Editing Prajnaparamita (section)

====Māyā====
{{Main|Maya (religion)#Buddhism}}
The Prajñāpāramitā sutras commonly state that all dharmas (phenomena), are in some way like an [[illusion]] (''[[Maya (religion)#Buddhism|māyā]]''), like a [[dream]] (''svapna'') and like a [[mirage]].<ref>Williams, Paul; Mahayana Buddhism, the doctrinal foundations, pages 52.</ref> The ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'' states:

:"A shooting star, a clouding of the sight, a lamp, An illusion, a drop of dew, a bubble, a dream, a lightning's flash, a thunder cloud—this is the way one should see the conditioned."<ref>Harrison, Paul (trans.) Vajracchedika Prajñaparamita Diamond Cutting Transcendent Wisdom, https://hyanniszendo.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/diamondsutra_lettersize1.pdf</ref>

Even the highest Buddhist goals like [[Buddhahood]] and [[Nirvana]] are to be seen in this way, thus the highest wisdom or prajña is a type of spiritual knowledge which sees all things as illusory. As Subhuti in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra states:

:"Even if perchance there could be anything more distinguished, of that also I would say that it is like an illusion, like a dream. For not two different things are illusions and Nirvāṇa, are dreams and Nirvāṇa."<ref>Shi Huifeng. ''Is "Illusion" a Prajñāpāramitā Creation? The Birth and Death of a Buddhist Cognitive Metaphor.'' Fo Guang University. Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Vol. 2, 2016</ref>

This is connected to the impermanence and insubstantial nature of dharmas. The Prajñāpāramitā sutras give the simile of a magician (''māyākāra'': 'illusion-maker') who, when seemingly killing his illusory persons by cutting off their heads, really kills nobody and compare it to the bringing of beings to awakening (by 'cutting off' the conceptualization of self view; Skt: ''ātmadṛṣṭi chindati'') and the fact that this is also ultimately like an illusion, because their aggregates "are neither bound nor released".{{sfn|Orsborn|2012|p=193}} The illusion then, is the conceptualization and mental fabrication of dharmas as existing or not existing, as arising or not arising. Prajñāpāramitā sees through this illusion, being empty of concepts and fabrications.

Perceiving dharmas and beings like an illusion (''māyādharmatā'') is termed the "great armor" (''mahāsaṃnaha'') of the Bodhisattva, who is also termed the 'illusory man' (''māyāpuruṣa'').{{sfn|Orsborn|2012|pp=165–166}}