Indra’s Net
From The Open Road by Pico Iyer
Chapter Four, The Philosopher
When the Dalai Lama speaks
of interdependence
all he is really saying
is that we are all a part of a single body.
Perhaps it’s not surprising
he is famous
for his laughter, the sudden eruption
of helpless giggles
traveling to the point
where everything is connected,
our fascination with division
hilarious.
Quarreling over money is like
taking a ten-dollar-bill out of your right-hand pocket
and then,
after a great deal of fanfare and contention,
putting it in your left.
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See also:
The Open Road by Pico Iyer, Part One
Indra’s net at Wikipedia, the source of the above photo
Also the source of this quote by Alan Watts:
Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.