Chanting Da Bei Zhou - Great Compassion Dharani

Journey Through Enlightenment: A Visual and Insightful Guide to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

On "Supernatural Powers" or Siddhis, and Past Lives

I sent this to someone recently:

Regarding manifestation, I wrote some time before:

Soh Wei Yu

My experience with manifestation has got to do with praying to Green Tara and it has got to do with some of my personal life situations in the past which I do not want to discuss. I did not try other methods of manifestation (including new age ones like 'The Secret').

But suffice to say, I had some miraculous encounters where Green Tara's presence appeared (not visually but I could feel the presence and it spoke mentally to me) to me and informed me that my wish will be "granted" that day, and then truly it was “granted” that day after many months. Months before that, tara also communicated to me that my wish will come true, not to worry but “focus on helping others”. Without that encounter I would have no idea. At the same time there was a strange pleasant smell when I felt 'her Presence', and the last time that happened was when I did Garab Dorje guru yoga for the first time in 2012 after ChNN's transmission (and my bunk mates also smelled that pleasant thing, and by the way burning incense is not allowed in army so I have no ideas how that came about). [Update, 2024: I just met Sim Pern Chong and he told me that in 2012, he too smelled an otherworldly fragrance the first time he practiced the Garab Dorje guru yoga after the transmission he went with me to receive from Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. An amazing synchronicity. He also related to me his other miraculous encounters during mantra recitations.]

Maybe that may sound superstitious but after that event I was convinced there is something to this promise in this sutra:

https://read.84000.co/translation/toh438.html - Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage

Excerpt: 

1.­28

Those who want children will come to have them,

Those who seek wealth will come to have that,

**Each and every wish will be fulfilled,

And obstacles, entirely vanquished, will be no more.** (emphasis by Soh)

(Update: Also, I should mention that I knew I had a close connection with Tara from 2012. When Dzogchen teacher Chogyal Namkhai Norbu was holding a 5 day Dzogchen teaching retreat in Singapore, I had a dream one day before he gave the Tara empowerment. I did not know he was giving Tara empowerment the next day, but the night before I had a very peculiar dream where many dakinis were singing the mantra of green Tara in a very unique tune I have not heard before. I woke up right after the dream. It left me an impression and I knew I must have had some kind of connection with tara).

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• Like

• Aditya Prasad

• Soh Wei Yu Was it just the Green Tara prayer (Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha) you were reciting? I've been drawn to that one lately for some reason.

• Soh Wei Yu

• Aditya Prasad

• I did a lot of green tara mantra (Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha) over months but i think that day i was doing 21 praises to tara - https://read.84000.co/translation/toh438.html - Praise to Tārā with Twenty-One Verses of Homage

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.....

Also, I wrote:

i've a strong affinity with guan yin since a young age and i started going to my mom's dharma center at age of 13 and since then i also received teachings from other teachers

but more recent years i started chanting dabeizhou, and also the tara mantra on a daily basisxabir Snoovatar

Guan yin has told me to be compassionate in my visions.. also the last time i saw her in a dream i entered a blissful samadhi state and guan yin pointed me to rest in my true nature and then i had instant samadhi and intense presence and blissfulness of my true nature in sleep

Tara also appeared to me before, told me my wishes will come true six months and day before it happened otherwise i wouldnt have known. And told me to focus on helping others. When she appeared there was a fragrance from another world. I was not burning any incense in my air conditioned room

......

Also, this thread is very important on how cultivating merits are absolutely crucial for any successful 'manifestation': https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2021/11/on-importance-of-merits.html



——

that being said, manifestation is not the main point of dharma practice for me, liberation and awakening is far more vital and important in my path

the concerns of this life is not so important in the long run, and you may or may not believe in past lives but plenty of people in my community, and those practitioners/yogis starting from Buddha can and do recall past lives.. so liberation concerns not only the well-being of this life, let alone the material side only, but it is also liberation from cyclic existences in samsara

(Also see: On "Supernatural Powers" or Siddhis, and Past Lives)

in the 'importance of merits' link above, i mentioned why merits is also important.. both in spiritual life and worldly life and success. my mentor, who [info redacted], attributes his success to that

—-

In short, the main purpose of dharma practice and awakening from the perspective of buddhism and especially mahayana buddhism is to be free from all suffering, cyclic rebirth of samsara, attain omniscience and the ability to not turn away from samsara but endlessly help sentient beings attain the same liberation and awakening

——

check out this post i created using chatgpt, the descriptions and images generated explains who tara and the other buddhas and bodhisattvas and masters are:

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/12/journey-through-enlightenment-visual.html

i am particularly connected with avalokitesvara and green tara, who in my visions and encounters with them, they told me to be compassionate and to focus on helping others

—

Told John Tan recently,

“Just now i was searching for my airpod casing for quite some time like half an hour, searched here and there and could not find. Then i prayed to bodhisattva.. i suddenly heard an inner voice tell me with confidence like “why are you searching everywhere when its with you right there all along?” Then i tried to search my pockets again the hundredth time, cannot find. Then after half an hour later, the airpod casing dropped down from my jeans.. think dropped into my pants when i was in toilet 🤣

I hear inner voices like that sometimes that i believe is from bodhisattva when i pray sincerely

I patted my jeans also when i heard that voice but somehow didnt find it then”

John tan replied me, “U must be something wrong, why bother bodhisattva for such a matter?”

“That said, over the years, I have come to realize and believe despite my overly logical and pragmatic mind 🤣 that such "phenomena" are not uncommon in practice, it is hard to sweep all under the carpet in the name of "science" and "coincidence".”

Soh said, “Oic.. ya.. especially since my encounter with tara and the otherworldly fragrance when she “came” and previously when i receive dzogchen transmission from chnn and practice guru yoga of garab dorje for the first time also had that otherworldly fragrance, hard to deny and attribute it to coincidence. My mom also knew very well the otherworldly fragrance.. think when she chant dabeizhou last time”

----

Besides me, countless others have miraculous encounters with Tara. 

For example: 

https://buddhaweekly.com/mama-buddha-tara-compassionate-action/ - Mama Buddha Tara: Compassionate Action; Stories of Green Tara the Rescuer — How She Can Help You

https://buddhaweekly.com/how-tara-buddha-saved-my-life-appearing-beside-my-hospital-bed/ - How Tara Buddha saved my life — appearing beside my hospital bed

https://garchen.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/How-Tara-Saved-Me-from-Dangers-Narratives-by-H.E.-Garchen-Rinpoche.pdf  - How Tara Saved Me from Great Dangers
Narratives by H.E. Garchen Rinpoche

Also recently, someone on Reddit shared: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/s/oatD01j3ik

I did Tara practice religiously for many many months and finally one night in a dream she revealed herself to me. She came with a retinue of dozen of monks and they gave me spiritual teachings in a dream for what seemed like a long time. They told me that tenderness was one of the highest spiritual qualities. I was also visited by Yeshe Tsogyal after a retreat where we had been doing Yeshe Tsogyal prayers. She briefly put my mind into samadhi as she merged her mind with mine, and I felt the most unfathomable bliss, peace, joy, and love I had ever felt. Then she told me: "on the path to enlightenment, there will always be obstacles, but suffering is optional"

----

It should be emphasized however that tara practice goes beyond just praying to some external beings. It is important to keep in mind and receive the appropriate instructions from a qualified Vajrayana master:

Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith:

Tara, as a deity, is just a name for our own state. As ChNN puts it, "Tara is the state of Dzogchen."

...

When we practice deity yoga, we are realizing our own state, not the state of some other being, buddha or not.

…

There is also the fact that in kriya tantra people practice by addressing the deity as external, like Tāra, for example, for common siddhis; a kind of practice that is enjoyed by brahmins, which also depends heavily on ritual purity and so on. So, because Vajrayāna is a path of skillful means, it employs people's theistic tendencies. But this vanishes in carya tantra, where the deity is understood as a symbol of the nature of the mind and one visualizes oneself as the deity. By the time we get to HYT, this is all completely abandoned, since now we are to understand, at the time of the result, that all phenomena we experience—aggregates, sense bases, and sense elements—are the display of our own gnosis.

…

But generally, if you want mundane siddhis, then you need to practice some creation stage practice, like Tara, Kilaya, Amitayus, etc. depending on one needs.

Krodha / Kyle Dixon:

You are the deity in Vajrayāna.

Mahamudra teacher Thrangu Rinpoche:

The practice of deity meditation consists fundamentally of three elements: clear appearance of the deity’s form, stable pride or confidence, that you are the deity, and recollection of purity by recalling the deeper meaning of the various aspects of the deity. It is difficult to cultivate clear appearance and the recollection of purity in post- meditation. Therefore, the principal post-meditation practice is to maintain the stable confidence that we are actually the deity. We try to maintain the confidence that the true nature of our body, speech, and mind is the body, speech, and mind of the deity being practiced. The commentaries on deity meditation commonly state, “In post-meditation, never part from the confidence of believing you are the deity.”

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Update:

Here's a document I wrote many years ago comparing Actual Freedom teachings and the teachings of Buddhism.

https://app.box.com/shared/sbyi64jrms

ChatGPT generated synopsis:

 Ananda, all illusory sense organs and every illusory form arise and perish exactly where they manifest. These are falsely named and conceived, yet their true nature is the luminous essence of marvelous awakening. So it is with everything, from the five skandhas to the six entrances, from the twelve bases to the eighteen realms. The union of causes and conditions gives rise to their illusory arising; their separation bestows the illusory name of extinction. It is profoundly elusive to discern that the arising and ceasing, the coming and going, are fundamentally the ever-present, wondrous clarity of the Tathagatagarbha. The unmoved, perfect, all-encompassing nature of true suchness — within this constant and true nature, seeking the coming and going, delusion and enlightenment, birth and death, one will never find them.

- Shurangama Sutra

《首楞严经》卷第二说：“一切浮尘，诸幻化相，当处出生，随处灭尽，幻妄称相，其性真为妙觉明体。如是乃至五阴六入，从十二处至十八界，因缘和合虚妄有生，因缘别离虚妄名灭。殊不能知生灭去来，本如来藏常住妙明，不动周圆妙真如性，性真常中求于去来，迷悟死生了无所得。”

source of translation:

From my translation of this article with the help of ChatGPT with some personal amendments 

“Heretical Views Outside the Path - Xiao Pingshi's "God-Making Movement"” by Venerable Da Zhao 

邪因外道——萧平实的“造神运动” (达照）

https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2024/01/heretical-views-outside-path-xiao.html

Soh Wei Yu

Nice explanation and citations by Krodha/Kyle Dixon:

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krodha

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2 yr. ago

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edited 2 yr. ago

For Buddhas the field of phenomena does not appear as external but as their own display. Essentially meaning that knowing and what is known are not different. What is known is itself the activity of knowing.

Rongzom:

Buddhas and bodhisattvas are the knowers, and unmistakable true reality is the object of knowledge. Therefore, it is stated that there is no difference between knowledge and the object of knowledge.

Kūkai:

Although mind is distinguished from form, they share the same nature. Form is mind, mind is forms. They interfuse with one another without difficulty. Therefore, knowing is the objects of knowledge, and the objects, knowing. Knowing is reality, reality knowing.

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Soh Wei Yu

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krodha

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3 yr. ago

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edited 3 yr. ago

"Would it be valid to say that when it is said "there is no object to apprehend nor anyone to apprehend it, just apprehension" is incomplete in assuming there even such a thing as apprehension?"

This statement is like saying there is seeing but no one who sees and nothing that is seen. But you are right saying there is even “seeing” is only a pointer. The Heart sūtra addressee even the activity of seeing:

So, in emptiness, there is no body, no feeling, no thought, no will, no consciousness. There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. There is no seeing, no hearing, no smelling, no tasting, no touching, no imagining. There is nothing seen, nor heard, nor smelled, nor tasted, nor touched, nor imagined.

Some adepts do their best with descriptions. Sometimes using terms like “knowing” or “seeing” to capture the nature of awakened mind. Like this statement from Kūkai:

Form is mind, mind is forms. They interfuse with one another without difficulty. Therefore, knowing is the objects of knowledge, and the objects, knowing. Knowing is reality, reality knowing.

Or Milarepa:

This fundamental consciousness in itself is nothing at all. In the voidness [emptiness] of reality, lack of realizer and realized is realized, lack of seer and seen is seen, lack of knower and known is known, lack of perceiver and perceived is perceived.

All of these pointers are doing their best to describe the awakened state.

Buddha Śākyamuni makes the same assertions in the Kalakarama sutta and the Bāhiya sutta.

The idea is that visual appearances are precisely the activity of seeing and precisely “knowing.” Knowing or consciousness in general, is only what appears. And then through our ignorance we bifurcate this experiential dimension into subject-object duality. We must actually awaken through a cessation of delusion to recognize the true nature of reality.

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Soh Wei Yu

The myriad forms of the entire universe are the seal of the single Dharma. Whatever forms are seen are but the perception of mind. But mind is not independently existent. It is co-dependent with form.

- Zen Master Mazu

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Tara and "Manifestation"

Important message for everyone.  

The two stanzas of anatta are linked to this: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2021/06/pellucid-no-self-non-doership.html

[8:40 PM, 6/9/2021] John Tan: 1. Dzogchen has a phrase "spontaneous presence". I do not know it's exact meaning in dzogchen however the phrase is intimately related to the 2 experiences of the 2 stanzas:

1. No doership = spontaneous

2. Mere appearances as Presence

You'll see that I wrote about both aspects in https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2021/04/why-awakening-is-so-worth-it.html

Without realizing of the second stanza of anatta in https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2009/03/on-anatta-emptiness-and-spontaneous.html , it is not considered genuine anatman (no-self) realisation in AtR. Related: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2021/06/pellucid-no-self-non-doership.html , http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/2018/07/i-was-having-conversation-with-someone.html , https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2019/02/the-transient-universe-has-heart.html , https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/05/nice-advice-and-expression-of-anatta-in.html

I have also remarked that 99% of the time, people who said they realised no-self merely experienced the non-doership aspect and not the genuine nondual anatman realisation. Also see: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2020/04/different-degress-of-no-self-non.html

Based on my experiences from discussions with thousands of individuals, I've observed that claims of recognizing nonduality—where there's no differentiation between the internal and external, or an absence of self—do not necessarily indicate a true realization of anatman or an authentic nondual experience or insight. Often, there is a chance that the person is simply adopting specific jargon or imitating others, under the impression that they have reached a similar level of understanding. However, in reality, their experience may only encompass a sense of impersonality and non-doership, rather than a genuine nondual experience or insight.

I (Soh) have once asked John Tan if he thinks a certain teacher has realised anatta, to which John replied, “There is no authentication of one's radiance, no recognition of appearances as one's radiance and no clear pointing of how conventional constructs (Soh: are seen through and released).  So what led you to that conclusion?” 

Additionally, commenting on a certain teacher’s writings, John Tan wrote,

“When we say "Mind is the great earth", the first step is to understand and taste what is mind before we go a step further.

If the teaching doesn't teach and taste what mind is, then it is just beautiful talks and grandious speech.

Next one has to point out what is "great earth"?  Where is this "great earth"?  The soil, the ground, the flower, the air or buildings or the conventional world?

Then talk about what is total exertion they have been talking?

Then the integration of the mind and total exertion and that is +A.”

However it does not mean the second stanza of anatta is more important than the first stanza. In fact, after awakening the second stanza of anatta, the pellucid radiance as all appearances beyond the paradigm of subject-action-object, it is vital to penetrate deeply into the first stanza.

Everything self-arises without doer or agent, as natural as breathing and heart beating. Thoroughly penetrating this, be completely spontaneous and effortless and releasing. Natural radiance is completely effortless, 0 effort required at all. Let deep insight into anatman and emptiness carry you into self-liberation and spontaneous perfection and dissolve the disease of effort and subtle overfocusing or clinging to radiance. As John Tan also said before, it is important not to over emphasize on the radiance (lest it causes the unpleasant effects of energy imbalance), and that it must be complemented with the first stanza of non-doership. He added that after non-dual, one's practice must be relaxed and open, insubstantial and free -- be natural and open, light, relaxed and effortless, then contemplate on effortlessness. The openness and relaxation should build up into a momentum in one's practice. Additionally, as John Tan said, we have to understand the relationship between non-doership and total exertion -- allowing the totality of the situations to exert itself. Seen from one side of the coin, it is complete "effortlessness" of radiance, and seen from another side, it is the exertion of the totality of conditions.

Satsang Nathan videos are a good expression of the non-doership aspect of anatta. See: Satsang Nathan Videos

To emphasize: building up the momentum mentioned above in practice is crucial. To paraphrase John Tan, "You must engage in regular practice and refrain from pretentious wisdom until a certain momentum builds. Only then can you hope to overcome challenges associated with x's issues. I am sincere in my advice; you have not yet experienced these issues firsthand, but when you do, you will understand the importance of mastering this art.

If you practice meditation consistently, both in opening up and in your daily life, a momentum will eventually develop. Even when challenges arise, if you can manage to stay calm and allow this momentum to guide you, you will find yourself capable of overcoming them.

It resembles the art of letting go, although it's quite challenging to articulate effectively. Our natural tendency leans towards attachment, regardless of how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise. This is why consistent practice is essential.

You may spend all day discussing the concept of freedom from all elaborations, the natural state, and sounds, and you might even gain some insights. However, when you are confronted with these issues for various reasons, all your attachments will come to the forefront.

Fears about death, health, and personal anomalies will emerge. Your mind will struggle to release these attachments.”

John Tan also told X before, “You got good karma...just relax and understand that essencelessness also implies effortlessness, don't focus, don't concentrate.  Simply refine the view and understanding after anatta insight that appearances are one's radiance.”

John also wrote to X, a friend of ours, “Can be overcomed. I used to have very intense energy disruptions of energy imbalance post I AM due to over focusing. 

Currently I think it is better to let the body and mind calm down first through distractions, shifting attentions...the body and mind at the very subtle level is very sensitive, the hidden fear will just sway ur entire balance.

Medicines do help and I think you should.

We must be very careful, there is relaxation of mind that lead to more alertness and there is the relaxation that calms the mind into peace via overcoming afflictions (eg fear).

When we are in a state of later, then we can rest and response to conditions in balance.”

John also wrote to me before, “ Focus on "effortlessness" first, then later you release you can let go of ur thoughts and let what happen happens as happening...but you may later feel you are unable to concentrate, it's ok...slowly and gently recall that appearances are one's own radiance, then radiance is by nature beyond effort...get use to it first.

Whatever appears by nature self liberates.”

If insight and practice is not mature in this aspect and radiance becomes strong, and one subtly overfocuses on the radiance, one runs the risk of encountering painful energy imbalances leading to stuck energy in the brow chakra, serious tension, headaches, insomnia (literally 0 sleep at night, super consciousness throughout night which some mistakes as accomplishment), waves of energy that feels like panic attacks (I said feels like because it was more of a bodily than a mental fear, it was a very tense and “nervous” bodily sensation running through the body), and worse symptoms than that. I've had such unpleasant encounters in 2019 for seven days, as detailed in https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2019/03/the-magical-fairytale-like-wonderland.html. This leads to what is known as 'zen sickness' which doctors will not be able to cure, and I have dedicated a whole chapter to this topic in the original AtR guide. I've been fortunate to have not re-trigger such episodes through a shift in practice but have seen others experience something similar. So, it is my heartfelt wish that people don't go in the wrong direction in practice. Please take care and practice well.

Perhaps if you are interested in Dzogchen, receive transmission and teachings from  Dzogchen teacher Acarya Malcolm Smith (who also likewise stressed on this crucial aspect of non-doership and effortlessness of radiance appearances in anatta, and the integration of the 2 stanzas of anatta -- it is not in his public writings but in his online teachings to subscribers which I attended) and get the book 'The Supreme Source' which elucidates clearly the total effortlessness of spontaneously perfect and self-arising nature of total presence. But please do not DIY Dzogchen as that will be extremely misleading, but rather find good teachers (e.g. Acarya Malcolm) in that tradition. You can watch this YouTube video (highly recommended) for an introduction to Acarya Malcolm’s Dzogchen teachings that was recommended by Sim Pern Chong on the AtR group: https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2023/09/talk-on-buddhahood-in-this-life.html . Also, some of Malcolm’s writings can be found here https://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2014/02/clarifications-on-dharmakaya-and-basis_16.html . To practice that book "The Supreme Source", empowerment, direct introduction and guidance from a qualified Dzogchen teacher is necessary, and it is certainly not to be mistaken as lazing around without practice nor the nihilism of neo-Advaita. Case in point: https://dharmaconnectiongroup.blogspot.com/2015/08/ground-path-fruition_13.html

Here’s a good video shared by John Tan:

 "Did Buddha ever taught physical reality was/is an "illusion"?"

Krodha replied the redditor:

Yes, this is a strong theme throughout Buddhist teachings.

Some examples from the Pali Canon, starting with the Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta SN 22.95:

Form is like a lump of foam; feeling is like a bubble; perception seems like a mirage; choices like a banana tree; and consciousness like a magic trick: so taught the Kinsman of the Sun. However you contemplate them, examining them carefully, they’re void and hollow when you look at them closely. Concerning this body, he of vast wisdom has taught that when three things are given up, you’ll see this form discarded. Vitality, warmth, and consciousness: when they leave the body, it lies there tossed aside, food for others, mindless.

Such is this process, this illusion, cooed over by fools. It’s said to be a killer, for no substance is found here. An energetic mendicant should examine the aggregates like this, with situational awareness and mindfulness whether by day or by night.

They should give up all fetters, and make a refuge for themselves. They should live as though their head was on fire, aspiring to the imperishable state.

Another from Udānavarga 2.18:

He who has perceived that this body is (empty) as a vase, and who knows that all things (dharma) are as an illusion, does thus destroy the chief of Māra's flowers, and will no more be seen by the king of death.

He who has perceived that this world is like froth, and who knows that all things are as an illusion, does thus destroy the chief of Māra's flowers, and will no more be seen by the king of death. He who has perceived that this body is like froth, and who knows that all things are as an illusion, does thus destroy the chief of Māra's flowers, and will no more be seen by the king of death.

Another, SA 265:

Monks, it is just as if a master magician or the disciple of a master magician at a crossroads creates the magical illusion of an elephant troop, a horse troop, a chariot troop, and an infantry troop, and a clear-sighted person carefully examines, attends to, and analyses it. At the time of carefully examining, attending to, and analysing it, he finds that there is nothing in it, nothing stable, nothing substantial, it has no solidity. Why is that? It is because there is nothing solid or substantial in a magical illusion.

Some Mahāyāna examples, in the Bhadramāyākāra Sūtra, it is said:

Maudgalyāyana, moreover, since the illusions of Bhadra the Magician are partial, his illusions are not true; but the illusions of the Tathāgata are true, therefore, all phenomena are fully realized to be illusory.

The Samādhirāja states:

All existence is like an illusion, powerless, like foam that gathers and becomes hollow.

And,

The primal nature of phenomena is empty, like an illusion, which tirthikas are unable to know. Understanding all phenomena to be similar to illusions, is not the domain of signs.

The Ārya-lalitavistara-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra says:

Because of dwelling in the equivalence of all phenomena with illusions, mirages, dreams, water moons, echoes and double vision, the Dharma free of affliction is perfectly realized.

The Ārya-mañjuśrīvikurvāṇaparivarta-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra:

Further, sister, the five aggregates are illusory. They do not exist. There is no arising of erroneous action. It is conventionally designated through an error. Sister, awakening is like an illusion, it does not exist, it is conventionally designated through an error. Sister, though awakening is like an illusion, it does not exist, it is conventionally designated through an error. Therefore, sister, because illusions are the same, the aggregates are the same. Because the aggregates are the same, illusion is the same. Since illusion is the same, awakening is the same. Since awakening is the same, illusion is the same. Sister, therefore, I call you "awakened".

The Ārya-ghanavyūha-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra says:

The suchness of all phenomena arises through power of mutual relation, the yogins seeing in that way clearly see it as suchness. The perfected nature is the dharmatā of phenomena; all phenomena do not arise as the substantial entities of the imputed: empty, insubstantial, beyond the extremes of existence and nonexistence, similar with illusions and dreams, like fairy castles, like opthalmia and like mirages.

The Acintyastavaḥ says:

Like a dream, an illusion, [or] seeing two moons: Thus have You [The Buddha] seen the world, as a creation not created as real. Like a son who is born, established, and dies in a dream, the world, You have said, is not really born, does not endure, and is not destroyed... According to cognition of truth, [however], You maintain that there is no annihilation or permanence. [You] assert that the entire world is empty of substance, like a mirage.

The Lokātītastava states:

You [The Buddha] have stated that all arising is like the arising of an illusion. Therefore You have fully understood that this world has arisen due to imagination. It is unreal, [and] not having originated it cannot be destroyed.

The Mahāyānaviṁśikā:

The object of knowledge in dream is not seen when one awakes. Similarly the world disappears to him who is awakened from the darkness of ignorance. The creation of illusion is nothing but illusion. When everything is compound there is nothing which can be regarded as a real thing. Such is the nature of all things. As the figments of a dream dissolve upon waking, so the confusion of Samsara fades away in enlightenment.

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Interesting that people are upvoting u/Sneezlebee’s inaccurate answer that “the Buddha never said physical reality itself is an illusion.”

And OP finds that “reassuring.” No offense but that inclination to seek a secure refuge or landing place should be thoroughly investigated. That is how deep our conditioning is.

Like the Ḍākārṇava Tantra says:

Everyone is confused by illusion; but the wise are liberated by illusion.

Seeing that this world - this so-called “physical reality” - is an illusion, is the doorway to liberation. Reifying this illusory reality as stable and real (vāstu) will seed the causes for the continual cycle of suffering.

There are two obscurations that prevent us from attaining buddhahood. These two obscurations must be eliminated to attain buddhahood. The first, the afflictive obscuration, is the perception of a self. The second, the cognitive obscuration, is the perception of an real external physical reality. Buddhas have eliminated both of these obscurations, they do not perceive a physical reality.

From Rongzom:

Moreover, the way [a buddha] knows and sees is not like holding [entities] to be substantial. He knows and sees [them] as an illusion. Likewise, the Dharmasaṃgītisūtra states:

For example, some magicians attempt to free a magically created [being by removing its magical power]. Since they already know [that it is an illusion], they face no obstructions to [correctly perceiving] that illusion-[like being]. Likewise, the wise, who are fully awakened, perceive the three [realms of] existence to be illusion-like.

Also, in the Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra it is stated:

Because a magician knows the magical apparition created [by him] to be an illusion, he is not confused by it. You, [too,] see the entire world ('gro ba: jagat) in this way. [I] pay homage and praise to one who sees everything [in this way].

Further, some say: The fully awakened one possesses the knowledge of the absolute, [namely], the so-called gnosis of knowing [phenomena] as [they actually] are, but does not possess the knowledge of the conventional, the so-called gnosis of knowing [phenomena] to the full extent. It is not that something knowable (mkhyen rgyu yod pa) is not known [by a buddha]. But since conventional knowable [phenomena] are non-existent, there is no gnosis of perceiving them [either]. How is it that conventional [phenomena] are non-existent? Conventional [phenomena] appear to ordinary beings as they are, namely, caused [in their case] by defiled ignorance (nyon mongs pa can gyi ma rig pa). They appear to the three [types of] nobles (i.e., śrāvaka saints, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas) as they are, namely, caused [in their case] by undefiled ignorance (nyon mongs pa can ma ying pa'i ma rig pa). It is, for example, like the appearance of strands of hair and [other] 'floaters' (rab rib: timira) to a [person] suffering from an eye disease. [Immediately] after the Diamond-like Samadhi [has arisen in him], a buddha discards [even undefiled] ignorance, and sees true reality, in that [he] does not see any phenomena. Therefore, these deceptive conventional [phenomena] do not exist in a buddha['s field of perception].

Also, Sneezlebee’s assessment that “consciousness dreaming the body” is a “new age” view is really not the case. This is implied in buddhadharma, and stated explicitly in some systems, the Khandro Nyinthig says:

To sum it all up, ignorant attachment to dualistic appearances assembles the rtsal of gnosis (jñāna - pristine consciousness) into the [four material] elements, and forms the body in actuality.