You can see interdependence at work by looking at how your own life is sustained. Is it only through your own exertions? Do you manufacture all your own resources? Or do they come from others? When you contemplate these questions, you will see very quickly that you are able to exist only because of others. The clothes you wear and the food you eat all come from somewhere else. Consider the books you read, the cars you ride in, the movies you watch, and the tools you use. Not one of us single-handedly makes any of these things for ourselves. We all rely on outside conditions, including the air we breathe. Our continued presence here in the world is an opportunity made possible entirely by others.
17th Karmapa
from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out
translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar & Damchö Diana Finnegan
Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.
Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:
- Our relationship to the material world
- We truly have everything we need already
- Capacity for Change
- Who are you
- Let the moon be the keeper of my love
- True Wealth
- Taking delight in your inner nature
- Reality is your teacher
- We need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes
- Interdependent reality
- Protective Inner Wisdom
- The Wealth of Contentment
- Social action
- Life in Balance
- Boxing Love with Our Expectations
- Just Love
- There are no fixed starting points
- Nothing is intrinsically bad
- Difference without Division
- Breaking barriers