Interdependence

“Our world in the twenty-first century is smaller than it used to be. People from widely dispersed societies are in closer contact than ever before, and just as importantly, we are more aware of our closeness. In this age of information, experts and ordinary observers alike can identify many ways that actions in one part of the world have far-reaching effects elsewhere on the planet. Awareness is growing that we live in a world where all of us, and the natural world that sustains us, are profoundly and radically connected.

This interconnection has long been described in Buddhism as interdependence, and that term now forms part of conversations far beyond Buddhist contexts. Professionals in diverse fields increasingly find interdependence to be an important framework for explaining what they observe. Environmental scientists find it indispensable for understanding ecosystems, economists apply it to international trade, and social theorists use it to chart the systems that reproduce racial and gender injustice, just to name a few.

Interdependence may be used to explain a great many systems, from the relationships among natural phenomena to groups of people and nations — in other words, the world around us. But I believe that an understanding of our deep interconnection can do far more than that. Interdependence is not a mere theory or interesting philosophy. It impacts our lives directly every single day. By deepening our awareness of interconnectedness, we can create a far more harmonious and healthy society and live far more satisfying lives. For that to happen, we can’t just stop our analysis at the interdependence of the physical world. The human heart and mind — what we might call our inner world — form an integral part of these webs of interdependence.

Inside each of us is a complex constellation of perceptions, ideas, feelings, and intentions that mutually affect one another. Our inner worlds interact with outer conditions to shape the world around us. We respond to external circumstances, but we also create them. In other words, our inner worlds and the outer world are intimately connected, and that interconnection is part of interdependence as well. Recognizing the full extent of interdependence will lead to a fundamental rethinking of who we are as human beings and of our place in the world we help create.

Our inner world is the pivotal domain for bringing about real change in the world that we all share. Neither social nor environmental justice is possible without significant changes in our attitudes and the intentional behavior they give rise to. The transformation of our social and material world must begin within us. The intellectual awareness we are gaining about interdependence is an important first step. The next — and crucial — step is to gain an emotional awareness of interdependence. We need to feel our profound interconnectedness and not just know about it. We have within us numerous qualities that help sustain such an emotional engagement with our interdependence. By enhancing our understanding of the interdependence of our inner world, we become better able to cultivate such qualities.

Once we do, the emotional awareness we have gained will profoundly reorient our relationships to others and our ways of being in the world. We will begin acting in ways that truly reflect our interdependence. When our understanding of interdependence has moved from head to heart and into action, our lives become fully effective and meaningful.

Our interconnectedness matters in all our relationships and in every aspect of our lives. Interdependence is a definite force in the world. It has great value for us. Because of it, we can respond and adapt to circumstances. We can change. We can work toward our goals by gathering the conditions needed to accomplish them. If we were not interdependent, we would be unable to do any of that. Understanding how this fundamental principle works in our lives enables us to consciously reorient our lives and to change the world itself.

Interdependence describes our deep connectedness, but it also explains why and how we are interconnected. We can start by observing that everything in life happens due to various causes and conditions coming together. Interdependence reveals the profound implications of this simple fact. It shows us that everything that exists is a condition that affects others, and is affected in turn, in a vast and complex web of causality. As part of that web, we ourselves are a condition that impacts those around us. That means if we change, so do others.” ~ Ogyen Trinley Dorje Karmapa, Interconnected: Embracing Life in Our Global Society

“Karmapa means the embodiment of all the activities of the buddhas, or the one who carries out buddha-activity. In the Tibetan tradition, great enlightened teachers are said to be able to consciously control their rebirth in order to continue their activity for the benefit of all sentient beings. On this page we will give you an overview of the Karmapa lineage, and a brief introduction to the life and many activities of the present Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.

The present Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the 17th in the line of Karmapa incarnations. In June 1985 a son was born into a nomad family in the Lhatok region of Eastern Tibet. In the months prior to his birth, his mother had wonderful dreams. On the day of his birth, a cuckoo landed on the tent in which he was born, and many people in the neighborhood heard a mysterious conch-like sound, resounding throughout the valley. In Tibet, such events are considered auspicious portents of the birth of an enlightened teacher.

The young nomad boy was called Apo Gaga, “Happy Brother”. From the beginning, his family regarded him as special, and believed that he might be the reincarnation of a rinpoche. When he was four years old, they sent him to the local monastery to begin his education, though he continued to spend much of his time at home with the family. Then, in the late spring of 1992, the now seven-year-old announced to his parents that they should move their encampment to a different valley, and told them to expect a visit from traveling monks. They did as he said and, shortly after setting up home in the new location, a group of Karma Kagyu lamas arrived.

Unbeknown to the family, the lamas were searching for the reincarnation of the 16th Karmapa, following instructions left in a secret prediction letter, written by the 16th Karmapa before he died. This letter contained details of the year of his rebirth, the location, and the names of his future mother and father, and the details matched Apo Gaga’s life exactly. He was duly recognized as the 17th Karmapa, and given the name Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama issued a formal letter, supporting the recognition of Apo Gaga as the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and the Chinese Government supported the choice too.

During his lifetime, the 16th Karmapa wrote many poems and songs, predicting that, though he would leave his traditional seat of Tsurphu in Tibet, he would return to Tsurphu again soon, that his root teacher would be HE Situ Rinpoche, and that he would study in India. After the death of the 16th Karmapa, it became clear that these predictions concerned his reincarnation.
Furthermore, the 19th Century master Chogyur Lingpa made a number of predictions about the lives of the Karmapas, and those he made concerning the 17th Karmapa matched the details of Apo Gaga’s birth. (These points are discussed in detail in the section on the Historical Background of the Karmapas.)

On His Holiness’s historic return to Tsurphu Monastery, in June 1992, he entered the monastery on horseback, wearing the traditional, silk brocade clothes and golden, riding hat of a high lama. Over 20,000 devotees assembled to witness his return. The following morning, some 25,000 people filed past His Holiness to receive a personal blessing, and then, two months later, before thousands of Tibetans and foreign devotees, he was enthroned, on September 27, 1992.

At Tsurphu, the Karmapa began his studies in Tibetan, the Buddhist sciences of mind, ritual, and the sacred arts, such as dance. Each day he also gave audiences to hundreds of visitors from across Tibet and around the world. He soon began to bestow empowerments and participate in various rituals at the monastery. At the age of ten, His Holiness began to recognize the reincarnations of other Kagyu lamas, including such eminent teachers as Pawo Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Dabzang Rinpoche. In addition, while His Holiness was at Tsurphu, the monastery underwent extensive rebuilding to restore the temples, shrines, stupas, a shedra, and residences that had been badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution and then neglected over the years, fulfilling another of the duties of a Karmapa.

However, in order to exercise his future role, His Holiness needed to receive all the empowerments and transmissions of the lineage, but he was unable to do so in Tibet as many of the Kagyu lineage teachers were living in exile in India. With this at the forefront of his mind, he and a handful of attendants left Tibet for India. (Details of this time period are covered in the section of this website about the Karmapa in Tibet.)

After months of careful planning, on December 28, 1999, the fourteen-year-old Karmapa pretended to enter into a solitary retreat. Instead, he slipped out of his monk’s robes, donned civilian garb, and climbed out of a window, accompanied by his personal attendant, Drubngak. Leaving Tsurphu Monastery with a handful of attendants, he began a daring journey by car, foot, horseback, helicopter, train and taxi: an heroic journey which was to become the stuff of headlines throughout the world. On January 5, 2000 he arrived, to the great surprise and overwhelming joy of exiled Tibetans and foreign devotees, in Dharamsala, India, where he was met by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. A year later, in 2001, he received refugee status from the government of India.

During the 17 years he has lived in India as a guest of the Indian government, His Holiness has continued his traditional monastic training and philosophical education, but has also begun studying more modern subjects such as Science and English language. Each year, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa receives tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world at his residence in Dharamsala. Since 2004, he has led the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, an annual winter Dharma gathering in Bodhgaya, that draws thousands of people from around the world and from various Buddhist traditions.

In May 2008, His Holiness made his first, long-awaited trip to the West, travelling to the United States where he visited his North American seat in New York, and some of the many Dharma centres under his spiritual guidance. In addition, the Gyalwang Karmapa travelled across India to participate in the cultural and religious life of his adopted home. From inaugurating temples for Sai Baba in Tamil Nadu to commemorating the 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth in Calcutta, His Holiness has met with many other spiritual leaders in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance.

In November 2009, His Holiness was invited to speak at a TED India conference, becoming the youngest person ever to do so, at that time. In January 2010, over 12,000 people attended the live performance of a six-act play on the life of Milarepa that His Holiness wrote and produced, combining elements of traditional Tibetan opera and modern theatre. The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa has a vast array of activities, projects, and work from traditional Dharma teaching, to more modern topics such as environmentalism, the digitization of ancient Buddhist texts, and equality.”