A. ‘Mind is the source, and all things are illusions’ is a well-known sentence that indicates the core of Buddhism. However, the sentence that you ask me to interpret might seem contradictory to the Buddha’s teaching, but is telling us how to accept the core of the Buddha’s words, without being deluded by words.
To rephrase the sentence, it is true that mind is the source, however it is not source but no more than an illusion if we accept mind as a word without realising what mind is. All things, according to the Buddha’s teaching, are illusions, although they are not illusions but the functions of the true-Self if we can see them as they are without being deluded by forms and names. This is why it is said that Mara’s talk becomes the function of the true-Self before the Buddha, the Buddha’s talk becomes Mara’s talk before sentient beings.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
Zen Fools 