Maya makes the impermanent seem permanent, the selfless seem self-existent. In poetry, it appears as mirages, dream cities, or painted screens—beautiful but insubstantial. Poets use maya to awaken discernment, urging readers to look beyond surface appearances to the luminous truth beneath.

Maya is a fundamental concept in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, often translated as "illusion" but more accurately meaning "appearance" or "relative reality." It is the powerful force that creates the phenomenal world, making the One (Brahman/Shunyata) appear as the many. It is not that the world is unreal, but that our perception of it as independently existing and permanent is mistaken. Maya is the veil that must be pierced by wisdom (Prajna).