“Believe in all things; none believe;
judge not nor warp by “Facts” the thought;
See clear, hear clear, tho’ life may seem
Maya and Mirage, Dream and Naught.”
(Richard Francis Burton)
Maya is the world of illusion in Buddhism. It is also the name of Gautama Buddha’s mother. It is the world of senses, the “material world”. Maya is the world that exists but it is in constant change, and does not represent the entire reality. The concept of Maya is a “magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem.”
In Greek Mythology, Maya is one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of the Titan Atlas, the most beautiful of all Pleiades. She marries Zeus and gives birth to his son Hermes. In ancient Roman religion, Maya is identified as the Earth. She is also the goddess Lakshmi in Hinduism, the female deity, or sacred feminine, the Goddess. She presents herself mostly as Mahamaya (the Great Maya).
The multiple forms of this world are maya: not fundamental, but illusory and constantly changing. The material world is called illusion because it is temporary. The illusion of Maya’s veil is to take the forms and the visible things as the complete, static, and permanent reality. This is avadya, or ignorance. The wise person knows that everything flows.
