Q3.1: What is meant be “illusions”?
A3.1: Illusions refers to erroneous mental representation. That which is a false representation of the actual situation is an illusion. Often used to describe performances by magicians and tricksters. Also known as sleigh-of-hand, magic, tricks etc.
The characteristic of illusions is that they are false representation of a phenomena that leads to false perception of the said phenomena, resulting in believe of attributes or properties that are in actual fact absent. It is strongly associated with falsehood.
Q3.2: How is it that conditioned phenomena are like illusions?
A3.2: Conditioned phenomena appear to has solid properties and attributes that it projects when in actual fact, it does not. They tend to lead one to perceive these qualities to be inherent in them although they are really dependent arising.
In this way, conditioned phenomena are like illusions, as they tend to lead us to perceive and believe in something that is actually absent. Like an illusion, conditioned phenomena can therefore be said to be of a lying nature, to have falsehood as its nature.