The moon as a symbol of enlightenment

Often in the east, particularly in Japan, the moon is seen as a symbol for enlightenment. Which has many ways of being understood.

On Buddhist forums you cannot wander far without coming across the little phrase:-

"Don't mistake the finger that points for the moon itself."

But the 13th century Japanese zen master Dogen suggests that such a way of thinking is in fact dualistic - that there is the moon and that which points to it. For Dogen, the finger that points is in fact the thing itself. Which places enlightenment among us.

A poem:-

Although the wind
blows terribly here,
the moonlight also leaks
between the roof planks
of this ruined house

(Izumi Shikibu)


Jane Hirshfield, an American poet and essayist, comments that in Japanese poetry the moon is "always the moon" yet is also an image of Buddhist awakening. She adds that the poem reminds her that "if a house is walled so tightly that it lets in no wind or rain, if a life is walled so tightly that it lets in no pain, grief, anger, or longing, it will also be closed to the entrance of what is most wanted."

So "enlightenment" is among us. It can never be ours to possess, only to allow in, and then to reflect back to others. Not from any centre of perfection, from a state of being we own, have earned, or gained, but simply as a sharing of a common humanity. As in "The Tao can be shared but never divided".

Such understandings can be found right across the world of our Faith Traditions. That "enlightenment" is an inherent part of this world, manifested here, now. Not a passport to some imagined "other" world of "perfection" beyond this life, beyond this world. Which is a form of betrayal.

The moon does not seek our worship. It does not judge. It's light is given indiscriminately, we walk in its light whether acknowledged or not.