II was intrigued that you mentioned Buddhism. After a long search, I found the Lotus Sutra in Nichiren's presentation, and it answers all my questions.
The universe is infinite. It is a process, and we are part of that process, not separate in any way.
Buddhism distinguishes good and evil by actions and results. People are not good or evil, as western religion likes to stamp them. People are capable of doing good and evil, and also of having life states from hellish to supreme enlightenment, and evolving to the highest condition with no limitation. (except aspiration and effort)
I found that concepts of Buddhism and modern physics align, namely constructed self (psychology, actually), mutual causality, mutual containment, and so on.
"Indra's Net" makes some analogies, and here is a short presentation.
http://www.heartspace.org/misc/IndraNet.html
It took me a very long time to find this, and I am grateful that I did.
In fact, bookstores led me down many blind alleys, until I went to the used bookstore and found what I was looking for.
I don't want others to wander so very long, so I'm looking for or writing a short introduction (longer than the above)
🪷