Space and Time: The Infinite Can Only Be Touched Through Enlightenment

Have you ever met someone born in the same year, attending the same school, yet never known each other? Or studied at the same school but in different cohorts, so you never crossed paths? What creates the conditions (dependent origination) for such encounters? The answer lies in two concepts that seem familiar: space and time. By listening to the dharma talk of Venerable Thích Chân Quang, we can glimpse their depth and wonder.

Space and Time: Invisible Yet Real

Space can be measured and located. But time, no one knows it, no one can touch it. Venerable Chân Quang opens his talk with a remark that makes us pause and think:

Space we can determine, but time no one knows. Space we can measure, but time cannot be measured. A clock measures itself; a clock does not actually measure time at all.

We only know time through the changing of all things, much like a phone signal—invisible yet real.

Space and Time in Art and Life

Painting is the art of space, music is the art of time, and dance is a combination of both. In law, to identify a person or an event, we need both the place and the moment. Yet in our spiritual lives, we often make the mistake of judging someone while forgetting these two factors.

Where was his temper flaring? At what moment, in what year, at what time, on what day—and because of what situation, what circumstances, did his temper flare?

Thus, someone labeled with hatred and delusion may simply have been angry once, in one specific circumstance. But if we do not anchor our words to space and time, that judgment becomes a grave injustice.

The Infinity of Space and Time

The Buddhist scriptures described the infinity of the universe thousands of years ago. Modern science is only now beginning to approach that vision. But if we insist on using our finite minds to imagine the infinite, our heads will "burst open."

For example, when we open the Avatamsaka Sutra and read about the worlds described within it, we cannot comprehend them. Our minds simply do not have the capacity to contain the vastness of the worlds of the universe.

Transcending the Finite Through Enlightenment

Ordinary people are limited by the ego, by the small self. It is precisely this clinging to self that makes us finite, small, and ordinary. To reach the infinity of space and time, we cannot rely on knowledge, but on the realization of non-self (anatta). When we truly practice letting go of the self, we become absolute.

When one becomes absolutely small, one becomes absolutely vast. At that moment, that person feels as though they encompass all of space and time.

Applying It to Life: Living Consciously and Preparing for Rebirth

Rather than chasing after things too distant, we should focus on what is essential: that rebirth exists, and that cause and effect (karmic law) exists. Knowing this clearly, we can prepare for a better next life. The hardships we face in this life are the results of shortcomings in the past. Therefore, let us plant wholesome seeds today.

Just try to understand this fundamental truth: all of us are subject to rebirth in samsara (cycle of rebirth). Understand that first.

The dharma talk of Venerable Thích Chân Quang opens a profound perspective on two dimensions we thought we knew well. Do not remain lost in pursuit of metaphysical explanations—practice instead, to step beyond the finite self. Then space and time become mere small expressions of consciousness, and we will find ourselves embracing the entire universe.