Appearances are Deceptive

A magician mutters a spell over stones and pieces of wood and produces the illusion of men, women, horses, oxen, asses, mules, rooms, houses, and many other illusory appearances which although they do not exist in reality seem to do so. People who have been blinded by the magician’s performance then believe what they see to be true and hanker after these things; the magician, however, is not attracted to what seems to be houses and oxen and so on. A person who is not affected by this atmosphere of magic has no such erroneous visions of houses and oxen, which for him are but stones and pieces of wood. Similarly, all phenomena appear to the common person as being true and in hankering after them, she/he accumulates karma and will have to [experience] its effect.

Herbert Guenther

from The Life and Teachings of Naropa