大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 43.22

43.22

Regarding the Commentary's statement, "In reality, foolish persons deceive themselves": It is like a monkey grasping at the moon; could the moon have the intention to deceive the monkey? The foolish person grasps the unreal as real, which clearly is self-deception. When the sūtra says "deceives foolish persons," it means that the objects that foolish persons fail to understand appear, in their sense, like deception.