A. The Buddha is not different from illusions. All illusions are the forms and functions of the Buddha. People are prone to think that the Buddha is friendly and holy whilst illusions appear to be hostile, ugly and malicious. In fact, it is impossible to distinguish the Buddha from illusions by appearances because the Buddha is formless and so doesn’t have any fixed form. That is, you actually see the Buddha all the time, but you don’t recognise him because he takes on different appearances each time you see him.
When you are faced with a phenomenon, whether it is the Buddha or an illusion depends on your perspective, that is, whether or not you see it as it truly is. If you are deluded by illusions of the phenomenon, you take the Buddha for an illusion. If you see the phenomenon as it is, you recognise the Buddha. My answer to your question is that the Buddha is hidden in the illusions when illusions arise.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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