We tend to imagine the stars and galaxies of the night sky as separate islands, each floating alone. But the largest map of the universe shows something entirely different. Galaxies are not scattered points — they are joined into a vast web.
In 2026, astronomers captured the most distant and earliest proto-supercluster ever found. Its name is COSMOS-z3.1-A, seen as it was just 2.1 billion years after the Big Bang, with a mass some 5,000 times that of our Milky Way. Most striking of all was its location: this giant cluster of galaxies sits exactly where several filaments of the “cosmic web” intersect. It is the first time humanity has directly observed such a crossing in the distant universe.
The universe is not scattered points, but a single web
The largest structure modern cosmology has revealed is the cosmic web. Galaxies are not sprinkled at random; they are strung like beads along slender filaments woven by invisible matter and gravity. Where those filaments meet, clusters of galaxies form as knots; between them lie great empty voids. The whole universe is one enormous web, a single cosmic net.
COSMOS-z3.1-A was being born at one of those knots — the crossing where many strands meet. A galaxy does not exist alone. The web gives rise to galaxies, and galaxies in turn compose the web.
因陀羅網: Indra’s Net, the infinite web of mutual reflection
Before this cosmic web, I think of an image from Buddhism 2,000 years old: Indra’s Net (因陀羅網).
The Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra paints it this way. Above the palace of the god Indra hangs an endless net, and at each knot of the net hangs a single clear jewel. Each jewel reflects within itself every other jewel — and within each reflection, all the other jewels are reflected again, infinitely. A single jewel holds the whole universe, and the whole universe is held in a single jewel.
The way galaxies form at each knot of the cosmic web, joined by gravity into one whole, is uncannily close to this ancient image. With no telescope, Buddhism intuited the fundamental structure of existence as an infinite net of mutual reflection.
緣起: Nothing exists alone
What Indra’s Net points to is the root teaching of Buddhism: dependent origination (緣起).
“This being, that is; this arising, that arises (此有故彼有, 此生故彼生).”
— early Buddhist teaching of dependent origination
Nothing in the world exists alone, by itself, independently. Everything comes to be only in relation to other things, each conditioning the other — just as a galaxy is held by the web, and the web is woven of galaxies. Even “I” am in truth a knot of countless relations: parents, air, water, sunlight, the elements of stars from billions of years ago, briefly meeting to form a single node. There is no independent, standing self (無我, no-self).
一卽多 多卽一: One is all, and all is one
Huayan (Flower Garland) thought takes the boldest step of all.
“One is many, and many is one (一卽多, 多卽一).”
— Huayan (華嚴) philosophy
As every jewel is reflected in a single jewel of Indra’s Net, the whole is contained in the smallest one, and the whole is composed of each single one. Huayan called this the unobstructed interpenetration of all phenomena (事事無礙) — every individual thing flows into every other without obstruction. It is like the cosmic web, where the place and fate of one galaxy is set by the whole structure, while that single galaxy is itself part of the whole. Part and whole are not two.
So how, then, shall we live?
This is not merely a distant astronomy story. The fact that the universe is not “a collection of lonely points” but “one web of mutual reflection” changes how we see ourselves and others.
We often feel like solitary islands, cut off from the world — and from that feeling grow loneliness and selfishness. But as Indra’s Net and the cosmic web together declare, you have never once existed alone. You are a knot of countless relations; the whole world is already reflected within you, and you are reflected within others.
- Set down the illusion of separation. You are not an isolated island, but a knot in the web.
- Remember the ripple of small acts. The trembling of one jewel spreads through the whole net — your kindness, and your wounds alike.
- Find freedom within connection. Maturity is not standing alone, but being well-joined.
- Cherish the single thing. Through Huayan’s eyes, the whole is held within each one.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cosmic web real? Yes. Galaxies are distributed along filaments rather than at random, with clusters forming at their intersections. The 2026 observation of COSMOS-z3.1-A is the first direct confirmation of such a crossing in the distant universe.
Isn’t Indra’s Net just a myth? It is an image from the Avatamsaka Sutra, but its insight — that all beings are connected, each reflecting the others — resonates remarkably with modern discoveries, from cosmic structure to ecosystems to networks.
Does dependent origination actually help daily life? Knowing that everything exists in relation reduces isolation and grows responsibility and compassion toward others and the environment. Studies, too, find that a sense of connection raises mental health and generosity.
Two thousand years ago, Buddhism saw the root of existence as an infinite net of mutual reflection. Now astronomy draws the map showing that galaxies really are woven into one vast web. You are not a point dropped alone in the cosmos. You are a single knot that reflects the whole universe — and within you, the whole world is already held.
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