A. The core of the Buddha’s teaching, as mentioned previously, is non-duality, emptiness. In other words, everything is empty. When everything is empty, everything is oneness as emptiness. Saying that we should offer our illusions to the Buddha makes no sense at all and contradicts the Buddha’s teaching, because it is to divide oneness into three: offerer, illusions, and the Buddha. Breaking oneness into many is referred to as making illusions.
Don’t be deluded by the words ‘we should remove illusions’. Not only is it impossible to remove them, no matter how hard we may try as long as we think that illusions are real, but also we can’t do without them. Illusions are not illusions in essence, but they appear to be illusions because we cannot see them as they are. In Buddhism removing illusions doesn’t mean doing away with, or moving them from one place to somewhere else unseen and far away, but means to realise that they are not illusions but the functions of the true-Self by seeing them as they are. This is why an ancient master said, “Why are you anxious to discard such precious things?” when one of his students asked how he could remove illusions.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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