"Take the example of an apple: Before meditation, an apple is just a piece of fruit. During meditation, the meditator sees how deeply the apple is interconnected with the world - the apple would not exist without the rain, the sunshine, the soil and the farmer who planted the seed. These are just a few of the causes and conditions that allow the apple to exist."
"The apple is because of all these other things. An apple is not just a piece of fruit. The apple is also part rain, part sunlight, part soil, part farmer. After meditation, an apple goes back to being an apple again. The meditator continues to call it an "apple," but they understand its true nature. Hanh calls this sense of connection " interbeing.""
Meditation can reveal the deep interdependence of all things by showing that any object arises from many causes and conditions. An apple, for example, depends on rain, sunshine, soil and the farmer and thus contains those elements within it. That insight—called "interbeing"—changes perception: the object returns to being an apple, but its true interconnected nature is understood. The term was coined during a retreat while guiding a meditation on the nature of a chair, noting trees, sunshine, rain and clouds in the chair. The interbeing insight applies to mountains, rivers, trees and people and can inform political and social systems.
Read at The Conversation
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