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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 philosophy, atomic theories have arisen in two schools of Hinayana Buddhism, but are treated as illusory products of avidya by the more important Mahayana branch. 

Excerpted from Pages 291-292 of ‘The Tao of Physics’ by Fritjof Capra