THE COSMOLOGICAL VIEW (VŨ TRỤ QUAN)
Excerpt from Chon Ly (The Truth) — Pages 11 to 21
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The universe is an infinite space, containing countless world systems and celestial bodies. All things within this cosmos are constantly evolving under the law of nature. The path of evolution moves from the lower to the higher, from the simple to the complex, and from ignorance to supreme wisdom.
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Matter is the foundation of form. From the conglomeration of cosmic dust and primary elements, physical worlds are shaped. However, matter is not dead; it carries within itself the latent potentiality of life, waiting for the right conditions of heat, moisture, and light to sprout and manifest.
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[Table of Elemental Evolution]
Element | Primary | Function | Role in the Cosmos
a. Earth | Solidity | and stability | Provides the physical foundation for living beings to dwell.
b. Water | Cohesion and moisture | Nourishes and connects vital substances of life.
c. Fire | Heat and maturation | Energizes transformation and drives evolutionary change.
d. Wind | Motion and circulation | Facilitates breathing, movement, and atmospheric flow.
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From the realm of inanimate matter, life transitions into the world of vegetation. Plants and trees possess the earliest form of living awareness—the aggregate of sensation. They absorb nutrients from the soil, water, and sunlight, silently growing and contributing to the balance of the ecosystem.
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As the aggregate of sensation develops over a vast span of time, it paves the way for the aggregate of perception. Living energy evolves into the animal kingdom. Animals possess motion, basic desires, and instinctual reactions. They experience fear, hunger, and attachment, moving a step closer toward individual consciousness.
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Through countless lifetimes of transmigration, the living awareness continues its upward climb, eventually attaining the human form. Humans stand at a critical crossroads of evolution: possessing intellect, moral choice, and the potential to cultivate ultimate goodness, yet still carrying the heavy residue of animal instincts and selfish desires.
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The only exception to this cyclical struggle is the Buddha—the MIND OF ALL LIVING BEINGS—a state that is fully matured, firm, solid, and utterly perfected; whether alive or dead, it remains the same. Lacking even a single defiled thought, it does not go anywhere; this is called standing still, ceasing, resting, or Nirvana, never to experience samsara again—an eternal and everlasting state, like a seed preserved forever.
7.— AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GLOBE
Nothingness is life, air is life, water is life, earth is life, fire is life, wind is life, grass is life, trees are life, animals are life, humans are life, Devas are life, and Buddhas are the ultimate and consummate life; this is the process of upward evolution.
When the globe is destroyed, plants, grass, humans, and animals are all annihilated, yet Devas and Buddhas endure: Devas enter a womb to be reborn in another world, whereas Buddhas can reside anywhere or go anywhere, never returning to the cycle of rebirth.
It is just like a tree that collapses and dies: its ripe fruits endure for ages and can be stored anywhere; its mature fruits must be planted immediately; while the undeveloped, small, rotten, or worm-eaten fruits all perish. The life and consciousness of living beings are exactly like this: Trueness is roundness, firmness, solidity, and maturity in ultimate goodness (mature in experience); whereas immaturity represents deficiency and greedy desires; narrowness represents selfishness; rottenness represents evil impurity; and worm-eatenness represents wickedness and deceit.
Indeed, when a tree falls, how many mature and ripe fruits can there actually be? On the contrary, the small, immature fruits are vast in number and must perish, while the worm-eaten and rotten ones have already decayed beforehand.
Consciousness, life, and awareness are what truly constitute the self: should we then not nourish them rather than this temporary physical body? It feeds only on goodness and righteousness. Wholesome deeds are like the tough outer shell, right speech is like the nutritious flesh, and wholesome thoughts are like the germinating sprout; cultivating the nature of body, speech, and mind is akin to nurturing the tree and preserving the seed, constructing the true self, and giving birth to eternal awareness and everlasting life.
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Devas and Buddhas are the elder-born; they were born earlier because they evolved earlier, possessing vast experience. Therefore, while alive, they always abide in pure places; upon passing away, they also reside in the solitary realms of mountains and forests, far removed from the evil, greedy, angry, delusional, and low realms of grass, trees, humans, animals, children, and impure wickedness.
Whenever, out of compassion and a desire to advance their virtues, they return to the human realm to guide and teach, they will retreat to rest when weary, enjoying further peace and joy. When entering the world to teach and transform, they are called Bodhisattvas, which truly means: awakening living beings.
The path of living awareness—originating from nothingness, from the four great elements, passing through grass, trees, animals, humans, and Devas unto the Buddha—is called the Path (Dhamma). From having no living awareness, to possessing a living awareness for a moment, an hour, a day, a month, a year, a hundred years, a thousand years, and for eternity. The more it is cultivated and refined, the more peaceful, beautiful, everlasting, and perpetually aware it becomes; this is truly precious.
8.— LIVING BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE
Living beings (satta) means living together, or all species that possess life; narrowly speaking, it spans from grass, trees, animals, humans, to Devas (Devas who are subject to rebirth are also called living beings). They are the kinds that undergo samsara, being reborn over and over. A Buddha, while still possessing a physical body, is also a living being; only after discarding the physical form is He called the One who has entered Extinction (Nirvana or Parinirvana). That is speaking of the material form; but if argued correctly, the Buddha is the ultimate living being because He eternally lives as the true self, consciousness, and pure awareness. On the contrary, from the celestial realm downward, beings are still subject to change and can still perish and be destroyed; thus, they can be considered a class that dies, or a class that experiences dying and living again.
Broadly speaking, living beings are also earth, water, fire, wind, and space—these five great elements inherently possess life. Because the five great elements possess life, they can thrive, reproduce, transform, change forms, and alter colors; if the five great elements were dead, then bones, blood, flesh, skin, and breath within grass, trees, animals, and humans could not exist on their own.
Among living beings, there are those already born, those being born, those about to be born, those that live for a second or a minute, and those that live for a thousand years...
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...or ten thousand years; those that dwell in space, in air, within bodies, upon the earth, in water, or in fire (the continuously burning hellfire)—each and every kind possesses a life specific to its class, within differing realms. It is often the case that one generates another, and the succeeding consumes the preceding, just as grass and trees subsist on soil, consuming soil to grow, and animals subsist on grass and trees, consuming grass and trees to grow... From the animal kingdom downward, they mostly commit harmful acts out of a lack of intention and awareness. Only from humankind upward do beings possess intellect, understand goodness, and know compassion, unlike animals, plants, trees, soil, and water.
9.— THE SELF IN THE UNIVERSE
Ever since the embryonic stage, when the globe was about to emerge and the elements of yin and yang, light and dark, heat and cold were harmonized, the aggregate of form (rūpa-khandha) arose from that point. As the earth, water, fire, and wind of the globe came into existence, the inherently present seed of life evolved many times faster from that very moment.
Behold how life within the soil gives rise to grass and trees: grass and trees already possess life, and since they possess life, we may temporarily assign a name to that life for easier examination. Suppose we name it sensation, awareness...; or if we wish to make it most easily understood, it should be called "The Self".
When "The Self" resided within plants and trees, we, while being plants and trees, relied upon the soil to live; the soil is the mother of plants and trees. Plants and trees owe an immense debt of gratitude to the soil, yet they disturb the soil and live within it, even tormenting their mother. Upon the right moment of evolution, arriving at the species capable of movement—such as worms and butterflies—they emerge from within plants and trees, and due to a prolonged period in the aggregate of sensation (vedanā-khandha), it develops into the aggregate of perception (saññā-khandha). At that stage, we in turn consume plants and trees, owing them an immense debt of gratitude, disturbing plants and trees to live off them. Step by step, unfolding through evolutionary conditions, from the tiniest creatures up to the classes of running animals and flying birds, we have tormented countless species of plants and trees. Until the time we attained a human body, passing through numerous animal forms—tigers, leopards, lions... as well as apes, monkeys, and proto-humans—we have killed and destroyed countless species of plants, trees, and small animals; through a prolonged period in the aggregate of perception, it developed into the aggregate of mental formations (saṅkhāra-khandha).
Arriving at this human class, looking back at the many preceding stages...
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...we find it utterly terrifying! We are the most cruel and wicked of all; we have consumed and swallowed countless living beings. The bones, blood, flesh, and skin of myriad species and all things have nourished us to become human; yet today, are we truly worthy? Have we done anything to repay our debt of gratitude to all living beings and things? Or are we still committing evil and causing suffering to them!
In truth, that "Self" evolves from matter, vegetation, animals, humans, Devas, unto Buddhas. The self grows from small to large, rises from low to high, transforms from bad to good, emerges from darkness into light, and progresses from evil to goodness. At present, we are humans, existing in a state of half-darkness and half-light, half-evil and half-good, half-animal and half-Deva, half-Buddha and half-demon... We are in the midst of an internal warfare within our minds, striving to step up the ladder of evolution.
10.— THE EVOLUTION OF THE SELF
The highest evolved being is a Buddha. A Buddha is perfect awareness, knowing all and having no further need to learn; hence, He is called the One Beyond Learning (Asekha), or the One who has attained the Fruition of the Path. A Buddha is the collective life of the universe, no longer distinguishing finite boundaries, no longer possessing the narrow, selfish self of an individual.
The self of living beings is like a drop of water, whereas the self of a Buddha is like the ocean. When a drop of water enters the ocean, it becomes the ocean, and individual drops can no longer be distinguished. The evolution of the self is a journey from separation and division toward collectivity and harmony; from being a recipient of gratitude to a repayer of gratitude; from selfishness to altruism; and from darkness to supreme wisdom.
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Therefore, practicing the Buddha's Path is not about searching for something distant or mystical outside of oneself; rather, it is the cultivation and evolution of the self and awareness right within each of us.
When the self has evolved to the point of ultimate goodness and perfect wisdom, without a single stain of selfishness remaining, it then merges as one with the universe. That is the state of liberation, total cessation, and eternal Nirvana.
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