Mankind's God or gods and angels arise from imagination (parikalpita). To see the true nature of reality we must transcend the works of the imagination otherwise we will be deceived by it. What Siddhartha awakened to was pure Mind which, in itself, has nothing to do with imagination, nor is it affected by conditioned reality—our all too human world.
The idea of transcending imagination to see the true nature of reality is central to Buddhist practice. Imagination, while a powerful and creative force, can also trap us in illusions (māyā) and prevent us from seeing things as they truly are. This illusory nature of reality is captured in the concept of "samsara," the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth driven by ignorance and desire.
The practice of Buddhism aims to break this cycle by cultivating insight (vipassanā) and mindfulness (sati), allowing practitioners to see through the illusions of their mind and eventually experience the true nature of reality. This process leads to the cessation of suffering (nirvāṇa), which is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path.
The human condition, according to Buddhist teachings, is marked by desire (taṇhā): the attachment to the unreal, which binds us to the cycle of samsara. Overtime through practice the body itself must be seen as temporary, a conditioned form that we mistakenly identify with as who we are. This identification with the body and the desire for continued existence only perpetuates our suffering (dukkha).
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