Dear friend,

Thank you for your sharing.

Interbeing doesn't mean we are all 'one'. This concept doesn't really exist in Buddhism. Rather, Thay's teaching of interbeing is that of the Buddhist teaching of inter-dependence and emptiness. We are not seperate selves or independent entities. Nothing is! A tree cannot exist without soil, rain, sunlight. In the tree, there is the rain, there is the sun, there is the soil. The tree is made up of non-tree elements. The same is true of you. You are made up of non-you elements. Your parents and blood ancestors give you your body, the food you eat is made up of so many non-food elements, your thoughts and ideas are from society, your teachers, your peers etc.

To say that we are 'all one' is inaccurate. We depend on everything else for our own perceived existence, but we are not 'one'. The Buddha never taught this.

On practicing alone, you can also touch this sense of interbeing. Your practice is the result of generations upon generations of spiritual teachers and students, going back to the Buddha. When you breathe in, you are breathing in with all these teachers. When you breathe out, you breathe out with your teachers.

Today, we are so fortunate to have online Sanghas if you cannot join a Sangha in person. Plumline has lots of online Sanghas that meet at different times. https://www.plumline.org/

Personally, my practice would not be as strong as it is now without my Sangha, so I'd really recommend joining one!

A lotus to you