They interject: ‘With the actual reality not being in any way seen since it is blocked by ignorance, how does this mistaken perception then come about?’
To show by means of external examples how things are experienced as real in this way despite this not actually being the case, it was said:
An eye disease may cause mistaken visions like
Hairs, double moons, the peacock eyes, bees and so forth.
Just as in instances when things are taken to be real when in fact not really there, such as when cataracts lead the afflicted to perceive hairs and so forth…,
The unwise, tricked by their confusion, will likewise
Believe the sundry fashioned imagery they see. (6.105)
The Illustrious One has stated that:
Confusion leads to formations.1
That:
A person affected by ignorance generates meritorious formations, non-meritorious formations and unwavering formations.2
And likewise that:
When ignorance is halted formations cease.3