How God Phos and the Ending criticize and embody Buddhism
What's interesting about Enlightened Phos or God Phos is that she embodies buddhism—embodies the trascendent state in which everything is void, and a such, you're at peace with everything. Now, I'm not a buddhism expert by any means, but in relation to the themes and story of Houseki no Kuni, I think it's especially wonderful that the "enlightened state" Phos reaches isn't actually all that much. In the end, no matter how many thousands of years she prayed, and how much she changed, there was still a core part of her that wanted the same thing; to be loved, a desire as earthly as it gets, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Paradoxes Once More
In buddhism, it's all paradoxical. To attain happiness, you let go of happiness. To connect with others, you let go of others. And the same happens with Phos. Because Phos changed so much, to the point of not being herself anymore—and at the same time, she still is Phos. Even after changing so much, she wants the same things, and returns to base, to simply being satisfied as she is for who she is and indulging in the little moments of life. It's a cycle. All the suffering she went through led her to the final form of returning to be herself, to finally enjoy herself as she is, the simple answer that she had from the very beggining and yet couldn't accept until the very end.
The very ending is paradoxical, because it praises both the simpleness of the rocks but also the plan carried on by Ayumu, Kongo and Aechma in order to attain happiness for everyone, Phos included.
The rationality to execute it is key, as I explained in my Moon Phos analysis, and yet it was also that very extreme rationality that needed to be erradicated for everyone to be happy. Moon Phos, the Lunarians, the overcomplicated plans, all of it was the bridge—Rationality was the bridge. But all bridges must be burnt after crossing them.
Of course, that isn't to say that the pebbles aren't rational or are stupid, because they clearly became capable of reasoning in a way that the story frames as good; rationality for the sake of others which allowed Phos to be saved. It was just the "hyperrationality", the one that comes with civilization and optimizing (ahem, capitalism), that had to go.
Thus, the pebbles are the most intelligent of them all. They were simple, and that's all they needed to be. They reject Phos' offerings, because they're content as they are, which is the complete opposite of Phos.
For Phos, humanity is the wishing for something grander, the thing that made her push herself too far and ruin everything for herself.
That's why she refuses to accept that it's fine for her to live, and she acknowledges that humanity remains inside her to the bitter end. But I feel that isn't humanity as much as it is civilization, and the values it pushes onto humans.
Criticizing "Enlightenment"
I think that what's wonderful about Enlightened Phos is the way she criticizes the self-actualization that tradidtional Buddhism points towards, along with the supposed enlightenment that comes with it. It's a criticism of the idea that you can reach an ultimate form of yourself, and to the lack of importance that this idea and buddhism in general gives to the present and to the meaning of it all. Check out this exchange between Phos and one of the pebbles as an example.
The supposedly enlightened Phos points out how everything fundamentally doesn't matter and that whether they die sooner or later is irrelevant. She has suffered so much and gone through so much loss that she's at a point that, despite reaching some form of happiness with the pebbles, she also is suicidal, and wants to end it all. She realizes the meaninglessness of everything and, even though she has experienced some happy moments, she ultimately sees it all as transcient, and any attempt at giving life meaning is self-sabotage in her eyes. Thus, buddhism's transcience takes away meaning from life, from happiness, demonizing pleasure and leaving a husk of a person instead.
Sadly, buddhism is right in it's meaninglessness—it's right in many things, which I'd say is the whole point of Houseki no Kuni, but it's also missing a huge point, which the series constantly makes sure to point out: even if everything will end one day, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't cherish your life, or that each moment is meaningless because of it. Sure, there's no grander purpose, there's no meaning to the why things happen the way they do, but it's precisely because of that that every moment is all the more meaningful, not in the grand scheme of things, but on a personal level. Because if everything constantly changes, even your own identity, then you should cherish the present, a moment that cannot be repeated, all more.
That's precisely what the pebble argues, by saying they want to extend their happiness a little bit more. Sure, if the pebbles dies its atoms will be used to create some new form of life, but that's missing the point, and looking at it too coldly, through an outlook that lacks humanity and yets is also fundamentally human in its rationality.
The pebble wants to live, right now, in the moment, as they are, enjoying the little things—not as a cosmic exchange of matter. And Phos and Pitapat (who also greatly suffered because of the humans' rationality by becoming the Ice Floes) agree with the sentiment.
Pitapat's sushi cream chips' obssesion is also an easy way to understand how something as mundane and crude as that can be important to enjoying life and make our existential anxiety go away (so go eat something yummy right now).
There's No Replacements
There's no moment or relationship like another, and no way to replace someone you lost. And that's why Phos' biggest regret is realizing this too late.
She could have been happier sooner, not by optimizing herself to satisfy the usefulness the Lustrous society valued, but just by sharing her life with someone. With Cinnabar.
That's why their story is a tragedy, and why it was framed as Phos' most important relationship since the beggining. Because just by simply reaching out and sharing the present, you can combat the meaningless of it all and the future, the worries and the anxiety.
Even if Phos became happy with the pebbles, knowing that she never managed to get close to Cinnabar, and that there is no replacement to that relationship—to any of the relationships she could have fostered with the gems that she dropped in the pursuit of self-actualization, is heartbreaking. That's why as she dies, she wishes to see everyone again.
Of course, I'm not saying that only Phos is to blame for how her relationships with the Lustrous turned out—the Lustrous society discouraged moments of closeness and honesty that didn't have to do with being useful, and gems like Cinnabar and Bortz constantly pushed others away because of this obssession with their work and loneliness, but that's also missing the point.
You can't control everything. You can only control your own actions, and even when she was rejected by some of the people she tried to get close to, Phos could have also risked it and gained a close relationship with people she was similar with, just by reaching out and taking proper care of her relationships. It was that simple.
Death
With all of this in mind, I think that the main difference between everyone else's death into non-existence and Phos' fulfilling death is precisely in how they spent their time in life.
The gems distracted themselves from their eventual demise with the pleasures of the lunarian life, living for the sake of dying and then ending things unceremoniously, accepting their fate. At first glance, this seems similar to the conclusion Phos arrived at, but it's different in the journey they took to get there.
Because the gems never became human, they never truly suffered and gained the wisdom necessary to accept life as it was. The key difference between Phos and the gems is that while the former is enjoying life with the pebbles, and cherishing each moment wholeheartedly, the gems take their instances of pleasure as a distraction, as nothing more than a hedonistic party to distract themselves from the end. Phos accepted that she would die, and she was fulfilled doing so by knowing she enjoyed thousands of years with the pebbles, not in wait for her death, but in service of her life—of the fact that she was alive.
Thus, the answer doesn't lie in an overreliance of pleasure to distract yourself from the end like the gems did, but it also isn't about a pseudo-intellecual enlightenment in transcience like the one God Phos reached before meeting the pebbles. As always, the answer lies in the middle—in balance. It's about finding pleasure in the moment, not as a distraction, but in service of living and caring for others, in service of kindness, happiness and celebrating life.
A Cyclical and Paradoxical Existence
However, no matter how much fulfillment (or lack thereof) you found in life, we are all subject to the cycle of rebirth, with the matter that makes our body being reused for something else. But that should be an afterthought.
After the last extract of Phos is rescued by Pitapat, God Phos is allowed to die, paradoxically not having any "Phosphophyllite" in her and yet still being Phos.
Because those cosmic and biological matters of what makes you you aren't as important as what is reality: what makes Phos isn't the matter she's made of, but rather, the experiences that made her who she is and the decisions she takes along the story.
And when Phos dies, Phos also lives through her fragments, and she continues her journey, forgetting the lessons engraved in her inclusions and yet being granted the beautiful right to live once more.
And I feel like the comet symbolizes just that. A new beggining for Phos, starting from the end, granted from truly making peace with everything this time. A cycle, in which she lights her own way into acceptance and belonging. She always had what she needed. Perhaps now, there'll be enough light to cast the shadows away and she'll be able to see it.
To Suffer And Live Regardless
If the goal in buddhism is to renounce humanity and the suffering that comes with it, I think that paradoxically, Houseki no Kuni both accepts and rejects that idea. Because humanity is beautiful, and yet it must also be exterminated to allow the pebbles to exist. Because for every part of the kind and weak-willed OG Phos, there is the cynical, but at some point necessary, Moon Phos. Because to live is to suffer and that isn't an impediment to enjoy life—rather, it's what makes those little moments of peace all the more special.
All we need is there from the start—the ability to join up with others, enjoy nature and play with one another, and it's up to us to stop our bothersome overthinking and anxiety, to be able to see it.
In the end of the story, at the ideal world that was reached through humanity's rationality, what's kept of the humans is the kindness and will to share great experiences, while getting away from the overthinking, the anxiety and the hyperrationality that caused so much trouble for everyone in the story and yet were also so important to reach the beautiful ending Phos achieved.
Civilization is gone, and all that's left are happy rocks that enjoy the simple things, as it should have always been.
