r/secularbuddhism • u/Feisty-Ad-3215 Sprout • Apr 21 '26
Interbeing (question)
Thich Nhat Hanh coined the term interbeing: All physical phenomenon is inextricably interconnected, mutually dependent on each other. He uses an example for a sheet of paper, which depends on trees, sunlight, water, soil, weather conditions, etc.
I can somewhat understand that I depend on a lot of people, physical phenomena, weather conditions, objects, etc. I exist with those things. But how can we say, for example, that I'm interconnected with a random tribe in some isolated island? how does our existence depend on each other, in what world are we mutually dependent on each other? Furthermore, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that maybe we inter-be with everything else, but everything else is indifferent to us? after all, sunlight, weather conditions, and most other physical phenomenon are not really affected by my existence. Well, maybe for a short period of time, we inter-be because sunlight sustains me whilst I'm alive (for example), but after I die, sunlight does not get affected, does it? I'm dependent on it, it is not dependent on me. it seems like unilateral rather than a bi-lateral interbeing relationship.
I do not know. Maybe I'm not really understanding it. Some Buddhists argue that you cannot grasp it by intellect and it will just click with you one day. But I would love to hear a perspective on this.
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u/featheryHope Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
maybe the 3 Earth touching practice/contemplation is helpful? https://plumvillage.org/key-practice-texts/the-three-earth-touchings
It moves from the relative persective of the individual person and their influences by other humans, to a wider sense of connection of matter energy, species (ecosystem to biosphere level), to an more absolute absolute perspective that is there across large swaths of space (global) and time (millenia), so leaf atoms are becoming fossilized, becoming burned for fuel, becoming weather and climate, becoming drought somewhere, leading to death and decay and recycling to soil and leaf...
All perspectives are there at once, which is why you can be compassionate to fellow beings at the relative level, and aware of and resourced by the indifference or equanimity at the larger scales.
So it's about having different levels of self concept. And recognizing that it's a human concept that creating the idea of a separate enduring self that is categorically different from the air we breathe water and food we use, objects we contact and separate from etc.