Re: The interconnectedness of all things; Buddhists and the modern Chaos theory Posted by Basho on May 08, 1998 at 22:12:47:
In Reply to: The interconnectedness of all things; Buddhists and the modern Chaos theory posted by Oliver Wise on May 06, 1998 at 16:08:45:
Chaos Theory is not even a theory and does not "state"
anything. It is merely a way of solving non-liniear
differential equations using numerical analysis. Yes, one
phenomenon that does appear in some solututions to
some equations is that a minor disturbance to a system
be it weather or predator-pray models is that an initial
minor disturbance can lead to major disturbances. Does this
have anything to do with "pratityasamutpada" or interdependence of
Mahayana Buddhism? In a certain sense I thing it does
but on a meta-level. Mathematics and the Buddhist religion are two
very differnt things. However, they do both point to an interrelationship
between distant phenomena. In this sense we can say there is an overlap,
but to say that eqations on a chalkboard have something to do with
the different states one achieves through meditation is a very large
leap of comparative philosophy.