In Thich Nhat Hanh’s presentation of the Dharma, interbeing functions as a unifying insight through which the classical teachings are reframed and made experientially accessible. It is his modern expression of dependent co-arising and emptiness, pointing to the fact that nothing exists independently or in isolation. Every phenomenon is composed of “non-self” elements—parents, culture, food, earth, sun—so that what appears to be a separate entity is actually a nexus of conditions. This vision undermines the illusion of a fixed, separate self while avoiding the nihilistic overtones that talk of “emptiness” can sometimes evoke. In this way, interbeing serves as an alternative language for no-self and emptiness, emphasizing fullness of relationship rather than absence of essence.

Within this framework, the Four Noble Truths are illuminated through the lens of interdependence. Suffering and happiness are seen to “inter-are,” arising together from a web of conditions rather than from a single cause or a single person. The one who suffers, the suffering itself, and the person thought to be the cause of that suffering all inter-are, which softens anger and blame and opens the possibility of transformation. When conditions change, results change; this simple insight becomes the basis for genuine hope and practical practice.

Interbeing also grounds Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to ethics, compassion, and engaged action. Recognizing that one “inter-is” with other people, animals, and the Earth dissolves the sense of a self-enclosed “me” standing over against “others.” From this perspective, harming another is experienced as harming oneself, so that compassion and non-violence arise as natural expressions of wisdom rather than as imposed moral duties. The ethical precepts become spontaneous fruits of insight into the web of existence, and social, ecological, and political engagement are understood as direct manifestations of this insight.

Finally, interbeing shapes mindfulness practice and the healing of personal identity. Mindful breathing, walking, eating, and relating are presented as ways of touching interbeing directly: seeing the cloud in a sheet of paper, the sun and rain in a flower, ancestors in one’s own body. Everyday activities thus become contemplations of non-self, impermanence, and interconnectedness. This vision reorients identity from an isolated ego to a living process of relationship, allowing wounds around family, community, and history to be held within a larger field of connection. Through such practice, interbeing becomes not merely a doctrine but a way of inhabiting the world.