Reddit mentions of The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
http://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Hermann-Hesse/dp/081120068X/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377155668&sr=1-8&keywords=Siddhartha

Fictional life story of Siddhartha, a contemporary of Guatama Buddha. This is a story of a man seeking spiritual truth through sensual and worldly experience, ultimately achieving similar spiritual heights to the Buddha, yet by a path that many of us might find much more familiar and relatable than a life of renunciation. Beautifully written, poetic, mystical and almost fairy-tale-like in tone. Some of Herman Hesse's finest work.


Be Here Now by Ram Dass
http://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377155603&sr=1-1&keywords=be+here+now

Autobiographical, blissed-out, art-infused, eloquent and insightful rant about a journey that begins with the Harvard psychology department's early LSD research and culminates in a journey through the Himalayas leading to deep transformation with the help of a wandering mystic and an epic guru. Ram Dass beautifully weds the best parts of hippy and psychedelic culture with the ancient truths of hinduism, vedanta and yoga. The annotated reading list at the back is a treasure trove of eastern awesomeness.


The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels/dp/1590308352

Honestly the best introduction/summary I've read of several schools of Eastern Thought. The book is intended to show parallels between ancient spiritual truths and scientific principles discovered in quantum physics. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Zen (and I think a couple more) get meaty, well written and well researched treatments by Capra, and curious minds benefit from having all this info in one spot. Capra gives in-depth focus to each tradition and highlights the similarities and differences of each path. Awesome graphics too. Highly recommend to any western mind wanting to encounter eastern thought.

Namaste!

edit: grammar

I've never read it so I can't endorse it personally, but you might want to look into "The Tao of Physics".

https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352

I strongly recommend the book "the tao of physics". Written almost 40 years ago, it remains extremely current and poignant in its comparison of modern physics and eastern mysticism

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352

My two cents: it is all conected, but you have to find your own path

A physics-guru friend of mine recommends this three-pronged punch: In Search of Schrödinger's Cat, The Tao of Physics, and Autobiography of a Yogi. Haven't gotten to the third one yet myself, but the first two were quite excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324588598&sr=8-1

Kinda reflects both of her interests. It's a classic and this is the 35th anniversary edition.

There are, contained within, so many paradigm shattering, reality-shifting ideas ... well, let's just say you made a great choice! And wait till you read the intro page. Talbot wasn't playing around. It reads like a who's who of bigwig uni/independent PhDs, MsCs, scientists, MDs and researchers. Not that that means shit [see recent study on peer-review FAIL] but in these ... "fringe" areas of study, sometimes the validation is satisfying. Ya gotta admit, its good to have some heavyweights in your corner sometimes! Either way, pull the pieces from all corners; the final puzzle is yours to assemble.

It was this book that introduced to me the concepts of quantum physics, bilocation, quantum entanglement, holography as a reality-model, collective consciousness, etc. etc. Wait till you get to the stuff about Fourier transforms and ballet dancers, the optic nerve and the eyeball and its connection to perception and the brain, multiple personality disorder and its shocking proof of 'mind over matter' ... + myriad other interesting tidbits!

I was familiar with some of those concepts, as you well may be, perhaps likely more advanced in these area of study then I was a few years ago, but still, I can hardly see you not enjoying it. Especially the way you found it! It's as if that thought bubbled to the surface [and was instated in action!] for a reason.

Another interesting one ya might like: http://www.amazon.com/The-Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels/dp/1590308352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383029661&sr=8-1&keywords=tao+physics

People use the word "religion" without knowing its definition.

religion - the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.

Buddhism does not fulfill that requirement. There is no 'belief' in Buddhism. There is no personal supernatural being or spirit god. Buddhism actually recognizes belief and calls it Maya, illusion. Buddhism has Karma but Buddha said it was merely 'cause and effect', not to be dwelled upon for it was also illusion. The other factor of Karma that seems to elude many western people is all Buddha was saying about karma was that good thoughts lead to good action, bad thoughts lead to bad action. Buddha said 'cause leads to effect". 2,000 years later, Isaac Newton said 'for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction', the 1st Law of Motion. Buddha referred to reincarnation not as being reborn, but as another cycle. The eastern mind sees cycles, the western mind sees beginning and end. As Buddha said, the perfect circle has no beginning or end. It was also illusion to dwell on reincarnation.

All Buddha said was that he was a man. He asked for nothing to be written down and that no images be made of him. His followers went against his request and wrote down thousands of sutras and made images of the different stages of Buddha's life. They also split themselves into thousands of sects, which westerners are unable to distinguish between. Zen is considered the least distorted sect of Buddhism. The Zen temples in Japan were originally totally built and maintained by monks, and there are multiple focusing activities, like meditation, growing gardens, sumi-e, archery, go, martial arts. In pure Zen, the martial arts are strictly for self defense. In Zen, martial arts are another form of meditation and focus. It did get adopted by the samurai for warfare but that was for worldly purposes, which Buddha would call only more illusion.

http://www.zen-buddhism.net/martial-arts/zen-and-martial-arts.html

http://www.insidekyoto.com/kyotos-best-zen-gardens

Science is coming full circle describing the universe and needing to describe it as Buddha described it. Buddha said "All things are transitory". Now, physicists are smashing protons and ending up with particles that exist less than femtoseconds, 10^-15 seconds. How short of a time is it before a particle is not existing? The proton keeps getting smashed, first quarks, then bosons, then leptons, now temporary quarks. In Zen, the koan is "Infinity lies in a flower petal". There is a book that brings science and zen buddhism together along the tao, the path. It is called "The Tao of Physics", over 30 years but only more enhanced with the advances in physics since then. It demonstrates how mathematics is a form of focusing meditation.

https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483469130&sr=8-1&keywords=the+tao+of+physics

No offense taken. :) Sure, It's not something I'd rely on for a doctoral dissertation, and the heady conclusions of a new paradigm caused my cynical alarm to go off, but took it as entertaining. I would not consider any parallels he draws as neat or clean by any stretch.

I'm also aware of books like the Tao of Physics and The Quantum and The Lotus...

The Tao of Physics is great book written a theoretical physicist. In the first part of the book he does an amazing job explaining particle physics. Then, he explains some of the higher ideas behind Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Next, he proceeds to point out in mind-blowing ways how they're the same.

The parallels between Eastern Thought and modern physics is intriguing. You'll learn a huge amount about both subjects, and if this book doesn't set you to thinking, you're probably dead. ;-)

Feynman's Six Easy Pieces is a great introduction to quantum mechanics. Gary Zukov's book The Dancing Wu Li Masters doesn't have a great reputation among physicists because it strays a bit into mysticism, but I think it's a pretty good read. Capra's Tao of Physics is in the same category. For an easy-to-understand discussion of the weirdness of quantum mechanics, Fred Kuttner and Bruce Rosenblum's Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness is excellent.

This is an Amazon list of books on the subject that I found helpful:

Robert Kroese, author of Schrödinger's Gat

My respect for Rajnath Singh went up since it looks like he has read Fritzof Capra's book - Tao of Physics.
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1416200472&sr=8-6&keywords=fritjof+capra

Mine is more of an awareness the spiritual side of existence than a religion. It is an appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and an essential oneness of existence. It is Indra's Web and all science wrapped into one.

If you'd like to learn more, I can recommend this book

The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism Paperback – September 14, 2010
by Fritjof Capra
https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Physics-Exploration-Parallels-Mysticism/dp/1590308352/


The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet Paperback – October 26, 2004
by Matthieu Ricard

https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Lotus-Journey-Frontiers-Buddhism/dp/1400080797

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