Space (Internal Reference)¶
This version is an anthology of original texts for deep study. All passages are reproduced verbatim from source materials, organized thematically.
I. Definition and Essential Nature¶
1.1 Core Definition¶
Space is the position and range of movement occupied by matter and antimatter.
Positive space is determined by the existence and distribution of matter; negative space is determined by the existence and distribution of antimatter. Without matter, there is no positive space; without antimatter, there is no negative space.
Space is divided into absolute space and relative space. Absolute space refers to space that can extend infinitely; relative space refers to the range constituted by the distance between an object and the surrounding objects. Space exists everywhere, at all times. There is space between galaxies, and there is space between atoms.
Space has positive and negative polarity. The space in which matter exists is positive space; the space in which antimatter exists is negative space. The human physical body is in positive space, while the human spirit-body is in negative space.
Positive space is relatively stable — it warps, expands, contracts, or disappears in accordance with the mass-energy and shape of material objects.
Negative space is a space of rapid, even instantaneous, change — it can undergo infinite transformations in a single moment.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Space)
Space is the position and range of activity occupied by matter and antimatter. Space has positive-negative polarity: the space in which matter exists is called positive space, and the space in which antimatter exists is called negative space. Positive space is determined by the existence and distribution of matter; negative space is determined by the existence and distribution of antimatter.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 421)
1.2 The Essence of Matter Is Emptiness¶
To know that the universe is emptiness is the wisdom of the Buddha. "Form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form" — this is where the mystery lies. To grasp this principle, let us first ask: where is matter?
A stone is obviously a material body, but to understand it we must examine its cells, because every material body is composed of cells... Take a material body and peel it layer by layer like an onion — eventually you reach its original nature. But what is it? A string? A mist? A spirit? The answer is: emptiness. If the core of matter is emptiness, then where is matter?
One trillion protons lined up in a row measure only one millimeter. And what lies at the center of cells within cells within cells? Emptiness.
So what is emptiness? Emptiness is matter. Space is the distance between matter and matter — or, to put it differently, space is the domain of matter. This is to say: emptiness is form (matter), and form (matter) is emptiness. Emptiness is not different from form; form is not different from emptiness.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Transmission · The Mystery of Space)
1.3 On Negative Space¶
To this day, humanity's understanding of space is one-sided — we have recognized only the material face of space, not the antimatter face. We mistakenly believe that only Earth is suitable for human habitation...
People find negative space hard to understand — it seems abstract and metaphysical. But when our wisdom rises to a sufficient degree, we can begin to "see" it. The human eye can only perceive light in the 400–700 nanometer range; the ear can only hear frequencies between 20 and 20,000 Hz. The center of an ocean vortex has no water; the eye of a powerful typhoon is calm and serene. We cannot say that things we cannot see do not exist, or that things we cannot hear are silent. Everyone dreams. In your dream — is that you real, or not? If it is not real, why do you have consciousness, emotions, and desires in that unfamiliar environment? If it is not unreal, then who is lying asleep in bed? In truth, both the sleeping body and the dreaming you are genuinely you — your space has simply changed. The space of your dream is negative space.
The universe contains many negative spaces. The dream-space is only one of them.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Space)
II. The Dimensional Structure of Space¶
2.1 Thirty-Six Dimensions and the Yin-Yang Duality¶
Space has thirty-six dimensions. But in terms of fundamental attribute, there are only two kinds of space — yin and yang — which also accords with the principle of Taiji.
The space perceived by sight and scientific instruments is yang-space, the space of matter — constituted by molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, and so on. The space of heart-mind and consciousness is yin-space, the space of antimatter — constituted by consciousness, spirit, soul, and divine beings.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Transmission · The Mystery of Space)
The universe has 36-dimensional space. Different spaces correspond to different life-forms and life-meanings.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Battle Formations · The Space Formation)
2.2 The Names of the Thirty-Six Dimensions¶
The 36 dimensions of space as set forth by Lifechanyuan are: the Colorless Realm, the Two-Color Realm, the Human World, the Karma Realm, the Yin-Yang Boundary, the Human-Celestial Interface, the Proton Realm, the Photon Realm, the Light-Speed Circle, the Superluminal Circle, the Molecular Realm, the Microcosmic World, the Dharma Realm, the Retained Information Realm, the Super-Time Realm, the Macrocosmic World, the Time Tunnel, the Space Tunnel, the Hundun Realm, the Clearness-Cool Realm, the Celestial Realm, the Elysium World, the Yin-Polar Black Hole Body, the Ten-Thousand-Year World, the Thousand-Year World, the Dream Realm, the Yang-Polar Black Hole Body, the Domestic Animal Realm, the Animal Realm, the Plant Realm, the Insect Realm, the Bacterial Realm, the Mountain-Stone-River-Weather Realm, the Yin Realm, the Ice Layer, and the Fire Refinement Layer — all derived from the principles of symmetry, scientific fact, and mathematical logic. These are not arbitrary inventions.
(Xuefeng Corpus · Miscellaneous Essays · The Difference and Connection Between Lifechanyuan's Theory of Space and Buddhism's Three Realms)
The universe contains thirty-six dimensional spaces, each a vast world unto itself — high-level life spaces, low-level life spaces, and mid-level life spaces. Lifechanyuan will illuminate the mysteries of each level and escort you onto the path beyond space-time, toward that beautiful and longed-for other world of LIFE.
(Xuefeng Corpus · Chanyuan Essays · Building a Home for Spirit and Soul)
If existence determines consciousness, we have only one Earth. If consciousness determines existence, we have 36-dimensional space.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 309)
2.3 Properties of Positive and Negative Space¶
Positive space is relatively stable — it warps, expands, contracts, or disappears in response to the mass-energy and shape of material objects.
Negative space is a domain of rapid change — infinite transformation is possible in a single instant.
Space can be altered, expanded, compressed, and distorted.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Space)
III. Space and Its Effects on LIFE¶
3.1 Space Shapes Life-Form and Movement¶
Space can alter the shape and movement patterns of objects.
Different spaces produce different patterns of movement and different life-forms. People raised in cold climates differ physically from those raised in tropical regions; urban people and rural people look different; fishermen and highland shepherds differ in appearance; plants in the Gobi Desert flower and fruit differently from those in deep forests; monkeys in tourist areas have different survival skills from those in remote mountains; men who spend their lives surrounded by women differ in temperament from those who spend their lives surrounded by men; the mindset of a marketplace merchant differs from that of a church pastor; the mental activity of a monastery worker differs from that of a politician.
Changes in space produce changes in a person's physiology, thinking, and inner mental activity.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Chapter on Space)
Space can alter the shape and movement patterns of objects — this includes both natural space and the space of thought. Different spaces correspond to different patterns of movement and states of existence for life and objects. Changes in space lead to changes in a being's physiology, thinking patterns, and life-state. A person who wants to change themselves must change the space in which they operate.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 422)
3.2 Space and Lifespan¶
The same species of plant grows for different lengths of time in different spaces — the harsher the environment, the shorter its lifespan. At high altitude, where the climate is cold, a plant can complete the full cycle from germination to maturity in a single month. This tells us that a being's lifespan is influenced by space. Different spaces correspond to different lifespans. This is why humans live only about a hundred years in the Human World, only a thousand years in the Thousand-Year World, up to thirty-five thousand years in the Ten-Thousand-Year World, and virtually unlimited lifespans in the Celestial Islands Continent of the Elysium World.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · How Space Affects Physiology and Character)
3.3 Space as the Limit of Freedom¶
Space is a form of constraint. The larger a being's space, the greater its degree of freedom.
Prisoners are confined to a few square meters. Pigs are confined to pigsties, fish to water, earthworms to soil, eagles to cliffs and sky, tigers to mountain forests, plants to the earth, and humans to home — family, nation, and the Human World. This is the Space Formation.
Every being's space is limited. Even the celestials, who enjoy the greatest freedom in the universe, are confined to the Celestial Islands Continent. Only divine beings have no spatial constraint — yet even they must observe the rules of whatever space they enter.
Compared to celestials, humans are pitiable — our lifelong range of movement is vanishingly small.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Battle Formations · The Space Formation)
3.4 The Danger of Long-Term Confinement to a Single Space¶
Space has an enormous influence on a person's physiology and character. Living in the same space for a long time locks in both the good and the bad. The mild-tempered remain mild; the troublemakers remain troublemakers; the healthy remain healthy; those with illness — especially character flaws and psychological conditions — remain ill.
A person who wants to be truly healthy — in consciousness, spirit, psychology, and physiology — must constantly vary the space they live in. Long-term single-space living inevitably produces defects that go unnoticed, just as someone who grew up in a climate with four distinct seasons assumes that's how all places are.
The same logic extends further: a person who wants complete mental and spiritual health must actively absorb new ideas, new perspectives, and new ways of life. Long-term immersion in a single ideological system inevitably produces extremism — either self-contempt or arrogance — followed by closure, entropy, and eventual collapse. This applies to nations, political parties, religions, and states alike.
This is why Lifechanyuan's Second Home requires its members to move to a different branch community every three years — constantly shifting space, constantly encountering new people, so that consciousness grows ever more complete, the soul ever more pure, and life advances toward ever-higher spaces.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · How Space Affects Physiology and Character, 2014/5/10)
IV. Space and Cultivation — Expanding One's Life Space¶
4.1 How to Use Space¶
The space in which we live is of paramount importance. Different spaces carry different life-meanings. The ultimate aim of human life should be to advance toward higher life spaces — not to retreat into lower ones.
Space can be expanded, compressed, and distorted. We must learn to use space skillfully.
What our eyes can see ahead is where we are going. What our consciousness (spiritual awareness) can perceive is the space where our spirit-body will arrive after physical death. Therefore, we should transcend our current living space by extending our intention toward higher spaces through thought — imagining and familiarizing ourselves with the Thousand-Year World, Ten-Thousand-Year World, and Elysium World. Gradually, the imagined space will approach us and become reality, laying the foundation for our spirit-body's journey to higher life spaces after physical death.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Universe and Space-Time · The Utilization of Space)
4.2 Expanding Life's Space¶
"Transcend the three realms; stand outside the five elements." Birds must migrate to survive. "A tree that is moved dies; a person who moves thrives." Stay at the bottom of the well and you'll never know what lies beyond the sky.
The heart is as large as the cosmos; the depth of thought is the breadth of life's space.
For Chanyuan Celestials, our life space extends to the Thousand-Year World, Ten-Thousand-Year World, and the Celestial Islands Continent of the Elysium World. But for ordinary people, life is only the Human World — only a few decades. Watching them from above is like watching tadpoles in a puddle. The puddle may dry up at any moment. How pitiable!
The single most effective way to expand your life space is to work on your thinking. The place your thoughts reach is the place your consciousness reaches; the place your consciousness reaches is the place your life will exist in the future.
(Xuefeng Corpus · Wisdom · Expanding Life's Space)
4.3 How to Escape the Space Formation¶
To become a higher-level being, one must escape the space assigned to human existence — just as a pig that wants to become a human must first escape the pigsty.
The key is consciousness and thought. If consciousness does not change and thinking does not shift, one can never truly escape the Space Formation.
To escape the Human Space Formation, one must first resolve never to remain human. If one still wants to remain human, then no matter how far one travels, one will remain trapped in the Human World.
The practical steps: first, learn about higher life spaces — such as the Thousand-Year World. Then imitate the way celestials live in the Thousand-Year World. Replace your current consciousness with that of a thousand-year celestial. Gradually detach from family, political party, religion, and nation as defining frameworks. Strive to live as a celestial of the Thousand-Year World would live. Finally, relinquish all accumulated possessions in the Human World — repay all debts — gather the provisions needed for the journey to a higher life space — and leave the Human World for Heaven, for the Thousand-Year World.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Battle Formations · The Space Formation, 2010/10/11)
4.4 The Path Toward a More Beautiful Space¶
The path toward a more beautiful space is: repay debts, resolve karmic ties, accumulate merit, and perfect the structure of your LIFE.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 346)
The quality of LIFE lies in the structure of LIFE. The more perfect the structure, the higher the quality, the better the space of existence, and the greater the degree of freedom.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 359)
What does not exist in your consciousness does not exist in your LIFE. Therefore, make haste to expand your life space. Do not linger too long in this transient place. Familiarize yourself with the places you long to reach. Be a person who knows.
(New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 375)
V. Narrow Space and Human Suffering¶
5.1 Space and Hatred¶
Narrow living space inevitably breeds hatred among beings. If not resolved in time, killing will ultimately follow.
The earth, with its billions of people, has not yet reached the critical threshold of mass killing, but the narrowness of space already produces in governments and peoples a nameless oppression. To seize living space, the competition begins from early childhood. This is why people unconsciously wish for disasters to eliminate population.
The hatred generated by spatial narrowness cannot be adjudicated by standards of good and evil. Everyone wants to survive and live better. This desire inevitably leads to the plundering of resources, the seizure of space, and the pollution of water, land, and air — which further narrows the livable space, which further intensifies competition and cruelty.
The only solution is to lead those who understand to a broader life space. For the rest — let nature take its course.
(Chanyuan Corpus · Wisdom · Space and Hatred)
VI. Dreams and Life Space¶
The physical body dies — but LIFE does not. Without a body, LIFE continues to live within some space, as if in a dream. The question is: what kind of dream?
The space of LIFE is infinitely vast; the time of LIFE continues eternally. In dreams, you can meet the departed, fly freely, conjure whatever you desire, even experience lovemaking — and the feeling is more intense, warmer, and more unforgettable than in waking life. What is impossible in physical reality can be accomplished in dreams.
It is our consciousness that creates our reality, and our consciousness that creates our dreams. What we ordinarily recognize as our consciousness is only the surface — like the tip of an iceberg. The deeper consciousness, like the vast part below the waterline, is what truly governs our existence. Dreams are created by that deep consciousness. So is our waking reality.
(Chanyuan Corpus · LIFE · Dreams and Life Space)
VII. Lifechanyuan's Theory of Space vs. Buddhism's Three Realms¶
To understand the cosmos of space, three principles must be respected: the Principle of Symmetry, scientific fact, and mathematical logic. Any account of space that violates these three principles is groundless.
In the universe, aside from the Clearness-Cool Realm (the zero-point), all things and all spaces exist in symmetry. The Lifechanyuan account of 36 dimensions and 20 parallel worlds follows the Principle of Symmetry, scientific fact, and mathematical principles.
Buddhism's Three Realms consist of the Desire Realm (6 heavens), the Form Realm (18 heavens), and the Formless Realm (4 heavens) — 28 heavens in total, plus the Human World, the Asura Realm, the Animal Realm, the Hungry Ghost Realm, and the Hell Realm, for a total of 33 heavens. This classification is deeply confused. Take the three-fold division into Desire, Form, and Formless Realms: the Human World is simultaneously a Desire Realm and a Form Realm — how are they distinguished?
Lifechanyuan's spatial framework follows symmetry, science, and logic; Buddhism's followed emotion and intuition. They are completely different systems with no direct correspondence.
(Xuefeng Corpus · Miscellaneous Essays · The Difference and Connection Between Lifechanyuan's Theory of Space and Buddhism's Three Realms, 2007-12-18)
VIII. The Practical Value of Yin Space¶
Yang-space is a barrier we cannot cross — the speed of light is its absolute limit, and only Earth is suitable for human physical life.
But here is the good news: we can live in yin-space. In yin-space, the speed of antimatter movement is superluminal — virtually instantaneous. In the blink of an eye, we can reach antimatter planets billions of light-years away.
Can we reach the Thousand-Year World and Ten-Thousand-Year World? Yes — because yin and yang can mutually transform. Consciousness determines existence. Whatever way of thinking we cultivate, that is the form and environment of life we will inhabit. As long as a being's frequency resonates with the corresponding life-form and environment, arrival is inevitable.
(Chanyuan Corpus · The Transmission · The Mystery of Space)
IX. Key Concepts in Brief¶
Forgiving, tolerating, and pardoning others is expanding the road and the living space for yourself. (New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 143)
In the same unit of time: the closer to the center, the smaller the space and the more effortless; the further from the center, the larger the space and the more laborious. (New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 330)
The heart is as large as the cosmos; the depth of thought is the breadth of life's space. (New Era Human Eight Hundred Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 331)
Whatever consciousness one has, that is the form and space of one's existence. Human, celestial, and Buddha are all forms of LIFE — but they differ in consciousness. With human consciousness, one can only ever be human. To become celestial or Buddha, one must replace human consciousness with the consciousness of celestial or Buddha. (Xuefeng Corpus · Famous Persons · A Leaf in Autumn — To Li Lian-jie)
Compiled by: Lingzhou Cao | 2026-05-29