What does it mean to be a 'Child of Illusion?'

[Songtsan]

What is your interpretation of this phrase?

[Marblehead]

Curious phrase.  I think it is not speaking of one's parents being illusion.

 

Rather, to be a child (not yet mature regardless of age) where the person's illusionary reality is not consistent with physical reality.

[Songtsan]

I'll see if I can find where I got the phrase from....

[JustBHappy]

It's a lojong slogan from the great Atisha.

The slogan refers to post-mediation practice and continuing the awareness gained in meditation onto daily life. The idea is to not solidify and make our perceptions so concrete and "real" but rather to be a child of illusion. It's so easy to get caught in the currents of daily challenges that we forget time and again the empty illusory nature of reality. It's a positive slogan, pointing to things being changable, workable and not as solid as we make them out to be.

Edited May 16, 2015 by JustBHappy

[Songtsan]

Thanks! I have a huge binder of notes, and somewhere in them was a quote mentioning the phrase and it always stuck in my head...