How to Enjoy a Heavenly Life in Prison

Xuefeng

March 1, 2025

The diameter of the Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years. A beam of light takes 100,000 years to travel from one end of the Milky Way to the other. If a person were to drive a car at 100 kilometers per hour to cross the distance that light travels in one year, it would take 10.8 million years. To drive across the entire Milky Way would take 100,000 times 10.8 million years. Within the Milky Way, there are approximately 300 billion stars like the Sun and hundreds of billions of planets similar to Earth. Just imagine the vastness of the Milky Way.

Yet, for all its immensity, the Milky Way is no more than a grain of sand in the vast Spiral River Galaxy of the universe. This comparison alone reveals the enormity of the Spiral River Galaxy. To put it into perspective, if the Spiral River Galaxy were the size of a football field, the Milky Way would be no more than a tiny grain of sand on it.

Does the Spiral River Galaxy seem vast? Beyond our imagination, right? But wait—there’s more. The Spiral River Galaxy is, in turn, just a grain of sand within the Dharma Spiral River Galaxy of the universe. If we compare the Dharma Spiral Galaxy to Earth, then the River Galaxy would be like a football field on Earth, the Milky Way a tiny grain of sand on that field, the Solar System a mere speck of dust within the Milky Way, and Earth—well, Earth wouldn’t even qualify as a grain of sand in the Milky Way.

Even this unimaginably vast Dharma Spiral Galaxy is just a tiny fragment of the entire universe, which we call the "Earth Universe”. So, just how big is the universe? It defies human comprehension.

The universe is vast, and the LIFE forms within it are diverse and countless. Humans, as physical beings, are just one of the billions of LIFE forms. In the grand scheme of existence, humans are as insignificant as ants, and a human lifetime is but a fleeting spark in the grand timeline of the cosmos—so brief that it wouldn’t even amount to one ten-thousandth of a single lightning flash on a cosmic scale.

With this in mind, what is there to worry, stress, or grieve about in life? What is truly worth pursuing or clinging to? What is so difficult to let go of that we insist on holding onto it? Why waste time debating in a flash of lightning and fighting on a snail’s horn?

The places humans create to imprison criminals are called prisons. But did you know that Earth itself is a massive prison? Everyone born on this planet is, in essence, a prisoner in Earth's grand prison. What makes a prison? Any place that confines you and prevents your escape is a prison.

There are three types of prisons: those that confine the body, those that confine the spirit, and those that confine the soul. The core of life is the soul. Once the soul is free, no prison—physical or mental—can truly confine a person.

1.Prisons that confine the body, such as physical incarceration or countries that prohibit people from leaving.

2.Prisons that confine the spirit, such as the constraints of marriage, family obligations, emotional entanglements, and debt.

3.Prisons that confine the soul, such as limitations imposed by science, religion, morality, law, knowledge, and societal ethics.

Once we understand these concepts, we uncover the secret to enjoying a heavenly life—even within a prison.

The strange phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as "spooky action at a distance," suggests that while it would take 10.8 million years to traverse such a distance by car, the soul can reach it in an instant. In the Milky Way, 960 light-years from Earth, there is a planet ten times larger than Earth with an environment ten times more beautiful. Another planet, 3,480 light-years away, is sixteen times larger than Earth and is incredibly fantastical, perfectly suited for habitation. And beyond these is the Celestial Islands Continent of the Elysium World, a paradise three times the size of the Milky Way, filled with mystical, indescribable wonders. The universe is boundless, and the variety of LIFE forms is limitless. Even the Earth Universe alone offers enough to explore for billions upon billions of years, let alone the realms beyond it!

If you embark on the spiritual journey of a Chanyuan Celestial, setting your sights on the fairylands of the Thousand-Year World and the Ten-Thousand-Year World, yearning for the mystical and marvelous Celestial Islands Contient, then as long as your soul is not imprisoned, neither physical nor mental constraints can hold you back. Even if you are physically confined, eating simple meals, living in a humble dwelling, wearing ragged clothes, and being watched and reprimanded by prison guards—what is there to be upset about? What is there to worry about? Life is but an ephemeral illusion, passing in the blink of an eye. Why let fleeting worldly affairs trap you in a mental prison?

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was practicing deep prajnaparamita, he perceived that all five aggregates were empty, and thereby overcame all suffering and distress."

Do not believe everything your eyes see. Do not believe everything your ears hear. Do not believe everything your nose smells. Do not believe everything your tongue tastes. Do not believe everything your body touches. Instead, believe in what your soul perceives.

If the soul is imprisoned, even a person living in a mansion, driving a luxury car, and possessing immense wealth is still a prisoner. But if the soul is free, then even someone living in a thatched hut, eating simple food, and walking barefoot is a true celestial being. When one embraces formless thinking, even in prison, one can live in paradise.