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July 2009 
Maya ~ The Show of Desire.
Posted on Mar 8th, 2009
by 
Attainment
Attainment
The word Maya has been interpreted to mean 'illusion.' This is not exactly right.
Maya means that which appears to be and yet it is not. But it is not exactly an illusion.
That which is eternal, timelessly there, has always been will always be, never was a time when it was not - this is called real. Exactly opposite of this that which never was, never will be is unreal. Just between these two is Maya.
Maya is equivalent to dreaming. At night you dream. You cannot say that the dream is unreal. When the dream is there it is real. You experience the dream. But you cannot say it is real upon awakening. Where did it come from? It had come from your own unawareness. It was a projection. It was not outside of you. And upon awakening, the projection is withdrawn and you can see it was unreal.
We cannot exactly call this dream unreal, yet we certainly cannot call it real. The projection in time we call maya.
Maya is like magic. It is something that which is not but can be made to appear as if it is. It shows you something about you. A dream shows something about the dreamer. Say for example, you are dreaming of riches and women, it is showing me something about you, that you desire woman and riches. That this is repressed desires being projected in the dream.
This is happening exactly the same in the waking state. We think we are awake, but the same dreaming is going on. The same unawareness is happening. Desires are being projected. All that you come to experience in life is nothing but your own desires. Because you want to experience it, your mind conjures it up. Just like in a dream. Mind is a great magician. If you want to see something, the mind will give you a convincing show. This is called Maya.
Mind is the origin of Maya. Just watch and you can see the mind conditions you towards things. Some people believe in many wives and husbands. Some tribes believe woman are the stronger sex. How to define what is? You create what you want to believe. This is maya. That which appears to be but is not.
Mind is the Great Magician. And if you watch it, it is amazing and beautiful to watch. It creates dreams, dramas. It produces whatever you desire. The Great Genie in the Bottle! If you become aware and watch, by and by the dreaming subsides. And one day it will disappear.
When the mind disappears ~ the show of maya disappears ~ and you are looking through your body and soul, this is called enlightenment. To see things as they truly are without mind, without maya, is called enlightenment.
To see things as they truly are without mind, without maya, is called enlightenment.
Maya means that which appears to be and yet it is not. But it is not exactly an illusion.
That which is eternal, timelessly there, has always been will always be, never was a time when it was not - this is called real. Exactly opposite of this that which never was, never will be is unreal. Just between these two is Maya.
Maya is equivalent to dreaming. At night you dream. You cannot say that the dream is unreal. When the dream is there it is real. You experience the dream. But you cannot say it is real upon awakening. Where did it come from? It had come from your own unawareness. It was a projection. It was not outside of you. And upon awakening, the projection is withdrawn and you can see it was unreal.
We cannot exactly call this dream unreal, yet we certainly cannot call it real. The projection in time we call maya.
Maya is like magic. It is something that which is not but can be made to appear as if it is. It shows you something about you. A dream shows something about the dreamer. Say for example, you are dreaming of riches and women, it is showing me something about you, that you desire woman and riches. That this is repressed desires being projected in the dream.
This is happening exactly the same in the waking state. We think we are awake, but the same dreaming is going on. The same unawareness is happening. Desires are being projected. All that you come to experience in life is nothing but your own desires. Because you want to experience it, your mind conjures it up. Just like in a dream. Mind is a great magician. If you want to see something, the mind will give you a convincing show. This is called Maya.
Mind is the origin of Maya. Just watch and you can see the mind conditions you towards things. Some people believe in many wives and husbands. Some tribes believe woman are the stronger sex. How to define what is? You create what you want to believe. This is maya. That which appears to be but is not.
Mind is the Great Magician. And if you watch it, it is amazing and beautiful to watch. It creates dreams, dramas. It produces whatever you desire. The Great Genie in the Bottle! If you become aware and watch, by and by the dreaming subsides. And one day it will disappear.
When the mind disappears ~ the show of maya disappears ~ and you are looking through your body and soul, this is called enlightenment. To see things as they truly are without mind, without maya, is called enlightenment.
To see things as they truly are without mind, without maya, is called enlightenment.
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Brilliantly put, as always, :-)))
Such clarity… you are amazing.
Blessings,
Grey Owl
Cheyenne -
Can maya play a part in everyday life as well, say with misinterpretations? For example, if someone had been feeling isolated or disliked by another, but it was all a fabrication in their own mind, would this be maya? What about if it played out in reality and became a large misunderstanding? If so, how do you fix that to become or experience “enlightenment?”
Once again, beautifully written!
~Rachel
I imagine Maya as a jester, distracting our mind by what seems to entertain it.
As the Universe is, so are we.
The Trickster also comes to mind, can we be tricked out of our seeing?
All of these players performing in our psyche.
We are amazing.
Thank You for the eye opener Cheyenne!
Hi, Grey Owl!!!! Thank you so much for the complement! It is so fascinting to me ~ the spiritual journey! Seeing the magic, experiencing ourselves this way….knowing we can awaken and know the eternal bliss of the everlasting. I love it!
Ah! Rachel! What you describe is exactly maya. Each person is a world of their own. There are as many worlds as there are minds. Each mind is a world of its own. Each dreaming their own picture of reality. Dreaming just like a film! Each mind projecting their thoughts as true upon the world. And the individuals get so deeply involved in it, so much identified with it, they completely forget who they are. They completely lose touch with reality.
In REALITY there is no dilemma. In reality there is no problem. There never has been, never will be. In mind there are problems, and we look at reality through the mind. Therefore, we see the problems in the world that are in our mind. The mind creates problems ~ then it creates solutions which again become problems. Yet, reality is absolutely unproblematic. There is no problem. How we “look” is the problem. So for example, your friend’s ‘look’ one way and you ‘look’ another…each seeing their problem…this is maya.
How do you fix a dream? You wake up. You cannot fix a dream. The dreamer must awaken. The difficulty is that we’ve become so attuned only to the false dream. It is very difficult to face reality. Zen is the practice, for example, of how to awaken, but it is a sudden way. And many individual’s system would not be capable of facing reality suddenly. One very popular method of awakening is to see the whole world as maya, illusion, dream. One is to start seeing that everyone is dreaming, the whole world is dreaming. Whatsoever you are doing, continue to rememeber that you are dreaming. Whatsoever anyone else is doing remember they are dreaming. If you are actually sleeping, and you can feel that you are dreaming, then you can feel the dreamer (!) - the subject. If you take the dream as real, you cannot feel the subject. The same in the waking state. If you can remember that this is a dream, you will begin to be aware of the ONE who is not dreaming. And slowly, daily, gradually, you will awaken from the dream state to reality!
It seems so impossible to the sleeping mind that we are eternal, that this world is heaven, that bliss is our nature. But it is perfectly seen by the one who awakens. Respond to yours and others dreams just as you would if you knew it was sleeping state…you do not react to someone who is having a nightmare by screaming at them, you gently say, “No, there has been a mistake. This is not actually happening. You are dreaming this. All is well. I am fine. You are fine. Everything is fine.” That response freaks people out! (big big smile)! Huh? (big smile).
O, Rachel, I hope I have not been confusing! It’s a trip, isn’t it?
Jeanne! Yes, the Trickster! It is like this! Distracting us from reality by what seems to entertain it!
Can we be tricked out of our seeing? Do you mean the false seeing? That is the practice of Zen. Sudden awakening. That is the practice of all spiritual methods…(don’t let the left hand know what the right is doing!) We trick the false mind to suddenly awaken to reality!
And certainly we have been tricked out of the true seeing!!!!!
We are amazing, Jeannie! I so agree!!!!!!!
I have said it so many times in different places, but my favorite quote upon a master awakening was : What sort of joke is this? So perfect!!!!!
Amazing!
Much love!
Cheyenne
Hi! And thank you, Jenni!!!
How is this ? Imprisoned in illusion…
Please be brutal while commenting…