Differences in Seeing Forms among Different Sentient Beings

The same form is seen differently by different sentient beings, which shows that seeing form is an illusion. When chopsticks are inserted into water, devas of the form realm absolutely cannot see the phenomenon of bending, because devas of the form realm live above the sun and possess their own light without needing sunlight; their seeing of form is unaffected by sunlight and does not require illumination from the sun, so naturally they would not see the phenomenon of chopsticks bending. Devas of the desire realm may also not see the bending phenomenon, because devas of the desire realm do not rely on the brain's supreme faculty (indriya) and do not live in a black-box world; moreover, because of their vast merit, they see form with the divine eye, which is far superior to the physical eye, so everything they see differs from sentient beings below the heavenly realms. 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 these 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 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—all because of differences in merit, in karma, and in their eyes. 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, their feelings and thoughts are also different, and thus their reactions are different. Even when humans see humans, there are differences in what is seen: from a man's perspective, a woman looks different from how she looks from a woman's perspective; what a child sees differs from what an elderly person sees. Even among humans themselves, because of differences in individual merit and in karmic obstructions, their perception of the same event 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 reality can there be? It is all illusory and unreal.