B A D  C H I

In our time, the physicist Fritjof Capra reconciled these seemingly opposite East-West approaches in his classic work, The Tao of Physics (Shambhala Publications, 1976). The Berkeley scientist was among the first to correlate the Chinese concept of the Tao (empty and formless, yet producing all forms) with quantum field theory. Aside from scientific advances, a "chi industry" was also born.

In his discussion of the Chinese concept of chi (the "vital breath" or energy that animates the cosmos) , Capra observed: "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."

For perhaps one of the best Western descriptions of ch'i (spelled "chi" in the Chinese pinyin transliteration method I have adopted), please refer to Joseph Needham's description of the Chinese view of the physical world that appears in the fourth volume of Science and Civilization in China (Cambridge University Press, 1956): "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 wavelike or vibratory manner dependent, in the last resort, on the rhythmic alternation at all levels of the two fundamental forces, the yin [female] and the yang [male]. Individual objects thus had their intrinsic rhythms. And these were integrated . . . into the general pattern of the harmony of the world."

Rim's renegade Tibetan programmer, Tashi Nurbu, expressed his own realization of the time-space continuum of chi differently: "Every single moment was linked to every other moment. There was no separating anything. Every fragment was attached to every other fragment. Time and space, life and death, it was all so ephemeral. Digitized nothingness."

For more information on all forms of Buddhism, including journals, books, and images, spend some time exploring the Australian National University's Buddhist Studies Virtual Library: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-Buddhism.html. You can also phone the Tiger Team BBS at 510/268-0102. Settings are 8N1, up to 14.4K baud.

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