330 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”should give us a sense of humility, a stark reminder that, after all, we are
just infinitesimals in a vast universe.
Here is a teaching from a Chan (Zen) master of the Song dynasty,
who talked about the three stages of epistemic attainment: “At the
beginning, I saw mountains as mountains, and rivers as rivers; half way
through, I did not see mountains as mountains nor rivers as rivers; but
at the end of my practice, I see once more mountains as mountains,
and rivers as rivers.”^34 When we first face reality, we know it intuitively
and see the whole (mountain). Once we acquire knowledge and become
analytic, we see the details (grains of sand — or, down to the molecules,
atoms and quarks) and lose the whole. But when we regain the intuitive
perspective, we see the whole as well as the details. Thus the mountain is
again a mountain, not just a collection of sand particles or silicon dioxide.
The analogy is like seeing the forest as well as the trees. The second
wholeness is the fruit of wisdom that transcends the initial wholeness of
ignorance and the mid-stage fragmentation of knowledge.
Everything is as it is, and this alone is most beautiful and wonderful.
Being as such is a mystery, inscrutable, defying explanation and under-
standing. Amidst this cosmic vastness and endlessness are our minus-
cule selves, fragile and impermanent. It is only by linking the minuscule
with the immense, the fleeting with the constant, that we instantiate the
beauty and wonder of our existence. In this manner, self, which initially
“crystallizes” out of the world, in the end yearns to return to it.
Notes and References
- Zhuangzi 《庄子》, Chapter 2.
- Margenau H. (1950) The Nature of Physical Reality. McGraw-Hill, New York;
Kuhn TS. (1970) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (Foundations of the
Unity of Science, Vol. II, No. 2), 2nd ed. Univ. of Chicago Press. - Only 4% of matter in the universe is visible by their electromagnetic wave
emission (normal matter); 25% is not visible but is only gravitationally
detected (dark matter); 70% is undetectable energy (dark energy).