The Hand that Points to the Moon

Title: The Hand Pointing at the Moon

I read 尬谈卢曼卡片盒(zettelkasten)的风气能否刹一刹, a piece that reflects on the currently idolized 双向链接 and 卢曼卡片盒笔记法. It feels that some people fall into the mistake of treating a “tool” as the “result.” Zen’s 指月公案, 老子对孔子的教诲, 毛主席的反对本本主义, and others all describe this pitfall.

“Pointing at the Moon” originates from 坛经 · 机缘:

师自黄梅得法，回至韶州曹侯村，人无知者。
时有儒士刘志略，礼遇甚厚。
志略有姑为尼，名无尽藏，常诵《大涅槃经》。
师暂听即知妙义，遂为解说。
尼乃执卷问字。
师曰：“字即不识，义即请问。”
尼曰：“字尚不识，焉能会义？”
师曰：“诸佛妙理，非关文字。”

A story derived from that passage:

The nun Wújìnzàng (“Endless Treasury”) asks the Sixth Patriarch Huineng: “I have studied the Nirvāṇa Sutra for years, yet many passages still elude me. I hope you can guide me.”
Huìnéng replies, “I cannot read; please recite the sutra for me, and perhaps I can help you with your questions.”
Wújìnzàng laughs, “You don’t even know the characters—how can you explain the classics?”
Huìnéng answers, “Truth is independent of words. Truth is like the bright moon in the sky, while words are merely the finger pointing at the moon. The finger can indicate where the moon is, but the finger is not the moon itself. One does not have to see the moon through the finger, does one?”

So Wújìnzàng reads the sutra to Huìnéng, who explains it line by line without deviating from the original meaning. The written sutras are only the finger pointing at the moon; the Buddha‑nature is the moon itself.

A related collection is the 指月录, which gathers the sayings and deeds of Zen masters.

A similar passage appears in 楞严经 · 卷二:

汝等尚以缘心听法，此法亦缘。
非得法性，如人以手，指月示人。
彼人因指，当应看月。
若复观指以为月体，此人岂唯亡失月轮，亦亡其指。
何以故，以所标指为明月故。
岂唯亡指，亦复不识明之与暗。
何以故，即以指体，为月明性。
明暗二性，无所了故。

And the 金刚经 · 正信希有 sums it up succinctly:

是故不应取法，不应取非法。
以是义故，如来常说：
汝等比丘，知我说法，如筏喻者。
法尚应舍，何况非法。

In other words, even the dharma should be let go of; how much more so the non‑dharmic.

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on Stories. Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.