 One of the metaphors from the Avatamsaka Sutra that is frequently used to illustrate mutual interdependence is Indra’s net (or “Indra’s web”). According to pre-Buddhist myth, the god Indra has a net with a jewel at the intersection of every two strands. Each jewel is so bright that it reflects every other jewel in the net. This is adopted as a metaphor for the manner in which each thing that exists is dependent for both its existence and its identity upon every other thing that exists. 