“Look at the sunflower growing in the garden. The sunflower relies on so many elements in order to manifest itself. There is a cloud inside of the flower because if there were no cloud there would be no rain, and no sunflower could grow. There is the sunshine in the sunflower. We know that without sunshine nothing can grow; there would be no sunflowers. We see the earth, we see the minerals, we see the farmer, we see the gardener, and we see time, space, ideas, the willingness to grow and many other elements. So, sunflowers depend on many conditions in order to manifest, not just once.

I like to use the word ‘manifestation’ instead of ‘birth,’ and I also like to use it instead of ‘creation.’ In our minds, ‘to create’ also means from nothing something is brought forth. The farmer who grows sunflowers does not create the sunflowers. If you look deeply, you see that the farmer is only one of the conditions that can bring sunflowers into being. There are seeds of sunflowers stored in the barn, there are fields outside where you can plan sunflowers, there are the clouds in the sky to make rain, there are fertilizers, there is sunshine to help the sunflowers to grow. You, the farmer, are not really the creator of the sunflower. You are just one of the conditions. Without you the sunflowers cannot manifest. But the same is true of other conditions. All are equally important to the manifestation of the sunflower.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh (No Death, No Fear, pp 87-88)