Differences in How Various Sentient Beings Perceive Form

The same form is seen differently by different sentient beings, which shows that seeing form is an illusion. When a chopstick is inserted into water, the devas of the form realm absolutely cannot see the phenomenon of bending, because the devas of the form realm live above the sun, possess their own light and do not need sunlight; when they see form, they are unaffected by sunlight and do not need sunlight for illumination, so naturally they would not see the phenomenon of the chopstick bending. The devas of the desire realm may also not see the bending phenomenon, because the devas of the desire realm do not rely on the brain's supreme faculty and do not live in the world of the black box; moreover, because of their vast merit, they see form with the divine eye, and the divine eye is far superior to the physical eye—everything they see differs from the sentient beings below the heavens. Furthermore, the moon resides in the Heaven of the Four Great Kings, and the sun resides in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven; the four heavens above the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven have no sun or moon, and the devas of those four heavens likewise do not need the light of the sun and moon to see form—they also see form with the divine eye, and what they see is fundamentally different from what humans see.

For example, when it comes to seeing the waters of the Ganges River, what the devas see is lapis lazuli, what humans see is water, what fish see is palaces and their homeland, and what hungry ghosts see is flames—because their merit differs, their karma differs, and their eyes differ. When devas see humans, when dogs see humans, when cattle see humans, when horses see humans, when cockroaches see humans, what they see is all different, and their feelings and thoughts also differ, so their reactions differ. Even when humans see humans, there are differences in what is seen: from a man's perspective, a woman looks one way, and from a woman's perspective, a woman looks different; what a child sees and what an elderly person sees also differ. Even among humans, because of differences in individual merit and in karmic obstructions, when viewing the same thing, what they see also differs; therefore their feelings differ, their thoughts differ, their reactions differ, and their choices differ as well. So as for what sentient beings see, what standard or authenticity can there be? It is all illusory and unreal.