The Same External Object-Aspect Can Manifest Different Internal Object-Aspects

Question: Is the external object-aspect (nimitta) seen by hungry ghosts the same as that seen by humans? For example, when a hungry ghost looks at a river, a human looks at a river, and a deva looks at a river—although they are clearly looking at the same river, what they see differs: humans see a river, devas see lapis lazuli, and hungry ghosts see flames or pus and blood.

Answer: Since they are seeing the same river, the external object-aspect is certainly the same; it is only the inner object-aspect that differs for each, and these different results are caused by the power of karma. If a hungry ghost sees a river in the world of the hungry ghosts, that is certainly different from the river of the human world that humans see—the external object-aspect is different. If a hungry ghost sees things in the world of the hungry ghosts, that has nothing to do with us humans, so the external object-aspect is different. But if it is looking at the mountains, rivers, and great earth of the human world, although what it sees differs from what humans see, the external object-aspect is the same—what it sees is still a river in the human realm.

Although the ghost realm has its own way of life and its own living environment of the material world (bhajana-loka), there are still differences from the human realm. But when it sees people and things in the human realm—for example, when a ghost sees a human—is that a "human" within the ghost realm or a human of the human realm? The person it sees is the same person that others see—can the external object-aspect be the same? It is certainly the same.