Hi!
I have a question regarding the ordinary moment-to-moment state of an arahant’s perception of the world and what arises as they move through it, externally and internally.
Do they literally walk around with a zoomed out and detached perspective of the world, where everything they interact with is completely empty of substance as if in a waking dream?
I recall a passage in a sutta where the Buddha says to view everything as illusory but it’s unclear if this is an innate understanding that frees from attachment and the internal selfing that typically shapes our mental state, or if it’s a literal and permanent shift in how the senses are processed and the world is seen.
Master Sheng Yen once responded to a student who related an experience they had where when coming out of meditation they felt as if they were walking around in the world experiencing it in the way I described above but that they could interact with it and engage with it and asked if that was enlightenment. Master Sheng Yen told the student not to get attached, but in the book where he wrote about this interaction he tells the reader “how could I say that this wasn’t enlightenment, but something similar”. (I’m paraphrasing the quote from memory)
What’s the EBT perspective on this? Is there anyone who can point to a sutta or that can clarify this, or both?
Thank you.
