286
+qoted 274,288,295f, 300,319
+ch’i lO8,213f, 235
+Chinese language 103f
+
+Chuang Tzu 103
+quoted 28,29, 39,101,104,107,
+113f, 122,142,147,179,185,
+
+204
+
+Chu Hsi 102,290,298
+Classics, Confucian 102,108
+clocks I 77f
+slowing down of 170f
+collisions of subatomic particles
+11, 78f, l33,135f, 201f, 219, 225ff,
+249,267,269
+complementarity 160
+concepts 31, 33,89
+abstract 27,131,145,273
+classical 133,150,159
+common 46,51
+illusory 95
+limitation of 28,97,150,159
+161,163,303
+opposite 154
+relativistic 273
+revision of 17f, 54
+transcended 96f, 211, 301
+confinement of subatomic
+particles 69,192ff
+Confucianism 27,102f, 105,113,
+117f, 213
+Confucius 93,102f, 110
+consciousness 36,151,164, 277,
+304f
+intuitive and rational modes
+26f, 37f
+male and female modes 148f
+in modern physics 140,142,
+
+300ff, 3 2 3
+
+non-ordinary states 30, 39,171,
+179,204, 304,306
+conservation laws 201,25lff, 254,
+268, 274f
+constituent parts 78,8Of, 249,
+
+256,266,296
+
+contraction, relativistic 170
+Coomaraswami, Ananda 43,
+
+242ff
+
+coordinates 164ff
+cosmic rays 11,60,235
+creation and destruction
+in Hinduism 242ff
+in modern physics 244f
+
+of particles 11, 77ff, 181, 202,
+217ff, 223,225,228,23lff,
+268,275
+creation myth, Hindu 87
+crossing 271ff, 295f
+cultural revolution 307
+current, electric 207f
+DAITO 4 8
+dance 194,240f
+cosmic 11,225,241,245
+of creation and destruction
+235, 240, 244f
+of energy 203,212,225,235,
+240,244
+of matter 194,24Of, 245,251
+of Shiva Ilf, 44,90,191,242ff
+David-Neel, Alexandra 241
+De Broglie, Louis 66,185
+Democritus 21,50,137, 218
+Descartes, Rene 22,57,287
+determinism 56
+Dharrrtakaya 98,104,131,189,211
+Dirac, Paul 66,77f
+Divine 24,87,89f, 93
+Divine Mother 89
+do 125
+Don Juan 19,35,46,189
+
+duhkha 95
+
+EDDINGTON, SIR ARTHUR 196
+ego: see self
+Eightfold Path 35,96,113
+Einstein, Albert 61,62ff,162,
+165ff, l76,196,200,207ff, 221
+quoted 41,53,56,211
+Eleatic school 20
+electrodynamics 61f,167, 207f,
+210
+electromagnetic radiation 62,
+207,225,235
+dual nature of 47ff, 67,152
+electromagnetic spectrum 60f
+electron 47f, 50,65f, 69ff, 75,79,
+81,134f, 141,152,154,180ff, 199,
+216f, 225ff, 232,247f, 261,285,
+288
+electron volt 229
+electron waves 70,247
+
+Eliot, Sir Charles 296
+321
+empirical attitude
+Index
+of science 31,35,305
+of Eastern mysticism 34f, 305
+emptiness: see also Void
+Buddhist 97, 212,215
+Taoist 212
+energy 159,20Off, 218f, 235,242
+equivalent to mass 63,77,
+200ff, 244
+kinetic (of motion) 78,156f,
+200ff, 220,235,249,263,285
+in particle collisions 135,20lf,
+233,268ff, 275
+enlightenment 24, 34,37,86,96,
+98,114,121ff,149,172,190,
+292f, 297
+Ensho, Fuketsu 44
+entity
+fundamental 286,291,299
+isolated 131,135,225
+physical 136f, 159,222
+environment 209f
+harmony with 117,307
+natural 23
+epics, Indian 43,86
+equations of motion, Newtonian
+56
+eta particle 227
+ether 61
+Euclid 162
+event 204,264,270
+interrelated 130
+separate 131
+event horizon 177
+everyday life in Zen 123f
+exchange of particles 80,216ff,
+225,236,239,255,261,273,296
+hadrons 229,296
+mesons 218ff
+photons 216ff, 219,230
+pions 218
+excited states 70,72,248
+existence 153ff
+experiment 30,35,41,133,135,
+172
+FARADAY, MICHAEL 59,207
+female 90,106,197ff
+
+322
+The
+
+Tao
+of
+Physics
+
+feminine 117,148
+Feynman, Richard 217
+Feynman diagram 217,219,238ff,
+263,273
+field 59, 207ff
+in Eastern mysticism 222ff
+electromagnetic 61,152,167,
+207f, 210,213
+fundamental 261, 285
+gravitational 64,176, 207ff
+quantum 150,21Of, 212f, 215,
+217,222
+unified 211
+field equations, Einstein’s 176,
+196,198,208
+field theory 207ff, 210
+see also quantum field theory
+flow 95,105,189f, 192, 203f, 281ff
+of energy
+225,235,241,
+244,
+268,282
+force
+centrifugal 209
+Eastern view 24,116,221,273
+electric 59, 72f, 194, 207, 230
+electromagnetic 219,221,229
+gravitational 208, see also
+gravity
+Greek view 21,24,221
+magnetic 59,207f, 230
+in modern physics 8Of,149f,
+l54,215ff, 219,221,27Off
+N e w t o n i a n v i e w 55,60,217,221
+nuclear 73, 76,194,217, 219,229
+Ford, Kenneth 240
+in Eastern mysticism 97,191,
+211f, 214f, 242,308
+in modern physics 150,203,222
+fragmentation 23, 39,88
+frame of reference 168,17Of, 178
+fundamental constant 288
+Fung Yu-Lan 104
+
+GALAXY l69,177,194ff, 209,
+229,235
+Gale, G. 298
+Galileo 22
+Candavyuha 292,297
+Gell-Mann, Murray 255f
+geometry 162ff,168,207f
+
+Eastern view 163,257
+Euclidean 55,63,161f,176
+Greek 162
+non-Euclidean 176
+on a sphere 174ff
+God 20ff, 56ff, 87,162,244,286f
+goddesses 43,85,89,96ff
+gods, Indian 43,85,87,89ff,190
+Govinda, Lama Anagarika
+quoted 143,151,155,185f, 215,
+305
+gravitational collapse 177f,194
+graviton 230
+gravity 55,63,173,176f,
+208ff,
+221,228
+HADRON 227,229,249,252,255f,
+262,265ff, 281,285,294ff, 299
+constituents of 255, 2%
+patterns 261,274,276f
+properties 255,264,276,294
+sequences 248,274
+structure 249,255f, 265ff,
+274,276
+symmetries 274,276
+haiku 44
+Heisenberg, Werner 66,132,
+158,262
+quoted 10,18,28, 45f, 50,53,
+67,14Of, 264
+Heraclitus 19,20f, 46,93,116,189
+Herrigel, Eugen 126
+hexagram 109,278ff
+Hinayana 93f, 96,292
+Hinduism 19,43,47,81,85ff, 94,
+113,131,190,242,277,291
+Hoyle, Fred 209
+Huai Nan Tzu 105,117,192
+H u a - y e n 99,121,298
+Hubble’s law 197
+Hui-neng 179
+hydrogen atom 66,231
+hylozoists 20
+hypercharge 253
+IBN ARABI 1 9
+I Ching 19,25,108ff,146,221,
+278,280ff
+identity
+of atoms 69,71, 247
+
+1
+of subatomic particles 247
+impermanence 95f,104,191,278
+Indra’s net 296,298
+inertia 201,209
+insights 12,96
+intuitive 31,36,39
+mystical 34f, 40f
+intellect 27,29,113,131,293
+intelligence
+intuitive 117
+cosmic 300
+interactions 79,80,18Of, 200, 205,
+210,214,217, 219,221 f, 228,
+239,245,249,25lf, 255f, 261f
+classification 240ff
+electromagnetic 210,217,
+
+228ff, 252,261,277,294
+gravitational 210, 228ff,
+
+287,294
+
+203,205,285,287,292
+interference of waves 46ff, 157
+interpenetration 172,203,293,
+297, 298f
+interrelation
+in Eastern mysticism 24,99,
+
+130,139,190, 204, 278, 289,
+290f, 293
+in modern physics 25,99,258,
+interstellar gas 196
+interstellar space 235
+intuition 31,170
+mystical 114,307,
+isospin 252f
+
+227,231,
+
+323
+264ff
+
+karma 88,93,95,187,19Of,
+291
+karuna 98
+Kegon 99,121,189
+knowledge 26ff
+absolute 27,29,290
+conventional 113
+intuitive 27, 30
+mystical 141, 303,307
+practical IOlf
+rational 28f, 30,31,113
+relative 27, 290
+religious 27
+scientific 27, 307
+Krishna 28,33
+Korzybski, Alfred
+190,198
+
+86f,
+
+judo 125
+
+90,145,
+
+kuan 35
+Kuan-tzu 212
+Kuei KuTzu 107
+LAMBDA
+
+PARTICLE
+
+227,231,
+
+264ff
+language 26,46ff
+factual 43
+inaccuracy 32,45
+limitations 43,44f, 51,150,185
+mythical 43,47,87,190
+ordinary 45f, 51,170,306
+scientific 32,288
+transcended 149,301,306
+LaoTzu 48,93,103ff,110,115,212
+quoted 27,29,37,39,115ff,
+145
+
+148,212,289,301
+Laplace, Pierre Simon 57
+Laue, Max von 65
+laws of nature 56,58,167,259,
+
+286ff
+deterministic
+fundamental
+
+68
+22,50,257,282,
+
+286ff, 2 9 4
+JAINA SCHOOL 291
+James, William 30
+Joshu 48,123,291
+Joyce, James 255
+
+278,
+
+k o a n 43,48ff, 67,122,124,257
+278,
+
+in quantum theory 137
+range of 137f, 221,229,273
+strong 217f, 219f, 228ff, 252,
+255, 262, 268f, 294, 299
+super-weak 184
+w e a k 228ff, 252,278,294
+interconnection
+in Eastern mysticism 190,309
+in modern physics 68,135,137,
+
+278,286,291,307
+
+KALPA 199
+kaon
+
+Lei bniz 298ff
+lepton 227,229
+Leucippus 21
+Ii 289f
+liberation 25, 291
+
+Index
+
+1
+324
+The
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+Hindu 89,244
+Taoist 113
+from time 187
+Vedantist 89,118
+light 61,156,167,177
+dual nature 46ff, 67,152
+speed 42,63,67,75,78,165f,
+171,227,288
+Ii/a 87,198
+logic 32f, 46
+classical 45,155
+Greek 31
+limitations 48, 51
+Lovell, Sir Bernard 198
+MACH, ERNST 209
+
+Mahabharata 86
+
+Mahayana 93f, 96ff, 139,172,
+
+292ff, 296ff
+
+male 106,147ff
+mandala 36, 38
+mantra 38
+map
+four-dimensional
+185
+of reality 27, 31, 33, 41, 287
+Margenau, Henry 162
+martial arts 40,125
+masculine 117,148
+mass 63,77,156,181,201
+ff, 218
+equivalent to energy 201ff, 285
+of subatomic particles 73,219,
+
+227,245,247ff, 252,288
+
+mathematics 26,32f
+Greek 162
+Ma-tsu 123
+matter 54f, 77,80,149f, 154,208,
+constituents 77, 80,131,199f,
+244,285f, 291
+distribution in space 64,176,
+178,196
+dynamic nature 80,192,193,
+
+203,225
+
+in early Greek philosophy 20
+mutability 80, 231
+nuclear 73f
+solid aspect 69f, 203
+structure 257
+in subatomic physics 17,222,
+293
+
+ultimate nature 50, 72
+Maxwell, James Clerk 59,61,207
+ma ya 88f, 93,95,131,191,242,
+244, 277f
+measurement in atomic physics
+
+135ff, 140,264
+
+mechanics 62,167
+Newtonian 22,41 f, 56ff, 58,61
+meditation 25f, 36,37ff, 89,94,
+96,125,131,142,151,164,179,
+
+185,257,292,297
+
+meson 76,217,219ff, 227,229,
+
+248,253,255,283
+
+Milesian school 20f
+Milky Way 196
+mind 277f, 287
+Chinese 99,121
+defiled 277
+disturbed 24
+Indian 99
+intuitive and rational 31,106,
+
+306
+
+Japanese 99,122
+and matter 21,305
+Western 114
+Minkowski, Hermann 168,172
+model
+approximate nature 41 f, 44,287
+cosmological
+176,198
+mathematical 30f, 276
+Newtonian 42f, 50,55ff
+quantum-relativistic 76,81, 205,
+210,261 f
+relativistic
+132,173
+scientific 35, 287
+verbal 30,33f, 44
+
+m o k s h a 89,96
+
+molecule 11,72,74,81,229,235
+momentum 14Of,156,158ff,
+
+263,275
+
+monad 298ff
+motion
+in atomic physics 154ff
+circular 146
+cyclic 105,107
+Eastern view 24,221
+in relativity theory 170,208
+of solid bodies 41
+thermal 58
+
+1
+movement
+in Eastern mysticism 189,192,
+203f, 278,300
+in modern physics 203,225,
+241,247
+muon 227
+mystical experience 29ff, 52,85,
+94,96,122,13Of. 164,292,300,307
+basis of knowledge’ 29,‘34,43,
+130
+compared to scientific
+experiment 36,172
+paradoxical character 48
+mysticism 19,46,189
+Chinese 43
+Eastern 12f, 17ff, 24,83ff, 146,
+172,289
+Indian 43,121,242
+Japanese 43
+Western 19,297
+myth 43f, 87
+mythology, Hindu 87,90,198,245
+NAGARJUNA 97,142
+Needham, Joseph
+quoted 34,103,117,163,204,
+214,289,298
+Neo-Confucian school 102,213
+network
+of concepts 291
+of interactions 225,239,240,
+264f
+of particles 137
+of reactions 267,270,274
+neutrino 225ff
+neutron 50,66,73ff, 78,81,194,
+199, 217,219,225ff 237ff, 247f,
+264ff, 272f, 285
+Newton, Isaac 22,41, 55ff, 137,
+208,286f
+nirvana 93,95,98,291
+Noble Truths 94f
+nucleon 73,199,217f, 219ff, 229
+nucleus, atomic 50,66,70,72f,
+75f, 81,194,199,218, 227, 229,
+231,235,247,285
+OSJ ECT 54,203,264,270,281,
+285
+
+atomic 132f,137,140
+composite 78,81, 248f
+isolated 24,80,81,131,142,264
+material l38,193,209f, 213f
+physical 138,160
+sol id 67f, 138,213
+static 77, 282
+objective description of nature
+57,62,69
+observation
+in atomic physics 68,132,
+135ff, 276
+in Eastern mysticism 34f, 305
+of nature 34,102,114
+in science 41,305
+observer
+in atomic physics 68,81,132,
+140f, 273,276,300
+in relativity theory 164ff,177ff,
+185f, 208
+omega particle 227, 267
+oneness: see unity
+Oppenheimer, Robert Julius
+18,154
+opposites 27,114ff, 145ff
+orbit, atomic 70ff, 247f
+oscillation 147,155
+PAINTING
+Chinese 257
+Japanese 125,257
+Pali Canon 96
+paradoxes
+in atomic physics 46,49ff, 66f,
+133,153
+in mysticism 46, 47
+in particle physics 256
+in relativity theory 167,170
+in Taoism 47
+in Zen 48ff,122
+Parmenides 21f
+participator 141
+particle 47,151,154ff
+elementary 75,80, 200, 274,285
+material 193,213, 221
+solid 55f, 61,65,207, 210
+particles, subatomic 18, 50,68,
+78ff,131,132ff,140,149,180ff,
+192,20lff, 204f, 210,215,217,
+
+325
+Index
+
+326
+The
+
+Tao
+of
+Physics
+
+225ff, 247ff, 2 7 3 f f
+charged 231 ff
+classification 236ff, 247ff
+decay 133,226,229,231,235,
+
+261
+
+dynamic nature 77,80,203,212,
+
+282
+
+families 247, 249, 254
+lifetime 79,133,171,226
+massive 218,235
+massless 226,227, 232,299
+neutral 231
+properties 79f, 135,200,205,
+244,247ff, 251f, 276
+size 226
+stable 226ff, 231
+strongly interacting 229,255,
+
+261
+
+structure 248f, 273
+table 76,227
+tracks 79,135, 228
+unstable l33,171,226ff
+virtual 219ff, 226,236f, 239f,
+
+242,244,263,271,273
+
+patterns
+atomic 248
+cosmic 289
+cyclic 106
+dynamic 77f,150,203ff, 218,
+221,225,249,278,281
+of energy
+80, 225, 242, 245,‘249
+four-dimensional 185f, 264
+in the particle world 248ff, 261
+Pauli, Wolfgang 66
+periodic table 66,247
+phenomena
+atomic 62,72,132,321
+electromagnetic 41, 59,63,167
+nuclear 75
+stellar 74,169,178
+subatomic 80,321
+philosophy
+Chinese 27,99ff,191,204,213,
+
+278
+
+Eastern 23ff, 163,173,259,277
+Greek 20,23,31,162,172,257
+Indian 190
+lapanese 99
+Western 19,46,89,162,287
+
+photoelectric effect 47f
+photon 67,70,152,156,18Off,
+
+210,
+
+216ff, 2 2 1 , 2 2 5 , 227,229ff, 2 3 5 ,
+261
+
+physics
+atomic 46,61,65,66ff,133ff,
+
+154,256,285
+
+classical 23, 50, 54ff, 62, 64,67,
+
+133,161,164,168,170,201,
+216,303
+
+experimental 50,168
+high-energy 11,78,135,166,
+
+170,202,231,235
+
+modern 61ff
+particle 78, 249ff, 257, 261, 278,
+
+285,287
+
+relativistic
+
+77,150,168,171,180,
+
+subatomic
+
+81,131,133,212,
+
+185ff, 2 0 3
+217,285
+
+physics 20
+pion 218ff, 227,23lff, 233ff, 237ff,
+
+264ff, 2 7 1 f f
+
+Planck, Max 67
+planet 57,64,176f,194ff, 229
+Plato 162,257
+Po-chang 124
+poetry 32,43f
+polarity
+male/female 147ff
+of opposites 114ff,145ff,160
+position 164
+of subatomic particle 134,14Of,
+
+l54,156ff,
+
+positron
+
+263
+
+77,18lff,
+
+prajna 9 8
+
+226,232
+
+Prajna-paramita-hridaya sutra
+quoted 215,223
+principle of relativity 167, 275
+probability 68,133f,153,157ff,
+
+180,217,219,240,262,269,275
+
+probability amplitude 157
+probability function 134,153
+probability pattern 68,134f, 138,
+
+153,203
+
+probability wave 68, 70,153,156,
+
+270
+
+process 77,203f,
+atomic 132
+
+249,264,281,285
+
+cosmic lO4,191,204,282f
+nuclear 74
+proton 50,66,73ff, 78,81,194,
+l99,202,217f, 222,225ff, 233ff,
+247ff,264ff,271ff,285
+Pure Land School 98
+Pythagoras 32,93,257
+Q U A N T U M 67,70,152,210
+quantum electrodynamics 210
+quantum field theory 44,181,183,
+207,210,214,217,219,221ff,
+242,244,261,263,270,273,288
+quantum koan 152
+quantum number 71,248,252ff,
+268f
+quantum state 72, 248
+quantum theory 11,18,42,45, 49,
+54,62,67ff,75ff,81,132ff,152ff,
+192f,200,203,207,210,240,261,
+263f,275,286,288,297,300,304
+quarks 255ff
+RADAR 60
+Radhakrishnan, S. 190f, 191,278
+radioactivity 65,225
+reaction channel 268ff, 276, 282
+cross 272ff, 295ff
+direct 272ff, 295
+reactions
+chemical 74
+nuclear 74
+particle 262ff, 281f
+reaction probability 262,264ff,
+269f, 275,282,286
+reality 43, 47, 97
+atomic 45,53,133,137
+dynamic nature 189ff
+experience of 42,48,51
+of matter 68
+multidimensional
+150,171
+subatomic 45
+ultimate 24, 29,87, 97,104,125,
+130,189,211
+undifferentiated 33
+reasoning 29,31, 33,46
+limitations 48
+mistrust 113f
+transcended 149
+
+Regge,TuIlio 274
+Regge formalism 274,294f
+regularities in particle world
+248ff, 254f, 256,274
+relativistic framework 150,167,
+169,200,203
+relativity theory 18, 42, 45,54,61,
+62ff, 75,77,8Of, 149,151,161,
+164ff,192,200,203,207f,210,
+261, 263f,273,275, 288,297
+general 63,173,176ff, 196f, 208ff
+special 62,173,200
+religion 85, 244
+Western 90
+research, scientific 30f, 35,41
+resonance 228,248,253,269f, 276
+rhythm 11,194,223,24Off,
+247
+Riemann, Georg 176
+R i g V e d a 86,88,190
+Rinzai school 49,124
+Rita 190
+ritual 85f, 89,102,126
+Russell, Bertrand 32,46
+Rutherford, Ernest 65,67,69
+SACHS,MENDEL
+166
+sage, Chinese IOlf, 105,191
+samadhi 131
+samsara 95,191,212
+samskara (sankhara) 204
+Sanskrit 86,96
+sanzen 124
+satori 121ff
+scattering 47,80,170,180
+science 25,28
+Chinese 34,289
+Eastern 163
+Greek 257
+and mysticism 306f
+Western 19ff,162,287
+Schrodinger, Erwin 66
+scientific analysis 307
+scientific framework 276,278,
+288,294,301
+scientific method 31
+seeing 35
+self 23f, 95,98,212
+self-consistency 286, 288,290,
+291,294,299
+
+327
+
+Index
+
+328
+The
+
+Tao of
+Physics
+
+self-interaction 219, 244
+sensory perception 51
+sensuousness in Hinduism 90
+Shakti 90
+shikan-taza 40
+Shiva 44,89f, 148f, 191, 242ff
+sigma particle 227, 264ff
+S matrix 262, 265, 271, 274, 294f
+properties 276
+singularities
+276
+structure 274ff
+S-matrix diagram 262f
+S-matrix principles 274ff, 294
+S-matrix theory 262ff, 286,294f,
+299
+Socrates 27
+solar system 57
+Soto school 125
+sound 11, 241f, 269
+space 17, 54f, 62ff, 81,150,161ff,
+196f, 210,275
+absolute 55,61f,161,166,178
+beginning of 198
+curved 28,63f, 176ff, 196f, 208
+empty 64,208,222
+structure 208,221
+space measurements, relativity of
+64,164ff, 178
+space-time 62,64,80,150,168,
+185f, 264, 297, 299, 301,306
+curved 173ff
+flat 177
+structure 178
+space-time diagram 180ff, 216ff,
+236,238,263
+space-time experience of Eastern
+mystics 71f, 185f
+spin 248,253
+spontaneity lO2,116,124f
+Stapp, Henry 132,136,139
+star 64, 74,169,176f, 194, 209,
+229,235
+collapsing 177f
+structures
+atomic 278
+composite 285, 295
+fundamental 278
+molecular 72, 74,194,203,229
+subatomic world 51,66,80,149,
+
+158f, 204f, 211f, 217,225, 247,
+258,278,306
+submicroscopic world 50,74f,
+199
+substance, material 17, 77, 80,
+2Olff, 212f
+suchness 29,43,94,97,131,155
+S u n 74,169,177,196
+sunyata 97,212
+sutra 19, 96,12lf, 215, 223
+Suzuki, D. T.
+quoted 34f, 45f, 52,98ff, 122,
+14C 172,179,189,204,270,
+29. 297
+symbols 27,31ff, 44f
+symmetry 249f
+Eastern view 257, 280,282
+fundamental 257
+Greek view 257
+in particle physics 251ff, 261,
+274,282f
+T’ai Chi Ch’uan 38,40,213
+T’ai-chi symbol 107,160
+Tantra 139
+Tantric Buddhism 139,149
+Tantric Hinduism 90
+Tao 29,35, 37, 39,102,104ff,113ff,
+122,131,146f,163,189f,
+191, 204,
+211, 213,278,289
+of man 104
+of physics 25
+Taoism 19,27, 34ff, 43,47, 81,
+102ff,113ff,122,131,191,213,
+289
+Tao To Ching: see Lao Tzu
+Tathagata 191
+tathata 97,131,189
+tea ceremonies, Japanese 39,125
+technology 17,23,36,199,245,
+304
+temporal sequence 62,165,185f
+tendencies to exist 68,133,154,
+240
+Thales 20
+theories 30,35
+approximate nature 41,44,287
+things
+compounded 96,191,204
+
+essential nature of 20,5Of, 98,
+304
+separate 131
+thinking
+Chinese way of 103f
+conceptual .39,97,122
+linear structure of 27,44
+Thirring, Walter 214,222
+thought 186,301
+Chinese 101ff,160,204,289f
+Western 23f, 173,285
+time 17, 54,62ff, 81,150,161ff,
+196,275
+absolute 55,61,63,161,166,178
+beginning of 198
+direction of 183ff, 236
+flow of 55,64,162,177,178,
+183ff
+slowing down of 170
+time experience of mystics 179,
+186f
+time interval 170,177
+time measurements, relativity of
+64,164ff, 178
+Tozan 291
+transformation 110,114,168,192,
+204,261,278,28lff
+trigram 279ff
+trishna 95
+Ts’ai-km t’an 205
+UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE 140,
+158ff, 192,219,263
+unification of concepts 149ff,
+169,200,215,306
+unification of space and time
+150,169,203
+unity
+of all things 130,142,291, 305
+of opposites 145ff
+of the universe 24,68,81,131,
+173,209,307
+universe
+age 197
+dynamic nature 25, 81,173,
+189ff
+expanding 196ff
+oscillating 198
+structure 176,196f
+
+Upanishads 27, 86, 89
+quoted 26,29,86ff, 90,142,154,
+190.211f
+VACUUM, PHYSICAL 222
+Vedanta 33‘89,113
+Vedas 19, 85f, 108, 291
+velocity 63,165,169f
+of subatomic particle 156,170,
+193,216,263
+vibration 155,159
+thermal 194
+Vishnu 89,94
+vision 186, 293, 298, 301
+Vivekananda, Swami 186
+Void
+Buddhist 97,212
+in classical physics 55, 207f
+in Eastern mysticism 211ff, 222f
+Greek 21,55
+in modern physics 221ff, 245
+Taoist 212, 214
+WANG CH’UNG 106
+warrior 40f, 86,129
+wave 61,152ff
+electromagnetic 46ff, 61, 210
+light 60f,153,167, 207, 235
+radio 60f, 207,235
+sound 61,152f, 242,269
+standing 70f
+water 61,152f, 212f
+wavelength 155f,193
+wave packet 157ff, 192f
+wave-particle dualism 67, 69,
+151ff
+way of life
+Chinese 107,115
+Eastern 37,146
+Japanese 121,125
+mystical 307
+web
+cosmic 139,203,296
+dynamic 80,192,286
+of relations 68,138,142,159,
+192,292
+Weisskopf, Victor 153
+Weyl, Hermann 213
+Wheeler, John 141
+
+!
+
+330
+
+i
+
+The
+
+Tao of
+,I Physics
+I
+
+Wigner, Eugene 300
+Wilhelm, Hellmut 282
+Wilhelm, Richard 108, 283
+W meson 230
+world line 18Off, 216,237f
+world view
+Chinese 289
+Eastern 19, 24f, 99,130,145,173,
+203f, 211,286,289f, 304
+mechanistic 22ff, 56,64,68, 207,
+286,303,307
+of modern physics 12,17f, 25,
+54,99,173,204,257f,290,
+304,307
+organic 24f, 54,304
+wu-wei 117
+X RAYS 47,60f, 65,235
+
+i
+
+YASUTANI ROSH1 40,48
+yin and yang 27,106ff, 114ff, 146ff,
+160, 215,251, 279, 280f, 283, 307
+yoga 25,38,89,113
+Yogacara 277
+Yukawa, Hideki 219
+Yiin-men 191
+ZARATH USTRA 93
+zazen 125
+Zen 11,28,34ff, 37, 43f, 48ff,
+121ff,257
+Zen master 43,48ff, 52f, 123f, 291
+Zenrin kushu
+quoted 34,125
+Zimmer, Heinrich 243
+
+
\ No newline at end of file