འཕགས་པ་སྒྱ་མ་མཁན་བཟང་པ་ལང་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད intro.12

intro.12

In this sūtra, as elsewhere, the term illusion carries a pejorative connotation. Even though Bhadra is said to have great powers, his power of illusion is only ever referred to using the term māyā (Tib. sgyu ma) or the term nirmita/nirmāna (Tib. sprul pa, “conjuration”), while the Buddha’s supernatural power is usually referred to as prātihārya (Tib. cho ’phrul, “miraculous display”). However, at one point in the sūtra, when Maudgalyāyana attempts to warn him of Bhadra’s trickery, the Buddha responds by comparing his own power to that of Bhadra, using the same word, māyā, for both, yet he explains that while Bhadra’s power of illusion is “limited” (phyogs gcig pa), his own is “pure” (yang dag pa). Since the Buddha has fully and completely realized the insubstantial nature of all phenomena and the truth that phenomena are primordially unborn, his power to create illusions, which are in this way no different from ordinary perceived reality, is unlimited.