It's easy enough to realize a the rabbit with antlers isn't real. And we can probably realize that having an argument with someone who isn't in the same room as us probably won't resolve anything. Maybe not so easy to realize is that our projections about how something is or will be, might just not be reality. And yet we do it again and again, thinking that it'll have to be better next time, like someone expecting that the house won't win at a gambling table. The Lankavatara Sutra goes over these projections that separate us from reality. The painting isn't the real scene or person. Even that guy in the mirror isn't you. The mirror is just glass, it doesn't choose what to reflect, it just reflects. We impose name and form and meaning upon the image, the argument, the person, place, or thing that isn't anything more than a figment of our imagination. All things are no more real than the hare with horns, if only we weren't so attached to our thoughts telling us stories we believe to be true.
Myeong Jin Eunsahn gives the Dharma talk on March 22, 2023 at One Mind Zen.
