Originally published February 04, 2004

From the Buddhabrot website,

The Buddhabrot Set is a re-visualization of the familiar Mandelbrot Set using a technique invented by Melinda Green. Instead of selecting points on the real-complex plane, initial points are selected at random from the image region. The point is iterated through the function, z = zˆ2 + c, where z has components in both the real and imaginary planes.If the particle escapes (exits the viewing area with high speed), it’s path is reiterated, exposing it’s position onto the image surface with each step. In this fashion, areas of high dense particle traveling appear bright white. The result is an amazing universe of structure, spirituality, and mathematical intrigue.

Wow. That is crazy. For me, this is like seeing Jesus’ face in the Shroud of Turin. Sure, this doesn’t really look like the Buddha. But it certainly looks as similar to the Buddha as the Shroud looks like Jesus. Now maybe for some people, I’m making a jump…but I believe that math has more to do with spirituality than religion does. And as are able to see and understand more of how our world works, we’re seeing the merging of the physical and metaphysical. This, to me, is extraordinarily powerful stuff.