The Buddha is trying to teach us that we are blind to the illusion we are living in— this, our world of birth and death. Oh sure, we can believe it is all an illusion but we don’t actually perceive the world this way. This is really what enlightenment is all about. Seeing the world as illusory from the standpoint of non-illusory ultimate reality. In fact, there is no other way to see the world as being illusory except by seeing the non-illusory. Only then is the bond of illusion actually cut off.
What is seen after illusion as been successfully cut off is the conditioned world that cannot ever again be taken as real. What is truly real is what the illusion is composed of which becomes outshining; no longer concealed. Our thoughts are the same way. They are no longer ultimate. It is what they are composed of that becomes outshining and foremost. Does this mean the illusory disappears? The simple answer is no.
The waves of the ocean, the rope made of hemp, or the pot made of clay—this doesn’t disappear. It is kind of like knowing how the magician does his trick. It’s no big deal anymore. It is fun to watch him perform the trick. But you’re not awed by it. Not anymore. You have mastery over the illusion. You are the very stuff that, so to speak, dreams are made of.
To reinterate, actually seeing the absolute substance configured as phenomena, in which no phenomenal thing is beyond this pristine substance from which it is composed, is not the same as believing everything is an illusion while still being unawakened. Back to our magician—it is like seeing him do his tricks but being unable to figure out how it is done. Even though we know that it is a trick we are still taken it by the magician's performance. It is the same with the conditioned world and our conditioned bodies. We are not awakened to the trick. We are bewitched by appearances. On the other hand, when we are awakened, phenomena still persist but in an entirely different way.
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