From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maya (
;
Devanagari: माया,
IAST:
māyā), literally "illusion" or "magic", has multiple meanings in
Indian philosophies depending on the context. In ancient Vedic literature, Māyā literally implies extraordinary power and wisdom. In later
Vedic
texts and modern literature dedicated to Indian traditions, Māyā
connotes a "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present
but are not what they seem".
Māyā is also a spiritual concept connoting "that which exists, but is
constantly changing and thus is spiritually unreal", and the "power or
the principle that conceals the true character of spiritual reality".
In Buddhism,
Maya is the name of Gautama Buddha's mother. In
Hinduism, Maya is also an epithet for goddess, and the name of a manifestation of
Lakshmi, the goddess of "wealth, prosperity and love". Maya is also a
name for girls.
Etymology and terminology
Māyā (Sanskrit: माया) is a word with unclear etymology, probably comes from the root
mā which means "to measure".
According to
Monier Williams,
māyā
meant "wisdom and extraordinary power" in an earlier older language,
but from the Vedic period onwards, the word came to mean "illusion,
unreality, deception, fraud, trick, sorcery, witchcraft and magic".
However, P. D. Shastri states that the Monier Williams' list is a
"loose definition, misleading generalization", and not accurate in
interpreting ancient Vedic and medieval era Sanskrit texts; instead, he
suggests a more accurate meaning of
māyā is "appearance, not mere illusion".
According to William Mahony, the root of the word may be
man-
or "to think", implying the role of imagination in the creation of the
world. In early Vedic usage, the term implies, states Mahony, "the
wondrous and mysterious power to turn an idea into a physical reality".
Franklin Southworth states the word's origin is uncertain, and other possible roots of
māyā include
may- meaning mystify, confuse, intoxicate, delude, as well as
māy- which means "disappear, be lost".
Jan Gonda considers the word related to
mā, which means "mother", as do Tracy Pintchman and
Adrian Snodgrass, serving as an epithet for goddesses such as
Lakshmi.
Maya here implies art, is the maker’s power, writes Zimmer, "a mother
in all three worlds", a creatrix, her magic is the activity in the
Will-spirit.
A similar word is also found in the
Avestan māyā with the meaning of "magic power".
Hinduism
Literature
The Vedas
Words related to and containing
Māyā, such as
Mayava, occur many times in the
Vedas. These words have various meanings, with interpretations that are contested,
and some are names of deities that do not appear in texts of 1st
millennium BCE and later. The use of word Māyā in Rig veda, in the later
era context of "magic, illusion, power", occurs in many hymns. One
titled
Māyā-bheda
(मायाभेद:, Discerning Illusion) includes hymns 10.177.1 through
10.177.3, as the battle unfolds between the good and the evil, as
follows,
पतंगमक्तमसुरस्य मायया हृदा पश्यन्ति मनसा विपश्चितः ।
समुद्रे अन्तः कवयो वि चक्षते मरीचीनां पदमिच्छन्ति वेधसः ॥१॥
पतंगो वाचं मनसा बिभर्ति तां गन्धर्वोऽवदद्गर्भे अन्तः ।
तां द्योतमानां स्वर्यं मनीषामृतस्य पदे कवयो नि पान्ति ॥२॥
अपश्यं गोपामनिपद्यमानमा च परा च पथिभिश्चरन्तम् ।
स सध्रीचीः स विषूचीर्वसान आ वरीवर्ति भुवनेष्वन्तः ॥३॥
The wise behold with their mind in their heart the Sun, made manifest by the illusion of the Asura;
The sages look into the solar orb, the ordainers desire the region of his rays.
The Sun bears the word in his mind; the Gandharva has spoken it within the wombs;
sages cherish it in the place of sacrifice, brilliant, heavenly, ruling the mind.
I beheld the protector, never descending, going by his paths to the east and the west;
clothing the quarters of the heaven and the intermediate spaces. He constantly revolves in the midst of the worlds.
— Rig veda X.177.1-3, Translated by Laurie Patton
The above Maya-bheda hymn discerns, using symbolic language, a
contrast between mind influenced by light (sun) and magic (illusion of
Asura). The hymn is a call to discern one's enemies, perceive artifice,
and distinguish, using one's mind, between that which is perceived and
that which is unperceived. Rig veda does not connote the word Māyā as always good or always bad, it is simply a form of technique, mental power and means.
Rig veda uses the word in two contexts, implying that there are two
kinds of Māyā: divine Māyā and undivine Māyā, the former being the
foundation of truth, the latter of falsehood.
Elsewhere in Vedic mythology,
Indra uses Maya to conquer
Vritra.
Varuna's supernatural power is called Maya.
Māyā, in such examples, connotes powerful magic, which both
devas (gods) and
asuras (demons) use against each other. In the
Yajurveda,
māyā is an unfathomable plan. In the
Aitareya Brahmana Maya is also referred to as Dirghajihvi, hostile to gods and sacrifices. The hymns in Book 8, Chapter 10 of Atharvaveda describe the primordial woman
Virāj
(विराज्, chief queen) and how she willingly gave the knowledge of food,
plants, agriculture, husbandry, water, prayer, knowledge, strength,
inspiration, concealment, charm, virtue, vice to gods, demons, men and
living creatures, despite all of them making her life miserable. In
hymns of 8.10.22,
Virāj is used by Asuras (demons) who call her as Māyā, as follows,
She rose. The Asuras saw her. They called her. Their cry was, "Come, O Māyā, come thou hither" !!
Her cow was Virochana Prahradi. Her milking vessel was a pan of iron.
Dvimurdha Artvya milked this Māyā.
The Asuras depend for life on Māyā for their sustenance.
One who knows this, becomes a fit supporter [of gods].
The contextual meaning of Maya in Atharvaveda is "power of creation", not illusion.
Gonda
suggests the central meaning of Maya in Vedic literature is, "wisdom
and power enabling its possessor, or being able itself, to create,
devise, contrive, effect, or do something".
Maya stands for anything that has real, material form, human or
non-human, but that does not reveal the hidden principles and implicit
knowledge that creates it.
An illustrative example of this in Rig veda VII.104.24 and Atharva veda
VIII.4.24 where Indra is invoked against the Maya of sorcerers
appearing in the illusory form – like a
fata morgana – of animals to trick a person.
The Upanishads
M. C. Escher paintings such as the Waterfall – redrawn in this sketch – demonstrates the Hindu concept of Maya, states Jeffrey Brodd. The impression of water-world the sketch gives, in reality is not what it seems.
The
Upanishads describe the universe, and the human experience, as an interplay of
Purusha (the eternal, unchanging principles, consciousness) and
Prakṛti (the temporary, changing material world, nature). The former manifests itself as
Ātman (Soul, Self), and the latter as Māyā. The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of Atman as "true knowledge" (
Vidya), and the knowledge of Maya as "not true knowledge" (
Avidya, Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge).
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,
states Ben-Ami Scharfstein, describes Maya as "the tendency to imagine
something where it does not exist, for example, atman with the body".
To the Upanishads, knowledge includes empirical knowledge and spiritual
knowledge, complete knowing necessarily includes understanding the
hidden principles that work, the realization of the soul of things.
Hendrick Vroom explains, "The term
Maya has been
translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern normal illusion.
Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and simply a
figment of the human imagination.
Maya means that the world is not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its true nature is concerned." Lynn Foulston states, "The world is both real and unreal because it exists but is 'not what it appears to be'."
According to Wendy Doniger, "to say that the universe is an illusion
(māyā) is not to say that it is unreal; it is to say, instead, that it
is not what it seems to be, that it is something constantly being made.
Māyā not only deceives people about the things they think they know;
more basically, it limits their knowledge."
Māyā pre-exists and co-exists with
Brahman – the Ultimate Principle, Consciousness.
Maya is perceived reality, one that does not reveal the hidden
principles, the true reality. Maya is unconscious, Atman is conscious.
Maya is the literal, Brahman is the figurative
Upādāna – the principle, the cause.
Maya is born, changes, evolves, dies with time, from circumstances, due
to invisible principles of nature, state the Upanishads. Atman-Brahman
is eternal, unchanging, invisible principle, unaffected absolute and
resplendent consciousness. Maya concept in the Upanishads, states
Archibald Gough, is "the indifferent aggregate of all the possibilities
of emanatory or derived existences, pre-existing with Brahman", just
like the possibility of a future tree pre-exists in the seed of the
tree.
The concept of Maya appears in numerous Upanishads. The verses 4.9 to 4.10 of
Svetasvatara Upanishad,
is the oldest explicit occurrence of the idea that Brahman (Supreme
Soul) is the hidden reality, nature is magic, Brahman is the magician,
human beings are infatuated with the magic and thus they create bondage
to illusions and delusions, and for freedom and liberation one must seek
true insights and correct knowledge of the principles behind the hidden
magic. Gaudapada in his Karika on
Mandukya Upanishad explains the interplay of Atman and Maya as follows,
The Soul is imagined first, then the particularity of objects,
External and internal, as one knows so one remembers.
As a rope, not perceived distinctly in dark, is erroneously imagined,
As snake, as a streak of water, so is the Soul (Atman) erroneously imagined.
As when the rope is distinctly perceived, and the erroneous imagination withdrawn,
Only the rope remains, without a second, so when distinctly perceived, the Atman.
When he as Pranas (living beings), as all the diverse objects appears to us,
Then it is all mere Maya, with which the Brahman (Supreme Soul) deceives himself.
Sarvasara Upanishad refers to two concepts:
Mithya and
Maya. It defines
Mithya as illusion and calls it one of three kinds of substances, along with Sat (Be-ness, True) and Asat (not-Be-ness, False).
Maya,
Sarvasara Upanishad defines as all what is not Atman. Maya has no
beginning, but has an end. Maya, declares Sarvasara, is anything that
can be studied and subjected to proof and disproof, anything with
Guṇas. In the human search for Self-knowledge, Maya is that which obscures, confuses and distracts an individual.
The Puranas and Tamil texts
Markandeya sees Vishnu as an infant on a fig leaf in the deluge.
In
Puranas and Vaishnava theology,
māyā is described as one of the nine shaktis of
Vishnu.
Māyā became associated with sleep; and Vishnu's
māyā is sleep which envelopes the world when he awakes to destroy evil. Vishnu, like Indra, is the master of
māyā; and
māyā envelopes Vishnu's body. The
Bhagavata Purana narrates that the sage
Markandeya requests Vishnu to experience his
māyā.
Vishnu appears as an infant floating on a fig leaf in a deluge and then
swallows the sage, the sole survivor of the cosmic flood. The sage sees
various worlds of the universe, gods etc. and his own hermitage in the
infant's belly. Then the infant breathes out the sage, who tries to
embrace the infant, but everything disappears and the sage realizes that
he was in his hermitage the whole time and was given a flavor of
Vishnu's
māyā. The magic creative power,
Māyā
was always a monopoly of the central Solar God; and was also associated
with the early solar prototype of Vishnu in the early Aditya phase.
In Sangam period Tamil literature, Krishna is found as
māyon; with other attributed names are such as Mal, Tirumal, Perumal and Mayavan. In the Tamil classics, Durga is referred to by the feminine form of the word, viz.,
māyol; wherein she is endowed with unlimited creative energy and the great powers of Vishnu, and is hence
Vishnu-Maya.
Maya, to Shaiva Siddhanta sub-school of Hinduism, states Hilko
Schomerus, is reality and truly existent, and one that exists to
"provide Souls with
Bhuvana (a world),
Bhoga (objects of enjoyment),
Tanu (a body) and
Karana (organs)".
Schools of Hinduism
Need to understand Māyā
The various schools of Hinduism, particularly those based on naturalism (
Vaiśeṣika), rationalism (
Samkhya) or ritualism (
Mimamsa), questioned and debated what is Maya, and the need to understand Maya.
The Vedanta and Yoga schools explained that complete realization of
knowledge requires both the understanding of ignorance, doubts and
errors, as well as the understanding of invisible principles,
incorporeal and the eternal truths. In matters of Self-knowledge, stated
Shankara in his commentary on
Taittiriya Upanishad,
one is faced with the question, "Who is it that is trying to know, and
how does he attain Brahman?" It is absurd, states Shankara, to speak of
one becoming himself; because "Thou Art That" already. Realizing and
removing ignorance is a necessary step, and this can only come from
understanding Maya and then looking beyond it.
The need to understand Maya is like the metaphorical need for
road. Only when the country to be reached is distant, states Shankara,
that a road must be pointed out. It is a meaningless contradiction to
assert, "I am right now in my village, but I need a road to reach my
village."
It is the confusion, ignorance and illusions that need to be repealed.
It is only when the knower sees nothing else but his Self that he can be
fearless and permanent. Vivekananda explains the need to understand Maya as follows (abridged),
The Vedas cannot show you Brahman, you are That already. They can
only help to take away the veil that hides truth from our eyes. The
cessation of ignorance can only come when I know that God and I are one;
in other words, identify yourself with Atman, not with human
limitations. The idea that we are bound is only an illusion [Maya].
Freedom is inseparable from the nature of the Atman. This is ever pure,
ever perfect, ever unchangeable.
The text
Yoga Vasistha explains the need to understand Maya as follows,
Just as when the dirt is removed, the real substance is made
manifest; just as when the darkness of the night is dispelled, the
objects that were shrouded by the darkness are clearly seen, when
ignorance [Maya] is dispelled, truth is realized.
Samkhya school
The early works of Samkhya, the rationalist school of Hinduism, do not identify or directly mention the Maya doctrine. The discussion of Maya theory, calling it into question, appears after the theory gains ground in Vedanta school of Hinduism.
Vācaspati Miśra's commentary on the
Samkhyakarika,
for example, questions the Maya doctrine saying "It is not possible to
say that the notion of the phenomenal world being real is false, for
there is no evidence to contradict it".
Samkhya school steadfastly retained its duality concept of Prakrti and
Purusha, both real and distinct, with some texts equating Prakrti to be
Maya that is "not illusion, but real", with three
Guṇas in different proportions whose changing state of equilibrium defines the perceived reality.
James Ballantyne, in 1885, commented on Kapila's Sánkhya aphorism 5.72
which he translated as, "everything except nature and soul is
uneternal". According to Ballantyne, this aphorism states that the mind,
ether, etc. in a state of cause (not developed into a product) are
called Nature and not Intellect. He adds, that scriptural texts such as
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
to be stating "He should know Illusion to be Nature and him in whom is
Illusion to be the great Lord and the world to be pervaded by portions
of him'; since Soul and Nature are also made up of parts, they must be
uneternal". However, acknowledges Ballantyne, Edward Gough translates the same verse in
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
differently, 'Let the sage know that Prakriti is Maya and that
Mahesvara is the Mayin, or arch-illusionist. All this shifting world is
filled with portions of him'.
In continuation of the Samkhya and Upanishadic view, in the Bhagavata
philosophy, Maya has been described as 'that which appears even when
there is no object like silver in a shell and which does not appear in
the atman'; with maya described as the power that creates, maintains and
destroys the universe.
Nyaya school
The
realism-driven Nyaya school of Hinduism denied that either the world
(Prakrti) or the soul (Purusa) are an illusion. Naiyayikas developed
theories of illusion, typically using the term
Mithya, and stated that illusion is simply flawed cognition, incomplete cognition or the absence of cognition. There is no deception in the reality of Prakrti or
Pradhana
(creative principle of matter/nature) or Purusa, only confusion or lack
of comprehension or lack of cognitive effort, according to Nyaya
scholars. To them, illusion has a cause, that rules of reason and proper
Pramanas (epistemology) can uncover.
Illusion, stated Naiyayikas, involves the projection into current
cognition of predicated content from memory (a form of rushing to
interpret, judge, conclude). This "projection illusion" is misplaced,
and stereotypes something to be what it is not. The insights on theory of illusion by Nyaya scholars were later adopted and applied by Advaita Vedanta scholars.
Yoga school
Maya in Yoga school is the manifested world and implies divine force.
Yoga and Maya are two sides of the same coin, states Zimmer, because
what is referred to as Maya by living beings who are enveloped by it, is
Yoga for the Brahman (Universal Principle, Supreme Soul) whose yogic
perfection creates the Maya.
Maya is neither illusion nor denial of perceived reality to the Yoga
scholars, rather Yoga is a means to perfect the "creative discipline of
mind" and "body-mind force" to transform Maya.
The concept of Yoga as power to create Maya has been adopted as a compound word
Yogamaya
(योगमाया) by the theistic sub-schools of Hinduism. It occurs in various
mythologies of the Puranas; for example, Shiva uses his
yogamāyā to transform Markendeya's heart in
Bhagavata Purana's chapter 12.10, while Krishna counsels Arjuna about
yogamāyā in hymn 7.25 of
Bhagavad Gita.
Vedanta school
Maya is a prominent and commonly referred to concept in Vedanta philosophies. Maya is often translated as "illusion", in the sense of "appearance".
Human mind constructs a subjective experience, states Vedanta school,
which leads to the peril of misunderstanding Maya as well as
interpreting Maya as the only and final reality. Vedantins assert the
"perceived world including people are not what they appear to be".
There are invisible principles and laws at work, true invisible nature
in others and objects, and invisible soul that one never perceives
directly, but this invisible reality of Self and Soul exists, assert
Vedanta scholars. Māyā is that which manifests, perpetuates a sense of
false
duality (or divisional plurality).
This manifestation is real, but it obfuscates and eludes the hidden
principles and true nature of reality. Vedanta school holds that
liberation is the unfettered realization and understanding of these
invisible principles – the Self, that the Self (Soul) in oneself is same
as the Self in another and the Self in everything (Brahman).
The difference within various sub-schools of Vedanta is the
relationship between individual soul and cosmic soul (Brahman).
Non-theistic Advaita sub-school holds that both are One, everyone is
thus deeply connected Oneness, there is God in everyone and everything;
while theistic Dvaita and other sub-schools hold that individual souls
and God's soul are distinct and each person can at best love God
constantly to get one's soul infinitely close to His Soul.
Advaita Vedanta
In
Advaita Vedanta philosophy, there are two realities:
Vyavaharika (empirical reality) and
Paramarthika (absolute, spiritual reality).
Māyā is the empirical reality that entangles consciousness. Māyā has
the power to create a bondage to the empirical world, preventing the
unveiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as
Brahman. The theory of māyā was developed by the ninth-century Advaita Hindu philosopher
Adi Shankara. However, competing theistic Dvaita scholars contested Shankara's theory, and stated that Shankara did not offer a theory of the relationship between Brahman and Māyā.
A later Advaita scholar Prakasatman addressed this, by explaining,
"Maya and Brahman together constitute the entire universe, just like two
kinds of interwoven threads create a fabric. Maya is the manifestation
of the world, whereas Brahman, which supports Maya, is the cause of the
world."
Māyā is a fact in that it is the appearance of phenomena. Since
Brahman is the sole metaphysical truth, Māyā is true in epistemological
and empirical sense; however, Māyā is not the metaphysical and spiritual
truth. The spiritual truth is the truth forever, while what is
empirical truth is only true for now. Since Māyā is the perceived
material world, it is true in perception context, but is "untrue" in
spiritual context of Brahman. Māyā is not false, it only clouds the
inner Self and principles that are real. True Reality includes both
Vyavaharika (empirical) and
Paramarthika
(spiritual), the Māyā and the Brahman. The goal of spiritual
enlightenment, state Advaitins, is to realize Brahman, realize the
fearless, resplendent Oneness.
Vivekananda said: "When the Hindu says the world is Maya, at once
people get the idea that the world is an illusion. This interpretation
has some basis, as coming through the Buddhistic philosophers, because
there was one section of philosophers who did not believe in the
external world at all. But the Maya of the Vedanta, in its last
developed form, is neither Idealism nor Realism, nor is it a theory. It
is a simple statement of facts — what we are and what we see around us."
Buddhism
The
Early Buddhist Texts contain some references to illusion, the most well known of which is the
Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta in Pali (and with a Chinese Agama parallel at SĀ 265) which states:
Suppose, monks, that a magician (māyākāro) or a
magician’s apprentice (māyākārantevāsī) would display a magical illusion
(māyaṃ) at a crossroads. A man with good sight would inspect it,
ponder, and carefully investigate it, and it would appear to him to be
void (rittaka), hollow (tucchaka), coreless (asāraka). For what core
(sāro) could there be in a magical illusion (māyāya)? So too, monks,
whatever kind of cognition there is, whether past, future, or present,
internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or
near: a monk inspects it, ponders it, and carefully investigates it, and
it would appear to him to be void (rittaka), hollow (tucchaka),
coreless (asāraka). For what core (sāro) could there be in cognition?
One sutra in the Āgama collection known as "Mahāsūtras" of the (Mūla)Sarvāstivādin tradition entitled the
Māyājāla
(Net of Illusion) deals especially with the theme of Maya. This sutra
only survives in Tibetan translation and compares the five aggregates
with further metaphors for illusion, including: an echo, a reflection in
a mirror, a mirage, sense pleasures in a dream and a madman wandering
naked.
These texts give the impression that māyā refers to the
insubstantial and essence-less nature of things as well as their
deceptive, false and vain character.
Later texts such as the
Lalitavistara also contain references to illusion:
- "Complexes have no inner might, are empty in themselves; Rather
like the stem of the plantain tree, when one reflects on them, Like an
illusion (māyopama) which deludes the mind (citta), Like an empty fist
with which a child is teased."
The
Salistamba Sutra
also puts much emphasis on illusion, describing all dharmas as being
“characterized as illusory” and “vain, hollow, without core”. Likewise
the Mahāvastu, a highly influential Mahāsāṃghikan text on the life of
the Buddha, states that the Buddha “has shown that the aggregates are
like a lightning flash, as a bubble, or as the white foam on a wave.”
Theravada
In
Theravada Buddhism 'Māyā' is the name of the mother of the Buddha as well as a metaphor for the consciousness aggregate (
viññana). The Theravada monk Bhikkhu Bodhi considers the Pali
Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta “one of the most radical discourses on the empty nature of conditioned phenomena.” Bodhi also cites the Pali commentary on this sutra, the
Sāratthappakāsinī (Spk), which states:
Cognition is like a magical illusion (māyā) in the sense
that it is insubstantial and cannot be grasped. Cognition is even more
transient and fleeting than a magical illusion. For it gives the
impression that a person comes and goes, stands and sits, with the same
mind, but the mind is different in each of these activities. Cognition
deceives the multitude like a magical illusion (māyā).
Likewise, Bhikkhu
Katukurunde Nyanananda Thera has written an exposition of the
Kàlakàràma Sutta which features the image of a magical illusion as its central metaphor.
Sarvastivada
The
Nyānānusāra Śāstra, a Vaibhāṣika response to
Vasubandhu’s
Abhidharmakosha cites the
Māyājāla sutra and explains:
“Seeing an illusory object (māyā)”: Although what one
apprehends is unreal, nothing more than an illusory sign. If one does
not admit this much, then an illusory sign should be non-existent. What
is an illusory sign? It is the result of illusion magic. Just as one
with higher gnosis can magically create forms, likewise this illusory
sign does actually have manifestation and shape. Being produced by
illusion magic, it acts as the object of vision. That object which is
taken as really existent is in fact ultimately non-existent. Therefore,
this [Māyājāla] Sūtra states that it is non-existent, due to the
illusory object there is a sign but not substantiality. Being able to
beguile and deceive one, it is known as a “deceiver of the eye.”
Mahayana
In
Mahayana sutras, illusion is an important theme of the
Prajñāpāramitā
sutras. Here, the magician's illusion exemplifies how people
misunderstand and misperceive reality, which is in fact empty of any
essence and cannot be grasped. The Mahayana uses similar metaphors for
illusion: magic, a dream, a bubble, a rainbow, lightning, the moon
reflected in water, a mirage, and a city of celestial musicians."
Understanding that what we experience is less substantial than we
believe is intended to serve the purpose of liberation from ignorance,
fear, and clinging and the attainment of enlightenment as a Buddha
completely dedicated to the welfare of all beings. The Prajñaparamita
texts also state that all dharmas (phenomena) are like an illusion, not
just the
five aggregates, but all beings, including
Bodhisattvas and even
Nirvana. The
Prajñaparamita-ratnaguna-samcayagatha (Rgs) states:
- This gnosis shows him all beings as like an illusion, Resembling
a great crowd of people, conjured up at the crossroads, By a magician,
who then cuts off many thousands of heads; He knows this whole living
world as a magical creation, and yet remains without fear. Rgs 1:19
And also:
- Those who teach Dharma, and those who listen when it is being
taught; Those who have won the fruition of a Worthy One, a Solitary
Buddha, or a World Savior; And the nirvāṇa obtained by the wise and
learned— All is born of illusion—so has the Tathāgata declared. - Rgs 2:5
According to Ven. Dr. Huifeng, what this means is that Bodhisattvas
see through all conceptualizations and conceptions, for they are
deceptive and illusory, and sever or cut off all these cognitive
creations.
Depending on the stage of the practitioner, the magical illusion
is experienced differently. In the ordinary state, we get attached to
our own mental phenomena, believing they are real, like the audience at a
magic show gets attached to the illusion of a beautiful lady. At the
next level, called actual relative truth, the beautiful lady appears,
but the magician does not get attached. Lastly, at the ultimate level,
the Buddha is not affected one way or the other by the illusion. Beyond
conceptuality, the Buddha is neither attached nor non-attached. This is the middle way of Buddhism, which explicitly refutes the extremes of both eternalism and
nihilism.
Nāgārjuna's
Madhyamaka philosophy discusses
nirmita,
or illusion closely related to māyā. In this example, the illusion is a
self-awareness that is, like the magical illusion, mistaken. For
Nagarjuna, the self is not the organizing command center of experience,
as we might think. Actually, it is just one element combined with other
factors and strung together in a sequence of causally connected moments
in time. As such, the self is not substantially real, but neither can
it be shown to be unreal. The continuum of moments, which we mistakenly
understand to be a solid, unchanging self, still performs actions and
undergoes their results. "As a magician creates a magical illusion by
the force of magic, and the illusion produces another illusion, in the
same way the agent is a magical illusion and the action done is the
illusion created by another illusion."
What we experience may be an illusion, but we are living inside the
illusion and bear the fruits of our actions there. We undergo the
experiences of the illusion. What we do affects what we experience, so
it matters.
In this example, Nagarjuna uses the magician's illusion to show that
the self is not as real as it thinks, yet, to the extent it is inside
the illusion, real enough to warrant respecting the ways of the world.
For the Mahayana Buddhist, the self is māyā like a magic show and so are objects in the world. Vasubandhu's
Trisvabhavanirdesa, a Mahayana
Yogacara "Mind Only" text, discusses the example of the magician who makes a piece of wood appear as an elephant.
The audience is looking at a piece of wood but, under the spell of
magic, perceives an elephant instead. Instead of believing in the
reality of the illusory elephant, we are invited to recognize that
multiple factors are involved in creating that perception, including our
involvement in dualistic subjectivity, causes and conditions, and the
ultimate beyond duality. Recognizing how these factors combine to create
what we perceive ordinarily, ultimate reality appears. Perceiving that
the elephant is illusory is akin to seeing through the magical illusion,
which reveals the
dharmadhatu, or ground of being.
Tantra
Buddhist
Tantra,
a further development of the Mahayana, also makes use of the magician's
illusion example in yet another way. In the completion stage of
Buddhist Tantra, the practitioner takes on the form of a deity in an
illusory body (māyādeha), which is like the magician's illusion. It is
made of wind, or
prana, and is called illusory because it appears only to other
yogis
who have also attained the illusory body. The illusory body has the
markings and signs of a Buddha. There is an impure and a pure illusory
body, depending on the stage of the yogi's practice.
The concept that the world is an illusion is controversial in
Buddhism. The Buddha does not state that the world is an illusion, but
like an illusion. In the
Dzogchen tradition the
perceived reality
is considered literally unreal, in that objects which make-up perceived
reality are known as objects within one's mind, and that,
as we conceive them,
there is no pre-determined object, or assembly of objects in isolation
from experience that may be considered the "true" object, or objects. As
a prominent contemporary teacher puts it: "In a real sense, all the
visions that we see in our lifetime are like a big dream [...]". In this context, the term
visions
denotes not only visual perceptions, but appearances perceived through
all senses, including sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations.
Different schools and traditions in
Tibetan Buddhism give different explanations of the mechanism producing the illusion usually called "reality".
“
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The real sky is (knowing) that samsara and nirvana are merely an illusory display.
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”
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— Mipham Rinpoche, Quintessential Instructions of Mind, p. 117
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Even the illusory nature of apparent phenomena is itself an illusion.
Ultimately, the yogi passes beyond a conception of things either
existing or not existing, and beyond a conception of either samsara or
nirvana. Only then is the yogi abiding in the ultimate reality.
Jainism
Maya, in Jainism, means appearances or deceit that prevents one from
Samyaktva (right belief). Maya is one of three causes of failure to reach right belief. The other two are
Mithyatva (false belief) and
Nidana (hankering after fame and worldly pleasures).
Maya is a closely related concept to
Mithyatva, with Maya a source of wrong information while Mithyatva an individual's attitude to knowledge, with relational overlap.
Svetambara Jains classify categories of false belief under
Mithyatva into five:
Abhigrahika
(false belief that is limited to one's own scriptures that one can
defend, but refusing to study and analyze other scriptures);
Anabhigrahika (false belief that equal respect must be shown to all gods, teachers, scriptures);
Abhiniviseka (false belief resulting from pre-conceptions with a lack of discernment and refusal to do so);
Samsayika (state of hesitation or uncertainty between various conflicting, inconsistent beliefs); and
Anabhogika (innate, default false beliefs that a person has not thought through on one's own).
Digambara Jains classify categories of false belief under
Mithyatva into seven:
Ekantika (absolute, one sided false belief),
Samsayika (uncertainty, doubt whether a course is right or wrong, unsettled belief, skepticism),
Vainayika (false belief that all gods, gurus and scriptures are alike, without critical examination),
Grhita (false belief derived purely from habits or default, no self-analysis),
Viparita (false belief that true is false, false is true, everything is relative or acceptable),
Naisargika (false belief that all living beings are devoid of consciousness and cannot discern right from wrong),
Mudha-drsti (false belief that violence and anger can tarnish or damage thoughts, divine, guru or
dharma).
Māyā (deceit) is also considered as one of four
Kaṣaya (faulty passion, a trigger for actions) in Jain philosophy. The other three are
Krodha (anger),
Māna (pride) and
Lobha (greed).
The ancient Jain texts recommend that one must subdue these four
faults, as they are source of bondage, attachment and non-spiritual
passions.
When he wishes that which is good for him, he should get rid of the
four faults — Krodha, Māna, Māyā and Lobha — which increase evil. Anger
and pride when not suppressed, and deceit and greed when arising: all
these four black passions water the roots of re-birth.
— Ārya Sayyambhava, Daśavaikālika sūtra, 8:36–39
Sikhism
In
Sikhism, the
world is regarded as both transitory and relatively
real.
God is viewed as the only reality, but within God exist both
conscious souls and
nonconscious objects; these created objects are also real.
Natural phenomena
are real but the effects they generate are unreal. māyā is as the
events are real yet māyā is not as the effects are unreal. Sikhism
believes that people are trapped in the world because of five vices:
lust, anger, greed, attachment, and ego. Maya enables these five vices
and makes a person think the physical world is "real," whereas, the goal
of Sikhism is to rid the self of them. Consider the following example:
In the moonless night, a
rope lying on the ground may be mistaken for a
snake. We know that the rope alone is real, not the snake. However, the failure to perceive the rope gives rise to the false
perception of the snake. Once the darkness is removed, the rope alone remains; the snake disappears.
- Sakti adher jevarhee bhram chookaa nihchal siv ghari vaasaa.
In the darkness of māyā, I mistook the rope for the snake, but that is over, and now I dwell in the eternal home of the Lord.
(Sri Guru Granth Sahib 332).
- Raaj bhuiang prasang jaise hahi ab kashu maram janaaiaa.
Like
the story of the rope mistaken for a snake, the mystery has now been
explained to me. Like the many bracelets, which I mistakenly thought
were gold; now, I do not say what I said then. (Sri Guru Granth Sahib
658).
In some
mythologies the
symbol of the snake was associated with
money, and māyā in modern
Punjabi refers to money. However, in the
Guru Granth Sahib māyā refers to the "grand illusion" of
materialism. From this māyā all other
evils are born, but by understanding the nature of māyā a
person begins to approach
spirituality.
- Janam baritha jāṯ rang mā▫i▫ā kai. ||1|| rahā▫o.
You are squandering this life uselessly in the love of māyā.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib M.5 Guru Arjan Dev ANG 12
The teachings of the
Sikh Gurus push the idea of
sewa (selfless service) and
simran (
prayer,
meditation, or remembering one's true
death). The depths of these two
concepts and the core of
Sikhism comes from
sangat (congregation): by joining the congregation of true
saints one is
saved. By contrast, most people are believed to suffer from the
false consciousness of materialism, as described in the following extracts from the Guru Granth Sahib:
- Mā▫i▫ā mohi visāri▫ā jagaṯ piṯā parṯipāl.
In attachment to māyā, they have forgotten the Father, the Cherisher of the World.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib M3 Guru Amar Das ANG 30
- Ih sarīr mā▫i▫ā kā puṯlā vicẖ ha▫umai ḏustī pā▫ī.
This body is the puppet of māyā. The evil of egotism is within it.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib M3 Guru Amar Das
- Bābā mā▫i▫ā bẖaram bẖulā▫e.
O Baba, māyā deceives with its illusion.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib M1 Guru Nanak Dev ANG 60
- "For that which we cannot see, feel, smell, touch, or understand, we
do not believe. For this, we are merely fools walking on the grounds of
great potential with no comprehension of what is."
Buddhist monk quotation