We have come to study Buddhism in the search for understanding. We therefore want to thank all sentient beings, including those of different beliefs and viewpoints, because we are all a human community and living in this society we must mutually depend upon one another for our own existence.
Our lifestyle depends entirely upon the services and goods provided by other beings; the clothes we wear, the food we eat, from where did they all come? Clearly these things all depend upon the work of someone else, it is through other people or other being's combined energy that our daily way of living can exist. For example, the clothes we wear come from another animal's skin and wool, because they exist, they can supply our needs. Likewise, as a result of the energy invested by various processes that these clothes and foods may be fabricated. It doesn't matter what kind of food, milk or oil, whether it comes directly from nature or has undergone changes through someone else's hard work, significant labor has taken place just so we can eat. This is the principle behind ¡°dependent arising.¡± It is helpful to view our environment from this perspective so we may better appreciate other sentient beings and the need we have for one another.
All who live in this universe must treat their life as if it were part of a larger whole. For example, every cell cooperates together to defend the whole body; when a disease attacks and a cell is injured then the balance within the body is destroyed and the whole organism can be injured. In the same sense, this demonstrates how one person's happiness not only exists within his/her own flesh and blood but affects others in the environment. Our every action, every sentence and thought, although it seems very minute, can affect both yourself and others.
If all phenomenons depend upon one another for existence, no one incident can exist independently. Our false and ignorantly assumed identity is ¡°ego,¡± it is our grasping to a notion of self. Ego plays brilliantly upon our fear of losing control, and of the unknown. Do not let your fear inveigle you to forget the interconnectedness of all phenomena.
Actually, every person all exist in this universe like an organ, even in a crowd of people .
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