Science, especially quantum physics, strives to reveal how what we can see, hear, and touch comes to be. A 9,000-year-old text known as the ChunBuKyung contains similar wisdom that is in line with our growing body of knowledge and theories. Using just 81 Asian characters, the ChunBuKyung denotes existence, the development of the cosmos and the role human beings play in it.

According to the ChunBuKyung, the beginning of all things started with One. In other words, only unmaterialized potential existed first. As potential, One never had a beginning, although everything came from it. This can be mind boggling. The ChunBuKyung, although at first seems incomprehensible, is really delineated according to understandable parts, if one takes the time to meditate on it.

At some point, the One divided into three aspects that the ChunBuKyung calls Heaven, Earth, and Human. These represent the spiritual, material, and energetic aspects of creation respectively. Heaven came first and is the basis for the essence of Earth. The combination of Heaven and Earth brought forth the essence of Human. In another sense, this trinity represents the three dimensions as we understand them today.

This original division occurred again. Heaven divided into three to become heavenly Heaven, heavenly Earth, and heavenly Human. Earth became earthly Heaven, earthly Earth, and earthly Human, and Human became humanly Heaven, humanly Earth, and humanly Human.

In this way, everything has these three aspects within it. While they are a part of us, life forms on Earth also take in “heaven” through the oxygen they breathe and ingest “earth” through food. We also release them in our waste. Our lives can only be maintained if we circulate Heaven and Earth.

After the first time, Heaven, Earth, and Human individuated countless times, with each individuation gathering and organizing into higher beings or entities. Sub-atomic particles become atoms, which combine into molecules, then cells, then, ever more complex multicellular organisms. Each entity created retains the characteristics of Heaven, Earth and Human. Division and gathering, growth and evolution have an eventual point of completion, a return to One. This process occurs over and over, a process of birth and death that can be seen in everything, from the smallest bit of matter to the largest celestial body, as well as the systems through which they interact.

No distinction or division exists in the One original and all-encompassing potential. However, as it individuates and takes on definite characteristics, duality can be seen. Yin and yang, day and night, land and water, heat and cold, and the continuum between these extremes. The characteristics of each entity are always changing, but the essence of each entity is still the One unchanging potential.

For our own lives, the ChunBuKyung reminds us that despite ever-present change and the eventual end of our physical body, matter, energy and spirit are within us, and in the center of that is limitless potential for creation. By uniting these three aspects of ourselves, we can align our individual consciousness with universal consciousness—the One. This wider view affords us detachment and choice of direction. When this connection allows us to complete our individual lives, physical death becomes meaningless.

One way to do this is through the ChunBuKyung itself. More than a series of characters, most of which represent numbers, the ChunBuKyung is a vehicle for the pure energy of One. Observing it, writing it, chanting it, or listening to it being chanted all deliver that energy. Leave yourself open to receiving it and then incorporate the awareness and feeling that comes with it into your decisions and actions. In this way, an ancient text becomes a living force in present-day life.