According to Thich Nhat Hanh, dependent origination is the insight that all phenomena arise only through a web of causes and conditions, and therefore nothing possesses an independent, separate self. What appears to be a distinct “thing” or “person” is in fact composed of many “non-self” elements—ancestors, culture, food, environment, perceptions—each of which is also conditioned and changing. Because these conditions are never static, what is usually called a self has no fixed, permanent essence. This vision is often expressed in the simple formula: “This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This arises, because that arises. This ceases, because that ceases.”

Thich Nhat Hanh names this reality “interbeing,” to emphasize that existence is not a collection of isolated entities but a field of mutual co-creation. A sheet of paper, for example, “contains” the cloud that became rain, the sun that nourished the tree, the soil, the logger, and countless other conditions; without these non-paper elements, the paper could not be. In the same way, every physical and mental phenomenon is woven from innumerable conditions and, in turn, becomes a condition for others. Dependent origination thus includes interdependence, impermanence, and non-self: things depend on other things, they are constantly changing as conditions change, and no phenomenon has a separate, unchanging core.

For Thich Nhat Hanh, this is not merely a philosophical doctrine but a living insight to be observed in meditation and daily life. Seeing dependent origination reveals that the usual boundaries between self and other, inside and outside, are conceptual constructions rather than ultimate realities. When this is understood, the arising of suffering and its cessation can be seen as part of the same network of conditions: ignorance and craving condition further suffering, while insight and the transformation of those conditions allow suffering to cease. From this perspective, understanding dependent origination naturally gives rise to compassion, because the happiness and suffering of any one being are inseparable from the happiness and suffering of all.